Old People Got Paid

This year's free agent market will certainly alter the balance of power in the MLB, with big-ticket players like Mark Teixeira and C.C. Sabathia expected to command at least $20 million per year. But while those deals are likely a few months off, teams have already begun to address their smaller needs for the 2009 season. Here's a quick recap of the early signings:

If you made millions throwing like Mariah Carey and arthritis' love child, you'd smile too

Tim Wakefield- The 42-year-old knuckleballer's playoff ERA since 2004: 10.82. With Varitek gone, the Red Sox needed to fill their "team legend who hits the FAIL button before big postseason starts" quota.

Carlos Delgado- The Mets rewarded Delgado's huge second half (.308/27/80 since June 27) by picking up his $12 million option. In doing so, the team avoids paying a $4 mil. buyout. Might as well use what's left in the tank, even if it's in a part-time role.

Sergio Mitre- Signed by the Yankees to a one-year deal with an option for 2010. Only significant because of the Mitre jersey-wearing mystery man who caught Ken Griffey Jr's 600th home run ball. At least he'll be more productive than the last guy the Yanks plucked from Florida.

To see if you really can bleed from your eye sockets, find more transactions at MLB.com

Now Back To Your Regularly Scheduled Homerism

Before I get down to actual hard* off-season news, here is evidence that, even in the city's happiest times, Philadelphia will not hesitate to share the love.



It's a victory parade. For your beloved team. Thrown to celebrate the city's first championship since 1983. Seems like a perfect time to get beat with police batons and nearly decapitated by a horse.

*By hard news I mean rampant speculation, plenty of legal talk, and players like Mike Cameron getting absurd amounts of money.

[Busted Coverage]

Dusting Myself Off and Getting Back in the Box

Wow. It has been a long. time. I feel like the Andruw Jones of blogging.

A quick summary of what's prevented me from verbally looking down my nose at pro athletes:

Work
Work
More journalism than I can keep up with
Waking up glad that the Mets' season was all a bad dream
Realizing it wasn't
Crying
Coming to terms with happy Philadelphians

But we're back now, and it feels good.

Here's Hoping: Ninth Inning Leads Are Kerosene to Aaron Heilman's Matches

Here's Hoping is a list of things we want to see happen over the weekend, but mainly it's an excuse to post a picture of a drunk athlete. This week it's Padres pitcher/Jager connoisseur Jake Peavy.


Here's hoping...

1. ... The Mets and Cardinals can record one save combined over the next few days. St. Louis leads the league with a whopping 27 blown saves, and the Mets' bullpen is a who's who of underperformers and choke artists.

2. ...Tampa Bay finds some way to cure their woes on the road. Including last night's loss to Seattle, the Rays are 45-17 at home but just 23-29 away from the Trop. Newly acquired Chad Bradford should be on hand to help them out.

3. ...The pesky St. Louis Cardinals sweep the Cubs to keep things interesting in the NL Central. And somebody knocks out this guy.

4. ...Baseball is revived as an Olympic sport as soon as possible. C'mon, it's way more deserving than the Biathlon.

5. ...Sports news outlets follow Jay Glazer's lead and continue to challenge ESPN for scoops.

6. ...Francisco Liriano regains his rookie season dominance after missing all of last year. The Twins sit just a half-game out of first in the AL Central.

7. ...We see the Asian-style nightmare fuel that is the 2008 Olympic mascot as little as possible. If Chucky was Chinese, he would be one of these monsters.

8. ...Sergio Garcia wins the PGA Championsip. Every time I look at a preview of a major tournament, his name is there. Despite the fact that he never wins. There's no Tiger this time, so go ahead and win while no one cares so the madness can stop.

9. ...A few marquee players skip town to play basketball overseas. With every team forced to overpay for its stars, the Knicks might have a chance of being decent.

10. ...It's sunny in Massachusetts all next week. I'm in Cape Cod for about a week, plus I've heard the sun's heat is deadly to pasty-white Massholes. It's win-win.

