2007-2008 MLB Hot Stove (1 Viewer)

[Marvin]

Actually, Andy Pettitte's dad told me ....

 

[Mike Frezon]

================

I still am not completely sure why Pettitte and Knoblauch got passes from Congress on attending the hearing.

THIS ARTICLE from the NY Daily News was the first time I'd heard much about why Pettitte asked to be excused and what's been going on with his part of the tale.

He's supposed to hold a press conference Monday in Tampa when he arrives for spring training. THAT ought to be a feeding frenzy of questions about Clemens. Even if they take it easy with questions about his dad, they are going to be merciless with Clemens questions. And if he doesn't answer them now...he can expect to hear those questions all season.

 

[Jason Seaver]

Nah... Soon, there's going to be actual baseball to talk about, and this crap will get dialed back by about 75%.

 

[Mike Frezon]

Nobody wants that to be true more than me...

...but it looks like Pettitte is about to become the face of steroids in baseball. He will likely now be the player with the highest profile connected to the Mitchell report (I don't see Bonds or Clemens playing again) AND he has such an intimate role in the Clemens scandal...AND I could see the swirling controversy potentially impacting Pettitte's performance this season. There will be no Joe Torre in place to shield Pettitte from the tempest.

NY sportswriters are all about a scandal. You sell a heckuva lot more newspapers with scandal than you do with the day-in, day-out of a 162 game season. He will be tested this season off-the-field.

 

[Scott_J]

Here's one from the Unusual Injuries file: Astros OF Hunter Pence spends a night in the ER when he crashes through the sliding glass door in the bathroom of his spring training house.

 

[Mike Frezon]

He was lucky, indeed. Its funny how accidents like that always happen.

 

[Mike Frezon]

Spring training games are underway!

Base coaches are now wearing helmets while on-the-field.

and the Red Sox have signed Bartolo Colon...

and the World Champions have traveled to the White House:

 

[Scott_J]

MLB may as well cancel the season now and just award the '08 World Series title to Boston. How can they NOT win it with Colon?

 

[Mike Frezon]

Wow...Scott rolls out the major sarcasm.....

...I think!

Hey. He could win 'em a game or two or three. Or, as the baseball men like to say, "give 'em some innings!"

 

[Mike Frezon]

I gotta tell you...I'm sitting in the basement office of my home tonight. Outside it is just 6-degrees. VERY cold. So the basement is also relatively cold (it is not heated). But as I am doing some work (and being distracted a bit by the HTF), I am listening to WEEI's broadcast of tonight's Red Sox game against Northeastern from Florida on my mlb.com Gameday Audio package.

It is warming my heart quite a lot to be listening to the ebb and flow of a ball game on the radio.

The rest of me is still quite cold, but at least my heart is warm!

 

[LewB]

And then something happens to put it all back in perspective ...

Doctors concerned that Bobby Murcer's brain tumor has returned

 

[Mike Frezon]

It's all part of the ebb and flow of life.

 

[Scott_J]

Well, he's averaged 3.5 wins/year the past 2 seasons, so 3 wins is a possibility. Just don't put too much pressure on him.

Johan's spring debut with the Mets not so good: 2IP, 4H, 3R - all the runs coming off the bat of Juan Gonzalez (yes, that Juan Gonzalez) with a 3-run homer in the 1st.

 

[Mike Frezon]

Yeah...but it's only spring training. I bet when the season gets underway the Mets will probably get a solid three wins from Santana! Maybe more!

 

[Scott_J]

Apparently, Shawn Green retired last week. I had not heard anything about it until this afternoon when I listened to a podcast from last Thursday.

I'm surprised I didn't at least see anything about it on ESPN's Bottom Line. I try to check it out everyday.

 

[Mike Frezon]

That surprises me, too, Scott. Missed it completely.

the only mention I can find about it is the following two paragrpahs on espn.com:


To read the rest of the story, one needs to be an "ESPN Insider."

HERE'S a blog report on the story... with a funny anecdote at the end.

 

[Jeff Gatie]

Red Sox players refusing to play exibition game today and refusing to board plane to Japan unless MLB pays $40,000 appearance bonus to entire coaching staff as promised.

MLB previously promised the bonus to all players and staff making the trip, but has since reneged against the coaches. Players are boycotting todays game and trip to "take care of the people who take care of us".

Sox threaten to boycott Japan trip - BostonHerald.com

Good for them! This whole thing is a PR farce. Some of those coaches don't make much and already had the money spent.

 

[Mike Frezon]

On a similar topic, thank goodness Billy Crystal didn't get hurt the other day. At least they limited that fiasco to just one at-bat.

 

[Robert Crawford]

Red Sox players acting like prima donnas again.






Crawdaddy

 

[Jeff Gatie]

Personally, I would have drilled him. If this is Hank's idea of "restoring order to the universe", he's got a long way to go, starting with restoring the class that is supposed to be omnipresent in his own club. The Yankee players should not have to lower themselves to that kind of BS stunt. What's next, letting Damon grow his beard.?