Guillen, Tigers remain apart

	Carlos Guillen hit .320 with 100 runs, 19 homers and 85 RBIs last season. Robert Beck/SI

Young's new extension isn't spurring his good friend Teixeira to sign, and it isn't doing much for shortstop Carlos Guillen's negotiations with Detroit, either. The Tigers and Guillen were said to be "not even in the same ballpark," anyway. But the sides haven't even spoken since Young's deal was announced.

The Tigers were believed to be offering Guillen, whose stats compared favorably to Young last season despite playing in pitcher-friendly Comerica Park, something close to $30 million for three years -- or about one-third what Young got. Throw in the fact that Young was two years from free agency, and Guillen is only a year away, and it's obvious why the Tigers sensed there was little hope for a deal at that price.

Actually, the sides appear apart on both years and dollars. Guillen is believed to have originally requested five years, the first point of contention. Seeing what Rafael Furcal got, it's also easy to see why Guillen would see himself as a $13 million-a-year player, at least. And looking at all the top shortstops' numbers, it isn't unreasonable for him to request $16 million a year, either.

From here, beyond the fact that Guillen played for a pennant winner, the main difference between Guillen and Young is that Young gets better publicity. Guillen actually had better stats in a much tougher park for hitters. Guillen's .919 OPS was the best among all shortstops in 2006, better than Derek Jeter's .900, Miguel Tejada's .878, Jose Reyes' .841, Hanley Ramirez's .823, and yes, sixth-best Young's .814.

Skill of the Irish: Samardzija can pitch

Former Notre Dame football star wide receiver Jeff Samardzija made quite a positive impression in Cubs camp before he was cut Monday, and the almost-unprecedented $10 million the club spent on him doesn't look like such a reach now. The hard-throwing right-handed Samardzija called facing Barry Bonds "cool" after Bonds lined a hit against him. Actually, the entire experience was all that and more for the Cubs. (Incidentally, Bonds claimed not to have heard of Samardzija. "The second pitcher? He threw pretty hard. I don't know anything about him.")

The Cubs are conducting the type of relaxed and fun camp they always should have had, and Samardzija's appearance only enhanced it. "He's shown a lot of poise and he's thrown the ball quite well," Lou Piniella said. "He's got a real nice arm. The ball comes out of his hand very, very well. He's got good velocity. He's thrown strikes. If you didn't know better, you'd think he had a heckuva lot more experience than he had."

The poise, Piniella said, may come from the Notre Dame experience. Samardzija caught 155 balls for 27 touchdowns and was projected as a first rounder before leveraging his football talents to what seemed like a sky-high Cubs contract at the time. Now it looks reasonable. In five innings in Cubs camp, he allowed six hits and one run and left with a 1.80 spring ERA. He also was said to have hit 98 mph a couple times.

Cubs GM Jim Hendry said they intend to start Samardzija off at Class-A Daytona and put him on the "fast track" (no pun intended). Samardzija isn't going to make demands. "I'm an in-the-now kind of guy. I'm open for anything," Samardzija said.

He especially impressed himself by keeping his fastball down ("kind of hard for me," he said), but his work on his slider and changeup may determine how fast he makes it to the majors. In any case, it looks like he made the right call. "I just thought about what I was going to miss more," Samardzija said. "I just knew I couldn't go on without baseball."