FanHouse Glenallen Hill

So, if you were under the impression the Jason Grimsley affidavit was officially on blast for all to see, you were only half right. It was released back in the summer of '06, but let us not forget, there were still some names blacked out. And, darn it, if we've learned anything about this whole PED baseball mess, it's that we want names and lots of them.

Today, the document was unsealed with no blacked out names to speak of, and here's what we got:

Jose Canseco, Lenny Dykstra, Glenallen Hill and Geronimo Berroa were accused of using steroids by former major league pitcher Jason Grimsley in a federal agent's affidavit unsealed Thursday.

Grimsley also accused Chuck Knoblauch of using human growth hormone; David Segui and Allen Watson of using performance-enhancing drugs; and Rafael Palmeiro and Pete Incaviglia of taking amphetamines, according to IRS Special Agent Jeff Novitzky's sworn statement.

All but Incaviglia, Berroa and Watson were mentioned last week in the Mitchell Report on doping in baseball.

Whoa, no way ... Jose Canseco? I guess no one is safe from the terrors of steroids. At any rate, nothing overly shocking or astounding here. What is of interest, though, is how Roger Clemens' name was allegedly in this thing according to the L.A. Times, but his name never surfaced. I suppose that has to do with Brian McNamee being mentioned by Grimsley as referer for PEDs.

So yes: it looks as if the Grimsley chapter is all read and closed. Don't worry though, there's plenty more to come.

After Tulsa Drillers first base coach Mike Coolbaugh tragically died from a line drive to his head/neck during a game last month, there's been some buzz around baseball that wearing a helmet in the coach's box should become mandatory. Rockies first base coach Glenallen Hill went so far as to start wearing a helmet himself.

Perhaps due to all this, at November's general managers' meeting, making helmets on base coaches a mandatory rule will be discussed.

The measure, which was discussed at a meeting of team scouting and farm directors this week, will be discussed at the general managers' meetings in November. If adopted, it could be implemented as early as next season in the majors and the minors.

[ .. ]

"The issue should be discussed because we had a situation where a tragedy befell someone on the field, and we are the guardians of the sport, and the general managers will make a decision to what level it should be implemented," Jimmie Lee Solomon, M.L.B.'s executive vice president for baseball operations, said yesterday in a telephone interview.

It remains to be seen if they'll actually vote on the measure, but if nothing else, it's at least going to be discussed. Obviously, I would file this one in the "good idea" cabinet. Although, the odds of another incident like Coolbaugh's happening again is slim, it just seems to make sense.

{Via BBTF.}

Partly due to the recent tragic death of Mike Coolbaugh and partly because he's wanted to do it for some time, Rockies 1B coach Glenallen Hill wore a helmet throughout tonight's game against the Padres.

"It just makes sense," he said Tuesday night.

[ ... ]

As a player, Hill hit some balls that whizzed past the pitcher's heads so fast they didn't have time to react. "I was thankful they didn't hit them because they didn't move," Hill said. "They didn't move their glove."

Still, it wasn't until Coolbaugh's death that he decided to don a helmet.

"I had thought about it but didn't want to put it into play," Hill said. "Then, I heard about Mike and it brought a lot of emotions, for his family, his children, safety, how many close calls I've had. It just makes sense."

Hill said he always appreciates it when batters reach first base and hand over their body armor: "I strap the stuff on."

I understand the sentiment here. Really, I do. This certainly isn't a bad idea. But if we're going to start throwing this logic around -- Joe Torre says later in the article that every base coach should be wearing a helmet now -- this should certainly extend to pitchers. They are much closer to the hitter and thus are at a higher risk for injury -- even with gloves.

But until someone dies on the mound from a line drive, I sincerely doubt we're going to be seeing a pitcher in a helmet anytime soon.

One of the bright spots for the Pittsburgh Pirates this year has undoubtedly been Ian Snell. In 95 and 2/3 innings, he's got a 2.63 ERA, a 1.14 WHIP, and 78 strikeouts to go with only 29 walks. After giving up 25 homers last year, he's on pace to give up about half as many this year. Those are some impressive numbers and they put him among the National League elite. After reading those stats, you can imagine why every Pirate fans' heart skipped a couple beats when they heard he would miss his next start. Well, until we heard why. Then we just laughed. From the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette:

The right-hander blistered his finger while cooking in his kitchen.

"I was cooking a chicken breast for a salad and burned my finger," Snell said. "I'm all right, but the salad wasn't too good."

The thing is, by baseball standards, Snell's injury isn't even that strange. There's an entire web page full of weird baseball injuries. Here are some of my favorites:

• Rickey Henderson missed several games because of frost- bite. In August.
• Vince Coleman missed the 1985 World Series when he got rolled up in the tarp machine.
• Chris Brown missed a game with a strained eyelid after sleeping on an eye a funny way.
• Glenallen Hill missed a few games after falling out of his bed while having an arachnophobic dream about spiders. He dreamt that spiders were devouring him, jumped off his bed, fell through a glass table, and crawled through the shards of glass.

Do yourself a favor and finish the list. As for Snell and the Pirates; they're lucky. Snell is only missing one start and should pitch again on Saturday.