The GM's Almanac - Nov. 14, Aaron Copland's Birthday

A near-daily look at the off-season Hot Stove League.

The Rangers have made it clear they are interested in Ted Lilly, a 30-year-old left-hander who was 15-13 with a 4.31 ERA for the Toronto Blue Jays last year. If the Rangers sign him, he will be with his sixth organization in the past 12 years.

Lilly was taken by the Dodgers in the 23rd round of the 1996 draft, the same year the Rangers took R.A, Dickey, Sam Marsonek, Corey Lee and Doug Davis. But he was with the Dodgers for just a couple of years before being traded to the Expos on July 31, 1998, in a seven-player deadline deal. The main thrust of the deal for the Dodgers was acquiring pitching Carlos Perez and second baseman Mark Grudziellanek.

The Expos would deal him to the Yankees for Hideki Irabu and then he would go to the Athletics on July 5, 2002 in a three-way trade that sent Jeff Weaver to New York and Jeremy Bonderman to Detroit. On Nov. 18, 2003, the pitching rich Athletics sent him to the Blue Jays for outfielder Bobby Kielty.

Over the past four years he is a combined 49-44 with a 4.48 ERA with 571 strikeouts in 683 2/3 innings.

Among lefthanders, he is 11th in wins, 25th in ERA, 16th in innings pitched and ninth in strikeouts over those four seasons. Opponents are hitting .251 off him, seventh lowest among left-handers in that stretch.

Barry Zito vs. Ted Lilly, the last four years only.

Hits per nine innings: Zito 8.03; Lilly 8.74.

Baserunners per nine innings: Zito 12.04; Lilly 12.74.

Strikeouts per nine innings: Zito 6.35; Lilly 7.52.

Walks per nine innings: Zito 3.59; Lilly 3.76.

Opposing batting average: Zito 2.40; Lilly .251.

Everybody knows that Zito is 11-1 with a 3.75 ERA in 15 career starts at Ameriquest Field in Arlington. Lilly? 1-3 with a 4.24 ERA in five career games, including four starts.

He has never pitched 200 innings in a season, mainly because he has been used as a fourth or fifth starter for the past for years. He was limited to 1261/3 innings in 2005 because of left shoulder and biceps tendonitis. He missed all of Spring Training because of the shoulder.

He clashed with Blue Jays manager John Gibbons in late August last season after being taken out of a game against Oakland. They got into it in the runway leading to the clubhouse but both apologized afterward and admitted they both overreacted.

Nobody seems to hold that against Lilly, writing it off as him being an "intense competitor."

Intense competitors are getting a lot of money these days. Call it Fanfare for the Common Man.