Wow.

Here he is:

New York Yankees’ Alex Rodriguez, bottom right, and golfer Greg Norman, top left, of Australia, watch the match between Maria Sharapova, of Russia, and Elena Vesnina, of Russia, during the Sony Open tennis tournament in Key Biscayne, Fla., Sunday March 24, 2013. (AP Photo/Alan Diaz)

That’s funny…A-Rod in Florida? Just three days ago, we were told that he was in New York:

Rodriguez will head to Tampa once he’s ready for on-field activities, according to Yankees general manager Brian Cashman.

He’ll continue his program in New York until then…

So, A-Rod can get to FLA to watch tennis. But, he cannot get down there to visit Yankees camp? Typical.

Via the Times –

Limited by their inability to compel people to cooperate with their investigators, Major League Baseball officials will open a new front in their battle against doping. They plan to file a lawsuit on Friday against a number of people connected to a South Florida anti-aging clinic, alleging that the individuals damaged the sport by providing some of the game’s biggest stars with performance-enhancing drugs, according to two people briefed on the matter.

The suit will seek to recoup money from its targets — including the clinic’s owner and a person who worked for two prominent baseball agents — and baseball officials also hope it will produce cooperation with their investigation into the clinic’s activities.

The suit is an attempt to solve the longstanding problem that Major League Baseball has faced in trying to discipline players who have been linked to doping but have not tested positive for a banned substance.

Attaboy Bud, smoke them out of their holes…

Witness.

What a cast!

.
Francona was in on it…I don’t think Girardi would swing that way.

Via a press release today -

Rawlings Sporting Goods Company, Inc., a subsidiary of Jarden Corporation (NYSE: JAH), announced today during the Society for American Baseball Research’s annual SABR Analytics Conference in Phoenix a new collaboration with SABR. This collaboration will add a new sabermetric-based component to the Rawlings Gold Glove Award® and Rawlings Platinum Glove Award™ selection processes. This continues Rawlings’ recent amplification and expansion of the Rawlings Gold Glove Award platform that started three years ago.

As part of the multi-year collaboration beginning with the 2013 season, SABR will develop an expanded statistical resource guide that will accompany the Rawlings Gold Glove Award ballots sent to managers and coaches each year. In addition, SABR will immediately establish a new Fielding Research Committee tasked to develop a proprietary new defensive analytic called the SABR Defensive Index™, or SDI™. The SDI will serve as an “apples-to-apples” metric to help determine the best defensive players in baseball exclusively for the Rawlings Gold Glove Award and Rawlings Platinum Glove Award selection processes. The collaboration also installs SABR as the presenting sponsor of the Rawlings Platinum Glove Award.

“The Rawlings Gold Glove Award is one of the most iconic awards in all of sports, and has continued to evolve throughout its storied history,” said Kurt Hunzeker , senior director of brand marketing for St. Louis-based Rawlings. “By marrying the ‘art of fielding’ with the ‘science of baseball,’ our new collaboration with SABR only cements the Rawlings Gold Glove Award and Rawlings Platinum Glove Award as the industry standards honoring defensive excellence at the highest level of baseball.”

Since its inception in 1957, the Rawlings Gold Glove Award voting process has included national sportswriters, a secret players-only ballot, and the current system where each manager and up to six (6) coaches on his staff vote from a pool of qualified players in their respective league, but not for players on their own team.

Beginning in 2013, the managers/coaches vote will constitute a majority of the Rawlings Gold Glove Award winners’ selection tally, with the new SDI comprising of the remainder of the overall total. The exact breakdown of the selection criteria will be announced once the SDI is created later this summer.

“SABR has a long history of being at the forefront of the sabermetrics movement,” said Vince Gennaro , president of SABR. “We are proud to bring our expertise to bear in the selection of future Rawlings Gold Glove Award winners, and to be a driving force behind the Rawlings Platinum Glove Award.”

In 2011, Rawlings incorporated the following components into its Rawlings Gold Glove Award selection process: a new resource guide with advanced metrics and player eligibility parameters, the separation of the three outfield positions to accurately reward the best defenders at each specific outfield position, the announcement of finalists at each position, and the introduction of the Rawlings Platinum Glove Award to honor the best defender in each League among the Rawlings Gold Glove Award winners in each season.

