Saburo wrote:

And get ready for RICKEY's Hall-of-Fame selection later today! Jim Rice will likely be selected as well, which you KNOW will set the blogosphere off (me, included). Why not Blyleven?

Don't get me started on who should be in and who shouldn't. I'm still trying to figure out why Tony Perez is in and Gil Hodges ain't. Their numbers as players are almost indentical, plus Hodges has on his resume a World Championship as a manager. Btw, I agree with you about Blyleven.

Tim Raines got 21 percent of the vote which is incredible.

Him and Ron Santo absolutely merit inclusion in the HOF right now.
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bmwracer wrote:

Takashi Saito signs with the BoSox.

And Lowe has signed with the Braves, Penny's gone to Boston (although his shoulder is shot) Kuroda's coming back, but he dropped out of the WBC because his shoulder is giving him trouble too. Hope the Dodgers can score a lot of runs this year, they're gonna need 'em.

gaijinmark wrote:

And Lowe has signed with the Braves, Penny's gone to Boston (although his shoulder is shot) Kuroda's coming back, but he dropped out of the WBC because his shoulder is giving him trouble too. Hope the Dodgers can score a lot of runs this year, they're gonna need 'em.

Yup, looks like their pitching staff is in a shambles at the moment.

Henderson and Rice were on "Letterman" the other night:

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x80v3c_top-10-by-rickey-and-rice_sport
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Good line by Rob Neyer today regarding the motivation of BBWAA voters who passed over Rickey Henderson:

Rob Neyer wrote:

Who knows? And why should we care, really? I would much rather focus on the 417 voters who missed on Tim Raines than the 28 oddballs who left off Rickey Henderson. It's those 417 who really matter.

More like 417 people with SHIT FOR BRAINS...
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���t BABY!

Pitchers Uehara Koji (Yomiuri Giants) and Kawakami Kenshin (Chunichi Dragons) head to MLB. Uehara signed with Orioles and Kawakami with Braves. All the best to them.

Takoyama wrote:

Pitchers Uehara Koji (Yomiuri Giants) and Kawakami Kenshin (Chunichi Dragons) head to MLB. Uehara signed with Orioles and Kawakami with Braves. All the best to them.

With more and more players joining MLB, will the Japanese leagues disappear like the old Negro Leagues some 50+ years earlier?

bmwracer wrote:

With more and more players joining MLB, will the Japanese leagues disappear like the old Negro Leagues some 50+ years earlier?

I don't think so, both those guys are in their early 30's, Uehara was a great pitcher at one time, but last year he only went 6-5, and Kawakami had a 9-5 record last year and missed a couple months with back problems. It seems most of the Japanese players are guys nearing the end of the line and they just want to see how they stack up against Major Leaguers. If the Majors start raiding Japanese colleges and high schools (which they haven't done yet) then Japan could be in trouble.

gaijinmark wrote:

I don't think so, both those guys are in their early 30's, Uehara was a great pitcher at one time, but last year he only went 6-5, and Kawakami had a 9-5 record last year and missed a couple months with back problems. It seems most of the Japanese players are guys nearing the end of the line and they just want to see how they stack up against Major Leaguers. If the Majors start raiding Japanese colleges and high schools (which they haven't done yet) then Japan could be in trouble.

Maybe not: all the washed-up players and those who don't make the MLB cut might end up going to Japan.

A-Rod admits to taking steroids years after denying he did on 60 Minutes.

Major League Baseball is turning into one big joke.

bmwracer wrote:

A-Rod admits to taking steroids years after denying he did on 60 Minutes.

I wonder if this will motivate a lot of other guys to come clean.

gaijinmark wrote:

I wonder if this will motivate a lot of other guys to come clean.

Considering his playoff performances, it will probably motivate other guys to not take whatever A-Rod took

gaijinmark wrote:

I wonder if this will motivate a lot of other guys to come clean.

He only outed himself after some news report outed him....

In other words, "tell the truth after you've been proved a liar."

Turned on channel 9 and there's the golden voice. Spring training games have started!!

gaijinmark wrote:

Turned on channel 9 and there's the golden voice. Spring training games have started!!

Yup... Watched the Dodgers blow a 2-0 lead in the ninth to lose, 3-2, to the ChiSox.

Dodger baseball is back.

Dodgers finally sign Manny Ramirez... $45M for the next two years.

Wonder if the Dodgers are gonna get anything out of oft-injured Jason Schmidt...

The guys's on the last year of a three-year $47M contract where he's won only ONE game for the Dodgers...

What a bargain.

I'll bet the Giants had this all planned.

bmwracer wrote:

Wonder if the Dodgers are gonna get anything out of oft-injured Jason Schmidt... The guys's on the last year of a three-year $47M contract where he's won only ONE game for the Dodgers... What a bargain.

While we're on the subject of spending money wisely. The Dodgers are paying Andruw Jones $22 million this year, even though he's playing for Texas now.

gaijinmark wrote:

While we're on the subject of spending money wisely. The Dodgers are paying Andruw Jones $22 million this year, even though he's playing for Texas now.

Yup.

I wish my company would pay me big bucks to be somewhere else.