The next Classic is not until 2013, but if Valentine is available, he should be strongly considered as a candidate to manage the United States team. Valentine has managed in both countries and was the first American manager to win a title in the Japanese Leagues with the Chiba Lotte Marines in 2005. If Valentine were free and the job were offered, he indicated he would take it.Valentine makes sense as Team USA's manager, but it will take more pitchers for the USA to compete. A manager that knows both teams inside and out is one thing, but you have to play the best to beat what's currently better than you.
After finishing fourth this season and eighth in the first Classic in 2009, the United States could use an infusion of energy in four years. Valentine would be a good start. He said Japan’s precise, disciplined style was perfectly suited for a three-week tournament, something the Americans should have noticed by now.
“If you rely on a home run in a short series, you’re destined for doom,” Valentine said. “I know teams have won with the home run. But you’ve got to play the game of baseball. Whatever style it is, if you make fewer mistakes, I think you’re increasing your chances of winning a short series.”
Known away from the game as a man who enjoyed cigars and card games and made wise investments, Mr. Franks was hired to replace Alvin Dark after the 1964 season and nearly guided the Giants to pennants in 1965 and 1966. Both times, the Giants lost tight races to the Dodgers.
A six-time All-Star, Jones was the National League's Most Valuable Player in 1999. His .310 lifetime batting average ranks second among switch hitters, trailing only Frankie Frisch's .316. He has 408 home runs, trailing only Mickey Mantle (536) and Eddie Murray (504) in homers by a switch hitter.It's all about production, and Jones still offers a dangerous stick in the middle of any batting order. The fact he's only played 137, 109, 110, 134 and 128 games the past five seasons is a concern, but enough of one to pass on one of the top bats in baseball. Jones is a sure-fire Hall of Famer who is coming up on 1500 R, 1500 RBI and has the ability to hit 500 homers for his career. His record is clean, and he's one of the great third basemen all-time.
He is the only switch hitter with at least 300 homers and a .300 career batting average.
Sheffield said he was told by manager Jim Leyland and president/general manager Dave Dombrowski that the team wanted to go with a more versatile lineup. The Tigers did not envision Sheffield playing any position other than designated hitter.With numbers like those over the past couple of seasons the Tigers must've seen the end of the road coming for their slugger. At $14M this year, that's a ton of money for a guy who struggles to stay healthy. It's not exactly a shock that in this money-saving time in sports a team might cut an aging veteran. The question becomes: who brings in Sheffield after he clears waivers? Nobody but the Yankees can afford to price tag, and New York already owns the ailing Hideki Matsui. There's no way you take on two injury-risk types, especially when you're trying to win a title.
The Tigers will owe Sheffield his guaranteed $14 million salary for this year. If he clears waivers, he'll be free to sign with any team he chooses.
Sheffield, who has 499 career home runs and is on the verge of becoming just the 25th player in history to record 500, said that he was surprised by the move and that he didn't consider it a possibility.
"I never really thought about it, to be honest with you," Sheffield said.
Sheffield spent the last two seasons with the Tigers, batting a combined .247 with 44 home runs and 132 RBIs in 247 games, primarily as a designated hitter. He played in just 114 games last season, missing time because of a sore right shoulder and a strained oblique.
Correa was named the No. 3 prospect in the New York-Penn League in 2007, earning all-star honors with the short-season Class A Jamestown club, going 6-2 with a 3.22 ERA in 11 starts.Correa's biggest problem is he's perhaps too hittable. The youngster strikes out more than a batter per inning, but he's given up more than 20 more hits than strikeouts in his minor league career.
Taschner was 3-2 with a 4.88 ERA in 67 games last season. He gives the Phillies another left-hander in the bullpen to go with Scott Eyre. J.C. Romero was suspended the first 50 games for using a banned substance.Taschner, however, is no Romero. He's unlikely to see many - if any - save opportunities in Philly.
Despite being traded twice in one day, Paulino lands with a Marlins team looking for a backup to John Baker. Paulino reportedly had been on the Marlins' radar since the Winter Meetings. Paulino, 27, hit .278 in 304 games with Pittsburgh from 2005-08 before Philadelphia obtained him in an offseason trade. Paulino, who's due to earn $423,500 this season, played in only 40 games for the Pirates last year due to a sprained right ankle, hitting .212 with two home runs and 18 RBIs. But he had his most productive year in 2007, hitting .263 with a career-high 11 homers and 55 RBIs, which matched a personal best. Paulino also owned a .282 lifetime average (11-for-39) against the Giants.Fantasy Impact: Something tells us Paulino will be more than just a backup in Florida. His numbers are good enough to challenge for playing time. In fact, offensively he compares closely to Yadier Molina. Keep an eye on his playing time to see if he can compete with Baker.
Bonifacio is building a strong case to be on Florida's Opening Day roster.Fantasy Impact: Bonifacio might have been a minor option if he was coming off the bench, but now that he's going to get an opportunity to start, watch out! This is a player who stole 61 bases in the minors in a single season. He can fly, if he can get on base. While his OBP climbed to .361 in two minor league stints last year, his career OBP stood at .338 heading into last season. In the majors, Bonifacio managed to reach base at a .300 clip.
If that comes to fruition, the Marlins will have the chance to place three burners in their lineup -- Bonifacio, Cameron Maybin and Hanley Ramirez.