The SDI’s ability to accurately compare players from different positions will help determine the updated Rawlings Platinum Glove Award presented by SABR. Fans will continue to have a voice during this process, once the newest class of Rawlings Gold Glove Award winners is announced in November.

Sweet.

Via the Toronto Sun -

In 1980, the Montreal Expos, on the brink of what would have been its first trip to baseball’s treasured post-season in franchise history, were sparked by speedy outfielder Ron LeFlore, the most successful base-stealer in the National League that year.

“That was the greatest year of my career,” declared LeFlore, the ex-convict turned big league star who spent nine years in the major leagues with the Detroit Tigers, Expos and Chicago White Sox.

Today, the Expos are long gone, relocated to Washington D.C. and renamed the Nationals, and the 64-year-old LeFlore, who made his name and gained his fame with his legs, running fast and stealing bases, ironically limps from place to place on a prosthetic leg.

LeFlore lost his right leg to arterial vascular disease in the summer of 2011, a result of his having smoked cigarettes since he was a teenager.

“Sometimes I want to jump up and take off — but I can’t do that anymore,” LeFlore admitted over lunch the other day at a restaurant near his St. Petersburg, Fla., home.

“I’ve got to worry about my balance all the time. I’ve got to watch where I walk. I can’t look off because I’ve got no feeling in my leg. I’ve got to be careful where I step.”

Quite a change for a man who once ran around the bases — and through life — with reckless abandon, using heroin when he was 15 and ending up in prison, faced with a sentence of five-to-15 years for armed robbery when he was 21.

At that point in his life, it is worth noting, LeFlore had never played one inning of organized baseball at any level — not Little League or high school or sandlot ball.

Even before LeFlore was traded by the Tigers to the Expos for pitcher Dan Schatzeder after the 1979 season, his incredible life story, from youthful drug dealer and prison inmate to big-league star, had been celebrated in a book (Breakout) and a made-for-TV movie (One in a Million) starring LeVar Burton

Nevertheless, LeFlore’s big-league playing career abruptly ended in 1983 when he was released in spring training by the White Sox. The previous season he had been accused of being out-of-shape, missing workouts and sleeping in the clubhouse. The last straw came late in the 1982 campaign, when LeFlore was arrested at his Chicago apartment in possession of amphetamines and an unlicensed gun. LeFlore claimed the pills and pistol belonged to somebody else and was acquitted. But the damage had been done.

Unable to land a job as a coach in the big leagues, LeFlore worked as an airport baggage handler, went to umpire school, worked as an instructor at a baseball school, played in the now-defunct professional Senior League, and coached or managed in three independent leagues, including at Saskatoon in the Canadian League.

Along the way, he admitted to being four years older than he had originally claimed, lost a 49-day-old child to Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, faced felony charges of possession of a controlled substance, and was arrested twice for non-payment of child support.

“I’ve had some ups and downs,” admitted LeFlore, who now lives from month to month on social security and his baseball pension. The money he made playing baseball (never more than $700,000 a year) and the royalties from his biography and movie are long gone.

At this four year peak, LeFlore and Davey Lopes were just as good as each other (during that same time):

.
You have to wonder how good he could have been if he always played baseball and didn’t spend time in prison.

I missed this one seven months ago.

I wonder now many ballplayers end up having to peddle the contents of their mansion seven years after they can’t sell it?

Busted ankle.

Via ESPN -

The Los Angeles Angels renewed the contract of AL Rookie of the Year Mike Trout for $510,000, prompting an angry response from the outfielder’s agent.

Craig Landis said his client was disappointed with the decision announced Saturday. The salary is $20,000 above the major league minimum.

“During the process, on behalf of Mike, I asked only that the Angels compensate Mike fairly for his historic 2012 season, given his service time,” Landis said in a statement. “In my opinion, this contract falls well short of a ‘fair’ contract and I have voiced this to the Angels throughout the process. Nonetheless, the renewal of Mike’s contract will put an end [to] this discussion.”

