Another saga complete. Frank Thomas returns to Oakland for the rest of the season and only $337K. Any reason why he took so little?

The Big Hurt returns to Oakland for the second time in the past three years. The Mariners were the mystery team that made a late offer to try and sign Thomas, but failed.

Habs Come Back; Wings Hang On

The Montreal Canadians defeated the Detroit Red Wings 4-3 in overtime to take a 1-0 series lead.

With 28.6 seconds left in the third period, Alex Kovalev tied the game at three to force overtime. Tom Kostopoulos scored 48 seconds into overtime for the Habs, leading them to victory.

The Red Wings managed to hang on to their 4-3 lead to defeat the Colorado Avalanche.

Johan Franzen had a pair of goals and an assist and was crucial to the Red Wings victory. Jose Theordore was pulled after allowing four goals on 16 shots. Maybe he's finally starting to break down.

Report: A's Sign Thomas

MLBTradeRumors is reporting that The Athletics have signed Frank Thomas. Uh,
that's about it, really. There's not much more that I can say.

UPDATE: Tim Brown of Yahoo Sports now comes in to say that the A's have an offer to Thomas, and so does another team. The mystery team could be the Seattle Mariners or Texas Rangers.

NHL Semi Final Preview

Time to look at the second round of the NHL playoffs.


Eastern Conference
(1) Montreal Canadians vs. (6) Philadelphia Flyers
(2) Pittsburg Penguins vs. (5) New York Rangers


Western Conference
(1) Detroit Red Wings vs. (6) Colorado Avalanche
(2) San Jose Sharks vs. (5) Dallas Stars


MON vs. PHI
Prediction: MON in 6
Prognosis: The Canadians swept their season series with the Flyers 4-0. The Canadians have more speed than the Flyers, something that could be the decider of the series. The Flyers on the other hand are riding off of their youth, and should be tough competition for the Canadians. Carey Price, in my opinion, is better than Martin Biron, a factor that will likely decide this series.


PIT vs. NYR
Prediction: PIT in 6
Prognosis: The Penguins are maturing at just the right time. The Rangers have a lot of talent, and a superpest in Sean Avery, that will be a pain in the backside to the Penguins. The Penguins have too much talent to not make it to atleast the Eastern Conference final.


DET vs. COL
Prediction: COL in 7
Prognosis: One of the most underrated rivalries in all of sports will be resurected. I don't think that the Claude Lemiuex and Patrick Roy days will come back, but there will more than likely be some sparks. Chris Osgood and Peter Forsberg, a pair of players from the old days will be expected a lot of. Osgood was named Detroit's number one goalie, and Forsberg will be counted on heavily to produce. It will be a hardnosed grinding series, but I think that Colorado can pull of the upset. Jose Theodore is proving himself at just the right time, and I think that that will make the difference.


SJ vs. DAL
Prediction: Sharks in 7
Prognosis: This may be the toughest series to win out of all of them. It will not be a goalfest with two of the league's top goaltenders in Evgeni Nabokav and Marty Turco going to battle. The Sharks need production from their top players, not just Jeremy Roenick. I think that Patrick Marleau breaks out a little bit, and carries the sharks a little bit further in to the playoffs.

2008 NHL Free Agents

With July 1st only two and a half months away, it's time to look at who will be available when the free agent market opens.

Anaheim Ducks
UFA: Jean-Sebastien Aubin, Joe Callahan, Joe DiPenta, Mike Hoffman, Jay Leach, Mark Mowers, Geoff Peters, Teemu Selanne, Bruno St. Jacques, Doug Weight
RFA: Darryl Bootland, Ryan Carter, Gerald Coleman, Stephen Dixon, Andrew Ebbett, Jonas Hiller, Shane Hynes, Jason King, Andrew Miller, Corey Perry, Geoff Platt, Brian Sutherby

Atlanta Thrashers
UFA: Milan Bartovic, Eric Boulton, Kevin Doell, Darren Haydar, Johan Hedberg, Bobby Holik, Jason Krog, Joel Kwiatkowski, Steve McCarthy, Karel Pilar, Mark Popovic, Mark recchi, Steve Rucchin, Jesse Schultz
RFA: Joseph Crabb, Guillaume Desbiens, Kari Lehtonen, Nathan Oystrick, Brett Sterling