Nothing in terms of the final roster is official yet, but Bonifacio is on a path to make an impact from the time the season opens on April 6 against his former team, Washington.
"I like him. I like him in that lineup, someplace," Marlins manager Fredi Gonzalez said. "He has made unbelievable improvement at third base, a position he didn't play [before]. He's been learning under the gun a little bit. He's done a terrific job learning that position.
"We know he can play the middle of the diamond, and we know he can play the outfield a little bit. We may run him out in the outfield and get a little more flexibility."
"I take full responsibility for not answering the question," Tejada told U.S. Magistrate Judge Alan Kay.Fantasy Impact: It's safe to draft/acquire Tejada in all leagues. He hit 206 home runs from 2000 through 2006 but hasn't reached 20 homers since the steroid talk surfaced. Tejada has slipped to a middle-round draftee, and he still deserves attention thanks to playing his home games at Minute Maid Park.
Standing at a lectern facing Kay, Tejada spoke softly for less than a minute, the talented hands he normally uses to grip a bat or field ground balls stuffed in the pant pockets of his pinstriped, three-piece suit.
He apologized to Congress, to the court, to baseball fans — "especially the kids" — and added: "I learned a very important lesson."
Tejada is the first high-profile player convicted of a crime stemming from baseball's steroids era.
"What people are not entitled to do, your honor, is to provide untruthful or dishonest answers. No one has that right," Durham told the court. "Not the people who are well-known — and not the people who are unknown."
Tejada faced up to a year in prison and a fine of up to $100,000. But Kay followed the recommendation of prosecutors who said he deserved a lighter punishment, issuing a sentence of probation, 100 hours of community service and a $5,000 fine. Kay waived drug testing often required of other convicts on probation and said he wouldn't restrict the player's travel.
The plea deal is unlikely to affect Tejada's immigration status because green-card holders are not normally deportable unless the maximum possible sentence is more than one year in prison.
Hicks, who also co-owns Liverpool F.C. with George Gillett, has hired Merrill Lynch to sell his Rangers stake, MLB.com said, citing two baseball sources. The minority shares may be sold in whole or in part.The timing might be good for Rangers fans, who would love to see Hicks bail. Texas is building a talented young nucleus with players like Chris Davis and Elvis Andrus.
Fontenot is the projected sixth hitter, with Kosuke Fukudome in second and Milton Bradley fourth.Fantasy Impact: If you project Fontenot's at bats over a full 600 at bats, he looks pretty good. Fontenot appears capable of 20 HR power, and he's capable of scoring runs (.395 OBP in 243 at bats last season). In the article, however, Piniella says both Fontenot and Aaron Miles will get 350 at bats this season. Miles will slide around the infield as a utility man, but will still steal time from Fontenot against left-handed pitching. Fontenot is therefore a later round pick in most fantasy drafts. He's valuable as a second baseman with pop who might start 5 or 6 days a week.
"I don't want to get caught with two left-handed hitters sixth and seventh or sixth and eighth at the tail end of the lineup," manager Lou Piniella said. "So 2-4-6 is a real nice way to break things up."
In his fifth year with the Cubs after being traded from Baltimore in the Sammy Sosa deal, Fontenot never has been penciled in as a starter.
According to several media sources, including the Philadelphia Daily News, Hamels will fly back to Philadelphia to be looked at by team doctor Michael Ciccotti after having steady soreness in the elbow.Much was made about the 227 1/3 innings Hamels pitched -- not including his postseason innings -- last season. There may be some merit to those concerns. The young ace will have to be watched for the rest of the spring.
However, team general manager Ruben Amaro, Jr. indicated it is not presently a serious issue, and the team is taking a cautious approach.
Consumers who buy the Topps 2009 Series 1 deck of baseball cards for $1.99 have an option to pull the "magic" card from the deck, sign onto ToppsTown.com with a code, download a browser plug in and pitch, bat or catch in games served up from the Web site. The cards, which sport members of major league baseball (MLB) franchises, also are available through the Topps Attax baseball card game.It's an interesting idea, but my guess is enthusiasm wanes rather quickly. Offering online games based on the cards and the players' statistics might be a better way to maintain interest, but that's what video games are all about. Good luck, Topps.
The consumer's Web camera pointed at the two-dimensional card laying on someone's desk or in their hand projects the picture of Tampa Bay's Evan Longoria to the computer screen, for example, allowing the picture of the baseball player to come to life in 3D.
The augmented reality technology from Total Immersion lives on Topps's server. It recognizes the image of the player on the card. One player from each baseball team has been digitized.
"Topps hopes to stir new excitement about baseball cards, particularly kids who tells us they like collecting trading cards but no longer rely on them for information," said Steve Grimes, chief digital officer, The Topps Co. "So, we want to give them new uses for the cards, whether that's 3D animation or playing games or unlocking other experiences online."
''The timing for the stadium could not be better and to get this stadium built now is the perfect time,'' Loria said. ``Our nation is embarking on its largest public/private partnership. . . . People need jobs, people need paychecks and the time to get it done is now.''Optimist is putting it lightly, Jeff. The city of Miami votes on Thursday on a new stadium at the site of the old Orange Bowl. We'll see how optimistic Loria sounds after the vote.
