Fantasy Season Cometh

http://www.sportsline.com/fantasy

Is it strange that I'm looking forward to the start of the fantasy baseball season more than the start of the actual 2008 baseball season?

Maybe it's an ego thing: the absolute power that comes from ruling my fantasy team's every move and action. I remember as a kid thinking that I could do a much better job of running my favorite team than whoever the yahoo was in the Yankees head office at the time.

Or maybe it's the draft and everything that follows: laughing at my buddy's "worst pick of the night" while secretly wishing I'd held out for the player he just picked up, over-spending for the beat-up veteran catcher just because he's always on my team and my friends know that, and analyzing eachother's teams to death over the next six months.

Whatever it is, it's still baseball isn't it? It's still this great game that keeps us coming back for more, year in and year out. As a life-long fan, taking it to the next level -- fantasy -- brings back the excitement I felt as a kid when the season was opening and a brand new, unpredictable year was about to unfold.

Let's play ball!

Torre Hasn't Changed...

Reading Peter Neyer's blog (http://insider.espn.go.com/espn/print?id=3272235&type=blogEntry) about the Dodgers being interested in Brandon Inge really made me laugh. It still shows that Joe Torre has not learned how to trust his young players, and instead still tries to jam in over-the-hill stars or mediocre players who have been in the league for a while.

Somehow, he seems to view years of service as being just as valuable (or more valuable) than pure talent.

I really don't understand how the Dodgers -- who many people said lost a chance at the playoffs last year because they stuck with their veterans and benched their young players -- could follow along as he does it!

Now, I'm not saying that Brandon Inge can't play, or that he's done. Not so. But, for the $19 Million they'll be paying him, to bench a potential star rookie (19th overall prospect in 2007, Andy LaRoche,) who's making near the league minimum, seems like a bad idea. Especially since LaRoche, if given the chance, can likely post the same or better numbers as Inge.

LET HIM PLAY!!!

Are the Yankees Wising Up?

I enjoyed David Pinto's latest article on overpaying star players. You can check it out here: http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news?slug=overpayingaplayeronceiso&prov=tsn&type=lgns

One thing in this article really jumped out at me: My beloved Yankees have a current player on 3 of the 4 lists, and they are all first or second in their respective listings.

This reeks of the early 2000's where New York was repeatedly overpaying over-the-hill people to fill the roster. I'm shocked Jonny Damon doesn't appear on this list!

However, this off-season has witnessed the Yanks refuse to overpay for Torii Hunter, and pass up sacrificing young talent for a superstar. I hope this is the start of a trend for New York where they remain competitive while allowing their young guys to play.

Roger's Disaster

After listening to the debate and considering all the input from Congress, Clemens, McNamee, and every sports media outlet there is, I've formed a very simple opinion.

I finally believe Roger Clemens is guilty.

Clemens spent his time in front of Congress basically saying, "How can I prove a negative?" But the way he did it was very telling: yelling, screaming, kicking, pounding the table, and being generally giving the impression that "you need to listen to me because I'm Roger Clemens, dammit!"

The thing is, despite all the noise and all the distraction, what it came down to is him saying, "I have no proof at all. Just my loud, obnoxious words to hang your belief on."

He did his best David Copperfield, trying to keep us looking at one hand while he pulled a shiny and clean reputation out of his other sleeve. Problem is, yelling and screaming your opinion doesn't make it right. It just makes you loud.

I think a lot of people were hoping this hearing might bring some closure to the whole steroid era despite the fact that the Mitchell Report failed to do so. I'm not sure I buy that, but I do hope the story goes cold after this.

Maybe now we can get back to talking about the reason we're all here:

PLAY BALL!!!!!!

Rocker's Shocker. . . But Who Really Cares?

I've said it before, and I'll probably have to say it again at some point:

Bud Selig is a shady, underhanded guy who HAD TO know what was going on in baseball all those years. He had to.

Now, Major League Doorknob John Rocker has come out with a self-conflicting, silly announcement indicating Selig knew he was on steroids, and must have known about others as well.

I say, it's about time! I just wish someone who's opinion had the hopes of being respected would step forward and say it again, so we could all actually pay attention!

