Farmer Ted

1 person voted for Jay Buhner. 3 for Dante Bichette? Pull those voting credentials NOW!!

BoSox give up a former Mets farmhand in this deal. ANAHEIM, Calif. -- The Los Angeles Angels traded former All-Star reliever Brendan Donnelly to the Boston Red Sox on Friday for rookie left-hander Phil Seibel. The 35-year-old Donnelly became expendable when the Angels and reliever Justin Speier agreed to an $18 million, four-year contract. Donnelly was 6-0 with a 3.94 ERA in 62 games last season. He had a 5-0 record and a 3.52 ERA in 29 games after the All-Star break, and held the opposition scoreless in 19 of his last 21 appearances. Donnelly was 23-8 with a 2.87 ERA and four saves in 276 appearances with the Angels. He signed with them in as a minor league free agent in January 2001, and made his big league debut in 2002 after 10 minor league seasons with nine different organizations. His best year was in 2003, when he allowed only two earned runs in his first 50 innings. Donnelly's 0.38 ERA was the lowest by a regular big league reliever at the All-Star break, and he was the winning pitcher in the AL's 7-6 victory over the NL in the All-Star game. He finished the season with a 1.58 ERA and a career-high three saves. Donnelly set career highs with nine wins and 65 appearances in 2005. He was limited to 40 games in 2004 after missing the Angels' first 64 games due to a broken nose. The 27-year-old Seibel spent the last three seasons in the Boston organization after being claimed on waivers from the New York Mets in November 2003. He pitched 3 2-3 scoreless innings in two games with the Red Sox in 2004. Seibel went 6-3 with a 1.24 ERA for three Boston farm clubs last season. He didn't pitch in 2005 after undergoing reconstructive surgery on his pitching elbow following the 2004 season. Before turning professional, Seibel pitched three seasons for the University of Texas.

David Wright, a new stylist.

I had a nice talk with a friend today who is a legal scholar in sports law. He said that the posting thing isn't unusual and is very common in European soccer. He said that sort of practice is probably here for quite a while. It's just that American sports have never really dealt with this process of negotiating with a player who has a binding contract with another team. One thing he thought was strange was how player "sales" don't occur anymore. At least not since Bowie Kuhn blocked Charlie Finely from doing it in '76. Kuhn, according to my friend, had a hard-on for Finley after Finley tried to force Mike Andrews onto the DL after he committed two errors against our beloved Mets in the '73 WS. No team has tried it since thinking that this was new precedent. According to him, the process still seems to be legal. His argument is the Pirates of the 90s. Why not be able to sell a Sid Breem and and a Van Slyke in order shed salary to be able to pay a bigger contract to keep Bonds and Bonilla? As long as you're not shedding salary and showing progress in your overall team salary level, the commissioner should not be able to block a team from doing so. Perhaps Montreal teams could have sold off decent talent in order to keep Pedro, Vlad, etc., or the Marlins sell off a few players without having to go through a complete fire sale gutting.

"I was referring more to Ted's comment that we shouldn't give up certain players for a guy he'd never heard of" Boy wonder, you're missing the point. WHY would you give up three of your best young players for a speculative player in return? As a fan, would you not want your team to get a known and durable entity? Those same three Mets players were being dangled for Barry Zito and Dontrelle Willis not too long ago. And now you want to package the same three for Rich Harden? Rich Freaking Harden? Yeah, I don't know the guy too well. I don't have his baseball card stuck in my spokes. I do know you can get more and better in return for a package of Heilman, Milledge, Humber, et al. One of the "top young pitchers in baseball" just spent three months on the DL for a sprained ligament in his pitching arm. This "trade" has the familiar stench of Victor Zambrano all over it.

"Farmer Ted's not knowing who Harden is lowers my opinion of Ted" Damn, still no friends on this damn board. Not knowing who Hard-On is simply means I don't have the opportunity to watch the 2 am SportsCenter every night or wait two days to get the late box scores in my bumpkin paper to know what the A's are putting on the mound each night. In any case, three highly-regarded players for a guy with what, 15 decent games under his belt, is too tall an order. The Mets didn't give up anything to get a similar poke in Oliver Perez.

Milledge, Heilman + Humber for Harden? Your giving up three nice chips for a guy, until yesterday, I had never heard of. Put down the fork and step away from the fruitcake. It looks good, but it tastes like crap.