Asked about the opposition he encounters in trying to get the stadium built, Loria said: 'I don't want to hear about the naysayers. There's plenty of them around. They are the ones who always look back and say, `You know what? You guys did the right thing.' . . . There will always be people who are opposed to progress. This is a positive thing for Florida. This is a positive thing for the nation and certainly for the thousands of people that need the work.''
Loria added he is optimistic about the stadium deal passing and does not ponder if it were to fail.
''I never think of what if,'' Loria said. ``I am a positive thinker. Our ballclub I think positively about. I'm thinking positively about the stadium. . . . There is no other way to think.''
General manager Ruben Amaro Jr. said the decision was made collectively by Utley and team personnel.Makes sense that Utley would start in a minor league game if he's not quite up to snuff. A step down allows him to get his bearings, have some success and build confidence before return to the parent club.
"We felt like he was ready to get into one and test the waters," Amaro said.
Amaro said that after the intrasquad game team trainers told him Utley was "tired, but it was a good workout for him. We'll have to see what happens, how he feels tomorrow morning, and kind of progress him day by day."
Amaro said that while Utley has been eager to play, the second baseman has resisted the temptation to return before his hip was ready.
"He knows what is at stake, and how important it is for him to be healthy in the long term," Amaro said. "This was probably a test date for him, and we'll see how he comes out of it."
Manuel said that the team would proceed with caution.
"We'll take it easy on him," Manuel said. "He's not ready for me to just turn him loose and start playing every day. We're going to kind of break him in."
It’s quite easy to understand why the Red Sox and the players love these deals. Not only do the Sox have cost certainty with such early proactive deals, but they also bought out one to two years of free agency with Kevin Youkilis [stats], Dustin Pedroia [stats] and Lester. For example, the latter is on a career trajectory that has the potential to mirror that of CC Sabathia, who waited to reach free agency and then inked a seven-year $161 million deal with the Yankees.It's a good piece, and in what are less than stable economic times you have to wonder if more teams continue to offer these types of deals to young stars.
There are no guarantees with anything, of course, and there is no doubting the sincerity of such eager Red Sox players and others who opt for early deals (Ryan Braun, Evan Longoria, Troy Tulowitzki) when they say they love their deals because of the financial security they grant them.
Boras, who has only had a couple of clients (Jeff Weaver, Carlos Baerga) sign such deals in recent years, believes players who don’t wait for the free agency status that comes after six years in the major leagues deprive themselves of the opportunity to maximize their earning potential, as well as the earning potential of other elite talents, by deferring that long-range freedom for an early cash grab.
“You have to ask the question, why would teams that have four years of control over a (two-year) player offer six years security?” he said. “The math doesn’t work unless there is a substantial discount.”
peaking through a team spokesman, Minnesota general manager Bill Smith said Sunday that he's received no update from the doctors on Mauer.Mauer's fantasy draft stock should be sliding at this point. Weird that the Twins don't know anything by now.
Mauer was scheduled to return to Fort Myers, Fla., on Saturday night after seeing a specialist in Baltimore for a second opinion on his lower back. But there has been no indication as to when the Twins will get an update on the results of the exam.
Mauer was diagnosed with inflammation in the right sacroiliac joint -- where the base of the spine meets the top of the pelvis -- by team doctors following a magnetic resonance arthrogram this week. He's been unable to take part in any team workouts so far this spring due to pain in his lower back, which he first began experiencing late last season.
An MRI on Mauer's back over the offseason revealed a kidney obstruction, and he underwent surgery to eliminate the problem on Dec. 22. The hope was that it would help relieve the back pain, but that has not been the case.
The Twins' season opener is April 6 against the Mariners, and while the club has yet to declare that Mauer will miss the start of the regular season, his availability is clearly in doubt.
"The more days go by, it looks like we are going to have to ad-lib at the beginning," Minnesota manager Ron Gardenhire said Sunday. "But we are waiting on the latest news on Joe to see where we're at."
Three times up, three times on. And so Ramirez, late to spring training after signing a two-year, $45-million contract, was back in action.We'll have to wait and see if a tight hamstring costs Manny any power at the plate leading up the regular season. Most of a batter's power begins with his legs. Manny's got plenty of legs when he's healthy.
"I said, 'You haven't lost of any of your flair, from last year to this year,' " Dodgers Manager Joe Torre said.
Despite his perfect on-base percentage, Ramirez complained about his timing at the plate. But he said his legs -- a balky hamstring had delayed his Cactus League debut for one day -- felt fine.
"It takes time, that's why we're here in spring training, to get a lot of at-bats, make a lot of mistakes and get it out of your system and move on to the season," Ramirez said.
"Trust me, I would love to catch, but I can play another position, and I'm willing to play another position, because I'm a player and I love to play," Rodriguez said on Friday. "That's the most important thing for me. I'm a winner. I love playing this game. I would love to be on a team and help it win. Whatever it takes to win ballgames, I'd do anything."It's hard to imagine this was anything more than Pudge expressing his willingness to do whatever it takes to return to MLB. I'm guessing he wasn't serious about a position switch, especially considering he's played a total of 8 games (seven at first and one at second base) in his entire 18-year career.