Trout has one year, 70 days of major league service and is likely to be eligible for arbitration after the 2014 season and for free agency after the 2017 World Series. Teams can renew the contracts of unsigned players on their 40-man rosters from March 2-11

“Mike, himself, does not wish to comment on this matter,” Landis said. “As when he learned he would not be the team’s primary center fielder for the upcoming season, Mike will put the disappointment behind him and focus on helping the Angels reach their goal of winning the 2013 World Series.”

Speedy Peter Bourjos is set to be the Angels’ primary center fielder, flanked by Trout in left and 2010 AL MVP Josh Hamilton in right.

Trout said he wouldn’t focus on off-the-field issues.

“You could easily put yourself in a bad mood about it, but that’s not me,” Trout said Thursday, according to the Los Angeles Times. “I like to play baseball. I’m going to try to win a World Series for the team and not worry about off-the-field things.”

Trout’s agent, Craig Landis, was less diplomatic about his client’s deal.

“I asked only that the Angels compensate Mike fairly for his historic 2012 season, given his service time,” Landis said in an email to the Times. “In my opinion, this contract falls well short of a ‘fair’ contract, and I have voiced this to the Angels throughout the process.”

Angels general manager Jerry Dipoto defended the team’s position.

“We love Mike — he’s a big part of what we’re doing now and hopefully for many years to come,” Dipoto told the Times. “But we’re operating within the parameters of the collective bargaining agreement, and it’s a system that rewards service time.”

For what it’s worth, in 2007, Troy Tulowitzki made $381,000 in his big “rookie” season and he was paid $750,000 in the next year. And, in 2001, Albert Pujols made $200,000 in his big rookie season and he was paid $600,000 the next year. Lastly, in 2010, Jason Heyward made $400,000 in his rookie season and he was paid $496,500 the following year.

That all said, would it have killed the Angels to renew Trout for $615,000 this season? Is a hundred grand going to kill them? Talk about being penny wise and pound foolish…

Yankees G.M. Brian Cashman will participate in a tandem jump with the U.S. Army Golden Knights on Monday, March 4, at the Homestead Air Reserve Base outside of Miami. It’s to raise awareness for The Wounded Warrior Project.

Hey, jumping out of a plane is a lot less costly than jumping Louise Meanwell, that’s for sure.

Oh, those crazy Canucks.

They got into it a bit last night on Twitter.

Joba’s ERA from 2009 through 2012 is 4.43. And, his ERA+ during that time is 101 (in 278.3 IP).

That said, when healthy, Chamberlain is a league average relief pitcher. Basically, he’s a right-handed version of Marc Rzepczynski. Guys like that should not get themselves into squabbles on Twitter. Geesh…

Via CBS -

Alex Rodriguez’s only World Series ring is up for auction, although Rodriguez himself is not the one who consigned it.

As 1010 WINS’ Gene Michaels reported, Rodriguez’s 2009 World Series ring is not being sold by the Yankees third baseman himself, but by an auctioneer who bought it from his cousin, Yuri Sucart – the man A-Rod said convinced him to use steroids.

Memorabilia auctioneer Ken Goldin bought the ring from Sucart for $5,000, and consigned it to auction, according to published reports.

Michaels asked Jim, a Yankees fan, if he would like to be the proud owner of A-Rod’s World Series ring.

“It would be pretty awesome, actually,” Jim replied.

The ring goes up on the auction block starting Monday at GoldinAuctions.com, with a minimum bid of $5,000.

“I don’t think I can afford that,” Jim said.

And some think the ring might garner $40,000 when the auction ends April 5.

Apparently, for A-Rod, the ring is not the thing.

Via Law 360 –

The New York Yankees hold the rights to the phrase “Evil Empire,” the nickname used by their detractors, and can prevent another company from registering the name as a trademark, a U.S. Patent and Trademark Office panel ruled recently.

In a Feb. 8 decision, the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board held that Evil Enterprises Inc. couldn’t register a trademark on the phrase “Baseball’s Evil Empire” for use on apparel featuring the Yankees logo adorned with a devil and pitchfork.

