A few weeks ago there was quite a bit of controversy surrounding Phillies outfielder Raul Ibanez, steroids and a blog. More specifically, a media firestorm started when a blogger named JRod wrote a post on MidwestSportsFans.com that looked at the possibility of Ibanez using steroids because of the way he'd been playing in the 2009 season.
The Philadelphia Inquirer then picked up on the story, brought it to Ibanez, Raul responded and then the next thing we knew Jerod Morris, JRod, was showing up on ESPN's Outside the Lines and was berated by Ken Rosenthal and John Gonzalez. Morris was shown off as the latest example of all things wrong with blogging and had to be reprimanded for his seemingly innocuous deed.
From the Windup is FanHouse's extended look at a particular portion of America's pastime.
The results of the baseball Hall of Fame voting will be revealed Monday (2:00 PM ET), and there's a good chance Jim Rice will finally make it. Andre Dawson almost certainly will not. While I believe Rice has a good case to be in the Hall of Fame, I am left wondering how he's become so much more qualified than Dawson -- at least by the electorate. Really, if you factor in all aspects of play, they are equally deserving of entry into Cooperstown.
Let's take a look at the case of Rice and compare him to Dawson.
Ken Rosenthal's column on FoxSports.com is usually a good place to find a juicy trade rumor or two. He'll throw in another couple of nuggets from his contacts around the league to round things out and he's very good at providing an insidery look at the game of baseball. He's not quite as good at the moralizing columnist thing, if his most recent work is any guide.
Rosenthal takes Alex Rodriguez to task for choosing not to take part in the Home Run Derby at Yankee Stadium tonight. He says he doesn't want to hear about the Derby messing up A-Rod's "precious" swing.
Yes, several recent Derby participants - Bobby Abreu, David Wright, Alex Rios - had their home-run production decline after they competed in the event. But those dropoffs might have occurred anyway. These are the best hitters in the game. They can't adjust?
Now what's a more believable scenario, these are stupid, shiftless players who chose whining over making adjustments or that the Derby affects your swing? The idea that a player should risk a slump and hurting the team that pays his salary to take part in glorified batting practice is a ridiculous one. Rosenthal meant precious as a slight but at $275 million, it seems like a pretty appropriate word.
Alex Rodriguez is about to have himself quite an offseason. Preempting the World Series wasn't enough; now A-Rod will embark on the quest known as free agency. What will he choose? If you were him, what would you choose?
With a nod to the classic "Choose Your Own Adventure" series, we at the MLB FanHouse decided to offer you those choices. Dive in, and see what you'd do if you lived inside No. 13's skull. The choices are almost endless ...
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You have just awoken from a terrible dream. You look around. It's impossible to see anything in the dark beyond the eerie glow of the your wall-mounted HDTV.
You slowly realize you are watching the eighth inning of the World Series, the latest in which you have not participated. Ken Rosenthal is on the screen, and his words send a chill up your spine.
"Alex Rodriguez has decided to opt out of his contract, Scott Boras has informed the media tonight ...Boras cited uncertainty within the Yankees organization as Rodriguez's reasons ..."
So ... it is done.
You could listen to the reaction, but you know what everyone will say. Instead, you flip the TV off and head downstairs to your sparkling in-home gym. Better start working out now, you think. Lots of people to disprove. There always are.
Because you are Alex Rodriguez. And you have some choices to make.
Byrd is not only acknowledging the use of HGH and claiming it was prescribed by a doctor, he is openly discussing it in his new book and talking about it with Rosenthal:
"I have not taken any hormone apart from a doctor's care and supervision," Byrd said. "The Indians, my coaches and MLB have known that I have had a pituitary gland issue for some time and have assisted me in getting blood tests in different states. I am currently working with an endocrinologist and will have another MRI on my head after the season to make sure that the tumor hasn't grown."
In his book, Byrd says, he "shares some of the temptations I have had in MLB to cheat by scuffing baseballs and taking more than the prescribed dose of a particular hormone to increase the speed of my fastball. In the end, as scouts can testify, I did neither."
In the book, Byrd apparently discusses his lifelong hormone imbalance, which caused his mother to put him on Ritalin as a child and which pushed him to see a doctor in adulthood.
So ... yeah. No idea what to make of all of this, but Byrd is handling the situation with open discussion and explanation instead of disguises and "no comments," which is encouraging. It could all be nonsense, and Paul Byrd could be every bit as guilty of cheating the system as anyone else. Either that, or he's really, really savvy at book promotion. At this point, who knows?
The Padres, continuing in their attempt to upgrade their starting rotation, have claimed Igawa off waivers, major league sources told FOXSports.com.
San Diego was awarded the claim on Friday, and the two teams have until the end of the weekend to work out a trade for the 28-year-old Japanese pitcher. If no deal can be worked out in that time frame, Igawa would remain in New York for at least the rest of the season.
No American League team put a claim on Igawa, nor did any National League with a worse record than San Diego.
Considering the Yanks paid a total of $46 million for Igawa (26 of which went as a negotiating fee to the Hanshin Tigers), Rosenthal believes it is unlikely the Yanks let Igawa go. That sounds reasonable, as Igawa has another four years to turn things around in New York. Similarly, the Yanks have already been burned by trading Jose Contreras, and probably wouldn't want the same thing to happen with Kei. Now, Hideki Irabu, well that's a completely different story.
He might not be the biggest name in baseball, but he sure has one of the biggest bats (and other body parts if I'm reading into his part project-part donkey nickname correctly). Ken Rosenthal of Foxsports.com reports that the Indians have signed DH Travis Hafner to a four-year $57 million extension. The 30-year-old was eligible for free agency following the 2008 season, so this extension would keep him in Cleveland through 2012. Rosenthal adds that the Indians will up Hafner's salary for this year and next year in order to make up for the lack of a signing bonus.