"We have fully exhausted our time and resources over the years with the city of Oakland, dating back to previous A's ownership," (Wolff) said in the statement. "We recognize conditions have not changed. Letters to Major League Baseball offer nothing new or of any real substance. Outside stimulation to have us continue to play in an aging and shared facility may generate press and 'sound-bite' opportunities, but do not provide any tangible alterations in the circumstances we face."One of Wolff's major issues with Oakland is the erosion of the downtown corporate life of the city. Let's face it, if boxes and big-money seats go unpaid for, there's not way Wolff wants to lose money he could be making elsewhere. Things sound dire for the "Oakland" A's.
Dellums and Brunner asked Selig to name a point person to work with Oakland on finding a site for a new stadium in Oakland. The letter also said city officials are putting together a team of civic leaders to advise the city on possible locations for a new ballpark, and are "prepared to do everything reasonably possible" to keep the A's in Oakland.
Of the 11 major-league ballparks - including the new Yankee Stadium and the Mets' new Citi Field - that have opened since 2000, eight have obstructed-view seats. Seven teams sell those tickets to the public; most wait until the rest of the stadium is sold out, and some sell them only at the box office.One of the perks of newly constructed stadiums is supposed to be the lack of structural obstructions with regard to viewing the field. Beams and pillars would become things of the past, and I'm guessing they are. My guess is that the new obstructions are mostly things that give the newer ballparks character. Overhanging eves, odd grandstand construction and unique outfield walls probably lend themselves to obstructed views. I'd hope the blockages are minimal.
One team, the Cincinnati Reds, has about 300 obstructed-view seats at Great American Ball Park but does not sell them, according to team director of media relations Rob Butcher.
The Mets will not be marking any seats as obstructed view, according to executive vice president Dave Howard. Citi Field apparently will have spots with less than perfect looks at the field because of structures such as staircase railings. Howard said every effort was made to minimize such issues through the use of see-through materials, but he said some of those seats were not offered as part of season-ticket plans.
Of the 30 ballparks that will be used in 2009, 23 have obstructed-view seats and 22 teams sell them to fans.
Six ballparks do not have any seats that are marked as obstructed view. Aside from Citi Field, they are Nationals Park (Washington, opened in 2007), Busch Stadium (St. Louis, 2006), Turner Field (Atlanta, 1997), Dolphin Stadium ( Marlins, 1987) and Dodger Stadium (1962).
Darvish is the top pitcher in the Japanese major leagues right now. He earned the 2007 Sawamura Award (the Nippon Professional Baseball equivalent to the Cy Young Award) and the 2007 Pacific League MVP Award. He has posted ERAs less than 2.00 in each of the past two years, and struck out 418 batters in 408.1 innings over the past two years. Darvish is unusually tall for a Japanese pitcher; he's listed at 6-foot-5, and only one other pitcher on Team Japan is listed at taller than 6-1, the 6-3 Hisashi Iwakuma.When you're just 21 years old and can command a fastball that touches the mid-nineties plus a good breaking pitch, you've got a shot to be great. I like his strange delivery, as well, as kinks in the windup can make it that much tougher for hitters to get their timing down.
Apparently the revenue from three separate taxes the county was going to use to help finance the stadium have fallen off more then 19%. The County had projected just a 2% decrease in these three tax revenue streams.I wonder if this is significant enough an issue to scrap the whole project.
It seems yet again that this project cannot get off the ground.
On Thursday, he faced Ryan Howard, Geoff Jenkins and Gregg Dobbs.With Jason Isringhausen and Grant Balfour as well, it's hard to expect Percival to keep his closing job all year. It's hard to bet against him winning the job for awhile, either.
Howard and Jenkins tapped pitches out in front of the plate that catcher Dioner Navarro easily fielded. Dobbs bounced to first baseman Carlos Pena, forcing Percival to run and cover the bag, which he did with ease.
"It was a step," Percival said. "I was actually forcing myself to mentally throttle back and throw my pitches, but I'd let a couple go, so the next time I'll do a little bit more. I'm gonna take it a step at a time."
Percival, who is eighth in saves with 352, said he will be ready by opening day, and Rays manager Joe Maddon is hopeful he'll be able to reorganize his bullpen.
"He looks very good to me," Maddon said. "I don't see any kind of hesitation or restriction. So, I think he's in really good shape."
“I was able to get everything going right away,” Santana said. “I threw all my pitches. That was a good sign.”Sounds like everything is good. I doubted highly that Santana would be starting the Mets' opener earlier in the spring. Funny enough, perhaps thaks to the World Baseball Classic extending spring training, he might make it.
Originally set to make his debut on March 3, Santana, who had off-season knee surgery, was scratched from two starts because of elbow tightness. The team considered sending him to New York for a magnetic resonance imaging test, but a few days’ rest diminished the discomfort and Santana resumed an accelerated schedule that has him on track to pitch the April 6 opener in Cincinnati.
Santana has not complained about soreness since he rested, and team officials have been so confident in his progress that they did not attend his bullpen session Monday.
After Santana retired the side in the first inning on 10 pitches, Manager Jerry Manuel could not suppress a smile. Santana opened the second by grooving a first-pitch fastball that Dan Uggla slugged over the left-field wall, but that hardly bothered Santana.
“It’s all about feeling healthy and getting stronger,” Santana said. “And I felt pretty good.”
Consulate spokesman David Searby said he could not immediately comment.Certainly future legislation will result in a statute of limitations with regard to players who have already confessed their actual age. It would be difficult to punish Vlad or Tejada with retrospective rules.
