Recent Baseball News & Notes

Here's some recent baseball news and notes over the past week or so that you might have missed in the midst of bowl season and the nfl playoffs (go birds!):

1. Cubs sign Milton Bradley: I love this deal for the Cubs. Milton got 3 years, 30 mil (less money than Ibanez) and is a great addition to a Cubs team that is very close to the top. Milton was the best hitter of the OF/DH group (other than Manny) and is also the youngest. He may be a head case, but on a team without an identity (make that a city without an identity), crazy guys are sometimes just what you need.


2. Pat Burrell signs with Rays: Not a bad signing for the Rays. They gave him two years, the second of which will probably be useless. Pat had a resurgence this season, but don't expect much consistency. He's a good signing for them because he has no problem staying out of the limelight and playing second or even third fiddle to other stars in the lineup. Also he should benefit from playing DH and not running around aimlessly in the outfield all season.


3. Giambi close to signing with the A's: This one makes sense. The A's have thrived lately on thriving aging vets like Frank Thomas, Piazza, etc. Giambi is a great OBP guy, so it's easy to see why Beane liked him.


4. Derek Lowe and Manny still unsigned: Another unsurprising fact. These two seem to be the odd superstars out in free agency splurge. The economy has hit these two hard and they won't get anything close to the money they expected earlier this spring.


5. Howard and Hamels hit arbitration soon: How much will they get? Howard is most likely going to break his own record and Hamels should be getting a sweet payday too.


6. J.C. Romero suspended 50 games in '09: Sometimes even the over-the-counter ones can get you. Wake the hell up J.C. that's why they have trainers in the lockerroom.

That's likely not all the baseball news, but that's what you should have seen or heard. Moving forward, there won't be much baseball talk with the NFL Playoffs steamrolling through, but keep an eye on the Bottomline to get just enough baseball fix to keep you going.

Manny Being Mindless

Great article by Peter Gammons (as usual), on Manny and the circus he constantly is the star of. In the past, before the blog and most recently in the blog, I've always defended Manny and his charades. But, there are a lot of new, surprising things Gammons writes that I didn't know.

The most shocking being that he's been unable to play mainly against big-time opposing pitchers, namely: "Joba Chamberlain (twice), Felix Hernandez (twice), Edinson Volquez, Justin Verlander." This is something I find seriously disturbing. I don't care that he wants some absurd contract and is selfish, because let's be honest you find that all over in sports. However, avoiding specific pitchers is simply unacceptable. How you can alienate your teammates and responsibilities is beyond me.

Manny has always been a phenomenal player and this has masked the off-field distractions very nicely. But, I don't know how the clubhouse is dealing with this. Something like this could easily cause a terrible rift on a team that is contending for another World Series championship. Chemistry is an x-factor that you always talk about with the best teams and always seems to be a problem with underachieving ones. The '04 Red Sox had this with Manny then, but I don't know if that can happen again with Manny now.

This should be a very interesting situation to keep an eye on down the stretch. Which shouldn't be difficult because it will be all over ESPN whether you like it or not.