My kindred sports-watching spirit

Jason Snell over at TVbarn.com or TVB seems to think a lot like myself when it comes to digesting the sports world via television. In his analysis of what MLB Network means to him, Snell manages to put the aging, "rosy glow" baseball fans and Bob Costas in the correct boxes:

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.

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.

I used to like Costas, but then I watched him call the 1996 postseason. That was the end for me.

Snell also manages to dissect ESPN and its baseball shows for what they truly have become:

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.

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!"

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.

World Baseball Classic Predictions - Tuesday, 3/10/09

With Pool A completed, sending South Korea and Japan to Pool 1 in as the first- and second-place seeds, respecitively, the World Baseball Classic continues Tuesday with just three games in the remaining three first-round pools.

Pool C - Toronto, Ontario - 5 pm EST
Italy (1-1) vs. Venezuela (1-1)
*The loser goes home while the winner moves on to face the USA for seeding in Pool 2

Pool D - San Juan, Puerto Rico - 6:30 pm EST
Dominican Republic (1-1) vs. The Netherlands (1-1)
*Another elimination game as NED meets a DR team in search of revenge. Duck!

Pool B - Mexico City - 8 pm EST
Cuba (1-0) vs. Australia (1-0)
*The loser lives to fight another day, but the winner gets through in minimal games.

I'm picking Venezuela, The Dominican Republic and Cuba to all advance. I know, not very sexy picks, but these are some of the most obvious matchups so far in the tournament.

WBC Monday roundup

A good day of baseball in WBC action. I only got half of my four predictions correct. I guess I'm batting .500. Not bad.

In Pool A, the South Koreans defeated Japan 1-0 to clinch the top seed for Pool 1 in the second round. I've already documented that I'm feeling for the Japanese in that matter.

In Pool C, Italy defeated Canada, 6-2, knocking the host Canadians out of the tournament on their home turf! Ouch! This a major disappointment for Canada, which had a stellar lineup but suspect pitching. Neither came through in the loss. Italy now takes a stab at even better competition as they face Venezuela in a qualifier for Pool 2 and a right to face the USA for top seed in the group.

In Pool D, a good win for Puerto Rico, coming back with three runs in the 8th to upend another Dutch upset bid, 3-1. The Netherlands mustered just five hits and just one of them for extra bases. That's often recipe for few runs. Puerto Rico advances while the dutch must now go through a revenge-minded Dominican Republic team to qualify for Pool 2.

In Pool B, Mexico eliminates South Africa, 14-3 and awaits the winner between Cuba and Australia for another elimination/advancement game.

Another ailing Santana

Ervin Santana will open the year on the disabled list thanks to discomfort in his throwing elbow. The Angels right hander enjoyed a breakout 2008 season, but now faces uncertainty in 2009.

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/).

"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.

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.

Fantasy Impact: Santana slips into that gray area of potential keeper. He doesn't have a complete body of work, but his one good season is borderline greatness. Now that he's hurt, protecting him in only the deepest of keeper rosters makes sense.

Selig still twisting

Maury Brown rips Bud Selig for Bud's stance of "What, not me" with regard to steroid culpability. He then goes a step further in criticizing Selig's minor league steroid numbers from the past couple of seasons.

Secondly, I took Selig to task for this comment in an earlier AP article:

“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.

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.

MLB still not Sirius

There's a lot of wrangling that goes on in negotiating media contracts, and that's become the case between MLB and Sirius satellite radio. Despite the fact that Sirius merged with XM, baseball's satellite carrier last year, Sirius does not not have the right to broadcast MLB games. They're trying to negotiate a multi-million dollar deal with baseball for those rights even as they stare bankruptcy squarely in the eye.

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.

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.

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.

South Korea wins Pool A

South Korea took advantage of needing just one win over undefeated Japan, advancing as the top seed from Pool A in a 1-0 nail-biter in Tokyo. Despite defeating the South Korean team 14-2 in a mercy rule game just two days earlier, Japan winds up second in the pool, even with a 14-3 aggregate score over the Koreans.