Here's Rocker's blatting: http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=3241448

Dice K: Worth the Money?

I think the Red Sox made a great investment in Dice K.

A year ago, I was singing a different tune. Probably like many, when I first heard the announcement that the Red Sox were investing over $100 million (including their rediculous posting fee) in this Japanese hurler, I laughed. It looked like another crazy decision made to insure the enemy lost out in the ever-present battle between Boston and the Yanks.

But now, look at some of the pitching deals being made around the league:

• The Devil Rays signed Jaime Shields to (realistically) a seven-year deal worth $38 million.
• The Diamondbacks traded Dana Eveland and (count them) FIVE hot prospects for Dan Haren. (Four of the five were among the top 10 prospects the D-Backs had in their pocket!)
• Carlos Silva (13-14 with a 4.19 ERA last season) pulls down a 4-year, $48 million contract?!?!?! WOW!!!!! I might be able to reach those stats with a favorable trainer who'll keep his flippin' mouth shut!
• and Kyle Losche (9-12 with 4.62 ERA) looking for some love too. . .

It's pretty obvious adequate pitching is going at a premium price these days. So did the Red Sox make a good buy with Dice K, a premium pitcher at a premium price?

Yeah, I think they did. It shows how far ahead of the curve the Red Sox were thinking last year, and their return-on-investment will be measured in years, and maybe in billions.

Various Reflections on the Mitchell Report Fallout

I know, I know, you've heard enough already. But we're going to keep hearing about this until Roger and Barry are in the Hall of Fame, so I may as well get some of my thoughts out on the public record sooner rather than later.

First off, just to lay the groundwork, my personal opinion is that the use of steroids and HGH being labled an "unfair advantage" is a misnomer to begin with. Taking steroids is simply part of the natural progression of the extremely competative nature of professional athletes.

These guys are manimals to begin with. They have to be to display the talent, the focus, the power and skill that is required to choose professional baseball as their career of choice. That's the only reason they would have gotten involved in taking steroids or any other questionable road to better performance. Can you imagine a young Jose Canseco dreaming of opening his own accounting firm one day, and deciding an integrated program of steroids and vigorous pencil-sharpening was the way to get there?

Back in the 50's and 60's, amphetamines was the drug of choice in the MLB. Did Hank Aaron take them? Who knows? These days, the same jolt of focus and energy they got from illegal uppers is legally available to players in caffein pills and Stacker supplements. Are they Performance Enhancing Drugs? That's a fine line.

As many other bloggers have noted already, if you're going to try to draw that line with any clarity, you're going to need to discuss cortisone shots and Tommy John surgery too. After all, aren't the records tainted in favor of pitchers whose careers were extended after Tommy John surgery was pioneered? There're a lot of pitchers from decades past that may have made it to 300 wins if their elbows hadn't blown up?

Let's be conservative and say 50% of MLB was on steroids at the height of the Steroid Era. Where is the unfair advantage considering those numbers? A pitcher on steroids throws the ball at a batter on steroids. The ball is nailed toward the centerfield wall, but fortunately, a centerfielder on steroids leaps up and snags it before it's a home run.

The only guys who are truly pissed about having been playing during the steroid era are those guys who failed to take advantage of the opportunity because they never had a chance to talk to the guy supplying the stuff.

Now, before this goes too far, let me say that I'm not trying to condone illegal acts, or trying to say everyone who did this stuff was a hero. Far from it.

But I can't stand the lopsided villifying of these guys either, because their actions were simply a natural extension of the environment they chose. One we, as the fans, created.

The other day, Pete Rose was joking around with Dennis Miller on national TV and insinuated that the current PED's fiasco in baseball made him look like an altar boy. Sorry Pete, you're still a slimy bum and I'll tell you why.

Pete Rose was the Manager of the team, folks. The guy in charge. He had the power to influence the game directly, and by choosing to gamble on his own team, he stood to profit from that power. Based on how he bet on various games, he gave other outsiders the ability to do the same. Major League Baseball had dealt with the gambling issue decades earlier in the 20's, working hard to weed out the mob influence and any other factors that were bringing baseball down. What Pete Rose did made the game cheap, whorish and pitiful.

