Abomination

Choo simply isn't happening. Between Boras and the kind of year he's putting up, he'll probably get something like 8/150. That's the kind of contract we need to avoid, and Choo isn't the kind of player that will likely age overly well.

Looks like the Sox may have lost Lackey.

I think it's nearly impossible to overhaul the rotation to that degree right now. However, nearly every starter is drastically under-performing with the exception of Buehrle, and I find that unlikely to continue. Changing catcher and pitching coach, as well as stronger defense probably goes a long way to fixing the rotation all by itself. McCann >>>>> Molina on both ends of the ball.

I honestly don't want to see Molina (not at this stage of his career), and Choo (while it would be nice) I don't see as necessary. I'm not entirely sure what I would do, but perhaps something along the lines of: C: McCann (14M) 1B: Edwin (9M) 2B: Dozier / Wong (500k) 3B: Lawrie (500k) SS: Reyes (16M) LF: Rasmus (7M) CF: Gose (500k) RF: Bautista (14M) DH: Melky (8M) Bench: Thole, Kawasaki, Izturis, Pillar (combined 5.5M) Pillar is a righty, so he'd be a nice complement to Gose when needed. SP: Halladay (10M) (if he comes back healthy and goes on Delabar program) SP: Dickey (12M) SP: Morrow (8M) SP: Buehrle (18M) SP: Romero (7.5M) (laugh all you like, but he seems to be getting it together and we're paying him either way). RP: Janssen (4M) RP: Delabar (500k) RP: Cecil (2M) RP: McGowan (1.5M) RP: Santos (3.75M) RP: Loup (500k) RP: Wagner (500k) Other: 2M Lind buyout Total of about 145M Trade JPA, Lind (if possible, buy out if not), Happ, Boni, Rogers, Lincoln. Minor league starting depth in Stroman, Drabek, Hutch, Jenkins, etc I dunno if Dozier or Wong are available or not, but hopefully one of them is (Minnesota does have a lot of infield depth getting pretty close). It might also be interesting to inquire about DeShields from Houston. He won't be ready next year, but could be blocked in Houston.

Edwin. BTW, isn't it Iwakuma tonight (not Felix)?

Here are two interesting parts regarding A-Rod (http://espn.go.com/mlb/story/_/id/9540755/mlb-bans-13-including-alex-rodriguez-new-york-yankees-2014) MLB commissioner Bud Selig said in a statement that Rodriguez's punishment will begin Thursday and cover the rest of the 2013 regular season, the 2013 postseason and the 2014 regular season and was covered under the drug program's protocols and based on Rodriguez's "use and possession of numerous forms of prohibited performance-enhancing substances, including testosterone and human growth hormone, over the course of multiple years." The Yankees have said they expected Rodriguez to be accused of recruiting other athletes for the clinic, attempting to obstruct MLB's investigation and not being truthful with MLB in the past when he discussed his relationship with Dr. Anthony Galea, who pleaded guilty two years ago to a federal charge of bringing unapproved drugs into the United States from Canada. That kind of supports that there was more to it.

I don't buy that. If this whole mess has taught Selig anything, it's that stuff will eventually come out. If he was in fact playing favorites with the Yankees over this, it would eventually be discovered (possibly quickly) and tarnish his legacy that he seems to have worked so hard to create. I would think it would also be grounds for A-Rod to sue over, and he'd probably be successful. I really think there's more to it.

I have to think there's more to it that we haven't been made aware of yet. Otherwise I completely agree that it makes no sense to go after A-Rod this hard and not some of the others like Braun. There has to be something different that he did or a very extensive history from the clinic of use throughout the mlb's drug testing years or something.

You almost have to wonder if they may think about trading Morrow and Melky (if possible). Move EE to LF. Along with Boni going, that would free up quite a lot.

That would be horrible. It would allow the Yankees to probably resign him at a discount. I'd rather they get another big long contract on their hands.

Our offense really hasn't been that bad in spite of some key injuries. It's just the starting pitching that's destroying us, and with the possible exception of Buehrle who is roughly where we should expect him to be, they all seem to have something to play for.

Me too. I want to see us win above all else, but a better draft pick makes losing more palatable.

Angels doing an impression of our outfield throws there! Both teams really are playing horrible baseball.

Great start by Shane Dawson in Vancouver today. 5 innings, 4 hits, 0 runs, 0 walks, 9 k's.

It sure is nice to see Bautista hitting the ball opposite field more. Eventually that'll start buying him a few more pitches he can do real damage on.

It's truly shocking how large a discrepancy there is between his home and away numbers.

We're getting very close to squeaking into a top 5 draft pick.

He really is. I suspect he won't be coming back as his salary can probably be put to better use, but he's fun to watch (at least on the bases).

I'm not sure they would have got Davis even with a good throw.

Batters aren't picking up the ball at all off Wilson. Gonna be a long day.

What is it with us and first innings right now?

Speaking of Blanco, he just went deep. Perhaps we'll find out who the closer is after all.

Could be, hard to say. He entered in the 8th, then Seattle scored a few more runs to extend it to a 4 run lead. Dunno if they had people warming up or not for the 9th since I didn't watch it live.

Doesn't really matter. Any fan that understands the advanced stats probably looks them up fairly regularly anyhow.

Smoak with a 15 pitch at-bat against Chen, ending in a single.