That’s one thing I could always count on. Seattle not having great pitching to make them a real threat. Looks like that’s not happening – saw this story about the Orioles trading Eric Bedard to the Mariners.
Darnit.
The thing that bugs me the most is not that we didn’t get him, or even that he’s in a division rival, is the fresh round of emails we’ll see in the various newsletters published by the DMN and mlb.com about the Rangers. How many are we going to see that say “Why weren’t we in on that?” Sigh.
Progressive Field
Well, it turns out one of the ballparks that I didn’t think they’d change the name for are going to be changing their name. Since 1994, the Indians park has been called Jacobs Field after former team owner Richard Jacobs.
Anyway, starting in 2008 it will be “Progressive Field”. Oh well. Another name that will get ignored to the tune of $3.6 million dollars a year. Don’t know any fan that gets excited about a corporate name. It’ll still be “Jacobs Field”. Guess I need to update my ballparks article with this info.
What’s interesting to me is that as I write this at 9:30AM on Friday the 11th, it’s not on the Indians site or mlb.com at all. Found out via an AP wire story on Yahoo.
Roger Clemens
The Mitchell Report and the Rangers
Ranger names named in the Mitchell Report:
After a quick search of the full Mitchell Report (avilable here) turns up these players who were with the Texas Rangers at some point in their career, although not necessarily when they were with the Rangers at the time.
- Ferguson Jenkins (Page 29) – Then commissioner Kuhn suspended Jenkins for his refusal to cooperate in an investigation into his own arrest for marijuana, hash, & cocaine.
- Jose Canseco (Page 66) – No further comment needed on this.
- John Hart / Juan Gonzalez (Page 98) – I’ll just quote.. “By early in the 2002 season, however, Presinal was observed in and around the clubhouse of the Texas Rangers (where Juan Gonzalez was playing at the time). Sign-in records indicate that Presinal was in the Rangers clubhouse frequently that season. The Rangers also reserved (but did not pay for) rooms for Presinal at the club’s hotels that season. The Rangers’ general manager, John Hart, was aware of the October 2001 incident and Presinal’s alleged role in it”. Busting John Hart was a bit of a surprise.
- David Segui (Page 150) – He has already publically admitted his use, no surprise here.
- Gregg Zaun (Page 179) – Apparently bought some steroids when he was with Kansas City. He never had that “look” of a steroid user, though.
- Hicks/Daniels (Page 204) – This page says the two had suspicions of Miguel Tejada when there was some talk of acquring him in December 2005.
- Mike Stanton (Page 205) – Apparently bought in 2001 when he was with the Mets.
- Jerry Hairston Jr (Page 207 & 251) – According to this page, he bought in 2003, after being referred to by Segui, and then again in 2004.
- Kevin Brown (Page 214) – According to this, he was referred to by Paul LoDuca when the two were teammates for the Dodgers.
- Eric Gagne (Page 217) – Appears that he bought sometime between 1999 and 2004 (again referred to by LoDuca).
- Gary Matthews Jr (Page 252) – Says what we already knew, that he received a package of HGH in August 2004 at an address by then Ranger minor leaguer Chad Allen.
- Ismael Valdez (Page 255) – Says that he bought $2500 of HGH in Sep 2002 while with the Mariners.
- Steve Woodard (Page 256) – Mentions he recieved steroids & HGH, but does not say WHEN.
- Jamie Reed (Page 299) – Rangers trainer is mentioned as someone who is anti-steroid.
That’s my quick scan of the 409 page document for “Texas Rangers”. If I missed someone, please comment on it.
Interesting that the report says that John Hart was “aware” of events during his tenure – and Juan Gonzalez is linked to him, too.
UPDATE: In my quick scan I missed a few players. I’ve looked at a few compiled lists since then, and saw that these guys were named, too.
- John Rocker
- Ken Caminiti – No surprise there, he admitted it.
- Manny Alexander
Rafael Palmeiro & Sammy Sosa are listed, but only regarding interviews; no implication of them “using” that I can find.
Torii Hunter
I was planning on writing about Torii Hunter today, and how Arte Moreno seems to be trying to do what we tried to do in 2001 with Galarraga, Caminiti, & Arod by trying to be George Steinbrenner.
I don’t feel like writing about that after reading about Joe Kennedy. Seems petty. Hunter went for the cash grab. He would have been nice here, but oh well. Probably will make a run at Aaron Rowand, but at this point, it wouldn’t surprise me to see Marlon Byrd out there in 2008.
UPDATE: There’s a good post with a summary of various people’s feelings about Torii Hunter and the Angels. If you haven’t checked it out yet, you should. I particularly get a kick out of the notion read about moving Vlad Guerrero to permanent DH. One of the best arms in baseball, and you stick him in the DH hole. Smart.