I still don’t know why the Yankees take pride in this handle that Larry Lucchino pinned on them? Who wants to be “evil”?

Via the L.A. Times -

Fear not, Angels fans. Mike Trout assures you he is not fat.

Yes, the 21-year-old outfielder reported to spring training at 241 pounds, about 10 to 15 pounds more than he weighed in 2012 and five pounds heavier than slugger Albert Pujols, who checked in at 236.

And, yes, with his thick neck and muscular build, the reigning American League rookie of the year looks more like an NFL fullback than a major league leadoff hitter, causing an uproar among fans on Twitter and message boards, where Trout has been called, among other things, “Blimpy” and the “Hindenburg.”

But most of the added weight is muscle — Trout’s body fat is 9% — and he expects to lose about 10 pounds during camp, which would put him right around the weight he finished last season at, 230 pounds.

And he has not gained 30 pounds, as some have speculated. Though he was listed at 6-foot-1 and 210 pounds last season, he actually weighed between 225 and 230.

“I think it’s pretty funny,” Trout said of the response to his weight gain. “I usually lose five to 10 pounds in spring. I figured if I came in at the weight I want to play at and lost five to 10 pounds, I’d be underweight to start the season.”

The concern of fans is understandable. Why mess with your body composition after a season in which you hit .326 with 30 home runs, 83 runs batted in, 129 runs and 49 stolen bases and placed second in most-valuable-player voting?

But Trout feels comfortable.

“Don’t worry about it, I’m fine,” he said. “This is nothing too crazy. I feel fast. I feel quick. I should be good.”

Two-forty and 9% body fat? Oh, my…

Via the AP -

Former major league infielder Josh Booty has won a reality television show by throwing the best knuckleball, and will go to spring training with the Arizona Diamondbacks.

Booty is set to report to camp Friday with a non-roster invitation.

The show on the MLB Network was called “The Next Knuckler.” Booty met Thursday with Diamondbacks announcer Tom Candiotti, a longtime knuckleballer in the majors.

The 37-year-old Booty played 13 games for the Marlins from 1996-98. He also played quarterback at LSU.

Booty was among five former college quarterbacks in the competition. His brother, John David Booty, was joined by Doug Flutie, David Greene and Ryan Perrilloux.

Booty is 37-years old and out of baseball since 1998. It would be a helluva story if he found his way back to the major leagues now. If he’s going to do it, he better do it quick.

Via the Daily News -

Alex Rodriguez’s hip may have put his baseball career on hold for a while, but the Yankee slugger’s love life and appetite are in midseason form.

Rodriguez, who has been keeping a low profile while rehabbing his surgically repaired hip in New York, was spotted Wednesday leaving the Atlantic Grill after lunch with gal pal Torrie Wilson and another man. According to an employee at the upper West Side eatery, Rodriguez and Wilson are practically regulars.

“They come in all the time,” said a female member of the wait staff. “She’s his girlfriend. They’d been here since 2 p.m.”

Wednesday was the first official spotting of Rodriguez since he posted photos of himself on his Facebook page following hip surgery on Jan. 16.

More than a week later, he went MIA after being linked to a Miami clinic being probed by Major League Baseball for selling performance-enhancing drugs. Since he is rehabbing his hip, he’s been a no-show at Yankee camp in Tampa, where his teammates are preparing for the 2013 season.

Brian Cashman said last week that the Bombers do not expect to see Rodriguez in camp. Rodriguez does not figure to return as a player until at least midseason, if at all.

Meanwhile, he is spending his time at the Atlantic Grill.

One insider said Rodriguez “has been coming here for the last three days,” and Wednesday A-Rod feasted on oysters, a mixed green salad and grilled branzino fish.

Well, it’s nice to see Alex come out of his bunker…

Via FOX -

Hall of Fame broadcaster Joe Garagiola plans to announce his retirement after 58 seasons in the booth, the last 15 with the Diamondbacks.

