FanHouse TimoPerez

Speedy Angels infielder Erick Aybar has made quite a name for himself in the Dominican Winter League thus far. He's rocking a .358 batting average and has hit for the cycle.

Of course, the biggest news came in ugly fashion recently, as he was involved in a brawl. This wasn't just your garden variety baseball brawl, where the player charges the mound and everyone gets separated before any real damage is done. Apparently Aybar was dotted with a pitch and charged the mound. What ensued was quite the fracas:

Aybar answered by charging pitcher Julio de Paula with his bat, and the fans responded by pelting players with expletives as well as cups, bottles and a huge plastic trash can. Video of the incident is of poor quality, but it shows several players who cannot be readily identified repeatedly throwing things into the stands.

Also of note, Timo Perez and Ronnie Belliard are being investigated along with Aybar by the league. The Angels have been advised that there is little evidence connecting Aybar to the object-throwing.

When Kenny Rogers fired agent Scott Boras, most people figured it was because Boras was shopping his client around the majors when all he really wanted to do was re-sign with the Tigers. Well, most people were correct: the Tigers announced that Rogers signed a one-year deal today. The Tigers had a teleconference announcing the deal, during which Bilfer from the Detroit Tigers Weblog took notes:

Kenny's negotiation process: There was never a lot of change in his position. He wanted to make sure that he represented what was done best for himself and his family. The change in representation had more to do with Rogers intent to stay in Detroit than anything to do with Boras. He was trying to simplify the process so he could communicate directly with the team. If Rogers had decided to become a free agent in the true sense, Boras would still be his agent.

Rogers also revealed there are performance incentives in the contract, although the exact terms of the deal are still unknown. If I had to guess, I'd wager he's making somewhere close to $8 million and $10 million next year, but we'll have to wait to get the official word later.