UPDATE 2: Don’t forget Adam Morris’ thoughts on the matter. It’s pretty much what I feel anyway, so go read what Adam wrote I concur. :)
RIP Joe Kennedy
Black Friday, indeed. Saw this on ESPN a few minutes ago.
Free-agent pitcher Joe Kennedy, who played for Oakland, Arizona and Toronto in 2007, died early Friday of undetermined causes, reports ESPN.com’s Jerry Crasnick. He was 28.
May all of God’s blessings be with the Kennedy family, who obviously lost someone way too soon. I just hope that God’s plan for Joe’s early exit from the Earth will end up serving some greater cause.
Godspeed to Joe Kennedy, may his journey forward in the next life be one filled with the love from our heavenly Father.
Barry Bonds
Well, Barry Bonds was indicted this afternoon. I think this surprises uh, nobody? I’m not going to get into all the fiasco of that situation. I almost don’t care at all. I just wanted to bring two pictures up to the top of the site since he was indicted today.
They’re pictures taken in Philadelphia in 2006 when Bonds played there. I know Philly fans have a bit of a “reputation”, but sometimes it’s perfect. Several of the fans in left field at a particular game had some rather inventive signs out there. One was having a ton of them hold up asterisk signs. That was funny.
The other was a multi section, really long banner (with Bonds standing in front of it for added flavor) that said, “Ruth did it on hot dogs and beer, Aaron did it with class, how did you do it?” Quite amusing. Check ’em out:
Sosa, Hairston file for free agency
Another gaggle of players filed for free agency yesterday. The first two Texas Rangers have done that as wel, those being Jerry Hairston Jr (who probably won’t be back), and Sammy Sosa (who could if all the stars align).
While I didn’t find a list of just who filed yesterday, mlb.com now has a list of all the players who have filed; that list is available here.
So the fun begins
OK, I knew I couldn’t wait all offseason to have something to say. The Arod opt out kind of kicked me into doing something. :) It’s quite weird but in the last few seasons, I’ve enjoyed all the off season business stuff just as much as the actual games. Don’t know when that happened. Maybe I could get a job for Scott Boras. I know he has some money to throw around.
Anyway, no Texas Rangers filed for free agency on the first day of eligibility, but 57 players did, including several ex Rangers, and a few players that are supposedly on the Rangers’ radar this offseason. They are:
American League:
A’s: Jeff DaVanon, Shannon Stewart
Angels: Bartolo Colon
Blue Jays: Joe Kennedy, Matt Stairs
Indians: Trot Nixon
Royals: Jason LaRue, Reggie Sanders
Tigers: Sean Casey, Todd Jones
Twins: Torii Hunter, Carlos Silva
Yankees: Doug Mientkiewicz, Jorge Posada, Alex Rodriguez, Mariano Rivera, Luis Vizcaino
National League:
Astros: Brad Ausmus, Mike Lamb, Mark Loretta, Trever Miller, Brian Moehler, Orlando Palmeiro
Braves: Julio Franco, Ron Mahay
Brewers: Francisco Cordero, Ray King, Corey Koskie, Scott Linebrink, Damian Miller
Cardinals: Miguel Cairo, David Eckstein, Troy Percival, Kip Wells
Cubs: Kerry Wood
Diamondbacks: Jeff Cirillo, Livan Hernandez, Bob Wickman
Giants: Barry Bonds, Pedro Feliz
Marlins: Armando Benitez
Mets: Marlon Anderson, Luis Castillo, Ramon Castro, Damion Easley, Shawn Green, Paul LoDuca
Nationals: Robert Fick
Padres: Michael Barrett, Milton Bradley
Phillies: Jon Lieber, Jose Mesa, Abraham Nunez, Aaron Rowand
Pirates: Tony Armas, Jr
Rockies: Jeremy Affeldt, Jorge Julio
If you’re reading this site, you know who the Rangers are likely to go after (Torii Hunter, Aaron Rowand are the most named). There’s some on there that I probably wouldn’t mind bringing back on a flier (Ron Mahay, Cordero, but he’d likely want too much $ and guaranteed closer). Bartolo Colon couldn’t hurt, although I wonder if he’d sign here. Kerry Wood in the bullpen, perhaps?
There’s quite a few of the oh dear God no – don’t think that on that list. :)
And is Julio Franco a formality? Isn’t he retiring?
The Best of Times; The Worst of Times
Sports tonight was most definitely a mixed bag. Big time. My emotions were all over the place. Such highs. Such lows..
It was the best of times..
It was the worst of times..
Even as bad (and I do mean BAD – it was really really awful) as that third picture was, I can still take solace in the fact that
THE YANKEES LOSE! THAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA YANKEES LOSE!
In an unrelated comment to either of these. Is it just me, or does Chip Caray sound just like Joe Buck? I kept thinking Joe Buck was working the game, and I remembered this wasn’t Fox.
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