The team announced Tuesday it will host a press conference Wednesday at its spring training facility for Garagiola to discuss his retirement. Garagiola has appeared on select D-backs TV broadcasts since joining the team at its inception in 1998. His final broadcast was Sept. 30 on FOX Sports Arizona, when the Diamondbacks hosted the Chicago Cubs.

Garagiola played nine seasons with four teams as a catcher from 1946-1954. His broadcast career began in 1955 with KMOX in St. Louis, where he called Cardinals games with Jack Buck and Harry Caray. In 1961, he began a nearly 30-year association with NBC. Garagiola called Yankees games from 1965-1967 before returning to NBC broadcasts.

With NBC, Garagiola teamed notably with legendary Dodgers broadcaster Vin Scully from 1983-1988 to call the networks “Game of the Week” each Saturday, along with three All-Star Games, three National League Championship Series and three World Series. Garagiola left NBC after the 1988 World Series and later served briefly as a color analyst with the California Angels.

Garagiola entered the broadcast wing of the National Baseball Hall of Fame when he won the Ford C. Frick Award in 1991. He is also a member of the Arizona Broadcasters Association Hall of Fame.

I had no idea that Garagiola was still working. I thought he was done after leaving NBC. You’d think the fact that he was working all these years would be more celebrated and therefore better known?

Via ESPN –

Five more professional baseball players have connections to a South Florida clinic at the heart of a widening doping scandal, according to documents obtained by “Outside the Lines.”

The new players listed in documents from the Biogenesis of America clinic run by Anthony Bosch: San Diego Padres shortstop Everth Cabrera, 26, the reigning National League stolen-base champion; Jordan Norberto, 26, a lefty reliever with the Oakland A’s; Fernando Martinez, 24, a Houston Astros outfielder; Fautino De Los Santos, 27, a reliever claimed off waivers by the Padres; and Cesar Puello, 21, a top Mets outfield prospect.

Sources said the players, like those who have been named in previous Biogenesis documents, were on a list as having received performance-enhancing drugs, although the documents are not proof that the players either received or used PEDs.

According to two sources familiar with Bosch’s operation, however, the Washington Nationals’ Gio Gonzalez, previously identified as being named in Biogenesis documents, did not receive banned substances from Bosch or the clinic.

Both sources, speaking independently, identified Gonzalez as the only Bosch client named thus far who did not receive performance-enhancing drugs. A document obtained by “Outside the Lines” bolsters their case: On a computer printout of clients, Gonzalez, identified by the code name “Gladiator,” is said to have received $1,000 worth of substances, but under “notes” are several substances not banned by Major League Baseball: “gluthetyn” (which a source said was a misspelling of glutathione), “IM [intramuscular] shots” and amino acids.

Glutathione is an anti-oxidant, and one source said the “IM shots” Gonzalez received were “MICs,” a medically dubious but legal combination of methionine, inositol and choline, often used for weight loss.

At least 25 players, either by name or nickname, are identified in the Biogenesis documents. Sources have indicated the number of MLB players who dealt with Bosch over the years could be significantly higher.

Those last two lines are probably scaring a few ballplayers…ya think?

Via David Lennon -

Roger Clemens told Newsday this morning that his own book is in the works. No specific timetable yet though.

Should be a whopper. How will play the role of Al Stump?

Nice story.

This is an interesting story.

And, it does beg the question of: If teams are willing to give out cortisone injections and shots of toradol like they are candy, then, should the game be so upset about players electing on their own to take stuff that will enable them to stay on the field and perform?

Via Wally Matthews -

New York Yankees catcher Francisco Cervelli on Wednesday denied receiving any illegal performance-enhancing drugs from Biogenesis, the Miami “anti-aging” clinic currently under investigation by Major League Baseball.

But there were contradictory elements to Cervelli’s account of his dealings with Biogenesis and its director, Anthony Bosch, who is suspected of supplying players with steroids, HGH and other substances banned by MLB.

At first Cervelli said he consulted with Bosch about a broken foot he suffered in spring training of 2011, but received only “suggestions.”

“I just went there, talked, and that’s it,” Cervelli said. “I walked away without nothing in my hands.”

