It's that time of year. No, not Christmas ... but many baseball clubs will find presents under their tree on July 31st, the non-waiver trade deadline. Unfortunately, fans of other teams will find coal as their best players will most likely be dealt for an ongoing five-year plan (sorry, A's fans.)
The two pictured above will probably not deal with each other (and if they do, I doubt they'll seal it with a man-hug.) But Yankees' GM Brian Cashman and Mets GM Omar Minaya are most assuredly in play for the trade deadline, along with about 20 other GM's. And with that many in play, there's bound to be a ton of rumors. AOL's baseball editor Andrew Johnson and I will attempt to separate the rumors you should pay attention to from the rumors that are just plain wacky in another fun MLB chat at 2PM ET (11 AM for Dodgers and Angels fans on the west coast.) Please do join us.
The Dugout is a feature at FanHouse that brings the lives of Major League Baseball players directly to you...sort of. The official chatroom of the MLB keeps you up to date with all the recent happenings of your favorite players both on the field and off.
I take almost as much interest in the absolutely horrible MLB players as I do the excellent. Seeing a guy play like a little leaguer is just so much more fun to me than seeing a great play. I mean, how many times has Pujols made you laugh to the point of tears? That's right. A hell of a lot less than Jeff Weaver.
I've seen Byung-Hyun Kim's career from start to finish (about 3 years) and I can't figure out why he keeps showing up on the field. Granted, he shows flashes of mediocrity, but let's notch that under the broken clock column.
His 9 runs in 4+ innings last night was funny enough, but throw in three hit batsmen that sparked head targeting practice and you've got yourself some Grade-A entertainment. The events in their entirety can be viewed after the jump.
The Dugout is a feature at Fanhouse that brings the lives of Major League Baseball players directly to you...sort of. The official chatroom of the MLB keeps you up to date with all the recent happenings of your favorite players both on the field and off.
When Jim Thome hit his 500th tater for a walkoff yesterday my first emotion was absolute elation. He's easily one of the most admirable human beings ever to grace the spotlight and to see him reach such a milestone in as much grace as he's displayed his entire career put a smile on my face for the rest of the day. Well, at least until the Red Sox lost. Then I saw the Patriots score again and let out a mighty Thome chortle.
You can check out his response to the event after the jump.
The Dugout is a webcomic (sort of) that depicts AOL chats between your favorite professional baseball players, managers and front office folk alike. Past editions.
I'd feel sorry for the Mets if I hadn't had so many outstanding bets on Pedro Martinez's health. Chan Ho Park was recently designated for assignment and replaced with, by definition, the worst pitcher now in the bigs. I can't blame them, though. It's not like Park has any value whatsoever, so you may as well try to dump his money on some team and see if any of your youth can, you know, get an ERA under 15.75.
Hang in there, Mets fans. It's only May...
See Willie Randolph giving Chan the boot after the jump.
As much as I hate the Sunday Night Baseball crew over at ESPN they're still 100x better than Joe Buck and/or Tim McCarver, who you can expect me to make fun of in due time.
Check out the conversation between Joe Morgan, Jon Miller, and Peter Gammons after the jump.
The Dugout is a webcomic (sort of) that depicts AOL chats between your favorite professional baseball players, managers and front office folk alike.
Like any baseball fan who wanted to actually see some success come out of their fantasy pitching staff without losing their entire offense I passed on Santana and overpaid for Oswalt. I watched him pitch 7.2 magnificent innings today and then I almost puked my heart onto the floor.
Did I really manage to completely ignore Brad Lidge's presence on the Astros? Ever since Albert Pujols knocked him to hell and back in 2005 he's been less trustworthy than Tony LaRussa after 3 beers.
So he blew the game and Oswalt didn't get the win (obviously), but that's alright. I've still got my all-star staff of Francisco Liriano, Roger Clemens, Pedro Martinez, and "Goose" Gossage. Seriously, how dumb are the guys in my league?
Check out some smack talk between Pujols and Lidge after the jump.
The Dugout is a webcomic (sort of) that depicts AOL chats between your favorite professional baseball players, managers and front office folk alike.
So someone decided that A-Rod has taken enough abuse and put up a site to encourage fans to cheer him on throughout every at bat, no matter how poorly he may be doing. Call me naive, but I don't think it's going to work. If my memory isn't on the fritz these are the same fans who booed Derek Jeter in April of 2004.
If you had asked 16 year-old me to list 25 people who would never get booed at Yankee Stadium it would start with Derek Jeter and the rest would be former presidents.
Check out a conversation between Arod, Jeter, and Rowdy Kyle Farnsworth after the jump.
Hello and welcome to the first installment of the Dugout on Fanhouse. The Dugout is a webcomic (sort of) that depicts AOL chats between your favorite professional baseball players, managers and front office folk alike.
The Dugout is a feature at FanHouse that brings the lives of Major League Baseball players directly to you...sort of. The official chatroom of the MLB keeps you up to date with all the recent happenings of your favorite players both on the field and off.
As much as I hate the Sunday Night Baseball crew over at ESPN they're still 100x better than Joe Buck and/or Tim McCarver, who you can expect me to make fun of in due time.
The Dugout 