Bud moved MIL to the NL to create a regional rivarly with the Cubs because their other regional rivalry with MIN was boring. He obviously had a vested interest in drawing more fans to the new stadium regardless if 1/2 of the fans passing through the turnstiles in the unbalanced schedule are Cubs fans venturing north. I'm sure that he's whispering in the Commish's ear about not touching that switcheroo. Bud Selig's legacy will be steroids, the tied all-star game, contraction, and the league looking the other way as he tried to save the Brewers. All bad.

Yes, she would. Especially if the sweats have elastic ankles. I tell her, it keeps the smell in!

He's wearing draw string sweatpants for crissakes. I get laughed at by my wife for that and he gets a GQ photo shoot?

Wright looks like a cross between George Michael and Ron Goldman. Those photos scream sissy boys.

MBTN take notice, Alou to sport the #18.

It looks like Omar is getting as many serviceable parts in the field to go full throttle on starting pitching. I think Zito is coming,

A lot of bats in the Cubs lineup with suspect pitching at best.

If this signing goes through, set a shower aside for Moises. Oh, piss boy... http://www.slate.com/id/2100652/

Alou. 2 years. $8 million per? I ned a thorough explanation, Omar. This makes no sense to me.

$3 million to Valentin would prolly make him the strong incumbent at second. Doubt they'll shell out $11 million+ for two second sackers. Unless, of course, Valentin becomes next year's high-priced Woodward.

Devil's advocate. It's election day, you know.

I don't agree. I want Soriano's 40-40 in that lineup.

Delagado doesn't request a trade, which he is entitled to. First base is locked up.

Can they smuggle Rey Ordonez BACK to Cuba?

Glavine's going to get a nice $25 million deal for two years. But Oliver #1 is going to take a look around. Lefty reliever Darren Oliver filed for free agency.

...if I paid $200 million for bunch of lousy players New York Yankees owner George Steinbrenner fell ill while attending his granddaughter's performance of Cabaret on Sunday at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill, N.C., but is fine Tuesday in Tampa, Fla., according to his spokesman. At intermission, a call was made to paramedics by an audience member who noticed Steinbrenner wasn't feeling well. Steinbrenner was taken to a local hospital, where he was treated and released. The story was first reported in Tuesday's edition of the Daily Tar Heel, the school newspaper, and confirmed for ESPN by Howard Rubenstein, Steinbrenner's personal spokesman. Rubenstein told ESPN that doctors found nothing medically wrong with Steinbrenner, and he was released and flew back to his home in Tampa on Monday, where he worked Monday afternoon and is in the office Tuesday feeling well. Rubenstein told ESPN the theater was not air conditioned and high temperatures may be responsible for Steinbrenner's distress. According to the Daily Tar Heel, the Sunday afternoon performance was cut short when Department of Public Safety officials responded to a call that a man (Steinbrenner) was suffering from chest pains, DPS spokesman Randy Young said. Sophomore Emily Riehl, who was in the audience, told the newspaper that the man was Steinbrenner. Steinbrenner was in attendance to watch his granddaughter, Hailey Swindal, a junior at the school, perform the lead role of Sally Bowles. Young said the man (Steinbrenner) was "conscious, alert and breathing" when officials arrived at Playmakers Theatre between 3:30 and 3:41 p.m. ET. But does she NEED a full scholarship??? http://www.culver.org/news/Campus_Releases/Swindal_Receives_Morehead.asp a closeup of the little debutante http://www.unc.edu/news/pics/students/morehead/2004/outofstate/swindal_julia.jpg

This calls for a group Halloween photo. They'll all oblige and it won't look suspicious at all. Pull out the camera phone and get snapping. One of my new colleagues, a transplant from somehwere in the midwest (God, I hate the midwest), came in today dressed with his Poo Holes shirt on and a dumb-ass red soul patch on his bottom lip. My response, "yeah, you sure do look like Red Schoendienst, you old bastard."

From Phil Rogers, ESPN.com... Prediction: Seattle strikes again to sign Matsuzaka, a move that will convince Suzuki not to go looking for greener pastures when his deal expires after next season. The Mets outbid the Dodgers for Zito and Schmidt winds up with the Cubs. At least two other Japanese starters accompany Matsuzaka to the United States, including Hiroki Kuroda, an unrestricted free agent.