Boston Bruins
UFA: Bobby Allen, Alex Auld, Sean Curry, Jeff Hoggan, Glen Metropolit, Jordan Sigalet, Brett Skinner, Aaron Ward
RFA: Mike Brown, Stanislav Chistov, Chris Collins, Chuck Kobasew, Petteri Nokelainen, Pascal Pelletier, Nathan Saunders, Mark Stuart, Nate Thompson, T.J. Trevelyan, Dennis Wideman

Buffalo Sabres
UFA: Dmitri Kalinin, Teppo Numminen, Nolan Pratt, Michael Ryan, Jocelyn Thibault
RFA: Steve Bernier, Paul Gaustad, Clarke MacArthur, Mark Mancari, Daniel Paille

Calgary Flames
UFA: Craig Conroy, Eric Godard, David Hale, Kristian Huselius, Curtis Joseph, Brent Krahn, Daymond Langkow, Curtis McElhinney, Owen Nolan, Eric Nystrom, Mark Smith, Jim Vandermeer, Stephane Yelle
RFA: Derek Couture, Cam Cunning, Ryan Donally, Tomi Maki, Adam Pardy, Brandon Prust, Grant Stevenson, Andrei Taratukhin, David van der Gulik

Carolina Hurricanes
UFA: Keith Aucoin, Ryan Bayda, Wade Brookbank, Tim Conboy, Trevor Gillies, John Grahame, Bret Hedican, Michael Leighton, Trevor Letowski, Joey Mormina, Sergei Samsonov, Glen Wesley
RFA: Pat Dwyer, Patrick Eaves, Mark Flood, Tim Gleason, Joe Jensen, Chad Larose, Daniel Manzato, Kevin Nastiuk, Brandon Nolan, Tuomo Ruutu, Dennis Seidenberg

Chicago Blackhawks
UFA: Kevyn Adams, Mike Brodeur, Jim Fahey, Wade Flaherty, David Koci, Patrick Lalime, Yanic Perreault, Prestin Ryan, Jason Williams, Andrei Zyuzin
RFA: Rene Bourque, Adam Burish, Dustin Byfuglien, Corey Crawford, Colin Fraser, Jordan Hendry, Andrew Ladd, Steve Marr, Danny Richmond, Martin St. Pierre, James Wisniewski

Colorado Avalanche
UFA: Andrew Brunette, Jeff Finger, Adam Foote, Peter Forsberg, Eric Healey, Jaroslav Hlinka, Jeff Jillson, John-Michael Liles, Scott Parker, Dale Purinton, Joe Sakic, Kurt Sauer, Wyatt Smith, Jose Theodore
RFA: Jason Bacashihua, Johnny Boychuk, Darcy Campbell, Daniel Dasilva, Philippe Dupuis, Mitchell Love, Cody McCormick, Cody McLeod, Brad Richardson, Marek Svatos, Michael Wall, Tyler Weiman, Wojtek Wolski

Columbus Blue Jackets
UFA: Nate Dicasmirro, Ron Hainsey, Jan Hejda, Zenon Konopka, Derek Mackenzie, Michael Peca, Mark Rycroft, Dan Smith, Dick Tarnstrom, David Vyborny
RFA: Dan Fritsche, Pascal Leclaire, Joakim Lindstrom, Mikko Maenpaa, Marc Methot, Alexandre Picard, Tomas Popperle, Aaron Rome, Clay Wilson

Dallas Starts
UFA: Stu Barnes, Nolan Baumgartner, Trevor Byrne, Niklas Hagman, Johan Holmqvist, Dan Jancevski, Bryce Lmpman, Antti Miettinen, Mattias Norstrom, Toby Peterson, Brad Winchester
RFA: Brandon Crombeen, Trevor Daley, Loui Eriksson, Nicklas Grossman, Marius Holtet, Vadim Khomitski, Steve Ott, Vojtech Polak, Konstantin Pushkarev, Marty Sertich, Jussi Timonen, Janos Vas, Francis Wathier