"They have asked us to investigate, and we have detected around 42 cases of possible irregularities related to the real age of these young men," said Melendez, who also is Puerto Rico's general manager during the World Baseball Classic.
The investigation began a week ago.
Several Latino players have said they lied about their ages in recent years, including Vladimir Guerrero and Miguel Tejada.
Melendez said players found lying about their age could face a cancellation or temporary revocation of their visas. The State Department would make that decision, he said.
Pitching coach John Farrell said Penny and the Sox were “encouraged” by the performance. Penny has been working on strengthening his right shoulder after an injury-marred 2008 with the Dodgers and has been on a slower schedule than the other starters.I like Buchholz' chances of making the team out of spring training, especially since we're one month from baseball and Penny is only throwing to live batters. He's got to get back into games to prove he can be trusted. This smacks of last year's Red Sox, when the team took injury-plagued Bartolo Colon and moved him to Triple-A to start the year. Buchholz struggled badly at the MLB level, eventually losing his spot in the rotation to Justin Masterson, among others. A year older, maybe he can keep the job this time.
“The stuff that’s coming out of his delivery, the quality, velocity, better command - it was another positive step for him,” Farrell said after the session, which was observed by starters Josh Beckett [stats], Jon Lester [stats] and Tim Wakefield [stats].
...
“That’s probably the most confident I’ve been that I can ever remember,” Buchholz said. “I definitely felt good, that was the best outing I’ve had in a long time.”
Harden allowed two hits while striking out one, throwing 17 of his 25 pitches for strikes. Manager Lou Piniella announced before the game that Harden would be his No. 4 starter, pitching April 10 in Milwaukee.Sounds like Dempster is confused with his former self! The Cubs rotation is good if Harden can stay strong for 20-25 starts this year. It's even better if he's strong enough down the stretch. Jeff Samardzija would probably end up in the Cubs' bullpen, so if Harden misses any time this year a minor leaguer would need to fill out the rotation.
The rotation is rounding into shape, with Ted Lilly as No. 3 and Sean Marshall likely in the fifth hole. Piniella said he would skip the fifth starter because of a day off in the first week, saving Marshall for the opening of the St. Louis series April 16 at Wrigley Field. Marshall can be available out of the bullpen the first week, assuming he's named the starter.
The only other question is who will be the Opening Day starter April 6 in Houston. Piniella has spoken to Ryan Dempster and Carlos Zambrano, and both have said they would like to pitch that day.
"Me and Zambrano don't even talk anymore," Dempster deadpanned. "Actually, I'm just kind of digging this middle-relief role."
Many baseball fans, most of them aging, are obsessed with the rosy glow of the 20th Century (is it too soon to refer to the 20th as old news?), when baseball was truly the national sport. This is the constituency of Ken Burns' epic documentary, "Baseball," which is airing weekly on MLB Network -- the series' first appearance off of PBS.I used to like Costas, but then I watched him call the 1996 postseason. That was the end for me.
It's also the provenance of Bob Costas, who has always professed to be an enormous baseball fan and has now proven it by switching his cable home from HBO to MLB Network. It's hard to think of Costas, who is eternally youthful in a Dick Clark kind of way, as a representative of Baseball's Olden Days. But when MLB Network plays back an NBC Game of the Week broadcast from 25 years ago -- and the network's time slots are currently filled with replays of classic baseball games of yore -- there's Costas, his voice sounding no different than it did when he anchored the Beijing Olympics last summer, calling a Cubs-Cardinals game with Tony Kubek by his side.
I've always liked Costas, but as my colleague Philip Michaels points out, he is someone who tends to speak in a tone best summed up as "the voice of the common fan and guardian of the game." It's a tone that's loved by the national-pastime crowd, but even someone who has sat through the umpteen hours of Ken Burns' documentary can probably admit that Bobby C can get a bit ponderous.
Know this about me: I'm not a big fan of "SportsCenter," or "Baseball Tonight," or ESPN in general. I know this puts me in the minority when it comes to sports fans, but I've long since grown tired of the catch-phrase-spewing anchor schtick and the ex-jocks whose "analysis" of games is often laughably unsupported by reality, just so they can be provocative and get in faux argumentes with other ex-jock analysts.Snell hits it on the head, asking for more stats- or reality-oriented coverage over ex-jock talk. Agreed! Let's get intelligent, MLB Network. Find the right blend and we'll watch you forever.
If you like that sort of thing, I suspect you will like MLB Network's coverage of the news, which seems to essentially be following the premise, "What if ESPN could only cover baseball?" The off-season version of MLB Network's news show, "Hot Stove," is nothing more than ESPN's "Baseball Tonight," only with more time to fill. It's even got the same neon-and-plasma-screen set design, the kind that screams "Live! From an alien spaceship!"
An MRI scan traced discomfort in his pitching elbow to a sprained medial collateral ligament, the team said on its website (http://losangeles.angels.mlb.com/).Santana slotted nicely behind John Lackey for a 1-2 punch at the top of the rotation. This is certainly another blow to Los Angeles, which lost Mark Teixeira and failed to sign CC Sabathia in the offseason. Had Bobby Abreu not decided on a late signing this might have been a complete loss of an offseason.
"We'll slow him down, let the stuff in his elbow calm down, and go from there," manager Mike Scioscia said.