Cervelli said he took no treatment at Biogenesis and that his visit to the clinic did not help him. He also said that in retrospect, he now regretted visiting the clinic.

“Well, you know, sometimes, when we got injuries we get a little desperate to come back quick and we always want a second opinion,” he said. “I went there. At that moment I don’t know what kind of clinic it was. So like I said, I take my responsibility. Nobody put a gun to my head to go there, so that’s it.”

But later in the 10-minute group interview session conducted in a hallway outside the Yankees clubhouse at George M. Steinbrenner Field, Cervelli said he wanted to stand by the statement he released via his Twitter account when his name surfaced in the records of Biogenesis on February 5.

“Following my foot injury in March 2011, he wrote in the statement, “I consulted with a number of experts, including Biogenesis Clinic, for legal ways to aid my rehab and recovery. I purchased supplements that I am certain were not prohibited by Major League Baseball.

Asked if he had been offered illegal performance-enhancing drugs, Cervelli said no.

“Look at me,” Cervelli said, indicating his wiry physique. “You check the numbers. I know it doesn’t matter, but if you check the numbers and everything, I don’t use that stuff.”

Cervelli said Biogenesis had been recommended to him by “someone,” although he would not reveal who, other than to say it was neither a player nor his former agents, Seth and Sam Levinson, four of whose clients — Melky Cabrera, Gio Gonzalez, Nelson Cruz and Jesus Montero — have also been linked to Biogenesis.

Cervelli also said he and his teammate and friend, Alex Rodriguez, was not the person who recommended he go to Biogenesis, nor have the two spoken about the clinic since it was revealed in a story by the Miami New Times that Rodriguez’s name appeared in the clinic’s records alongside notations believed to signify PEDs.

An ESPN.com story quoted sources as saying Bosch had personally injected Rodriguez with steroids in his Miami home. Through a spokesman, A-Rod has denied the allegations and said the Biogenesis records were “not legitimate,” suggesting they were forgeries.

While Cervelli’s name also appears in the records, there are no notations alongside it, and Cervelli has never denied that he did in fact visit the clinic.

“I can not say a lot of things right now,” Cervelli said. “Like I said before, I went there, talked to them, somebody recommend me that and I walked away.”

Cervelli said he did meet with Bosch, but would not reveal what form of therapy or treatment Bosch suggested he use.

“We talked about things, and that’s it,” he said.

I think it was Louise Meanwell who told Cervelli to see Bosch. And, if not, Brian Cashman and his lawyers will still make that story stick…

She’s 31 and he’s 23.

Yeah, this is going to work out well…

Via the Post-Dispatch -

After years of false starts, St. Louis Cardinals executives joined their development partners and political leaders on Friday to cheer the groundbreaking of a long-awaited but scaled-down Ballpark Village. And they vowed, despite the stumbles of the past, to continue the development beyond its initial steps and still reshape the neighborhood.

Ballpark Village’s $100 million first phase calls for two buildings and a canopied space, with a total of 100,000 square feet of retail, restaurant and entertainment outlets to open by spring 2014.

The spaces are 85 percent leased, the developers say, and a new tenant will be announced Thursday. Other tenants will be announced during construction, according to the developer, Cordish Cos.

“It’s a relief,” Cardinals president Bill DeWitt III said about finally moving dirt on the site, which sits in the shadow of Busch Stadium.

Donning a red baseball cap with a Ballpark Village logo, DeWitt III was joined by his father, Cardinals’ chairman Bill DeWitt Jr., Cordish Vice president Blake Cordish and civic leaders as they turned over the ceremonial first shovels of dirt.

The 10-acre site has remained vacant since the former Busch Stadium was demolished in 2005.

The first phase features a 30,000-square-foot building, “Cardinals Nation,” which will include a restaurant, a Cardinals hall of fame and museum, and seating for more than 300 with views into the ballpark.

Nearby, a 20,000-square-foot “Budweiser Brew House,” to be built with a rooftop deck, will also offer views into Busch Stadium.

In addition, a “Live! At Ballpark Village” venue with a retractable canopy will be open year-round.