Detroit Red Wings
UFA: Adam Berkhoel, Chris Chelios, Carl Corazzini, Mark Cullen, Aaron Downey, Dallas Drake, Brad Ference,Mark Hartigan, Dominik Hasek, Andreas Lilja, Darren McCarty, Garrett Stafford, Brad Stuart
RFA: Jonathan Ericsson, Valtteri Filppula, Igor Grigorenko, James Howard, Logan Koopmans, Francis Lemieux, Ryan Oulahen, Kyle Quincey

Edmonton Oilers
UFA: Curtis Glencross, Marty Reasoner, Allan Rourke, Geoff Sanderson
RFA: Jonas Almtorp, Troy Bodie, Jeff Drouin-Deslauriers, Glenn Fisher, Denis Grebeshkov, Jean-Francois Jacques, Frederik Johansson, T.J. Kemp, Joni Pitkanen, Marc-Antoine Pouliot, Tim Sestito, Jarret Stoll, Zach Stortini, Danny Syvret

Florida Panthers
UFA: Wade Belak, Jassen Cullimore, Rob Globke, Magnus Johansson, Branislav Mezei, Steve Montador
RFA: Jay Bouwmeester, Gregory Campbell, Kamil Kreps, Drew Larman, Martin Lojek, Stefan Meyer, Garth Murray, Rostislav Olesz, Anthony Stewart, Adam Taylor, Martin Tuma

Los Angeles Kings
UFA: Rob Blake, Brendan Buckley, Kevin Dallman, Jeff Giuliano, Jon Klemm, Ladislav Nagy, Richard Petiot, Scott Thornton, Brian Willsie
RFA: Erik Ersberg, Gabe Gauthier, Peter Harrold, Petr Kanko, Matt Moulson, Patrick O'Sullivan, Joe Piskula, Dany Roussin


Minneasota Wild
UFA: Keith Carney, Pavol Demitra, Todd Fedoruk, Sean Hill, Steve Kelly, Andre Lakos, Petteri Nummelin, Serge Payer, Branko Radivojevic, Erik Reitz, Brian Rolston, Chris Simon, Aaron Voros, Wes Walz, Joel Ward
RFA: Shawn Belle, Pierre-Marc Bouchard, Kurtis Foster, Matt Foy, Danny Irmen, Miroslav Kopriva, Peter Olvecky, John Scott, Clayton Stoner, Stephane Veilleux


Montreal Canadians
UFA: Andrew Archer, Mathieu Biron, Patrice Brisebois, Jean-Philippe Cote, Yann Danis, Brett Engelhardt, Jonathan Ferland, Duncan Milroy, Michael Ryder, Bryan Smolinski, Mark Streit
RFA: Jimmy Bonneau, Marvin Degon, Josh Gorges, Mikhail Grabovski, Jaroslav Halak, Andrei Kastsitsyn, j\Janne Lahti, Maxim Lapierre, Corey Locke, Ryan O'Byrne, Cory Urquhart


Nashville Predators
UFA: Dan Ellis, Martin Gelinas, Alex Henry, Jan Hlavac, Darcy Hordichuk, Josh Langfeld, Shane Willis, Nolan Yonkman
RFA: Brandon Bochenski, Matt Ellison, Martin Erat, Dov Grumet-Morris, Kevin Klein, Ville Koistinen, Janne Niskala, Rich Peverley, Oliver Setzinger, Ryan Suter, John Vigilante, Shea Weber


New Jersey Devils
UFA: Arron Asham, Sheldon Brookbank, Noah Clarke, Frank Doyle, Jean-Luc Grand-Pierre, Grant Marshall, Richard Matvichuk, Ian Moran, Mike Mottau, Jay Pandolfo, Karel Rachunek, Erik Rasmussen, Jason Ryznar, Bryce Salvador, Barry Tallackson, Jari Viuhkola
RFA: David Clarkson, Ivan Khomutov, Olli Malmivaara, Jordan Parise, Rodney Pelley, Petr Vrana


New York Islanders
UFA: Bryan Berard, Kip Brennan, Rob Davison, Wade Dubielewicz, Ruslan Fedotenko, Michael Morrison, Miroslav Satan, Josef Vasicek
RFA: Luciano Aquino, Sean Bergenheim, Jeremy Colliton, Drew Fata, Bruno Gervais, Tim Jackman, Aaron Johnson, Matt Keith, Masi Marjamaki, Michael Mole, Frans Nielsen, Steve Regier, Matthew Spiller, Jeff Tambellini, Ben Walter