As a lifelong fan, that hurt.

PED's, on the other hand, enhance a player's ability to help his team win. That's everyone's goal. There is no unfair advantage if everyone has the opportunity to enhance themselves the same way.

And, rather than making the game cheap and pitiful, I will argue the opposite occurred:

Look back to what Jose Canseco (as an obvious example) meant to the game in 1986, '87 and '88. As a Yankee fan, 16 years old when he won Rookie of the Year, my team was struggling. Suddenly, despite girls, malls, video games, cars, and everything else vying more my attention, I found a cardboard hero that made me want to watch baseball and made me love it all over again.

He was larger than life to me and he made baseball better.

When Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa were battling it out for the single-season home run record, I loved watching those games because there was pure excitement and drama. That was really good baseball, and if you look back at the articles written at the time, not a sports writer in the nation disagreed with me.

But this year, when Bonds broke the biggest record there was, it held none of that same magic because it was so completely embroiled in this mess. Dragging baseball through the mud over the issue of steroids and HGH is simply too high a price to pay for the benefits received.

If Major League Baseball considered this a problem, they should have addressed it aggressively and proactively back when Canseco was still in the league, on their own terms by instituting rules and a testing program that worked. Then, the only names that would be coming out in the media would be those who actually tested positive for banned substances. No he said/she said, no debate over whether or not records are real. (They are, by the way, because MLB turned its back on this whole situation as the records were broken.)

I would hope that handling the situation that way, instead of the debochle that's been going on for the last two years, would have preserved some of the magic that those huge events used to create. Now those milestones are tarnished. That's the real price we all have to pay for having been fans during the Steroid Era.

Some Additional Thoughts on the Marlins

Like I said in my last post, I believe the Marlins won the Cabrera/Willis trade, and that it was another good example of the kind of economical, future-thinking decisions the Marlins have become very good at making.

But another point I think needs to be made is this:

The Marlins shouldn't have to work as a high-level farm team for the rest of the league, developing new talent right up until that talent is able to demand a higher paycheck, then shipping them off to the competition in exchange for the next cheap prospect to develop.

Now, there's no doubt they're very good at doing just that, and they've done well with what they have.

But there simply is no fan base in Florida to support a Major League Baseball team. The Devil Rays find themselves in almost the same position. The Marlins' stadium is in an out-of-the-way place, too far to make it easily accessible as part of a day at the beach. Plus, in the blazing-hot Florida sunshine, it's an open-air stadium.

Some columnists have indicated the Florida Marlins fans shouldn't care any more. They should give up on the team. Frankly, I think they already have.

The Marlins keep it interesting and exciting, and they manage to continue to make money, which is really impressive when you consider how poor their ticket sales, merchandise sales, TV contracts, and every other revenue source must be.

Maybe if they are able to swing a new stadium, the fans will come and the money will follow. Or, maybe if they are able to swing some future Hall of Fame talent, signed to long-term contracts, the fans will come and the money PLUS the stadium will follow. The problem is, both scenerios require money to be there in the first place, so they're caught in a Major League catch-22.

Maybe they need to move to a city that is ready willing and able to support a Major League franchise, and everything else will follow.

How About the OTHER Big Trade of the Off-Season?

In Miguel Cabrera, baseball has a truly rare combination: he's a quiet, unassuming guy who is content to let business be business, and has no interest in telling us what he thinks about trades and contracts. He seems to fly under the radar most of the time, until someone brings him up off-hand and he's suddenly recognized as the superstar he is, only to fade back into silent perfection as soon as ARod or Bonds makes the headlines again.

He's multi-faceted, combining speed, power, accuracy, an ability to spread the ball around, and he's only 24!!! Ten years from now, he'll still be just past his prime!

And now he's a Tiger.

So, a lot of people assume the Tigers won this trade. After all, they walked away with the biggest bat currently available, and a name hurler in Dontrelle Willis. And it's true, the Tigers now have a really nice 1-9 lineup, one that could score 1000 runs this season. Plus, in Willis they have a 25-year-old lefty who IF he returns to form COULD find the Tigers with a solid five-man rotation.

