Phillies No Longer Looking To Lohse
Word is that Philadelphia has dropped out of the bidding on Kyle Lohse. The sticking point with the Phillies was the Lohse camp, headed by agent Scott Boras, insisting on a fourth years and the Phillies refusing to give more than three. Boras claims to have a bidder at four years which is believed to be the Mets. I don’t get it. The guy is 63-74 with a 4.82 ERA over his career and hasn’t had a winning season since 2003 when he went 14-11. How is he able to demand a fourth year and an annual salary of around $10 million? Baseball is a weird business.
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Mets Get Wise, Sign Matt
Yesterday I was bemoaning the fact that there was no real news to report. Omar Minaya must have read what I wrote and decided to throw me a bone yesterday when he signed right handed reliever Matt Wise to a one year contract yesterday. It’s a small bone but a bone nonetheless.
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No News
I noticed that it’s been several days since my last post and didn’t want to be away too long. But the problem is that there really isn’t anything going on. Sure with Oakland having traded Dan Haren to the Diamondbacks the rumors of a Joe Blanton trade have increased. But that’s just rumors. Nothing real has happened. So here I sit waiting for some news to report.
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Mitchell Report Is Out
The Mitchell report was released a little earlier this afternoon. Several names familiar to Mets fans were included.
One of those names is Todd Hundley. While with the Mets in 1996, a break out 41 homer year for the former catcher, Hundley bought steroids from Kirk Radomski on at least 3 occasions. Hundley was a bit of a hero of mine at the time so this allegation crushes my previous opinions of the guy. To make matters worse Hundley referred a more recent former Mets catcher, Paul Lo Duca, to Radomski. Lo Duca’s checks to Radomski (as well as the checks of many other players) are included in the report.
Other former Mets in the report include Lenny Dykstra, Mark Carreon, Matt Franco, Todd Pratt, Mo Vaughn and Mike Stanton. Current Mets include Scott Schoeneweis. Players from other teams include Brian Roberts, Andy Pettitte, Roger Clemens, Chuck Knoblauch, Barry Bonds, Miguel Tejada, Kevin Brown, Jason Giambi, Gary Sheffield, Eric Gagne and David Justice.
Mitchell doesn’t just name names but criticizes the league itself for the way they handle their drug program. It recommends the league and players get an independent agency to conduct the drug testing program. That would eliminate the conflict of interest in the league policing it’s players (as long as a truly independent agency was brought in). It also suggest naming the drugs players tested positive for.
Bud Selig will hold news conference later today to share his thoughts on the report. I don’t really respect him very much as a commissioner already and I expect his response to make me even less confident in him.
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Mets Sign Trio To Minor League Deals
In a day of teams letting go of some of their players the Mets actually added a few new faces. Catchers Raul Casanova & Gustavo Molina and right hander Nate Field were signed to minor league deals and invited to spring training.
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Johnny, We Hardly Knew Ye
As expected the Mets non tendered Johnny Estrada yesterday. I’m not so sure that was the right move. But this officially makes the move of Guillermo Mota complete. The Mets essentially moved Mota and his salary to Milwaukee for nothing. Other Mets who were non tendered are Juan Padilla and Ben Johnson.
The Mets did offer contracts to Endy Chavez, Pedro Feliciano, Aaron Heilman, Oliver Perez, Duaner Sanchez and Jorge Sosa.
There are some interesting names on the non tender wire. People that may be worth reaching out to include starting pitchers Josh Towers, Mark Prior and reliever Akinori Otsuka.
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Mitchell Report Due Tomorrow
Major League baseball officials have received the long awaited Mitchell report. It is set to be released to the public tomorrow. I heard a report this morning that the report will include between 50 and 80 names of current and former players. It is unknown weather the report will result in suspensions for any of the named players.
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Non-Tender Day
Today could be a very bug day in baseball. It’s non-tender deadline day. Today is the last day a team may offer a contract to their arbitration eligible players or allow them to become free agents. The Mets have several players in this category including Oliver Perez, Aaron Heilman, Pedro Feliciano, Duaner Sanchez and the recently acquired Johnny Estrada.
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Segui: I Took Steroids
The Baltimore Sun reported in this morning’s edition that former Met David Segui admitted to using steroids he purchased from former Mets clubhouse attendant Kirk Radomski. But Segui refused to talk with former Sen. George Mitchell because he didn’t want to rat out other players or get caught in speculation about other players. Radomski did cooperate with Mitchell. Segui had previously admitted to using human growth hormone when the Jason Grimsley affair came to light.
I give Segui credit for coming forward. The quotes in the story indicate that he is a stand up guy. But with the Mitchell report expected to be released in the next few days you have wonder what the impact of this will be. Segui’s case leads me to believe now more than any other time during the investigation that the report will actually be a lite version of the reality that is going on. Not that the report will have no impact but the Segui revelation says that there is so much more than what the report will show.
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Lo Duca Signs With Washington
Paul Lo Duca signed with the Washington Nationals yesterday. Good luck, Paul. Except for when you play against the Mets, of course.
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