New York Rangers
UFA: Sean Avery, Mitchell Fritz, Andrew Hutchinson, Darius Kasparaitis, Marek Malik, Paul Mara, Michal Rozsival, Brendan Shanahan, Martin Straka, Jason Strudwick, Stephen Valiquette
RFA: Ivan Baranka, Nigel Dawes, Bruce Graham, Josh Gratton, Chris Holt, Hugh Jessiman, Rick Kozak, David Liffiton, David Leneveu, Greg Moore, Pierre Parenteau, Fredrik Sjostrom, Matt Zaba


Ottawa Senators
UFA: Matt Carkner, Mike Commodore, Niko Dimitrakos, Shean Donovan, Chris Kelly, Matt Kinch, Martin Lapointe, Justin Mapletoft, Wade Redden, Luke Richardson, Randy Robitaille, Cory Stilmman
RFA: Feff Glass, Josh Hennessy, Arttu Luttinen, Brian McGrattan, Andrej Meszaros, Antoine Vermette, Jesse Winchester

Philadelphia Flyers
UFA: Jesse Boulerice, Riley Cote, Jim Dowd, Rory Fitzpatrick, Martin Grenier, Jaroslv Modry, Vaclav Prospal, Darren Reid, Jason Smith
RFA: Rejean Beauchemin, Jeff Carter, Triston Grant, Nathan Guenin, Martin Houle, Randy jones, Lars Jonsson, Scott Munroe, Ryan Potulny, Stefan Ruzicka, Patrick Thoresen, R.J. Umberger


Phoenix Coyotes
UFA: David Aebischer, Ryan Caldwell, Jon Disalvatore, Bryan Helmer, Niko Kapanen, Matt Murley, Travis Roche, Joey Tenute, Mathias Tjarnqvist, Pete Vandermeer, Radim Vrbata, Craig Weller, Michael York
RFA: Brendan Bell, Daniel Carcillo, Marcel Hossa, Matt Jones, Alexei Kaigorodov, Al Montoya, Joel Perrault, Tyler Redenbach, Bill Thomes


Pittsburg Penguins
UFA: Kris Beech, Ty Conklin, Pascal Dupuis, Mark Eaton, David Gove, Adam Hall, Marian Hossa, Connor James, Ryan Lannon, Georges Laraque, Ryan Malone, Alain Nasreddine, Brooks Orpik, Gary Roberts, Jarkko Ruutu, Nathan Smith, Jeff Taffe
RFA: Mark Ardelan, Paul Bissonnette, Tim Brent, Patrick Ehelechner, Daniel Fernholm, Jonathan Filewich, Marc-Andre Fleury, Ryan Stone


San Jose Sharks
UFA: Brian Boucher, Curtis Brown, Brian Campbell, Tom Cavanagh, Brennan Evans, J.D. Forrest, Mike Iggulden, Graham Mink, Brad Norton, Sandis Ozolinsh, Dmitri Patzold, Tomas Plihal, Patrick Rissmiller, Jeremy Roenick, Alexei Semenov, Jody Shelley, Craig Valette
RFA: Riley Armstrong, Ryane Clowe, Christian Ehrhoff, Marcel Goc, Lukas Kaspar, Mike Morris, Joe Pavelski, Dan spang, Brad Staubitz, Jonathan Tremblay

St. Louis Blues
UFA: Alex Brooks, Petr Cajanek, Micki Dupont, Mike Glumac, Mike Johnson, Ryan Johnson, Juuso Riksman, Martin Rucinsky, Yan Stastny, Jean-Guy Trudel, Matt Walker
RFA: David Backes, Chris Beckford-Tseu, Francois-Pierre Guenette, Martin Kariya, Jay McClement, Hannu Toivonen, Jeff Woywitka

Tampa Bay Lightning
UFA: Mathieu Darche, Chris Gratton, Doug Janik, Andreas Karlsson, Junior Lessard, Craig MacDonald, Norm Milley, Andre Roy, David Schneider, Tim Taylor, Kyle Wanvig
RFA: Jonathan Boutin, Ryan Craig, Mike Egener, Justin Fletcher, Zbynek Hrdel, Marek Kvapil, Ryan Munce, Alexandre Picard, Jay Rosehill, Mario Scalzo Jr., Karl Stewart