"We don't anticipate that it's the sort of setback that will cost him an appreciable part of the season."
The 26-year-old Santana, a native of the Dominican Republic, was 16-7 with a 3.49 ERA in 2008 for the Angels, who won the American League West with a 100-62 record.
Secondly, I took Selig to task for this comment in an earlier AP article:Selig is going to go down as the George W. Bush of baseball commissioners -- always fumbling, always spinning. He's as guilty as anyone with regard to the steroid years. He was in charge, and it happened on his watch. Enough said.
“What I could do unilaterally, I did almost immediately,” Selig said, pointing to a minor league testing program started in 2001.
Fewer than 1 percent of minor leaguers now test positive for banned drugs, down from 9.1 percent in 2001, he said.
The figures being cited by Selig regarding the minor league tests were what I examined and thought might not be fully accurate, based upon the sudden influx of players out of the Dominican Summer League that caused positive PED suspensions to rise of 128 percent from 2007 to 2008 in minor league suspensions.
Could the players in the DSL under the minor league testing program be included as part of Selig’s comments? Reached for comment, MLB spokesman Rich Levin confirmed that Selig’s comments were in regard to players in the minor leagues outside of the Dominican and Venezuelan Summer Leagues.
Based upon this, it is clear that MLB’s next frontier on eradicating PEDs from baseball centers on associated leagues in South America and the Caribbean. If not for the 49 players from the DSL and VSL suspensions, only 17 players stateside would have been reported as suspended for PEDs, a decline of 41 percent from 2007 to 2008, as opposed to the 128 percent increase.
MLB already has the richest satellite radio contract of any sports league, getting, on average, $59 million a year. By comparison, the NFL’s deal with Sirius averages to $31 million a year and NASCAR’s Sirius deal averages $21 million a year. The NBA’s rights fee is not known.A Sirius subscriber, I must admit I'd like the ability to hear baseball games. I'd expect a deal to be worked out, but how can Sirius continue to operate in this manner -- doling out millions while their shares plummet? Maybe they hope dragging in a baseball audience that will maintain a loyal following for six months out of the year can be their financial savior. I wouldn't bet on that being enough.
But baseball is taking a hard stance, believing that the volume of its game programming and its traditional appeal make it more valuable to satellite radio. Industry analysts also believe that this could be baseball’s last chance to have leverage with Sirius XM. Baseball’s deal ends in 2015.
“There definitely won’t be any bidding wars for these sports rights next time,” said David Kestenbaum, an analyst with Morgan Joseph & Co. who covers satellite radio.
Part of the reason is the lack of satellite radio competition. In July, federal regulators approved the merger after a 17-month review period, cutting the number of satellite radio companies from two to one. The merger takes away a rival bidder that could have driven up prices.
Then there’s the precarious financial position of the satellite radio company, whose shares were trading at less than 15 cents last week. Last month, Liberty Media Corp. helped the company avoid bankruptcy when it agreed to pay $530 million in loans in return for a 40 percent stake.
Kestenbaum said that the Sirius XM does not have the money to keep paying so much in rights fees.
“I thought the original MLB deal was a foolish one for XM,” Kestenbaum said. “I don’t think enough new subscribers signed up to justify paying $60 million per year.”
Despite the issues over financing, league partners still have gotten paid. As part of its MLB deal signed in 2004, XM put two years’ worth of rights fee payments — $120 million — into an escrow account to guard against pending bankruptcy, sources said.
The NFL made a similar deal with Sirius, demanding that money be set aside in an escrow account.
For its part, Sirius XM Satellite Radio remains optimistic that a deal can be worked out by Opening Day.
“Discussions are ongoing with Major League Baseball and we remain hopeful that we will be able to reach an agreement that will allow Sirius subscribers to hear the games,” a Sirius XM spokesman said.
The Brewers released Gagné from his minor-league contract Sunday because he had no chance to make their club in spring training after being sidelined with an ailing shoulder. A recent MRI revealed fraying in both the labrum and rotator cuff.Ash said the Brewers would love to have Gagne a part of their bullpen when he gets healthy. Problem is, will he get healthy again this year? My guess is Gagne doesn't play in a single game at the MLB level in 2009. He's too risky a pickup for anyone contending, and he's old enough that youth-minded teams will probably take a pass.
Gagné, 33, signed a minor-league deal at the outset of camp that guaranteed him a $1.5 million contract if added to the Brewers' roster by March 26. The thinking was that he'd serve in a set-up role for closer Trevor Hoffman if he pitched well enough in camp.
But Gagné never made it to the mound. First he came down with a sore calf, then the shoulder problem. Assistant general manager Gord Ash said Gagné decided to try to avoid surgery with a conservative approach of cortisone injection and physical therapy at a local clinic.
"Rather than have him rehab over on the minor-league side, it'll be better if he's in that environment," Ash said.
Royals officials, for now, are brushing off the speculation, and general manager Dayton Moore has long maintained that Teahen is more valuable now to the club than in previous years because of his versatility.If Teahen or Grudzielanek ends up with the Yankees would either of them play third? Maybe the Yankees opt instead to slot Robinson Cano in place of A-Rod at third. When A-Rod returns they reshuffle to start the hottest player at second.
“What I’m hoping,” one Royals official said, “is they sign (second baseman Mark) Grudzielanek. That way, we get a (compensatory) draft pick.”
