26 to 6

Kaat has a great case, even when you put the numbers aside and look at his career as a whole. I'm surprised the vets haven't put him in yet. But no doubt in MY MIND that Blyleven and Jack Morris should be in the hall as well, especially Morris.

Always fun to hear Joe Torre's opinions on the matter... [youtube=Torre with Travis Smiley on PBS]_B2KBuOIRSs Now with the players he has managed he may not be in the best position to comment or criticize on another player's steroid use, and I know that point will be brought up. Keep in mind his criticisms pertain to McGwire's statement that he would have been as good without the steroids. I still can't get over how that clown figures his performance wasn't enhanced by PERFORMANCE ENHANCEMENT drugs. Baffles my mind.

I like the LaRoche move for Arizona a lot, which also allows them to move Jackson to left. I hadn't heard any confirmation that the Tigers and Valverde agreed to terms, I know they've been very interested but nothing else. I better check on that I'm slacking today. If it is indeed wrapped up then good move for them too. And I'm glad the Marlins opened their purse a little bit to pay Johnson, even if they were somewhat "forced" to do so. Even at that price I feel like Josh Johnson is a bargain. On another note, all of this Marlins stuff just has me hating Loria even more. I think he's the worst owner in the game and seriously needs to lose that team and dwindle away somewhere far far away from the game.

Yeah most likely. But if he could ever get some control, with his live arm he'd be fun to watch. All in all not a bad low-risk move.

I'm not too familiar with him, I haven't even had a chance to look at his numbers yet. But either way the added depth never hurts. I'm intrigued to see how Royce Ring does in Spring Training and if he could possibly beat out Boone Logan as the second lefty in the pen. He used to throw some serious heat, but from what I understand his velocity has decreased some.

The Yankees have made two more minor league signings. They've signed outfielder David Winfree, who has spent his entire 7 year minor league career in the Twins organization. They've also signed lefty Royce Ring, who was once very highly touted and saw some Major League time with the Mets, among other teams. http://www.nypost.com/p/blogs/hardball/yank_signings_and_damon_update_dwU4h9xyVizRGsgSMXP29M

If a player gets hurt at least it's at the end of the season rather than at the start of the season.

The Yankees have signed outfielder Reid Gorecki to a minor league deal. He was once a highly touted player in the Cardinal system and had 25 Major League AB's last year with the Braves. http://yankees.lhblogs.com/2010/01/11/yankees-sign-of-reid-gorecki/

LaRussa has hinted at the possibility of activating him when the rosters expand in September, or even possibly on August 31st so he would be eligible for the playoffs. While I'm not sure if it'll actually happen, part of me hopes it doesn't, but at the same time I kind of hope it does that way he gets the chance to be serenaded with boos when he comes to the plate on the road. Again, f*** that guy!

True. In other news, the Dodgers signed Nick Green today, and the Pirates agreed to terms with Ryan Church. A good deal for the Pirates, IMO. I think he fits well with them. What I think the Pirates really need to do is get rid of that clown Huntington and work towards rejuvenating some prestige to what was once a great franchise with a ton of history. Also the Rays have signed Dan Johnson to a one year major league deal worth $500,000. He played for them in 2008 before they sold his contract to the Yokohama BayStars in Japan last offseason. In 325 ABs (382 plate appearances) he hit 24 homers but drove in just 57 and hit just .215 with an OPS of .792 (.462 slugging, .330 OBP).

I think I have less respect for McGwire today than I did yesterday, which wasn't very much. I think his motives were selfish, and after watching his interview with Bob Costas I was disgusted. Everything he said was a joke, as was his crying routine. In fact the best part of seeing that interview was seeing that ugly piece of s*** cry on national television. The fact that he had the nerve to say that the steroids didn't have any influence on his performance and that he genuinely thinks he still would have hit 70 home runs in '98 and put up the numbers that he did even without steroids was an absolute disgrace and a slap in the face to anybody with an IQ in double digits. What a disgrace to the game. I can't wait until the Cards come to Citi Field to play the Mets so I can go boo the s*** out of this man. I hope he NEVER sees Cooperstown. f*** you Mark McGwire!