Toronto Maple Leafs
UFA: Scott Clemmensen, Jay Harrison, David Ling, Dominic Moore, John Pohl, Mats Sundin, Andrew Wozniewski
RFA: Reid Cashman, Alex Foster, Chris Harrington, John ,Mitchell, Ben Ondrus, Jaime Sifers, Matt Stajan, Kyle Wellwood

Vancouver Canucks
UFA: Greg Classen, Brad Ssbister, Trevor Linden, Drew MacIntyre, Aaron Miller, Brad Moran, Brendan Morrison, Markus Naslund, Byron Ritchie, Curtis Sanford, Mike Weaver
RFA: Jozef Balej, Marc-Andre Bernier, Mike Brown, Zach Fitzgerald, Colby Genoway, Nathan McIver, Rick Rypien, Ryan Shannon, James Sharrow

Washington Capitals
UFA: Dean Arsene, Josef Boumedienne, Matt Bradley, Frederic Cassivi, Matt Cooke, Sergei Fedorov, Cristobal Huet, Olaf Kolzig, Jason Morgan
RFA: Steve Eminger, Eric Fehr, Boyd Gordon, Mike Green, Jameson Hunt, Brooks Laich, Shaone Morrisonn, Stephen Werner

Brewers Trade Gross to TB

Ken Rosenthal is reporting that the Milwuakee Brewers have traded outfielder Gabe Gross to the Tampa Bay Rays for Class A right-handed pitcher Josh Butler.

Gross was originally acquired by the Toronto Blue Jays, when they sent him and Dave Bush is a deal for Lyle Overbay.

Report: Canucks Hire New GM

A new report tonight says that the Vancouver Canucks have hired Mike Gillis as their new GM. Gillis is currently the player agent of Markus Naslund. If Gillis is the new GM, will that mean the Naslund will be back?

Smoltz reaches 3000 K Club

Atlanta Braves starter John Smoltz reached the exclusive 3000 strikeout club on Tuesday.

His 3000 K came when he struck out the Nationals Felipe Lopez in the third inning. Smoltz is the 16 member in the 3000 K club. He has 3006 career strikeouts now.

A'd Interested in Thomas

Days after being cut by the Toronto Blue Jays, DH Frank Thomas is starting to pick up a bit of interest. The Oakland A's signed Thomas back in 2006, during his bounce back season, and are once again interested in the aging slugger's services.

Interesting interest here. The A's are developing their young players this year, and weren't though to be seriously in competition for the playoffs. As of right now, they're tied for first in the AL West. The A's are also stacked with lefthanded bats, so maybe the Big Hurt could work out in Oakland, once again.

Playoff Report: Habs Advance; Caps Force Game 2

The Montreal Canadians beat the Boston Bruins 5-0 to advance to the semi-finals today.

Carey Price shut the door on the Bruins, saving all 25 shots sent at him. Not bad for the rookie coming off of a pretty nasty loss the other night. Andrei Kostitsyn had a pair of goals, and Sergei Kostitsyn, Michael Komisarek, and Mark Streit each picked up a goal. Alex Kovalev also had a couple of assists.

The Washington Capitals hung on to a 4-2 lead to force a game seven against the Phliladelphia Flyers. Alex Ovechkin scored the go ahead goal for the Caps, and added a power play goal to cap of a solid night.

The Flames take on the Sharks tomorrow night for their game seven.

Big Hurt Dumped

Huge news from Toronto. Just one day removed from being benched by the Blue Jays, they released the struggling slugger, because of 'lack of run production'.

Can we honestly say that the reason for his release was 'lack of run production'? Last time I checked, Frank Thomas has always been a slow starter. He started pretty much the same way last season, and the Jays didn't cut him. Yes a .167 AVG with 3 HR and 11 RBI might be slow, but last time I checked, the Jays were paying the Big Hurt to hit homeruns and drive in runners. April 20 today, he has hit three longballs and has drove in 11. At about that rate, he'd finish the season with around 20 HR and 65 RBI. Not close enough to his .298 with 30 home runs and 92 RBI of last season, which is what the Jays needed out of him. He started off last season with a .217 AVG, 8 HR and 22 RBI through his first 55 games he played in last season. Thomas has played about half of the 55 games, and is on pace for about the same place that he was at through the 55 games last season. I gave you the stats that he finished the season with, and they were allright. He won't return to his glory days with the White Sox, but he's an old man now, and is still playing pretty well.