But I don't think the Tigers won this trade.

Let me explain.

The Florida Marlins gave up Cabrera and Willis, and in return brought in two premium prospects in Cameron Maybin and pitcher Andrew Miller. These guys were both arguably in the top 50 prospects in the entire league, and they got BOTH of them!

And then, add in an additional three young arms, all with budding potential. If only one of them matures into a high-quality starter, the Marlins come off the hands-down winners of this trade.

I don't know how they keep doing it, but the fact is the Marlins keep getting what everyone wants. They're pulling in young, up-and-coming pitchers while filling major holes in their game with cheap, quality talent. (Hell, until they signed Miller for next year, reliever Kevin Gregg was going to be their highest-earning player!!!)

Larry Beinfest ought to hold seminars for other GM's around the league. Maybe he could actually make some money at this whole baseball thing!

For the last few years, the Marlins' biggest hole to fill was a lack in centerfield. The last few years that spot's been filled with a never-was, a never-will-be and some other Major League retreads. But now, they finally have a solid prospect in Maybin who will have six years to flourish in the outfield. (Correction: five years, then another spectacular trade!)

And what of Andrew Miller? He's big and strong, with talent that looks really promising. Compare him to what Florida loses in Dontrelle Willis, and you'll see it's pretty unlikely Miller can't match or beat a 10-and-15 record and a 5.16 ERA. And yet again, the Marlins get several years to develop and grow this guy's talent on the cheap!

Back to the Tigers, this trade smells strongly of "buckle up, boys, it's going to be a bumpy ride!" They've clearly gone out to get the top bat available and a pitcher with a name that could add to the depth of their rotation. Just on paper, the Tigers have the potential to be one of the top five teams in the American League.

But all-in-all, the Tigers lost in this trade. Consider contracts: Willis and Cabrera have a combined three years left between them before the price goes up. And while Cabrera will likely be worth every penny of a higher-priced contract, Willis has yet to prove last year was a fluke.

In exchange, they traded away thirty years and emptied their farm teams of talent to make this happen.

It seems to me their pitching staff from last year went from good to Good God! over 162 games, and they ended up not making the playoffs. Now, with four pitchers going to the Marlins, what happens when this year's staff gets tired, breaks down or gets indicted? Who do they call on?

I know this argument is one-sided toward the pitching, and I'm ignoring the best player in the trade, which is what normally determines who wins the trade. But Miguel Cabrera adds a big bat, which is a plus, but everything else he adds is a negative. He is a clod defensively, he will soon cost a hell of alot of money, and he does nothing to add to the depth of their pitching rotation, which (if you haven't been paying attention for the last few paragraphs,) is exactly what they need.

The one thing the Tigers could do really well last year was score runs. Now, they'll no doubt score more. But pitching can still lose it for them.

Who knows? Maybe this year will be different. Maybe there'll be no injuries. Maybe their old pitchers won't regress. Maybe their young pitchers will blossom. Maybe Cabrera will lose 15 pounds and become a vacuum at third base. Maybe Jacque Jones won't suck.

But that seems a lot to ask just so the Tigers can say, "See? We knew what we were doing."

Where Is Johan Going, and Why?

As the winter meetings commence, there are really only two big names on everyone's radar. Today, I'll talk about Johan Santana, and I'll reserve Miguel Cabrera for tomorrow.

Once again, the two teams most realistically in the running for the game's premier hurler are the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox.

These two teams butt heads over everything, so why not this?

Now, Hank has pulled his soon-to-be-famous "we're pulling out" card, telling the Twins they need to decide by the end of the day today. But something tells me that if the Twins call next week and say, "he's yours if you want him," old Hank'n'Stein will manage to find it in his heart to reconsider.

And, unfortunately, I think that's just what will happen.

Let me explain:

The only reason the Twins are considering trading the best pitcher in the game right now, is because they're bound to get a hell of a lot more for him now than they will if they wait. So the question for them is who's got the best package of prospects and/or cheap long-term talent?

The Yanks are willing to deal Melky Cabrera, Philip Hughes, and one of a dozen 3rd-level hole-fillers for the superstar, and that does a sweet job of replacing Torii Hunter with some young talent and plugging another potential superstar (with years of cheap labor ahead of him) into the Twins' rotation.

