Allow me to re-introduce myself, my name is Hov. H to the O-V.

Ok, I’m just messing around. But I’ve always wanted to do that. I’m Garrett Gonzales (GG), a good friend of Big Money Mike’s and a huge fan of this website. I’ve worked with Mike on blogs in the past, and we just recently recorded an OUTRAGEOUS! year end music podcast.

While I love music, I’m an even bigger sports fan and I write about them quite often. If you’re a fan of boxing, MMA, or pro wrestling, you can catch me at FGB, and I also write about Bay Area sports at Fanbase.

What my column on Popblerd! is going to be about is simply baseball. Since this is a music heavy site, I’ve decided to take the baseball phrase “chin music” and combine it with the terrible word “muzak” to create the column, “Sweet Chin Muzak”.

As a huge San Francisco Giants fan, I’m a pretty happy camper these days, but I don’t just follow my team. I follow the national scene as well, and I’ll try to cover some pretty important stuff for this very website.

After that long intro, let me proceed …

– When your team wins the World Series, the air is fresher, people are nicer, and the world is simply a better place. So when Jayson Werth signed with the Washington Nationals for 126 million dollars, I just gave a Kanye shrug. Last year, I would’ve thrown my fist into the air screaming that Barry Zito’s contract limited the Giants from throwing their hat into the Werth ring. Is he a good player? Yes he is. But is he worth 10 times what Giants starting right fielder Cody Ross is worth? Um, that would be no.

– While it’s huge that the Boston Red Sox traded for Adrian Gonzalez, anyone who follows this stuff saw this coming two years ago. They’ve eye balled Adrian Gonzalez from afar like a cougar does her prey. But it could be the single best transaction in all of baseball this year. Gonzalez, unlike Werth, or Cliff Lee, hasn’t yet turned 30 years of age. And he’s also younger than Carl Crawford with less miles on his legs.

He’s only twenty eight, which means that if the Red Sox sign him to a long-term extension, no one can shake their head, unlike how you did at the Nationals because Werth will be thirty eight at the end of his deal. Gonzalez is going to spray that left-field wall with balls that would’ve been medium deep fly outs at Petco Park in San Diego.

– I will devote an entire column to Cliff Lee soon, but why are writers continuing to call him the greatest postseason pitcher since Bob Gibson? Did the World Series just not happen? I have a brand spanking new Blu-ray World Series DVD that says the Giants roughed him up like Papa Joe Jackson did Tito’s behind with a switch (#DEAD-ed.). Before I get heat for this, I want to preface this by saying that he has a great postseason resume thus far in his career. However, let the record show that in two World Series games against the supposedly soft hitting Giants, he had a 6.94 ERA and gave up more hits than innings pitched. He also lost twice to a young man named Tim Lincecum whose 2010 postseason was better.

(Off the top of my head, you could argue that Orel Hershiser and John Smoltz were as good as Lee and pitched in more postseason games. I could probably research this and have something more conclusive and I might just have to do that at a later date.)

– Lastly, I can’t stop (won’t stop) before mentioning Derek Jeter. The man who Lyla Garrity said yes to was slagged through the mud by New York Yankees General Manager Brian Cashman during his contract negotiations. Ok, maybe it wasn’t that bad. But by golly (Terrell Owens voice), it’s Derek Jeter! The man means more to the Yankees historically than all but the Babe, the Iron Horse, and the Yankee Clipper.

Jeter and his agent were supposedly looking for the kind of money that you don’t just give a 36 year old declining shortstop, but as fans, we understand that the player is trying to get as much as the team is willing to give. How much did they gave AJ Burnett? I’d buy a ticket to watch Derek Jeter play. I wouldn’t buy a ticket to watch Brian Cashman count Hal Steinbrenner’s family money.

The Yankees cut the deal in half and that’s pretty much what both parties settled for, give or take a few million. But during the process, Cashman said that Jeter needed to drink some “reality potion” as if he was a red-headed Weasley brother. The fact of the matter is, Jeter is worth far more in value to the franchise than any contract could pay him. Even if his OBP and his UZR and his do re me are in decline and never get better, he’s made the Yankees more money than they’ve paid him. And that’s the bottom line.

My goal is to write at least twice a month, but with baseball, there is always something to write about, so it might be more than that. I hope that this column was worth the five minutes it took to read it and if you have any feedback, leave a comment below, or simply send me an e-mail.

And in case you forgot, l’ll remind you again. The San Francisco Giants won the World Series. The air is fresh.

Photo of Jeter by mlsekeres