Let's look back to 2006, when Thomas signed a pity deal for $500K with the Athletics. He started off the season with a .197 AVG with 9 HR and 22 RBI through 37 games. He finished off that season with 39 HR 114 RBI and a .270 AVG. Pretty good numbers in my books. Another fact: April is the only month in his Hall of Fame career that he has hit less than .300 in.

Now that we've crunched the numbers, was he really released because he wasn't producing? I don't think so. JP Riccardi is a somewhat smart man who would've figured out that he started slow in April and heated up in the second half of the season. There is probably one other reason for Thomas' sudden dismissal.

Frank signed a two year contract with the Jays prior to the 2007 season for $18.12M. That contract came with a vesting option worth $10M for 2009. That option would vest with 1000 plate appearences. Frank had 624 last season, and only needed 304 more this season, something likely to happen for the option to vest. It makes Riccardi look better to release him now while he's 300 away, then come July or August when he would be like 5 away. A 41 year old slugger (in 2009) making $10M who 'isn't producing' is a pretty hefty load to be carrying around. The fact that the Jays have guys like Adam Lind, Rod Barajas, Matt Stairs, and Robsinson Diaz to DH makes this pill a little bit easier to swallow.

This would be a terrible end to an illustrious career for the Big Hurt. If the Jays truly respected Thomas then they would've given him more days off than he needed in order for his '09 option not to vest, and then not resigned him at the end of this season. For the future, it's the right move. And what Riccardi said about it being too hard on the club in the playoff race to have a struggling player in their lineup everyday makes perfect sense. Thomas could very well catch on somewhere, and I wouldn't be surprised if he does. If he doesn't, this was a poor ending to an amazing career not haunted by steroids or steriod suspicion.

Sorry Frank...

News and Notes from the Blogosphere

As some of you may know, I read a lot of baseball blogs, and write my own, so here are a few tidbits from the blogosphere.

Junior of Fire Joe Morgan, which is a solid blog which has little relevence that I've found to Joe Morgan, talks about A-Rod not hifh-fiving Bobby Abreu, which is why the Yankees have lost ten straight.

I liked this quote from that post:

(Under the 2008 official baseball rule changes, as you may recall, a post-HR high-five clinches the "bonus zone," wherein the umpire must roll a seven-sided die and award the high-fivers' team the number of runs equaling the result of the roll.)

It's interesting to find out new rules all the time (fyi, this one is fake) but this one was new to me. Personnaly, I'm not against the idea of having players high five each other to roll a seven sided die. But that's unlikely going to happen in the MLB. Still, it's hillarious to here how crappy the Yankees are doing, and to find out that A-Rod doesn't have the marbles to give Abreu a high five, but will slap most of his teammates on the butt.

The Canucks website isn't really a blog, but whatever. The jobhunt is on after the firing of Dave Nonis. Some names to throw at you; Doug Armstrong, Neil Smith, Brian Lawton, Steve Tambellini, Mike Gillis, Trevor Linden and Brian Burke. Lawton and Gillis are the new options that are being looked at. There are some concerns with each Lawton because of his limited expierience.

Gillis however, seems to be out on top. He was believed to be close to getting the GM job back in the late 90's, when Brian Burke was eventually chosen, but there was a problem or two that no longer exist. Gillis had a problem with Steve Bellringer, who was the pylon between him and then Canucks owner Stan McCammon on the corporate scale. Both Bellringer and McCammon are far out of the picture. One other variable for Gillis' case, is that he is Markus Naslund's agent, who will be a free agent on July 1. Neither have said anything on the matter, however there is probably something there that could create a problem. Naslund coming back to the Canucks will also be something that we look at.