Teahen, 27, is currently playing third base for Canada in the World Baseball Classic but spent his last two seasons in the outfield. He shifted his focus this spring to second base after the acquisition of Coco Crisp knocked him out of a starting job.
Moore declined to address the trade rumor Sunday amid indications the Yankees are intensifying their search for a temporary third baseman. Rodriguez is expected to miss six to nine weeks after undergoing surgery today to repair a torn labrum in his right hip.
Yankees general manager Brian Cashman downplayed interest in Teahen, telling MLB.com: “We have not had any discussions internally about that.”
Yankees general manager Brian Cashman, hip specialist Marc Philippon and team physician Chris Ahmad made the announcement in a conference call.A-Rod would have to undergo a more invasive surgery after the baseball season to fully repair the torn labrum in his right hip.
"The goal here is to allow Alex to rehab rapidly in a safe manner," Philippon said, "by just going in arthroscopically, repairing his labrum and part of the impingement."
After the year, Philippon plans to do a more complete surgery that could require up to four months of rehabilitation. Rodriguez's labrum tear is technically described as a femoroacteabular impingement (FAI), which involves too much friction in the hip joint. He has two types of impingement, "pincer" and "cam," and Philippon will only repair the pincer impingement on Monday.
Philippon said he is confident "in the 85-to-90 percent level" that Rodriguez will be able to get through the season healthy after this surgery. Philippon, the Yankees and Rodriguez all feel that this intermediate approach will keep both their short-term and long-term interests intact. Rodriguez is entering the second season of a 10-year, $275-million contract, so the Yankees want him healthy not only this year but for the eight following seasons.
The 33-year-old right-hander from Edmonton, who last pitched in the majors as a member of the 2001 Montreal Expos, was considering calling it a career before last season as he continued to struggle coming back from Tommy John surgery in 2005.Johnson looked like the right choice when he struck out Chipper Jones and David Wright to end the first, but he eventually faltered giving up two home runs and four runs in four innings. In the end, he earned the loss, 6-5.
But Johnson decided to give it one last shot when the La New Bears of Taiwan called. Then, "for some reason, my arm just kind of went over a hump," he recalled yesterday.
Johnson went 20-2 with a 2.45 ERA and won the Chinese Professional Baseball League MVP.
In a morning interview session with reporters, Scioscia said Guerrero's October surgery to clean out scar tissue and repair cartilage damage in his right knee could "point to a guy maybe turning back the clock a couple of years."I'm wondering if Vlad might be even older than 34.
Relayed that quote through an interpreter, Guerrero smiled and said, "I feel good. I can't say [like] 25, because, you know, I'm 34. But I feel a lot better. That's where I'm at right now."
The Angels list Guerrero's birth date as Feb. 9, 1976, which would make him 33. Guerrero admitted to a team executive later in the day that he was born on the same date in 1975, making him 34.
The team plans to change the media guide to reflect Guerrero's correct age.
Though Guerrero, as it turns out, is one of hundreds of players from the Dominican Republic who faked their age when signing contracts with major league teams, the timing of Friday's discovery could be costly.
Guerrero, who will make $15 million this season, is in the final year of a contract, and any new extension he signs probably will be for one less year than he would have signed for, which would cost him millions.
This is a really good sign for Eugenio Velez, the team's most influential baserunner and a potential backup at either second base or the outfield. It now seems likely that Velez will make the team, if for no other reason than the speed he brings off the bench.Velez still fights for time with Emmanuel Burris and Kevin Frandsen. That means his fantasy value is limited to steals until he cracks the lineup on a regular basis. Even then he might be limited to merely stolen bases.
Any fan hoping to make fun of New York Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez can no longer get a No. 13 Yankees jersey with the word "A-Fraud" on the back.Here's guessing "Boli" and "Sucart" won't draw nearly the interested that A-Fraud was getting.
MLB.com has banned the new A-Rod nickname from the personalization feature on replica jerseys on MLB.com. MLB.com spokesman Matt Gould told CNBC that the league does not allow fans to personalize products with anything that is deemed inappropriate, derogatory or profane.
Fans haven't been able to personalize their jerseys on the site with the word "steroids" since 2005, but as of this afternoon, fans can get A-Rod's drug of choice, "Boli," on the back of jerseys. They can also get "Sucart," the last name of A-Rod's cousin, who has been part of the story.
It's far too late to make any radical changes to the 2009 Major League Baseball schedule. So Twins President Dave St. Peter offered two special requests to pass along to the firm that produces the 2010 sked: No road trips longer than nine games, and one interleague visit by the Cubs. "Because they do draw fans," St. Peter said.Stunning, really. The article goes on to explain that most requests are more substantial, such as the Rockies needing to be out of Denver during last year's Democratic National Convention. Makes sense.
"We cannot allow those clubs to beat us. It's our game," the former Los Angeles Dodgers manager said Thursday. "Remember one thing: In your hearts, you better pull for the USA or you may not get into heaven."Lasorda might be xenophobic when it comes to baseball, but he's willing to flip the switch for this year's world tournament despite his hostility toward everyone but the USA.
"It's our game. Baseball is America's game. It doesn't belong to the Italians or the Cubans or the Koreans or the Japanese," he said. "It's our game, and we're not going to let them beat us."
