Baseball News

Rafael Palmeiro Saga
Palmeiro has been a great "under the radar" star in recent baseball history. It was therefore somewhat shocking when he was one of the players put in the spotlight after Jose Canseco accused him in his book of taking steroids. Rafael's denial in front of a US Congress hearding was quite clear - he had never done anabolic steroids or other performance enhancing drugs. There would be no saga if it weren't for Rafael testing positive for steroids just a few months later, looking like an utter fool and raising questions about his greatness, including the 3,000+ hits and 500+ homeruns. Most fans should find this type of attitude absolutely disgusting.

Baseball season begins
You know that spring is in the air when the Major League Baseball season begins. Everyone is optimistic, though we know that some things haven't changed. The big spenders were out in force this offseason and should do well again (NY Yankees, Mets, Red Sox, etc). The opening series between the defending champion Red Sox and Yankees was won by the Yanks but one thing is for sure, this is one heck of a rivalry and we have a lot of baseball to go through.

Mets make their mark
The New York Mets have been the one team to have taken full advantage of the free-agent talent available this off-season. GM Omar Minaya snared ace righ-hander Pedro Martinez from the Boston Red Sox and won the Carlos Beltran sweepstakes leaving the Astros and Yankees in the dust. The Mets have made a huge investment and may not be done just yet.

Free agent season kicks off
The baseball free agent season has officially kicked off with Doug Brocail becoming the first of 207 free agents to sign with a team. The 37-year-old right-hander was 4-1 with one save and a 4.13 ERA in 43 games with the Rangers last season and resigned for one year, $1 million. There are a lot of other high-profile free agents like Jason Varitek, Pedro Martines, Roger Clemens, Carlos Beltran, Derek Lowe, Troy Percival, Carl Pavano, Eric Milton, and Carlos Delgado who will ofcourse sign for a whole lot more!

Red Sox do the impossible
A couple of weeks ago I and just about every baseball fan had just about written off the Boston Red Sox. But obviously they themselves had not. The Red Sox came back from a 0-3 deficit to defeat the New York Yankess and have continued that hot streak in defeating the St. Louis Cardinals in 4 straight games to win the World Series championship. Red Sox Nation has endured through a 86 year drought and curse or no curse, this 2004 Red Sox team surely had lady luck on their side. Maybe for a change, the Babe was looking over their shoulders!

Bonds in the news again
It seems that Barry Bonds just cannot get himself off the front pages these days. It started with the Balco investigation, then turned into the home rum record hype as he surpassed 700 career dingers this season and now it has come back to the Balco/steroid controversy. The San Francisco Chronicle is reporting that they have a recording of Bonds' trainer Greg Anderson, where he admits to proviing the Giants slugger with anabolic steroids. He even goes on to brag that these drugs could never be detected in a doping test, even if they were taken the same day as the test. Everyone (Bonds and Anderson) seems to be denying this story now and the Chronicle received this recording "anonymously" but one thing is clear - it is very likely that there is an abundance of high-tech anabolic steroids in sports, and that the various sports organizations are on the cusp of some big time backlash.

Caminiti dies from overdose
Ken Caminiti was a fierce competitor, playing through various injuries and pain. But he also had help, help that later on in his career turned on him and led his life in a spiral and may have eventually cost him his life. Caminiti admitted to abusing steroids in his MVP winning season and had a long history of alcohol and drug problems. He died last week in the Bronx, due to a heart attack, caused by an apparent drug overdose. Caminiti spent most of his career with the Astros and Padres. He made his major league debut with Houston in 1987.

Gwynn one step closer to Hall of Fame induction
The San Diego Padres retired Tony Gwynn's number 19 earlier this month in a nice ceremony honoring one of baseball's most prolific hitters. Throughout the late 1980s and 1990s there weren't too many hitters in either the American League or the National League who hit as well and more so, as consistently well as Tony Gwynn. He retired with a .339 batting average, much of which was achieved in an era before hitting really took off. It is only a matter of the mandated waiting time before Gwynn be inducted in the baseball Hall of Fame in Copperstown. He truly deserves that honor.

Home Run Derby still has some magic
A few years ago Major League Baseball grabbed onto the offensive aspect of the sport. Out went the low scoring games and all of a sudden, baseball was on the verge of becoming a homerun derby. Records were broken as the likes of Cecil Fielder, Jose Canseco, Mark McGwire, Sammy Sosa and Barry Bonds went on to hit an enormous number of homeruns. But as I was watching the homerun derby on TV, I couldn't help notice that the guys in real contention were not the bonafide sluggers. I was most impressed with Miguel Tejada and Lance Berkman who both hit plenty of homeruns (and some real long ones) while the likes of Sammy Sosa made early exits. Tejada eventually came out on top and though he is no slouch, he proved that hitting a home-run is more than brute strength.

