MLB: Hot Stove Time

[Stuie]

Glad the Phillies stayed away from a deal like that. Rowand went with the money and the crappy team instead of less money and another shot at the playoffs. Guess one ring is enough for him.

[Stuie]

Glad the Phillies stayed away from a deal like that. Rowand went with the money and the crappy team instead of less money and another shot at the playoffs. Guess one ring is enough for him.

Makes me appreciate a guy like Mike Lowell who stayed put for less guaranteed money.

[Arrian]

Mike Lowell still got a big payday, and you have to think the market for him dropped after the Yanks were out of it (ARod resigning). Who was going to pay him significantly more?

If you want someone to appreciate, have a look at Tim Wakefield's contract.

-Arrian

[Imran Siddiqui]

Dan Haren is now a Diamondback. In return, the A's get OF Carlos Gonzalez, LHP Brett Anderson, OF Aaron Cunningham, 1B Chris Carter, LHP Greg Smith and LHP Dana Eveland. Basically the D'Backs emptied the farm system to get Haren.

[snoopy369]

Originally posted by Imran Siddiqui
Be glad you didn't get him . It's 5 years for $60 mil. $12 a mil for a CF who may be decent in defence, but you aren't sure what offensive player will show up. Yeah, he had a very good offensive year this year and he was very good with the bat in 2004. But in 05 and 06 he was pretty bad.

Who is the real Rowand?

He's amazing on defense, and not THAT bad on offense. Take a look at the rest of our outfield...

[Imran Siddiqui]

Originally posted by snoopy369
He's amazing on defense, and not THAT bad on offense. Take a look at the rest of our outfield...

It depends on which Rowand you get. This year's? Yeah, good for it. 2006's (86 OPS+) or 2005's (93 OPS+)? Not a chance in Hell!

And yes, I realize that Owens and Podsednik suck, but $12 mil a year can go a long way.

[SlowwHand]

Yet another reason I prefer cats.

The baseball from the final out of the 2007 World Series is at Jonathan Papelbon's home in Hattiesburg, Miss., according to the Hattiesburg American.


Well, part of it is.


The rest? You should ask the Boss.


If he could talk, he might say it was delicious. But the most he'll say is "woof."


"Boss," you see, is Jonathan Papelbon's dog. Boss likes to play with baseballs. And Boss found the baseball that Red Sox catcher Jason Varitek gave the closer after he struck out the Rockies' Seth Smith to clinch Boston's second World Series title in four years, the newspaper reported.


And Papelbon was left with a common excuse for not doing one's homework to explain what happened to a historic baseball artifact.


"My dog ate it," Papelbon told the newspaper. "He plays with baseballs like they are his toys. His name is Boss. He jumped up one day on the counter and snatched it. He likes rawhide. He tore that thing to pieces.


"I'll keep what's left of it," he told the paper.


After the 2004 World Series, the Red Sox and first baseman Doug Mientkiewicz haggled over custody of the ball that produced the final out of the team's Series championship in 86 years. Both sides eventually decided to give the ball to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, N.Y.

[Arrian]

Boss. Good doggie!

-Arrian

[SlowwHand]

Jason Jennings joins Rangers.

[Ming]

From Steroid Nation.

Was Jose Canseco shaking down Magglio Ordonez over the "Juice"?
His new book entitled "Vindicated", Jose Canseco may well be 'vilified'. A report from the New York Times accuses Canseco of shaking down Magglio Ordonez for investment money. Allegedly Canseco -- or a surrogate -- offered a quid pro quid deal: if Ordonez invested in a Canseco movie project his name would not be brandished in the "Juiced" sequel "Vindicated", identified as a steroid user. Sounds like a blackmail scheme -- investment money or be named in a steroid expose book. Canseco denies the scheme, and Ordonez is equivocal.

As reported here, Canseco planned on penning a follow-up to his steroid expose "Juiced", due out by MLB opening day 2008. However Canseco lost his ghostwriter, then he lost his publisher. The Times reported less than 24 hours ago, Jose renegotiated a publisher for "Vindicated". Allegedly Canseco tried to negotiate more than that.

José Canseco, the former major league slugger and admitted steroid user who exposed other players in his 2005 best-selling book “Juiced,” offered to keep a Detroit Tigers outfielder “clear” in his next book if the player invested money in a film project Canseco was promoting, according to a person in baseball with knowledge of the situation.

Four people in baseball confirmed that referrals were made from Major League Baseball to the F.B.I. regarding Canseco’s actions relating to the six-time All-Star outfielder Magglio Ordóñez, who was not mentioned in Canseco’s earlier book or in any other report on performance-enhancing drugs in baseball. All four insisted on anonymity because they said they didn’t have authority to speak about the events.

The F.B.I. did not open a formal investigation because Ordóñez said he did not want to pursue the complaint.

Canseco denied that he — or any associate of his — ever asked Ordóñez for money to keep his name out of a book titled “Vindicated.”

A reticent Ordonez stated Canseco never actually shook him down. However Ordonez sought the counsel of Tiger's management:

He confirmed that he had talked about Canseco’s reaching out to him with Tigers General Manager Dave Dombrowski last summer. The Tigers passed the complaint on to the commissioner’s office in New York, which then filed a complaint with the F.B.I.

Asked whether Canseco had ever specifically asked him for money, Ordóñez said, “No.”

“One of José’s friends was leaving me messages,” Ordóñez said. “I told Dombrowski because I didn’t know why he was calling me.”

Dombrowski declined to comment. “Any of the conversations I have with players would be between me and players,” he said in a phone interview Wednesday.

Ordonez's agent Steve Boros also lodged a complaint about Canseco's alleged strong armed tactics:

Asked whether Canseco’s alleged actions constitute extortion, Daniel C. Richman, a professor at Columbia Law School and a former federal prosecutor, said it would be a hard case to prove. “A demand for an investment isn’t as obvious of a threat, and a jury may be less likely to see it as extortion compared to a demand for hard cash,” he said.

The Times commented that 'extortion' would be a tough prove; however if Canseco allegedly threatened naming Ordonez's name, that would be more like 'blackmail' (the difference is in the legality of the vindictive action).

Canseco's version of juicing gained more credibility recently; any hints of hanky-panky on his part hurts credibility of his books, and perhaps even the Mitchell Report. If this report pans out, Canseco's reputation, always on a roller-coaster, would take a dive; however, the former A's slugger often pulls out of nosedives.

Interesting to see where this ride leads.

True enough...

[reismark]

We have a winner in the Santana Derby...

Santana dealt to Mets

The haul for the Twins: Gomez, Humber, Mulvey and Deolis Guerra.

Good. The evil ones don't get him, and the Yankees don't need to give up Hughes and Cabrera to prevent them from doing so. I'm more than happy to see Santana in a Mets uniform.

[Imran Siddiqui]

Wow, the Mets actually did... and didn't have to give up Reyes in the deal. Now to resign him (needed for the deal to go through).

Gomez and Humber will likely be good (but not great necessarily). Mulvey and Guerra are 2nd tier prospects.

Good deal, Minaya

[snoopy369]

Thank god he's gone from the ALC... now we have to figure out a way to beat the rest of the team

[-Jrabbit]

Mets are looking very strong now.

[Arrian]

Yay. Relieved.

Though the Mets seem to have done very well. The package they are giving up isn't all that great.

-Arrian