There's a report out today saying that it's not Derek who's getting married, but rather his sister Sharlee. Nobody has confirmed the truth though.

and he's not particularly good at any of his positions, whether it be first, third, or in the outfield. He's a perfect DH type.

gfy...

Yeah exactly It will be interesting to see how he does though. I'm always very interested to see how the Cuban defectors do, as I admire the passion Cuba has for baseball and their dominance in most international tournaments. One guy I would LOVE to see defect is Gourriel. With his family's prominence in Cuba and the history they have in Baseball, and with his pops being a coach for the national team I doubt it would happen, but I would love to see what that kid could in the bigs. 5 tool player who can play awesome defense at either third, second, or short. It's almost like a wet dream. In other news though, according to TV reports out of San Fran, the Giants appear to have agreed on a 1 year, $3m deal with Aurbey Huff. I don't really like the deal for the Giants (in terms of the fit, financially it's a good deal though), but oh well, thankfully I'm not a Giants fan.

Take it easy man I was just kidding, I know you were being sincere.

To be fair it was really only Burnett who requested him, but everyone liked throwing to him. I have no problem with Molina as a defensive catcher, he's one of the absolute best in the game even though he's a backup. And he may arguably be the best throwing catcher in the game. You can't get much better than Molina behind the dish, but the dude just absolutely cannot hit. AT ALL. Not that we need a hitter for our backup catcher, because with our lineup we don't. Nor would I have minded Molina coming back. But with Cervelli's emergence the Yanks were clear that they were going to cut Molina loos and go with Franky. While he's a defensive downgrade, he's definitely a better hitter. But to be fair, every Yankee who worked with Cervelli last year during his first stint when Posada and Molina were both hurt at one point praised Cervelli for his game-calling ability. Especially Sabathia. Those two worked very well together and Cervelli caught like 4 of his starts in a row, even after Posada came back. So defensively, I have no concerns with Cervelli. He's not as good a thrower, or an overall defender as Molina, but he's a good game-caller. Even Piazza had very high praise for him when he was playing for Italy in the WBC. Now I know that doesn't mean much coming from Piazza, a very one-dimensional catcher, but it seems everywhere Cervelli goes people rave about him.

I do see sincerity in your words, I just hope I'm not being deceived

Fair enough, to both of you.

hey don't get me wrong, I don't want either of them to get banned. When he's not busy creeping out from underneath his bridge Dipre has a lot to contribute and has a pretty good perspective of the game. He just tends to shove his opinions down people's throats with trollish tactics. I respect his opinions, but that I don't respect. Recently we had a big discussion in another thread (I forget which one, I'm thinking the 11 active members thread in AG) in the aftermath of Gom's ban where we all talked about how the behavior here by many of us (myself at times included) is unacceptable and needs to change for the sake of the board. He seemed receptive for the most part, however he hasn't changed a bit. He's as much a troll now as he's ever been. The only problem with that though is that when it's directed at me I have a hard time biting my tongue, and eventually I'm gonna get banned because of him. But at the same time nothing is ever said to him. After all the years I've spent here I respect yeszir and most of the moderators, but I have a hard time with the fact that they've put all these rules in place that Dipre constantly breaks, and yet he never gets reprimanded at all. I think we should all have to play by the same rules. But whatever, I'm done ranting and bitching.

How in the world is it that Gom was banned for his antics, yet everything this clown says and does is tolerated without even a warning? I don't get that.

Where did I say he would be the next Joe Mauer? Why don't you shut the f*** up and get your facts straight. I agreed with you on his projections and the type of player he is. The only thing I disagree with you on is that he won't show some sort of improvement. Simple logic dictates that a player doesn't reach his offensive peak at age 22, and that good coaching influences those improvements. Stop being such a f***ing troll and read the f***ing posts. You have your opinion, which I respect your entitlement to, what I don't understand is the need to carry on this conversation for 10 pages, throughout the whole time in which you attacked and shunned the opinions of others. Grow the f*** up dude, for real. You're better than that.