I see a baseball in your future. Mallis chucks the crystal ball to keep her eye on this one. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)

The fiercest fight in baseball front offices is between the scouts and the statisticians, the "Moneyball" mavens who evaluate talent with calculators and the traditionalists who want to watch a ballplayer with their own eyes.

Maybe they're all missing the signs.

So says Andrea Mallis, a sports astrologer pitching her services to major league executives at baseball's annual winter bazaar in Dallas. Orbiting the hotel lobby while teams showered free agents with millions, Mallis kept an eye out for potential clients she could rescue from a star-crossed signing.

Mallis got some face time -- but no retainer -- with Mets general manager Omar Minaya. Other executives were respectful of Mallis' efforts but skeptical of her ability to predict a player's performance.

"She's a Virgo, like me," Dodgers icon Tommy Lasorda said. "But I'm not into the stars and all that stuff. What the hell's the moon and the stars got to do with hitting?"

On the other hand, maybe they just weren't willing to admit it: Last year, Mallis questioned the wisdom of hosting the winter meetings during a dark-moon Mercury retrograde. This year, the meetings were moved from the weekend to midweek, just after the first planet stopped moving backward in the sky, a transit that tends to foul communication.

The new meeting dates also coincided with a new moon, "which is good for new beginnings," Mallis said. "On some level, somebody heard the information."

Mallis, who has offered her prognostications on ESPN and the Oakland Athletics postgame radio show, has had some better-documented successes.A week before Janet Jackson's famous Super Bowl "wardrobe malfunction," she wrote "confusion can reign; lots of replays may be needed when strange alignments occur." She also said that the outcome would be in doubt, and the New England Patriots won on a late field goal by Adam Vinatieri.

Here are some of Mallis' other predictions from last winter's baseball meetings, and a sampling of what's in the stars for the stars next season:

___

2005

Randy Johnson, SP, Virgo

Deal: Two years, $32 million, New York Yankees.

Prediction: "A high risk of injury to bones, knees, teeth and joints, back," as determined by the "terrible transit of his Saturn to his Mars."

Result: The 6-foot-10 lefty is a human skyscraper, but his aching back kept him in the trainer's room during the first half of the season. He went 6-0 with a 1.93 ERA in his last eight starts of the regular season, but in his playoff debut for the pinstripes, Johnson lasted just three-plus innings in Game 3 against the Los Angeles Angels and ushered the Yankees to the brink of elimination.

___

Russ Ortiz, SP, Gemini

Deal: Four years, $33 million, Arizona.

Prediction: "Energies being curbed, actions meet with resistance, subject to heavy workload. Predisposed to problems with bones, knees, joints, back."

Result: After making 226 consecutive starts dating back to 1998, Ortiz spent two months on the disabled list with a strained rib cage and finished 5-11 with a 6.89 ERA.

___

Matt Clement, SP, Leo

Deal: Three years, $25.5 million, Boston.

Prediction: "Low energy (Neptune aspects). Unsure where to direct willpower. Goals undetermined. Difficult, ego-denying season."

Result: It wasn't Neptune, but a much smaller sphere that Clement had to worry about. After posting a 10-2 record at the All-Star break, Clement was hit in the head by a line drive and was, you might say, seeing stars. He missed a start, then came back and got hit in the leg by a batted ball. He started 13-3 and finished just 13-6, with a 4.57 ERA.

___

Nomar Garciaparra, SS, Leo

Deal: One year, $8 million, Chicago Cubs.

Prediction: "Injury prone."

Result: Garciaparra, whose 2004 injury spurred the Red Sox to trade him to the Cubs, re-signed with Chicago and promptly injured himself again. On April 20, he tore his groin leaving the batter's box and didn't return until Aug. 5.

___

Carlos Delgado, 1B, Cancer

Deal: Four years, $52 million, Florida.

Prediction: A low energy cycle in the first third of the season.

Result: Delgado's energy was fine: He hit .301 with 33 homers and 115 RBIs. The Marlins' energy wasn't so good: Unable to get a new ballpark, they cut payroll and traded him to the Mets for three players while paying New York $7 million to take the rest of Delgado's contract.

___

Jon Lieber, SP, Taurus

Deal: Three years, $21 million, Philadelphia.

Prediction: "Success and accomplishment not favored in 2005, things even worse in 2006. More frail and tired, health more delicate than usual."

Result: Lieber anchored the Phillies rotation, leading the staff with 35 starts and 17 wins.

___

Jason Giambi, 1B, New York Yankees,

Deal: Fourth year of a seven-year, $120 million contract

Prediction: "Giambi's astrological chart looks like an accident waiting to happen."

Result: The accident had already happened, and Giambi bounced back in 2005. After a disastrous '04 season and a near-admission of steroid use, Giambi hit .271 with 32 homers and 87 RBIs to earn the AL's comeback player of the year award.

___

For 2006, Mallis printed up baseball cards for eight of the top free agents -- before they signed their new deals. Johnny Damon, Paul Konerko and Trevor Hoffman are expected to justify the big money contracts. Others could disappoint their teams:

___

Billy Wagner, RP, Leo

Deal: Four years, $43 million, New York Mets.

Prediction: Neptune to Mars means "diminished strength, assertiveness and willpower" and that means trouble over the next two seasons. "Deleterious Mars aspects -- the same as Ken Griffey Jr. That's not the best company to keep."

___

Kenny Rogers, SP, Scorpio

Deal: Two years, $16 million, Detroit.

Prediction: Rogers, who famously scuffled with a cameraman in 2005, "embodies volatile Scorpio energy," Mallis said. His year starts with a positive Jupiter cycle but Saturn rears its rings in August-September. "Don't bet on the Gambler down the stretch."

___

Johnny Damon, CF, Scorpio

Deal: Lured away from his fellow "idiots" in Boston by a four-year, $52 million offer from the New York Yankees.

Prediction: Mallis predicted prosperity for Damon -- now there's a sturdy limb -- as he headed into free agency. "Hopefully, I can get a percentage of that lucrative contract he's about to get," she said in Dallas.

In a 12-year cycle, Damon's Jupiter cycle to Sun signals increased energy and renewed confidence. Renewed confidence? The hirsute outfielder was already being compared to Jesus in Boston; now he patrols the ground that was once home to Joe DiMaggio and Mickey Mantle.

___

Trevor Hoffman, RP, Libra

Deal: Re-signed with the San Diego Padres for two years and $13.5 million.

Prediction: "Pluto makes a positive aspect to Mars for the entire season," giving Hoffman a high-energy cycle that occurs once every 248 years. That's about how long the Padres have been waiting to win their first World Series.

___

Mike Piazza, C/DH, Virgo

Deal:. Still unsigned.

Prediction: Mallis predicts challenges for the aging catcher, who is expected to shift to first base or designated hitter to preserve his 37-year-old knees. "Neptune opposes Mars (low physical energy, more fatigued & vulnerable)," with possible injury looming in September. But his new team will be glad if Piazza, whose production has declined for five consecutive seasons, makes it that long.

___

Paul Konerko, 1B, Pisces

Deal: After leading the White Sox to their first World Series title since 1917, Konerko signed a five-year, $60 million deal to stay in Chicago.

Prediction: With positive Pluto aspects to his Mars, "Paul could be a powerhouse in 2006 if he doesn't burn out. Expect the unexpected." But what's more unexpected than a World Series title in Chicago?

___

asap contributor Jimmy Golen is an AP sports writer.

___

Want to comment? Sound off at soundoffasap@ap.org .

©2006 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Learn more about our Privacy Policy.