The Red Sox have finally agreed to offer Jacob Ellsbury, but refuse to include Jon Lester or Coco Crisp in the same offer with their bright young center fielder, Ellsbury. With Clay Bucholz and a host of other quality prospect and minor league talent being thrown around, they've got some goods.

But I don't think it's enough to beat Cabrera, Hughes and a bonus.

And why is that unfortunate?

Well, unless some other unexpected adjustments are made, making that trade would mean spending (yet again,) a whole hell of a lot of money (can you say $150 MILLION?!?!) for the hundred-or-so wins Santana brings the Yanks over the next six years, while forcing Johnny "wussy-arm" Damon back into centerfield, where he can forever search for the cut-off man.

Meanwhile, pretty darn close to the same number of wins could go to the Twins for less than half the cost before Phil Hughes can stand up and demand his $20-plus million dollar contract.

So is life in the ARod Era.

And what does Santana's exit mean for the Twins?

Well, no matter where Santana ends up going, they're going to be all set for the 2010 season. With their new ball park opening its doors, and a clubhouse full of maturing young talent just getting into their groove, Minnesota will have a nice young core and an exciting team that will draw crowds, sell merchandise, and generally grab the public's attention in a market that has always struggled for the recognition it deserves.

Not bad at all.

The Bonds Indictment - A Different Take

It's late and I'm tired. But I'm going to weigh in on the Bonds indictment because it's the right thing to do right now. I want to make sure everyone knows where I stand before we hear anything else and the issue gets even cloudier than it already is.

Bottom line: Who cares?

Seriously. Who cares? We all know he did steroids. He's admitted it. The government is supposedly coming after him because he lied about whether or not he knew he was doing it at the time.

Who cares?

You see, if you think about it, this changes absolutely nothing. Those of us who have a respect for the legend-calibre player Barry Bonds was, even before his head grew like a watermelon and he started his second career will continue to remember that he was a lock to go into the Hall of Fame anyway.

And those who hate him will continue to hate him, no matter what.

We know that he was among the best that ever played, no matter what Bob Costas says. We also know that he just happens to be the biggest fish in a toxic-waste-raw-sewage-rotten-pork-kind-of-dirty pond known as "Steroid Era Major League Baseball."

Bonds is not alone in what he did, he just made the most out of it. And let's not forget that at the time, there were no rules one way or the other in the MLB.

I firmly believe that, indictment or no, we will eventually see Barry in the Hall of Fame. Looking back after some time has gone by, even a sports writer will have to admit the guy deserves it. Sure, he may be an ass at times, and no one thinks he's a nice guy. Maybe the record's tainted, and maybe it's not.

But he sure had a sweet swing. And in his early days, he had the speed, the power, the Gold Glove-quality defense. He had it all.

And now the government has spent - what? A million dollars? Two million? - to drag Barry Bonds, and all of Major League Baseball, through the mud for a little while longer. And whether they succeed or not, we all continue to suffer that much more. And for what? To prove a point no one really cares about?

Some people wonder why they took so long to get to this point. Did Greg Anderson sing? Were they waiting until the record was broken just so they could try to take it away again? Do the wheels of justice just really turn that damn slow?

My opinion: Senator George Mitchell called in a few favors at the Justice Department and slowed the process down enough to get his parade of canaries in before they all got scared off by the big bad Feds and the newest trial of the century.

Whatever the reason, whatever the outcome, it's all just a distraction. Like ARod's contracts, it's a wart on the pretty face of the game we all love and respect.

And frankly, I'm tired of hearing about it.

Have a Hot Dog on ARod Day! (and other interesting reflections. . .)

So everyone's talking about how ARod is crawling back to the Yankees, how Scott Boras dropped the ball, and how he's still going to be the highest-paid player in Major League Baseball. About the only good thing I can say about Barry Bonds' indictment is that it gave the news guys something else to talk about. (I'll have more on Scary Barry soon, but not tonight.)

So my question is, why do I even know who Alex Rodriguez's agent is? Can you name Jeter's agent? Who represents Johan Santana? I'm sick and tired of the fact that the only thing I hear about ARod is how much money he's made, is making or will make in the future.

