Just in case you weren't sure that the evil empire was back in full swing, they've now put $243.5 million into TWO pitchers in the span of three days this offseason.

And just in case you thought they had learned their lesson their first time when the signed an injury prone former Marlin, they did not.  This time, it's A.J. Burnett.

And just in case you thought they'd go cheap and short term to minimize risk, they didn't  It's worth $16.5 million a year for FIVE years.

And just in case you thought they learned that rebuilding by throwing money at problems wasn't the way to go...they definitely didn't.

Congrats, morons.

edit: Yes, I know Burnett is better than Pavano, so no need to quote stats.  It's all about the money here, folks.  It's insane.

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=3700869

Now usually there's no reason in the world for us to much care that the Yanks are making a trade for someone like Swisher to begin with.  However, considering that he is still a starting player, still has power, and is a FIRST BASEMAN by trade, and is young and relatively cheap, one has to wonder: does this mean that the Yankees have gone out and shored up their corner infield for cheap in order to bolster an offer for Sabathia?  And does this invariably mean that our biggest competition for Teixeira is suddenly...gone?

What do you think?

I'm sure this has been done at some point before, and I just haven't noticed or whatever, but here we go again I guess.

The season is over, but the offseason hasn't started yet, so i thought it would be a good time to bring up the topic.  We all talk to each other on a daily basis, interacting for more than three years in some cases (I think?)  And while we've all seen pictures of assorted big-shots here (Rev and Cupie come to mind), I thought it'd be a good idea if some of us could finally but faces to the posts.  In a sense, you've all had that for me since the new HH design was launched merely by that little hand-drawn avatar, but I'll go ahead and start us off.

For the sake of keeping this page loading at a decent clip, let's stick to posting links, plz.  Here I am last summer: http://i174.photobucket.com/albums/w83/skelley9/54d098ef.jpg?t=1223713398

Or, more recently: http://photos-e.ak.facebook.com/photos-ak-sf2p/v208/188/15/8200459/n8200459_36842204_3348.jpg

YOUR TURN

this is the way to do it:

- K-Rod signed his walking papers.  He's more done than Glavine in New York.  And we have Jose right behind him ready to take over.  So we free up millions, and get rid of the guy.

-Teixeira has proven he's worth whatever he wants.  With the money not going to K-Rod, give this man his contract.  Everything I have heard says that he likes this team and playing in California.  Do NOT let him go.

With that offense, and Escobar coming back...well, we'll be sitting pretty in '09.

Also, as a token of my appreciation to you guys, I went and got myself banned (temporarily) from a message board that I have been at for more than 5 years after I flipped out on the Red Sox fan who runs the place, even though we got along until now.  Fuck that entire region of the country.

The Red Sox jumped out to an early 10-0 lead tonight with a 10-spot in the first inning.  We are currently in inning number 7.

The score?  16-14, Rangers.

Anyone watching this game?  It may be the single most hilarious thing I have seen in a long, long time...and epically "karma" induced.  I can't think of a team that would be more hilarious to watch this happen to than our beloved Red Sox.  Discuss.

With the recent allegations against the NBA from Tim Donaghy regarding the rigging of certain key games, the sport is facing a new level of scrutiny from the public, and possibly more FBI investigation.

With this in mind, in conjunction with baseball's never-ending steroid saga (Bonds' day in court last week), and the constant stories pouring out of the NFL of so-and-so doing something highly illegal or stupid (Pacman Jones, Michael Vick, Cedric Benson, etc., etc.), I'm just curious to find the opinions of this community on the scandals.  Which do you find to be the most troubling or problematic?  Which sport, regardless of pundit-talk and media attention, do you think should be facing the most ridicule in the court of public opinion for its misconduct in the last decade (or more recently)?  Why?

We're two months into the season that Reagins helped build, so I wanted to reflect on what has transpired so far.  While it is obvious that the team is in great shape record-wise (2nd in baseball behind Chicago), it seems more important to see what role his major moves (or non-moves) have played in that.

First up is Jon Garland for Orlando Cabrera.

Garland: 6-3, 3.87, 8/13 in quality starts.

Cabrera: .263/.316/.340, 9SBs

This seems like a pretty easy pick.  Cabrera's unsightly .656OPS is actually a great improvement over what it was mere weeks ago, when it was sub-.600.  Meanwhile, Garland has been solid, if unspectacular in giving us quality starts and #3-starter type number.  His low-K total is negligible in the face of his ability to eat through valuable innings (averaging about 6.5 per start).

Next: Torii Hunter: .268/.335/.442, 7HR, 29RBIs, 8SBs

Hunter has been a bit inconsistent so far, but his numbers are right about on-par with what we were to expect from him at the start of the season.  He has provided the defense we all knew he would give us, and provided decent pop at the plate, along with a handful of timely hits.  He's also swiping bags at a pretty decent clip.

And finally, the trade that wasn't: Miguel Cabrera for about a billion different people.

Cabrera: .274/.352/.451, 8HR, 36RBIs

Miguel was the subject of a billion trade rumors with the Angels this offseason, involving names like Ervin Santana (8-2, 3.01), Joe Saunders (9-2, 2.63), Howie Kendrick (.338 in limited time), and several others.  His numbers thus far this season are eerily similar to the production (and far better glove, mind you) that we have begun to receive from our free agent signing of Torii Hunter thus far.  With the price tag of Miguel's new contract, we're not even losing significantly more money by having Torii instead of Miguel...to this point.  Of course, Miguel stands to improve on his current level of play, and into the future, but for the time being, the contributions we have received from the players we stood to lose in the trade are simply impossible to offset by one offensive player, even if Cabrera was playing to his absolute ceiling.  It seems indisputable that, thus far, Reagins absolutely made the right move in backing out of this trade.  We're a better team for it.

Just as we are thus far a better team for all of his offseason dealing.

Well, in the not-to-distant future, it may be more of a reality than any of us could ever really know.

At least according to this:

http://sports.espn.go.com/minorlbb/news/story?id=3409864&campaign=rss&source=MLBHeadlines

McALLEN, Texas -- Even though small independent baseball leagues notoriously try to draw fans with promotions like "vasectomy night" and "midget wrestling," two teams had good reasons to swap a right-handed pitcher for 10 bats.

The Calgary Vipers of the Golden Baseball League couldn't get newly signed pitcher John Odom into Canada for immigration reasons.

And the Laredo Broncos of the United League were willing to take a cheap gamble on a pitcher.

Oh, and the Vipers really, really wanted some new bats.

U.S. says Bonds failed steroid test in November 2001

SAN FRANCISCO -- Barry Bonds tested positive for steroids in November 2001, just a month after hitting his record 73rd home run of the season, U.S. prosecutors said on Thursday.

The allegation came in a legal filing in his steroid perjury case that referred to Bonds' long-time trainer, Greg Anderson.

"At trial, the government's evidence will show that Bonds received steroids from Anderson in the period before the November 2001 positive drug test, and that evidence raises the inference that Anderson gave Bonds the steroids that caused him to test positive in November 2001," U.S. Attorney Joseph Russoniello wrote.

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=3246542