Bonds Ready, and Waiting...Still Waiting

Barry Bonds is still waiting for a team to sign him. He has OBP potential, but that's it. He has no speed or defence, AT ALL. He has a bit of power, but little contact ability. Nobody will stop with the Bonds to Seattle rumors, and he looks like a fit because he will walk, a lot. Something that the Mariners will need. But there are still too many question marks surrounding him. His baggage weighs more than the fifty pounds that Southwest allows you to carry on board your flight. There's no more homerun chase, but can the Mariners really sell their fans on Bonds' chase for 3000 hits? He needs another 65 hits to get to the milestone, but will he get the oppurtunity?

Will he get in to the Hall of Fame? TBD. Same for Roger Clemens now. I wouldn't vote for Bonds to be in the Hall, but would I vote for Clemens? I don't know. This is where we get in to the arguement on whether or not Bonds should be in the Hall of Fame or not. Based on purely statistics, yes. A 100% vote in his favour. With the steriod asterisk beside his name? Again TBD. I can't say whether or not he will catch on somewhere, or deserves to. But if the Hall of Fame is based purely on numbers alone, my vote would be for him. Another thing, he hasn't failed a drug test, but's it's pretty much everything else surrounding steroids that puts him under the microscope. Also the fact that in the 80's, he was a twig. Come 2000, he was an oak tree. Facts don't usually lie because they are facts. If they weren't true then they wouldn't be facts, now would they?

We will continue this discussion later.

News and Notes and Maybe Some Ranting

I'm going to let you know now that I can go off on rants, and although they may be unexpected, I will do the best that I can to warn you before I engage in any. Alright.

The Brewers signed Jeff Weaver. Does anyone care? I don't. He'll spend a while at AAA, June 1st he can become a free agent, and then maybe get a call up. Yovani Gallardo, who I would like healthy for my baseball pools, gets healthy, the Brew Crew would already have a six man deep staff. Making it a seventh makes sense, especially if the Brewers sink and trade Ben Sheets, who is a potential FA, or others get hurt, pitch poorly, you know the deal. Having six starters and some guy doesn't make sesnse. Throw the million that Weaver will cost at someone like Prince Fielder, A GUY THAT WILL MAKE A DIFFERENCE, and he has. Weaver was terrible with the Mariners last season. Yeah, he had a couple good outings, not much sarcasm there, but I can't look past a 6.20 ERA in 27 starts. In about 24 of those starts he did bad. Let's think here. He won seven games, that's fine. But in the 13 losses, if the Mariners replaced him with me, then the M's probably would only have 11-12 losses on their hands. The other teams would be laughing at me pitching, not that I suck, I'm actually pretty good, against like non-major leaguers, that I'd be able to sneak in a few outs here and there and get s win. Time for Jeff to screw up another year of an organization's time. Scotty Boras is now the most smartest person in the world for being able to sell Weaver's 2006 season to the Mariners for the same $8.35M he earned with the Angels and Cardinals in 2006. Weaver catches on somewhere else because of Boras' hypnotic power to get people to do what he wants.

Ken Griffey Jr. hit home run number 595 yesterday off of the Cubs' Ryan Dempster. Dempster was the 379th pitcher that Kenny has hit a homerun off of in his Cooperstown career. Of course he was wearing number 42 yesterday in honour of Jackie Robinson. Griffey is sixth on the all time list, and is fourteen homers behind Sammy Sosa for fifth on the all time homerun list. Ken is the guy that pretty much everybody would rather have had chasing Hank Aaron's 755 instead of Barry Bonds*. If Griffey hadn't gotten injured on so many freak plays during his Seattle days, then maybe he would be around 750 by now. Maybe I'll try and figure out where he might be someday.

The Pittsburg Penguins swept the Ottawa Senators out of the NHL playoffs, 4-0. The NHL got what they wanted, their Golden Boy Sidney Crosby in the second round of the playoffs. Jarkko Ruutu, who is known league wide for the Chris Simon stomp, more then his goal scoring ability, or lack there of, broke the 1-1 tie, and won the game for the Pens. 1992 was the last time that the Penguins swept a team in the playoffs, when they swept the Chicago Blackhawks.

Continued...

News and Notes and Maybe Some Ranting Continued

Adam "Pacman" Jones is trying to get reinstated by the NFL, after being suspended due to arrests, and off-field crap. The rumors of the Titans trading him to the Cowboys has stalled a little bit because of whether or not Pacman will be reinstated. Roger Goodell says that the trade talks won't affect the league's decision on Jones. He'll probably get reinstated, wait, there's no NFL in Canada, yet... If it were the CFL, he'd be back in already, because we'd let Osoma Bin Laden work as a greeter at Wal-Mart. We'll see if he gets back. He'll pull the "I'm a changed man, and am truly sorry" crap and the NFL will probably take it at face value and let him back in.