The Lineup: We May Have Been Mistaken

• Manny might have played his way into a trade. Conspiracy! Investigation! Burn the witch! Oh wait, never mind. [Boston.com] [LA Times]
• Speeding up extra-inning games in the name of commercialism. [Washington Post]
• Memo to NBA: If Italy comes callin', Kobe is peacin' out. [The Big Lead]
• China's national team manager won't let the government hold him down. Hasn't this guy watched 24? If he's not careful he'll end up coaching from the bottom of a Chinese tanker. [MLB Fanhouse]

Another Week Down: Truly Synchronized Swimming, Children's Games, and Live Profanity

To take you into the weekend, here's a recap of this week's action. Don't worry, it's in think-free photo format. Click and consume.

Bia and Branca Feres. The only time synchronized swimming will ever be mentioned here.

Dirk Nowitzki is either excited about the Olympics or has some form of hair-based Ringworm. Probably both.

Prince Fielder and a teammate engage in an intense staring match. Winner gets a chili-cheese dog. Baseball is so exciting. Yay.

Brian Roberts does the unthinkable: Three-way Miss Mary Mack.









This is so wrong.








The Chuck Norris technique of sliding into home.








You know those new, live Sportscenter ads the WWL just launched? Profanity, meet live television. It was only a matter of time.






Everyone knows the White Sox have bullpen issues, but I feel like their new reliever can't generate much velocity with such little arms.








Rick Ankiel, getting more fiber in his diet. Raisin Bran is usually a better option.

According to the Boston Herald, Brian Giles has vetoed a move to the Red Sox, citing his desire to stay close to home. The outfielder holds a no-trade clause for a small number of ML teams, including Boston.

Chicago Is So Cool, Brah

With all the recent Erin Andrews hubbub and now this, Chicago is a no-fly zone for any attractive, blonde reporter.

While doing a piece in front of Wrigley Field, Mouthpiece Sports correspondent Molly Dapier got drenched from behind with a bucket of water thrown by some idiot in blue body paint. Gnarly dude, way to support your Cubbies by ruining a random person's day.

Learn from Boston, you're not allowed to act like a jackass until you actually win something.



Like we needed any more reason to look forward to Year of Futiliy #100.

via Home Run Derby

The Revolution Will Not Be Televised; It Will Be Online

Marky Mark during happier days.

With the 2008 Smog Olympics having started last night, we are faced with the last year in which baseball is guaranteed to be a part of this worldwide competition.

While popular in the US and perhaps even more so in Japan and the Caribbean, Olympic baseball has never been a high publicity spectacle on the level of gymnastics, swimming, or even boxing. This is mostly due to the almost complete absence of baseball in Europe and Africa. They prefer much more interesting and challenging sports over there, like badminton and synchronized swimming.

Slapping around a birdie and waterproof makeup. Truly gripping stuff.

Anyway, in an effort to do our small part here at GDL, we'll provide updates on the progress of Team USA and, to a lesser extent, other teams around the world. Not only is Olympic baseball an opportunity to get an idea of the universal talent pool, it affords us a first look at players who could be Major League stars in the next few years.

The following is Team USA's schedule, one we'll break down sometime next week. The full baseball schedule can be found here. All times are ET and games will be shown online at nbcolympics.com.

August 13:
USA v. South Korea 6 AM
USA v. Netherlands 10:30 PM
August 14:
USA v. Cuba 11:30 PM
August 15:
USA v. Canada 10:30 PM
August 18:
USA v. China 7 AM
August 19:
USA v. Chinese Taipei 7 AM
August 20:
USA v. Japan 7 AM

Rays Bolster Bullpen, Christian Guzman is an Assassin, and other MLB Notes

Bradford Becomes a 2-Month Mercenary- The Tampa Bay Rays shored up their bullpen yesterday, picking up submarine right-hander Chad Bradford off of waivers. The reliever was released by the Orioles to give younger pitchers the chance to audition for a spot on the team in '09.

Bradford, in the last year of a three-year, $10.5 million contract, is 3-3 with a 2.45 ERA in 47 games as the O's primary right-hand specialist. He has playoff experience with a number of teams and adds another unique weapon to the Rays' already-solid relief corps.