As I outlined earlier, this doesn't seem fair to Japan, but with pitching limits strictly enforced in the World Baseball Classic, asking two teams to play a one-off championship after South Korea got even would seem to be a sticking point.

Now, if favored Cuba gets through Pool B in first place it could set up a second round opener between the Cubans and Japanese, a rematch of the 2006 WBC title game.

Gagne released by Milwaukee

So much for Eric Gagne's second reclamation attempt with the Milwaukee Brewers. The team released him on Sunday, ending his chance to become Trevor Hoffman's setup man.

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.

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.

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.

Teahen rumored to Yankees

Alex Rodriguez's decision to have surgery is fueling rumors that the Yankees may have interest in acquiring Kansas City's Mark Teahen to play third. Both teams refute the legitimacy of that rumor.

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.

“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.”

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.

Pool play unfair to early winners at WBC

I like the double-elimination format the World Baseball Classic adopted for this year's tournament, but I'm confused with the opportunity for a loser-bracket team to beat an undefeated team just once to earn the top seed coming out of the pool. Japan beat South Korea 14-2 in pool play, sending South Korea to the losers bracket, but now that SK has earned the chance to play Japan in the tournament finale, they only need one victory to earn first-place honors over the Japanese? That doesn't seem fair to Japan, especially if South Korea wins by fewer than 12 runs.

Furthermore, Japan won 14-2 in 7 innings, a mercy rule victory. If a tiebreaker is applied to a SK victory in the final game of the pool, should Korea be forced to win by more runs in just as many innings?

The obvious remedy, which would avoid the need for a tiebreaker altogether, is to schedule a double-header if the Koreans happen to beat the Japanese in game six, thereby creating a one-off championship for the top seed out of the bracket. I'm guessing this was not explored because of overuse of pitchers, especially when the tournament mandates strict pitch-count limits.

That said, there are some big games Monday in pool play:

Pool A: South Korea vs. Japan, 5:30 am EST
*Winner earns top seed from pool & likely avoids Cuba in game one of Pool 1

Pool B: Mexico vs. South Africa, 10 am EST
*Loser becomes first to exit pool; winner meets Cuba or Australia

Pool C: Italy vs. Canada, 5:30 pm EST
*Loser becomes first to exit pool; winner meets Venezuela to qualify for Pool 2

Pool D: The Netherlands vs. Puerto Rico, 6:30 pm EST
*Winner advances to Pool 2 and likely avoids USA in game one; loser meets D.R.

My picks:
Japan over South Korea - Japan earns first place in Pool A
Mexico over South Africa - SA heads home while Mexico meets Australia for survival
Canada over Italy - The Italians exit pool play, but Canada gets a shot at Venezuela
Puerto Rico over The Netherlands - The Dominican Republic gets a chance for revenge

USA, Australia roll

Team USA poured it on with an eight-run sixth inning to blow by Venezuela, 15-6 and clinch a spot in round two of the World Baseball Classic. Kevin Youkilis and Adam Dunn each launched their second home run of the tournament.

The USA now waits for Canada, Italy and Venezuela to sort out which one vies for the top seed from Pool C. I'm going to go with Venezuela out of those three.

Australia, meanwhile, beat up on an MLB-laden Mexico lineup, 17-7 in Mexico City. The Aussies piled up 22 hits, scored 13 runs after the fourth inning, and scored at least three runs in five different innings. They get Cuba in the winners bracket of Pool B.

I'm going with Cuba in that one.

Dominican Republic sends Panama packing

The Dominican Republic rebounded from an embarrassing loss to The Netherlands, shutting out Panama, 9-0. Panama is the first team from Pool D to be eliminated. Miguel Olivo powered out two home runs while Nelson Cruz added a third.

And what is it about Johnny Cueto in the month of March? Inferior competition? Cueto worked 4 2/3 innings, striking out five to pick up the win. He allowed three hits and walked one. The Reds would like to see more of that in the regular season.

The Mexican Coors Field

Cuba is taking on South Africa at Foro Sol in Mexico City. The stadium is 7,345 feet about sea level. That's over 2,000 feet higher than the thin-aired Coors Field in Denver. The stadium features fences at 417 to center, 326 down the line to left and 333 down the line to right. That makes it two feet deeper to straightaway center, but much shorter to the gaps and corners than Coors.