That's because Scott Boras has made a point of making money the end all. Instead of putting his client's needs first, he put money first. Boras doesn't work for ARod, ARod plays for Boras.

Alex Rodriguez already had far more money than he could spend. He didn't need someone to broker a career money deal. He especially didn't need this PR nightmare!

What ARod needed was to come out of this latest signing looking like the knight in shining armor.

Imagine Scott Boras had done the right thing instead of what he did. What if he allowed ARod to sign for the original Yankee offer. Then, at the press conference, let ARod say, "I'm a Yankee for life!" And then, he could appeal to his "fellow Yankees" who are considering free agency to "make the same committment!"

Then, maybe he could announce that, to celebrate, at the Yanks' home opener he would be personally sponsering "Have a Hot Dog on ARod Day" at Yankee Stadium, or something equally endearing.

My point is, ARod is undoubtedly a phenomonal player. But he looks like a shmuck. No matter what he's involved with, he looks like a shmuck. He's spent so much time building his net worth, he's given little if any thought to his image.

And that's where he's gone wrong. New York is a tough town. He's playing in the House That Ruth Built. Legends played on that field. Mantle, Gherig, Ruth, DiMaggio. Does ARod deserve to be listed in among them?

Statistically, yes! But he looks like a shmuck. He's not beloved like they were. He's not anywhere near as beloved as his teammate Derek. So, for that reason, every single move he makes is hyper-analyzed until he can do no right. Meanwhile, Jeter can hang for the night with a couple strippers, and we forget about it the following day! Nothing sticks to Jeter, because we love him.

We don't love ARod. We have a hard time liking him. But here he is. With some effort, (and maybe a free hot dog or two,) he may be able to win over the hard-boiled New York fans. Then, maybe he can finally stand up as the new legend in a long line of Yankee legends.

How Do The NY Mets Get Out of the Backseat and Onto the Back Page?

Ever since Ray Knight came down on home plate and the glory days of the '86 Mets spun out, they started a long, slow decline, taking a backseat to that other team from New York. By 1995, they found themselves in the middle of the backseat. On the hump.

Then came 1996: Joe Torre, Derek Jeter, the playoffs, the World Series, the playoffs, the World Series, on and on until the baseball world had all but forgotten there were two teams in New York.

In recent years, the Mets have over-extended contracts and over-bought on talent (see Pedro Martinez, as an example,) much like their cooler older brother across the river would do, but without the results.

In 2007, the Mets find themselves still in that cramped backseat, between smelly old Grandma and the dirty homeless hitchhiker Dad picked up.

But, this off-season, the Mets can finally make some noise.

How?

By listening to Bcom's recipe for Massive Franchise Overhaul!

Johan Santana's potential free agency is one of the biggest stories of the off-season, and the Twins are prepared to command a high price in talent for him if they can make a deal. The big question is, what team can pull together the right package of young talent to cement a trade for the premeir arm in the league?

Alex Rodriguez has made plenty of waves himself, what with interrupting the World Series to announce how much he loves himself and all. His potential $300 million plus contract brings with it a host of business risk, but there's no arguing the talent the man-child possesses.

So how can the Mets finally get themselves out of the stinky old backseat and get some blood flowing in that pins-and-needles butt of theirs?

Here's what they do:

Sign Arod to the 10-year, $320 million contract he needs, and play him at third base. Leave Reyes at Shortstop. Trade David Wright to the Twins for Johan Santana straight-up. And if they feel like an MVP-calibre third-baseman with a lot of good years left in him isn't enough pop for Santana, throw in right-hand hurler Philip Humber for good measure.

And they make these deals all in the same week! Now THAT would send the old Stein brothers into drooling fits and set off some real fireworks at the Yankees head office!

That's how to get the Mets out of the backseat, and onto the backpage of the NY Post Sports Section for the first time in 20 years!

Mitchell's Eleven. . . Who? Why? What Next?

Is the "Steroid Era" over? Have we heard the last of Barry Bonds, the asterisk, and the Hall of Fame ball? What about the Mitchell Report, due to come out in a month or less? Well, this weekend will bring some interesting revelations.