Baldelli Set to Begin Comeback- The Rays have also activated outfielder Rocco Baldelli, though he has yet to officially return to the team. The 26-year-old led all rookies in hits in 2003 and started in center for two years before suffering from chronic fatigue due to a mitochondrial disorder.

Now cleared to play for the first time this season, Baldelli will be activated when they can make room on the roster. Manager Joe Maddon said this would happen when shortstop Jason Bartlett returns from his injury.

Target Practice- Nationals pitcher Tim Redding was hit in the leg with a ball yesterday. Off the bat of teammate Christian Guzman. From 350 feet away. Rockies beat writer Tony Renck had the first-hand account:

Pitcher Tim Redding was smoked by a line drive off the bat from teammate Cristian Guzman. Redding was in center field, approximately 350 feet away, when the ball hit him flush and dropped him. Redding went down and was quickly attended to by a trainer. He limped off under his own power, favoring his right leg.

Apparently, Redding barely missed getting hit by another line drive as he made his way to the dugout. This is the most dangerous the Nationals have been all year.

Players Still Use Steroids- Another minor-leaguer was suspended for steroid use, the fifteenth to be hit with a 50-game suspension since July 25th.

This time it was Boston prospect Victor De La Cruz, a 19-year-old playing for their Dominican Summer League team. De La Cruz was 3-0 with 3 saves and a 1.25 ERA when he tested positive for the steroid Stanozolol.

In other news, Sammy Sosa and Mark McGwire have still never been officially found to be steroid users.

The Happy Recap: How Does This Keep Happening

Mets 5, Padres 3: Right now, it seems like the Mets' bullpen is determined to rob Johan Santana of a win every time out. After throwing seven solid innings, the ace left the field with two on, nobody out, and a 3-1 lead. When New York escaped the inning with a one-run lead, it appeared Santana was set up for a well-deserved victory. Enter: Scot Schoenweis.

Victimizing the Mets again, Jody Gerut took Schoenweis' one-out pitch out of the park, tying it at three and handing Santana his eighth no-decision. The bullpen has now blown six leads provided by Johan, five of those coming in the ninth inning.

A big sigh of relief would come quickly, however, in the person of David Wright. The third baseman took a low breaking ball from Heath Bell and deposited it into the stands for a walk-off, two-run home run. Though it's a bad sign when a team is delighted to take 2 of 3 from the Padres, the win leaves the Mets just two games out of first in the NL East.

Dodgers 4, Cardinals 1: Well, that was short-lived. New Manny Ramirez failed like a bum, going just 1-3 and failing to homer for the sixth consecutive game.

The real Ramirez, however, took back his name with a huge blast off starter Kyle Lohse, his fourth in just six games with the Dodgers. He's hitting .565 with a 1.745 OPS since the trade.

Highly-touted rookie Clayton Kershaw did the rest, limiting St. Louis to three hits and one run in seven innings.

Yankees 3, Rangers 0: The league's best offense was no match for Mike Mussina's Moose-like qualities, reaching third base only once the entire game. Mussina is now tied with Cliff Lee for the lead with 15 wins, and is 5-0 at the Ballpark in Arlington since 2002.

Derek Jeter provided all the offense the Yanks would need with an uber-clutch home run in the first inning off that kid from the Goonies.

Mariners 2, Rays 1: Raul Ibanez saved Seattle from certain extra-innings doom, lining a Dan Wheeler splitter into the right field seats for a walk-off home run. It was the Mariners' first walk-off homer since 2004, and Ibanez' fourth of his career.

The victory completed a rare series win, in which they took 3 of 4 from the road-allergic Rays.

Felix Hernandez pitched a gem, going eight strong innings and allowing just one run on a wild pitch. In an idea of how Seattle season has gone, this was their fourth win in the 57 games during which they've trailed after seven innings.