This has to be fantastic news for Travis Hafner. Not only is he one of the most underrated, prolific sluggers in the game, but at his previous salary, he was one of the most underpaid. In addition, the extension could be a weight lifted off Hafner's shoulders. Pronk was one of the few sluggers in the game to notch an OPS over 1.000 the past two seasons, making his respectable .849 clip this year somewhat disappointing. This could be the news that revitalizes Pronk's bat, and helps carry the Indians to a division title in the heat of a tumultuous race with the Tigers.
Jeanne Zelasko may not have been paying attention when Ken Rosenthal reported during last night's game that the Mariners and Ichiro Suzuki have come to terms on a new contract, or maybe she just doesn't hear very well after spending all those years in the pits of NASCAR races, but you can't really blame her for being unaware of Ichiro's contract situation. After all, if you ask Ichiro or the Mariners, they'll pretend they have no idea what you're talking about. Even Ichiro's agent will tell you that the two sides are still talking.
Yet there is one source, probably the same source Rosenthal got a hold of, that says the deal is basically done and has been for a while. It's just the Mariners are delaying the announcement to avoid a potential controversy.
One source said that the deal was essentially done, but that the club wanted to wait on making an announcement to put some distance between the July 1 resignation of manager Mike Hargrove and the announcement of Ichiro's deal.
It's not exactly a secret that when Hargrove first came to Seattle, he and Ichiro weren't exactly best friends. The relationship between the two got better as time passed, but the Mariners are still worried that announcing the new deal so close to Hargrove's resignation may make it seem as though Ichiro gave an "It's him or Ichiro," type ultimatum.
Mike Hargrove denies that's the case.
"If they had come to me and said it was me or Ichiro, I would never have left voluntarily," Hargrove said Tuesday. "They would have had to fire me, flat-out fire me. But that was never the case.
"I left on my own terms that had nothing to do with (Ichiro's contract)."
I don't doubt that Hargrove and the Mariners are telling the truth here, but at the same time I'm pretty sure Grover's announcement did nothing but accelerate the deal for Ichiro. Had Hargrove still been the Mariners manager for the rest of the season, I think Ichiro would have tested the market.
And when I say hot, I'm referring to the interest he will spark in other teams you pervs. There are a lot of clubs out there who would be interested in adding an additional starter to their rotation come the trade deadline, and Matt Morris is a guy who would be an excellent addition. Ken Rosenthal believes the Giants would be willing to deal Morris for the right price:
If the White Sox sign left-hander Mark Buehrle, Giants right-hander Matt Morris could become the most attractive starting pitcher on the trade market. Morris' 3.25 ERA is the best ERA among the Giants' starters - an impressive feat, considering the quality of the team's rotation.
The Giants will listen to offers for Morris, but their price almost certainly will be high; Morris, who turns 33 on Aug. 9, sets a veteran example for the Giants' younger starters, and his $9.5 million salary through 2008 is reasonable for a pitcher of his caliber. The Giants almost certainly will want young position players in return . . .
Matter of fact, when a friend told me his team needed pitching but wondered who was available, Morris was the first name out of my mouth. His availability on the market also shows how good the Giants rotation is, which means the rest of their team (e.g. hitting and bullpen) has to be so awful that it has resulted in this squad being in last place. Even without Morris they would still have Tim Lincecum, Matt Cain, Barry Zito, and Noah Lowry. I have to think they'd be able to get along just fine without Morris, and that they would deal him for the right package in return.
So says FOXSports.com writer Ken Rosenthal, as Gaslamp Ball points out. After mentioning that the Dodgers and Padres would both be interested in Jermaine Dye (who isn't interested in Dye these days?), Rosenthal says the Padres are eyeing a deal for Adam Dunn.
Acquiring Dunn would be a risk - he becomes a free agent at the end of the season if he is traded - but that doesn't bother the Padres.
The Reds' price tag, however, probably would.
Dunn is their biggest chip, and the Reds would be excoriated if they traded another offensive part for bullpen help after sending outfielder Austin Kearns and shortstop Felipe Lopez to the Nationals in such a deal last season.
The emergence of right-hander Justin Germano theoretically could make righty Clay Hensley available, but the Padres will need to be careful - they've got two 40-somethings in their rotation, righty Greg Maddux and lefty David Wells, plus oft-injured righty Jake Peavy.
Rosenthal makes a good point about the Padres having old guys in their rotation. And you can never have a surplus of good young pitching. But Dunn is an established power hitter, while Hensley is fresh off a rookie season, and currently in the minors. If the Padres are to attempt such a deal, they better make sure that they can sign Dunn after the year, and that they're certain Hensley won't become a star. I would hate to think that Clay Hensley could be the only thing keeping San Diego from acquiring Adam Dunn. One thing is for sure, if I'm Wayne Krivsky, I'm having buyers line up for Adam, offering the best pitchers they've got.
A few weeks ago there was quite a bit of controversy surrounding Phillies outfielder Raul Ibanez, steroids and a blog. More specifically, a media firestorm started when a blogger named JRod wrote a post on MidwestSportsFans.com that looked at the possibility of Ibanez using steroids because of the way he'd been playing in the 2009 season.
Ken Rosenthal
We're just now getting a hold on this 
That's what 
He might not be the biggest name in baseball, but he sure has one of the biggest bats (and other body parts if I'm reading into his part project-part donkey nickname correctly). 
Jeanne Zelasko 
And when I say hot, I'm referring to the interest he will spark in other teams you pervs. There are a lot of clubs out there who would be interested in adding an additional starter to their rotation come the trade deadline, and 
So says FOXSports.com writer Ken Rosenthal, as 