Jackie Robinson's 61th Anny

Today marks the 61th anniversary of when Jackie Robinson broke the MLB colour barrier with the Los Angeles Dodgers. Hard to believe that 61 years have already gone by since Jackie first came in to pro baseball.

Many players donned the number 42, retired by Bud Selig in 1997, and the Mets Nationals, Dodgers, Cardinals, A's, Angels, Pirates, Rangers and Rays all wore the number 42 in honour of Jackie.

Mike Bauman believes that April 15 should be a national holiday. I am on board with that, not just because of the extra day off, but because of Jackie Robinson's impact on the world of baseball, and sports. For complete Jackie Robinson Day 2008 coverage, go to MLB.com's feature page.

Woods Out for a Month

Tiger Woods will be out for a month after having surgery on his left knee Tuesday to repair cartilage damage, his second operation in five years on the same knee.

The injury is expected to keep Woods out of The Players Championship, but should return in time to play the U.S. Open at Torrey Pines.

"I made the decision to deal with the pain and schedule the surgery for after the Masters," Woods said. "The upside is that I have been through this process before and know how to handle it. I look forward to working through the rehabilitation process and getting back to action as quickly as I can."

Giants Eliminated

The Vancouver Giants were eliminated from the WHL playoffs tonight by the Spokane Chiefs, after losing 3-1.

The Giants, last year's defending Memorial Cup Champions, put up a dismal effort considering how good they've been in the last few years. Maybe it's time for them to rebuild their prospect stock. Oh, well. First, my Canucks are out, and now my Giants are too. No more Vancouver teams for me to cheer for...

Beej Activated

The Toronto Blue Jays activated former All-Star closer BJ Ryan from the DL. The Beej is about eleven months removed from having Tommy John surgery on his left arm.

Ryan has saved 38 games twice, in 2005 and 2006. After his performance with the Orioles in 2005, the Jays signed him to a five year contract worth $47M. The Jays need Ryan back to full health if they want to compete in the AL East.

Brandon League was sent down to AAA Syracuse to make room for Ryan. League gave up two runs on two hits in only 2.2 IP.

Canucks Fire Nonis

The Vancouver Canucks fired their GM of three seasons Dave Nonis after the team had failed to make it to the playoffs two the past three seasons.

“The decision to relieve Dave of his duties was difficult,” explained Francesco Aquilini, Chairman, Vancouver Canucks. “We want to thank Dave for the many contributions he has made helping to build our organization during his tenure. However, I think this important change in leadership is critical to the future of the team and the direction we need to take. It’s not acceptable to our fans or to us as owners that our team isn’t in the playoffs.”

As owners we made a commitment to deliver the kind of hockey our fans deserve. At the same time, with leadership comes responsibility. So, our search begins today for a new general manager, and our focus going forward is on a winning season in 2008-09.”

I don't really know what to say right now. I don't think that anybody saw this coming, but seeing as the team failed to score much, and their defence was good, but not what it needed to be. Yes, injuries did kind of mess any potential chemistry, again. But I'm tired of injuries always being the blame. Anyways, the Canucks are on the lookout for a new GM. Pat Quinn would be an option. Trying him again might make some sense. Then there's Steve Tambellini who could make a decent GM. He worked under Nonis, as Nonis did under Brian Burke. Then, there's the more further off, New York Islander approach, and hire Trvor Linden as the GM. Yes, I may be jumping ahead, but his career is likely over, and he knows that Canucks better then probably anyone. Garth Snow hasn't done great with the Islanders, but who knows. Only time will tell now. Expect something done before the draft in June. FYI, the Canucks have the tenth overall pick.

Welcome!

I'd like to take this oppurtunity to welcome you all to my new sports blog, Sports Today. I will be talking about pretty much all sports that interest me. I will cover hot stove and things like that, and will also get in to a few rants. I also run the blog Mariners Central. I look forward to writing and hearing from you!! Hit me up at marinerscentral"at"gmail.com.