So, we hear this weekend eleven free agents have been asked to join George Mitchell for "questioning". Why? What does he want from them? And what does it matter to the future of Major League Baseball?

First of all, we have no idea who the eleven are. So let's start there:

BCom's picks for some of the free agents who may or may not be visiting Mr. Mitchell this weekend, and a quick thought on why I think he might want to talk to them:

1. Jerry Hairston Jr. - Tested positive for "performance-enhancing drugs" and has served his suspension.
2. Mike Cameron - Tested positive for amphetamines, so why not shake him down and see what he's got to say? Guilty by association.
3. Julio Franco - Old as dirt and ripped like a Greek God? Gimme a break! Seriously, in Mexico, you can walk into a convenience store and pick up steroids as easily as I can pick up a Snickers bar. Now that's suspicious.
4. Mike Piazza - Went from a last-round draft pick as a favor to Tommy LaSorda to a Hall-of-Fame catcher. . . How? Bring him in.
5. Darin Erstad - Background in college football, injured all the time, his body's breaking down. My guess? User.
6. Luis Gonzalez - One huge year, then several lesser years, but nothing to match the big one. The owner of the Diamondbacks said he suspected something. Where there's smoke there's fire.
7. Aaron Boone - His brother is under suspicion, mentioned in Jose Canseco's book. Plus Aaron had a potentially career-changing knee injury. In the NFL, Rodney Harrison used HGH to rehab a knee. Could Boone have done the same?
8. Eric Gagne - Floundering minor league pitcher elevated to two years as a devastating closer for the Dodgers to the second-half turd we all saw with the Red Sox. I smell something.
9. Andruw Jones - I know he won the Gold Glove this year, but let's be serious. He's got the range of a Daisy Air Rifle. He's so bulked up, he can't get out of his own way. User.
10. Kris Benson - The wildcard. He's rehabbing his second major arm injury. Probably not user, but if I were George Mitchell, I'd invite Kris in hopes that he would bring his smokin' hot wife Ana along!

You're probably noticing that some really big names failed to make it on to my list. For instance, Barry Bonds, Sammy Sosa, and yes, Mr. I Love Myself Look At Me, Alex Rodriguez. Well, frankly, George Mitchell knows all he needs to know about Sammy Sosa. Everyone knows all they need to know about Barry Bonds. And wouldn't it be awesome if ARod's name came up this weekend? But I don't think it's going to happen.

At least not this weekend.

But maybe George will invite him down too. You know, his wife's pretty hot too. . .

BCom's Baseball Blog is Underway! Let's Play Ball!!!!!!

So you're thinking,

"So what? Another blog hits the web. What's the big deal?"

And maybe you're right. It's not a big deal. There's a lot of things this blog is not.

• It is NOT gossip! If you need to know every detail of ARod's wife's shopping trip, or what Bud Selig puts on his Wheaties in the morning, you're at the wrong blog.
• It is NOT news! If you're looking for scores, pre-determined highlights, or mass-produced comments on who's going to sign who, you're looking for one of the big guys: try www.espn.com or www.sportsline.com. They've got you covered.
• It is NOT accurate! I'm not claiming to be, or even TRYING to be a quotable source. I don't need the legal hassles because I can't beat Scott Boras' lawyers.
• Finally, it is NOT boring, wimpy, politically-correct or nice! As the saying goes, I'm not here to make friends! I'm here to say my piece and move on.

But, there are a lot of things this blog will be:

• It will be fun! I promise, if you keep up with me, you'll have as much of a blast reading it as I have writing it!
• It will be opinionated! I'm making no bones about this. This blog contains my opinions and my opinions only. (Or the selected opinions of those I agree with. . . ;-))
• It will be real! Since I take Baseball seriously, and like to treat it with the respect it deserves. At the same time, because I'm a fan, Baseball will piss me off just as often as it makes me smile. Whether I'm loving it or hating it, you're going to hear it, uncensored and uncut.

So, if you're interested in an honest forum about the good, the bad, the ugly and the trivial in America's other pastime, let's get together more often!

Let's play ball!