Lasorda, the Hall of Fame manager and Classic global ambassador, was there with Major League Baseball executive vice president of business Tim Brosnan and Empire State Building general manager Jim Connors for the official lighting ceremony of the Classic.Yes, all of the country, indeed. Not all of the world. I'm guessing Lasorda wished that building was made up of the three primary colors. Well, his three primary colors of red, white and blue.
That evening, once the sun dipped below the Hudson River to the west, the Empire State Building was geared up to shine red, green, blue and yellow on each of the four sides of the building in honor of the World Baseball Classic colors.
"The colors on the building shows it's big-time," said Lasorda. "All of the country now will know about the Classic."
Fausto Carmona said he did report to spring training overweight, but is in better condition now.If Carmona isn't keeping his weight in check, his stats could continue to take that hip check they suffered last year.
"I've lost a few pounds," said Carmona, dripping sweat after his postgame sprints Wednesday. "I'm feeling much better."
Carmona, listed at 6-4 and 230 pounds, threw two scoreless innings Wednesday in the Tribe's 5-4 exhibition victory over the Cubs.
"Mentally, I've been just trying to throw the ball to the middle of the plate and not try to do too much," said Carmona, who walked 70 and struck out 58 last year.
Schumaker misplayed a couple of routine choppers Sunday, suffering the first setback in his transition from outfield back to infield.Good luck, Schu. Here's hoping for your sake things work out, but I'm not entirely certain you're the right fit for the Redbirds at second long-term. And it's not your glove I'm worried about. It's your bat.
“Those ground balls the other day are outs,” Schumaker said. “Pitchers expect those balls to be out and so do I. So I have to get that down.”
On the first play, he stayed back on the ball, then rushed his catch-and-flip to get the force-out at second base. He cuffed the ball as a result.
On the second play, Schumaker backed up on a chopper -– and the last bounce ate him alive.
“Once I backed up, I was praying the ball would go into my glove,” he said after the game. “It didn’t.”
Veteran Ryan Franklin, dazzling in his first outing, retired all six men he faced. Young Chris Perez, who had struggled in his first two outings, had a perfect inning; Josh Kinney, who had walked four hitters in two previous innings, didn't walk anybody and Jason Motte worked his third straight scoreless inning.That has me wondering: might the Cardinals end up going with a three-man closer like the Cincinnati Reds of yesteryear? I'm not saying Perez / Motte / Franklin will ever be as talented as Randy Myers / Rob Dibble / Norm Charlton, but maybe it's time to bring back the three-headed committee approach.
Intrigue over approaching former Cy Young Award winner Pedro Martinez as a potential closer will go no farther. The club now views projected set-up man Ryan Franklin as its alternative to Chris Perez and Jason Motte should the younger pitchers not assert themselves this spring.Something tells me Pedro still wants to start. If he can get a gig as a fifth starter somewhere else, he'll take it.
Lowell is progressing nicely from right hip surgery and could play his first exhibition game "within a week," according to manager Terry Francona.The Red Sox need Lowell now as much as ever. He was really their fallback option at third this season when any chance to sign Mark Teixeira was nixed when the Yankees signed him. If Tex went to Boston, Kevin Youkilis would slide to third and Lowell would be the odd man out.
"We're getting into that area now where we can maybe think about DHing [him] a couple of at-bats, and then [have him] play third," Francona said. "But I bet you were getting close enough where it will be within a week. He's doing good. He's doing fine. He's running the bases. Every step he's supposed to do, he's done. We'll do our best to ease him in as much as we can where he gets comfortable baseball-wise."
In fact, Drew said that his lower back has been at its best of late when he's on the field. It's normally when he's sitting at home or doing some other idle activity when it tightens up.Drew played just 109 games last season with injury problems, but he did hit the 140-game mark each of the two seasons prior.
"It seemed like the more I got it loose and moving around, I wasn't really having any issues out there playing," said Drew. "That was encouraging. But it is aggravating to be sitting at home and what we call dancing in the chair, back and forth, trying to get in a position that doesn't really stiffen up. I had good days and bad days, and hopefully, this will give me the benefit of getting freed up and having a lot of good days."
The purpose of the shot was to get some scar tissue out of the facet joint and reduce the inflammation.
The Rodriguez news, changing by the hour, has more immediate impact on the Sox. A-Rod seems certain to miss the beginning of the season, could be out until late summer, and may have a career-threatening condition with $275 million still owed from the Yankees.While that money could impact the Yankees over the years, with YES Network money and the New Yankee Stadium set to open in April, I don't see New York entering any financial straits, perhaps, ever.
Bill Plaschke says Dodgers General Manager Ned Colletti was the big winner, "correctly reading the market and holding firm despite a winter's worth of criticism.''I guess it's not just the paper that has the cynical view of the deal being between enemy combatants "The Dodgers" and "Manny Ramirez." Jeff Passan obviously sees it that way, too, that the Dodgers and Ramirez were at war over the contract, and there's obviously a winner and a loser between the two.
You can follow Plaschke, by the way, at twitter.com/latbillplaschke.
Jeff Passan of YahooSports! writes that all the stalling still didn't give the Dodgers enough time to recognize "the gravity of their mistake.''
As for Ramirez, he reportedly will appear at a news conference tomorrow in Arizona, but he spoke to T.J. Simers last night and revealed that he was close to returning to Mannywood.
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