The Lineup: Ballpark Beverages Can Get Quite Expensive

• Save yourself $22,000 a year and get drunk before going to the ballgame. [Bugs & Cranks]
  
• One year later, Barry Bonds is out of baseball but Mike Bacsik is still pitching (albeit barely). [SF Chronicle]
• One man goes to great lengths in his quest to hate on Boston. [Boston.com]
• Possibly the greatest sporting event. Ever. [Derober]
• Texas manager Ron Washington won't take any shenanigans from his players, especially not in front of 30,000 people. [Home Run Derby]
• Peter King prepares for Farvaro's arrival in New Jersey, KSK style. [Kissing Suzy Kolber]
  

Brian Giles was claimed off of waivers by a mystery team, giving the Padres 48 hours to re-claim or trade him. Possible culprits are the Seattle Mariners in the study with the knife, or the Blue Jays in the bedroom with the candlestick. [FOX Sports]

UPDATE: According to the San Diego Tribune, it was the Red Saw aht tha haahbah with the lahbstah.

Rockies Officially Give Up

Since making the World Series last October, not much has gone right for the Colorado Rockies. Mired in third place with a record that's cellar worthy in most other divisions, the Rockies' young pitching staff bears much of the blame. A driving force in the latter part of 2007, they are now last in the NL in both runs allowed and ERA.

As a result, GM Dan O'Dowd shunned the youth movement and added 87-year-old Livan Hernandez yesterday. Hernandez, whose listed age is 33 (debatable) but throws like a 40-year-vet (slow) was recently released by Twins after going 10-8 with a 5.48 ERA.

Despite his struggles this season, O'Dowd was confident in Hernandez' ability to help the team, calling him "a great addition."

While Hernandez will likely be an improvement- right now Tony Pena could do a better job- it's tough to see how this fits into any type of strategy. Even though the NL West is horrifically bad, it's essentially a two team race, so it's not like he's going to lead a playoff push. Plus, Hernandez is most certainly not the one around which to build your 2009 staff.

Ultimately, the Rockies probably just need somebody to plug a hole for a couple months. Tough to imagine there's no better option going forward.

via MLB Fanhouse

The Happy Recap: Tradebait! Hoo Ha Ha!

Pirates 2, Diamondbacks 0: At least Pittsburgh didn't get completely fleeced in their trade with the Yankees, as Jeff Karstens (known before this game solely as Tradebait) came within four outs of a perfect game.

Despite losing the no-no when Chris Young doubled in the eigth, Karstens ran his scoreless streak to fifteen innings, and is 2-0 so far with the Bucs. The young pitcher also went 2-3 with a run scored, which also qualifies him as the top hitting prospect in the entire Pittsburgh system.

Rays 10, Indians 7: Tampa Bay has shown its resilience time and again this season, and last night was no different. Although, against the Indians' bullpen, it tends to become a little easier.

Down 7-4 in the ninth, the Rays got to work, with back-to-back doubles followed by a Gabe Gross home run to tie it off of Edward Mujica. After Masa Kobayashi came in and allowed two runners to reach, Carlos Pena clinched it with a three-run shot to right center.

The win was the Rays' 68th, putting them two away from tying their season high.

Giants 3, Braves 2: You have to wonder how good Tim Lincecum would be if he had a semi-intimidating offense behind him. When your top hitter is more well-known for face-planting into a wall than making contact with a tiny white sphere, something needs to be addressed.

Despite little run support, Lincecum got his 12th win last night, going eight innings and giving up just two runs. It was the third straight good start for Lincecum, who hadn't won in the prior three weeks.

Rowand provided all the offense with a home run and 3 RBIs.

Cardinals 9, Dodgers 6: Ryan Ludwick is the New Manny Ramirez, as he homered for the fifth straight game. It was his 29th of the season and came just four pitches after Albert Pujols whacked a grand slam off starter Derek Lowe.

Old Manny Ramirez unimpressively homered only once, and LA couldn't piece together enough runs to complete another comeback.

Yankees 5, Rangers 3: New York salvaged the last game of the series, jumping on rookie Tommy Hunter for all five runs, highlighted by Jason Giambi's 22nd homer of the year.

The early cushion was enough for Sidney Ponson, who turned in what will need to be one of many good performances now that Joba Chamberlain is on the DL. Ponson gave up three runs in 6 1/3 innings before four relievers combined to hold onto the win.