Griffey reaches magical 500 number
Ken Griffey Jr reached the magical number of 500 home runs in a game against Matt Morris of the St. Louis Cardinals. This puts Griffey as only one of three active players with 500+ homers. Griffey was the fastest to 350, 400 and 450 before being slowed by injuries the last three seasons. From 2001-03, he played in only 234 games and totaled 43 homers.

So far everything is going as scripted
The baseball season is about a month old and so far everything seems to be going as planned/predicted. The big name teams with the big name player signings are doing well and the usual teams are bringing up the rear. The steroids scandal surrounding Balco and MLB players incluging Barry Bonds and Jason Giambi is still simmering though Bonds is having what should be another stellar season. He has already surpassed his Godfather Willie Mays for career homeruns, now only behind Babe Ruth and Hank Aaron. The Yankees & Red Sox are battling in the AL East, the Twins have gotten off to a quick start and after an off year, the Angels seem to be back in the hunt. In the NL, the defending World Series champion Marlins are holding onto the lead in the tough East, the Astros have raised a few eyebrows leading the NL central thanks to the resurgence of Roger Clemens and the Dodgers are a couple of games ahead of the Padres in the NL West.

Alex Rodriguez lands in NY
We knew that Alex Rodriguez was on the move. The Rangers couldn't afford his outrageous salary and the Red Sox and Yankees were in the running for A. Rod's services. Last week, the Yankees won out by trading for Rodriguez, sending second baseman Alfonso Soriano and a player to be named later, to the Rangers. The Yankees now have an annual payroll that is in excess of $200 million, with 4 contracts that total $100 million or more throughout their duration. New Yorkers should expect a slight increase in their cable bills and what they pay for beer and hot dogs at Yankee stadium.

Holy Pudge!
Ivan Rodriguez has decided to leave the sunny confines of Florida and has signed a 4 year, $40 million deal with the Detroit Tigers. Yes, the Tigers...this should surely be interesting. Rodriguez gets a lot of credit for turning the Marlins rotation around, but I don't know how much of an impact he'll have on the Tigers. The Marlins sure will miss him.

Alex Rodriguez - Manny Ramirez rumors start again
The Alex Rodrigues for Manny Ramirez were back in the fold again. Both players have humungous contracts and are probably the only players who could be traded for. On another note, the Toronto Blue Jays continued the salary parage by inking Cy Young winner Roy Halladay to a huge 4 year, $42 million contract.

Vladimir Guerrero Signs with the Anaheim Angels
It looks like the Montreal Expos lost yet another talented player (nothing new for you Expo fans). Vladimir Guerrero signed a 5 year, $70 million contract with the Anaheim Angels, who have an option for a sixth year. This should add an interesting wrinkle into the already stacked American League. Earlier on it was believed that the Yankees (no surprise) were interested but apparently the Mets and Orioles were the only teams seriously pursuing Guerrero. In 2003 Guerrero hit .330 with 25 home runs and 79 RBIs in just 112 games.

Roger Clemens hasn't retired after all
After a few months of retirement (and all the hoopla during the World Series), Roger Clemens has decided to make a comeback by signing with the hometown Houston Astros. The signing follows the recent departure of Andy Petite (also to the Astros) and David Wells (to the Padres) from the New York Yankees starting rotation. Clemens signed a one-year, $5 million contract with the Astros. The contract though seems pretty flexible with deferred payments, attendance based incentives, a ten year personal services contract, the ability to attend his son't baseball games, etc. The Astros have long had a good hitting lineup but should now be able to compete thanks to the signings of these two potential number one pitchers. Overall it sounds like a pretty sweet deal for the Rocket Man!

Pete Rose comes clean?
Pete Rose recently dropped a bombshell (ok not really) by revealing that he did indeed bet on baseball while he was a MLB manager. The disclosure comes at the heels of a new book that Rose is promoting, a book in which he outlines his gambling problems. Book sales might be one incentive for the free publicity but there are other reasons aswell. The upcoming year is the last chance Pete Rose has to be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame as selected by the writers. If he isn't able to get in he would have to go through the Veterans Committee and Rose's chances seem much slimmer there.

Steinbrenner is back
George Steinbrenner had a bit of a scare, being hospitalized after fainting a few weeks ago. He was back at the team's Legends Field spring training complex and went through his regular workout at the Yankee's minor league complex. A couple of weeks before the Yankees signed Kenny Lofton to a $6.2 million, two-year contract.