You can imagine how the ball might carry at Foro Sol, and it has already. Frederich Cepeda hit an opposite field home run in the first inning to give Cuba a 1-0 lead.

Update (1:48 pm CST): The rare air is proving to be a problem for South African starter Barry Armitage. Frederich Cepeda lifted a two-run, opposite-field home run to right in the second inning. It's 3-0 Cuba.

Update (2:01 pm CST: Cepeda just homered again. This one was a no-doubter. It was a pull shot to right that didn't need the help of thin air. 5-0 Cuba in the third.

Update (2:33 pm CST: Hector Olivera homers the opposite way to right to lead off the Cuban half of the 5th. Another home run potentially aided by altitude. 6-0 Cuba.

Update (6:44 pm CST: The Cubans end up with six home runs, although South Africa did get on the board in the ninth. Cuba wins, 8-1.

South Korea advances from Pool A

After a 14-2 whipping by Japan, South Korea bounced back with a 14-0 shutout of China to advance to round two of the World Baseball Classic. The Koreans join Japan to repeat their respective advancement from 2006. That year Japan won the classic, eliminating South Korea in the semifinals.

South Korea and Japan now battle each other to determine seeding for the second round.

A-Rod opts for surgery

Alex Rodriguez has decided on immediate hip surgery. He's going to miss at least the rest of spring training at the first month of the regular season.

Yankees general manager Brian Cashman, hip specialist Marc Philippon and team physician Chris Ahmad made the announcement in a conference call.

"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.

A-Rod would have to undergo a more invasive surgery after the baseball season to fully repair the torn labrum in his right hip.

Fantasy Analysis: Expect A-Rod's numbers to drop at least a sixth this season and perhaps more. There's not guarantee that he'll come back at optimum form, and there's still the outside chance that he misses even more time. Consider A-Rod an injury-risk third baseman capable of hitting around .300 and 30 home runs. He's most likely a third round pick at this point.

Who is Mike Johnson?

If you were wondering who the heck Canada's Mike Johnson was and why he was starting against a powerful Team USA, here's the answer. Johnson not only pitched in the major leagues, he had an impressive year in China.

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.

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.

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.

All of Trader Jim's deals

Nationals GM Jim Bowden resigned on March 1, leaving his position vacant as Washington closes in on the 2009 season. His shoes will be big to fill. MLB Trade Rumors says "Trader Jim" made 168 deals during him time as a GM with both Cincinnati and Washington. That's a lot of activity from one GM.

Rapidly aging Guerrero

Vladimir Guerrero is one year older than previously thought. He's 34, not 33.

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."

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.

I'm wondering if Vlad might be even older than 34.

Fantasy Impact: This revelation means Guerrero's slip in numbers last season might not be an off year as much as it could be the beginning of the end. His .521 SLG and .302 AVG were his worst since 1997. His 27 home runs matched his 2008 total, but both were also his worst since '97 when he only played a half-season. Guerrero is still a viable fantasy option, but he's no longer a second-round draft pick. If he slips to round five, however, Guerrero could be a major steal, especially if offseason knee surgery helps him bounce back.

Venezuela kings Italy

Felix Hernandez looked like the king of the hill Saturday in Toronto. The Venezuelan ace over matched Team Italy, striking out four in four innings on the way to a 7-0 victory. King Felix gave up just three base runners.

Hernandez looks like he's dropped weight. He was in solid form, and might be able to put up some gaudy fantasy numbers. He's only 23, and he's already won 39 MLB games.

Anyone think the Italians uniforms looked like the Dodgers?

Japan jumps Korea

Japan whipped Korea 14-2 to become the first team to advance from pool play in the 2009 World Baseball Classic.

All five MLB players in the Japanese starting lineup contributed in the lopsided win: Ichiro recorded three hits and three runs. Kenji Johjima had three hits, two runs and two RBI. Kosuke Fukudome had a hit and a run. Akinori Iwamura scored twice on a pair of walks.

Daisuke Matsuzaka picked up the win, giving up two runs in four innings.