A few developments in the past two days, with the post-Thanksgiving lull hitting us hard:

- Nothing new for the Phillies. Wolf and Kuroda are still on the table, supposedly. Jayson Stark put the official stamp on the Mike Lowell drama, saying the Phils “would’ve” offered him the 4Y/$50M deal if he wasn’t satisfied with the Red Sox’ offer. Lowell was satisfied, and alerted the Phils there was no need to offer. Good on Lowell.

- Francisco Cordero is off the market — the Reds nabbed him with a 4Y/$46M deal, with an option for a fifth year. Too much? Probably. But this is a good move for the Reds, upon second glance. They’re a young team with a very formidable pitching staff in the works (Harang, Arroyo, Bailey, Cueto), and their offense is strong. Their bullpen needs work, and Cordero is an instant band aid. They almost needed to overpay for him; they may contend in 2008, in that division.

For the Phils, it means little. The Lidge acquisition ended any speculation of the Phils going after a closer, though the shallow thought of a Lidge/Cordero bullpen whet my whistle. For the market, it means a guy like Jeremy Affeldt might take 3Y/$15M. I wouldn’t mind that.

- Finally, the intriguing news in the blogosphere is the battle between Bill Conlin and Crashburn Alley. When I first read Conlin’s piece about Rollins’ MVP win, I noticed the potshots at “cybergeeks” — slamming OPS+ and VORP and Range Factor and such — and knew this would cause some sort of firestorm. Fire Joe Morgan went after him, obviously, dissecting his article like a biologist to a raccoon carcass. Crashburn took it one more, writing Conlin about the baseless nature of Conlin’s argument. Colin responded, and it can be read here.

If Conlin hasn’t come across as arrogant before, he comes across as it in spades here. Like Marcus Hayes before him, he shows no respect whatsoever for new wave baseball statistics and formula. One question is: Should he? Is it his job to respect stats and formula? Actually, no, it’s not his job. What we must remember is Conlin is paid to be a columnist. He doesn’t report fact, he gives opinion on the fact. The fact in question is Rollins winning the MVP. So Conlin gave his opinion; that his opinion includes a diatribe against new wave statistics is part of his character, his old, grizzled, traditional approach.

Conlin is as old-school as they get. He has a knack for heady and studious language; his columns play out like dizzying landscapes as he finds the offbeat and exceptional in the everyday sports world. He’s also genuinely Philadelphian — his pieces take a fan’s approach and, for the most part, he enjoys rallying the masses. Most of all, he’s been entrenched in the Philadelphia Daily News long enough to understand and revel in its ethos — appeal to Joe Philadelphian, the blue collar union worker on 11th and Passyunk with the soft pretzel and Wawa coffee. He doesn’t bother with stats because, hell, Joe Philadelphian doesn’t. Joe wants to feel good about his city, his athletes. When we win, he wants to revel. Conlin does that well. He don’t need no stinkin’ stats.

And sure, that’s part of the downfall of newspapers. Instead of being the be-all and end-all information source, they’re becoming niche publications, satisfying target audiences through aggregation sessions. The DN is that and so much more — it’s blue collar, a freakin’ tabloid — it doesn’t need our respect. So its columnist doesn’t respect us.

Basically, bloggers, calm down — you should expect this kind of brush off from “When I’m King of the World.”

Still, Conlin’s complete lack of care for a reader comment is just wrong. As an editor, I always try to at least leave a quick, polite e-mail explaining my method when I’m criticized. Conlin doesn’t even care to look at Crashburn Alley, instead labeling Bill (blogger at CA) as a Mets fan angry at the voting. Then he goes on about Hitler and a necessity to wipe out bloggers. Bill at CA wasn’t trying to provoke Conlin, so why did Conlin respond the way he did? Easy — he sees us as the threat; old-school newspapermen see the internet (and anything that goes with it) as threat. I know — I’m in the business. Is he allowed to do that? Sure. It’s his life.

- One other point from the Rollins MVP talk: Most Americans, including the boys at FJM, are vehemently against Rollins even touching the forcefield of the MVP award. Please. It’s a sportswriters award; they look at more than sabermetrics. And you should. If it’s the Most Outstanding Statistical Player award, by all means, let Hanley and Holliday battle it out. But Most Valuable Player — like I’ve been saying forever — is very open ended. Rollins was incredibly valuable, and value isn’t just a statistic. It’s in intangibles, image, etc. And that’s why I can see Rollins as MVP. He was the total package — not just statistically.

Bloggers — and I say this with love — let’s not turn into a boy’s club, like the pen/paper scribes we face off with at the front lines. Let’s be above that.