St. Louis is a great baseball town. The Ballpark Village will probably do very well there.

Sabathia is looking trim. And, now, we know what Jean Afterman does! Click on the images to enlarge them.

The 33rd Annual Thurman Munson Awards Dinner was held on February 5 at the Grand Hyatt Hotel in New York City. Pictured left to right are: YES Network’s Voice of the Yankees Michael Kay, who served as Master of Ceremonies, Munson Award honorees Mets Ike Davis, Yankees David Phelps (Rising Star Award), Grand Hyatt’s Jerry Lewin (Corporate Hero Award), Yankees CC Sabathia, Thurman’s widow Diana Munson, Jia Lewin, Olympic gold-medalist Aly Raisman, Giants Chris Canty, and former Knick/CBS Sports and YES Network hoop analyst Greg Anthony. Former Yankee and Met star hurler Doc Gooden (far right) joined the festivities. The gala benefited AHRC New York City Foundation, assisting children and adults with disabilities.

Yankees SVP and assistant GM Jean Afterman presents ace hurler CC Sabathia with the Thurman Munson Awad on February 5 in New York City. The 33rd annual Munson Dinner benefitted AHRC New York City Foundation to assist kids with disabilities.

Thanks to Tim Martin for the photos!

Via Bob Nightengale -

Seattle Mariners ace Felix Hernandez has agreed to a seven-year, $175 million contract that should be finalized before spring training, making him the highest-paid pitcher in baseball history, a person familiar with the contract details told USA TODAY Sports.

The person spoke on the condition of anonymity because the contract is not yet official.

Hernandez was scheduled to earn $19.5 million in 2013 and $20 million in ’14. Instead, his new contract will take effect this season and pay him a record average annual value of $25 million through 2019.

Seattle Mariners general manager Jack Zduriencik and Alan Nero, an agent at Octagon Sports, which represents Hernandez, declined comment.

Hernandez’s contract trumps CC Sabathia’s seven-year, $161 million deal, signed before the 2009 season, as the richest ever for a pitcher. The average annual value of $25 million trumps the $24.5 million that Zack Greinke will receive annually from the Los Angeles Dodgers as part of a six-year, $147 million deal signed in December.

Phil Hughes is the same age as Hernandez. But, I don’t think he’s going to see this kind of money on his next contract.

I would watch this movie.

(more…)

Via the Herald Online today -

In a rural cemetery far out in the country, there is no gravestone for the best ballplayer to ever come out of Lancaster County.

A year after his death, there’s just a faded tiny metal marker to indicate that is where Danny Clyburn Jr., who hit home runs in the major leagues, lies six feet under the red earth.

Danny Clyburn Sr., the father who mourns still in Lancaster – a widower who in his sixth decade of living tries to make ends meet as a custodian at a school so long after his son played in Major League Baseball – doesn’t have the money for a head stone.

“I wasn’t working last year when my son got murdered, so I’m still paying for burying him,” Clyburn said Wednesday. “Funerals and all cost.”

Clyburn died at 37 a year ago today from a gunshot wound. He was killed, police say, after an argument at a tiny home that was used as a guys’ clubhouse on North Market Street.

The alleged shooter, whom police and prosecutors said confessed to shooting Clyburn, knew Clyburn since both men were little kids in the same Barr Street/Market Street neighborhood where Clyburn was shot.

The killing, described by a police officer in court as the most senseless shooting he had ever seen, was because the shooter, Derrick McIlwain, claimed Clyburn never gave back to the guys in “the ’hood” he grew up with, prosecutors say.

That house has no marker, either.

A lady who stood on the porch said Wednesday said that the flowers and cross that used to be up were taken away long ago.

McIlwain, 37, who has drug and assault and possession of a weapon by a felon and other convictions dating back decades, remains in the Lancaster County jail. No trial date has been set, prosecutors said.

Clyburn was one of more than a dozen Lancaster men murdered in a violent 2012. But he was the only major leaguer.

Danny Clyburn had a big season in Triple-A back in 1997. I posted something on the B.A.T. facebook page today about this story. Maybe they can help?