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3 Feb 2012 at 1:59pm

When news of Josh Hamilton's relapse first broke on Thursday night, we wrote with certainty that the Texas Rangers star would soon be forthcoming and honest about his public moment of weakness.

As expected, Hamilton did just that on Friday afternoon, explaining the circumstances of his Monday night outing for more than 10 minutes at a press conference he held at Rangers Ballpark.

Hamilton did not take questions from the press, but he did speak without notes and what he said was obviously from the heart. As Ken Rosenthal later said on MLB Network, it almost appeared as if he viewed the press conference as part of his recovery process — and not to calm a press and public that, for better or worse, will always play a role in his battle with addiction.

The Fort Worth Star-Telegram has a transcript of the full statement, but here are a few of the key information points:

• Hamilton said he went out to dinner on Monday night and ordered "three or four" drinks. He then called teammate Ian Kinsler and invited him to hang out but did not drink in front of him at either of the two restaurants they visited. The two later parted ways when Kinsler dropped Hamilton off at his car, but Hamilton returned to one of the restaurants and resumed drinking.

• No drugs were involved. Hamilton said he has taken and passed two drug tests since Monday night.

• "Things happen to me personally that I'm not proud of," Hamilton said. "It was just wrong. That's all it comes down to. I needed to be responsible, period. And I was not responsible. Those actions hurt a lot of people who are very close to me."

• Hamilton apologized to his family and his fans. He cited great support from his wife Katie but noted that it's time for him to be "the strong one" in the relationship.

• "It's OK to be vulnerable, it's OK to show weakness," Hamilton said. "People are here for that reason, and they've done nothing but support me. It's a blessing for me to have them in my life."

• Hamilton closed his statement by noting he'd have liked to have been there to discuss a new contract — he becomes a free agent after the 2012 season — but that he'll put that deal "on the backburner for now."

All in all, it was a very impressive action for Hamilton to take. Part of the reason that so many fans — and yes, many members of the media — feel so invested in his battle is that he has been so brutally honest about the immense challenges he faces.

Are we also interested because this condition affects his future as both a baseball player and a big figure in the Christian community? I think we'd be lying if we said we weren't. Right or wrong, human beings are attracted to stories of struggle. With his position as an All-Star and 2010 AL MVP, Hamilton provides a heck of a story to follow.

But as we watch Hamilton bare his feelings about a fight that will never end, it's hard not to continue pulling for him. His battle wasn't over the last time he held a press conference like this one and it won't be over after holding this one. It only goes on and we can only hope for the best when he's faced with his next big test.

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3 Feb 2012 at 11:56am

With the start of the 2012 season fast approaching, workers are busy putting the final touches on the Miami Marlins' new ballpark in Little Havana. No joke, they've got owner Jeffrey Loria laying sod and first baseman Gaby Sanchez testing the strength of the aquarium glass behind home plate by throwing baseballs at it.

The most notable progress this week, however, has come in left-center field where the Red Grooms-designed home run monstrosity is finally becoming a reality. From swaying palm trees to jumping marlins to flamingos who are straight chillin', we're getting closer and closer to the animation of something that must have been in the Mayan prophecy.

After seeing this acid trip come to life, I can't say that my feelings have changed on it much. It still looks crazy, but it is a direct reflection of the culture they're running down there in south Florida. If you look at it objectively, New York's giant rising apple and Chicago's exploding scoreboard were pretty absurd at the times they were introduced. Maybe Mike Stanton will help us to get over the shock of seeing this light up every time he pounds a ball high over the Marlins Ballpark fence.

Or not.

3 Feb 2012 at 3:51am

No other executive in Major League Baseball can match the resources, and few have the acumen, of New York Yankees general manager Brian Cashman. And almost no one can claim to live as adventurous a personal life.

Cashman scales buildings for Christmas dressed as one of Santa's elves. He sleeps in Central Park to raise awareness for child homelessness. He ... becomes a police informant to help catch a woman accused of harassing and extorting money from him after they had a 10-month alleged affair. That's right: Cashman lured her into a police dragnet.

That is the fantastically strange story told by the New York Daily News and Deadspin. Now, if you add up all of the sordid details, Cashman doesn't come out looking like Snow White in this tale. But there's no question he's running away with "The Most Interesting GM in the World" award for this century so far.

From the NYDN:

Prosecutors portrayed Louise Neathway, 36 — who said in an interview published Thursday that she was Cashman's mistress — as a con artist who pestered him for cash.

"The defendant extorted approximately $6,000 from the victim and attempted to extort over $15,000," prosecutor Eric Iverson said at Neathway's Manhattan Criminal Court arraignment Thursday.

But here's the best part:

Neathway, a British citizen who also goes by the name Louise Meanwell, was arrested Wednesday afternoon in front of her Tribeca apartment building on Leonard St. A source said Cashman helped lure Neathway into a police dragnet.

They practically deputized him! Cashman always had a little bit of a Columbo look to him.

An attorney for Neathway/Meanwell says the prosecutors have her all wrong, and that Cashman is "a married man who has an inappropriate relationship with a single mom — it ended badly."

Perhaps, but she also seems kind of troubled.

Cashman has not been quoted, but spokesman Chris Giglio said: "Brian is very grateful that this matter is being handled by law enforcement."

The Yankees have declined comment, but they don't seem to be worried that Cashman's involvement has been or will affect how he runs the team. That is the bottom line as far as baseball is concerned, isn't it? (Now find a farm with a nice family for A.J. Burnett!)

Still, I bet the Steinbrenners wished that Cashman lived just a little less adventurously.

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2 Feb 2012 at 8:53pm

Texas Rangers star Josh Hamilton has experienced a relapse in his ongoing battle against substance abuse, the Dallas Morning News reported on Thursday night.

Reporter Gerry Fraley credits sources for relaying that Hamilton was spotted drinking in an Dallas-area bar.

Update: Fraley later added that teammate Ian Kinsler also appeared at the bar in an "attempt to persuade Hamilton to return to his home in Westlake."

Fraley also acquired a statement from the team that acknowledged the story, but did not confirm it. Hamilton made headlines in the summer of 2009 after pictures of him drinking and partying in an Arizona bar made their way onto Deadspin.

From the DMN:

According to individuals familiar with the episode, Hamilton drank alcohol on Monday night in an area bar. The circumstances that led to Hamilton's use of alcohol could not be determined.

In a statement, the Rangers said they were "aware of a situation, but we don't have further comment at this time."

Given his stature as an athlete and the outspoken nature of his faith, I'd venture to guess that Hamilton might be the most scrutinized addict on the planet. It's one thing for a rock star or actress to relapse, it's quite another for a star center fielder because you can't delay a 162-game season as easily as an album or movie. Hamilton's approaching free agency also plays a role in the attention as well as he'll be asking for big dollars after the 2012 season. Addiction may be a disease, but the Rangers committing eight or nine figures toward his future isn't a mandatory requirement for showing sympathy.

Hamilton was very forthcoming about his last publicized relapse and I'm guessing he'll approach this story the same way, no matter what the circumstances were. Those are some pretty strong demons he's fighting and he'll likely be very upfront for the strength and support he's seeking as he continues to battle them.

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2 Feb 2012 at 4:13pm

On occasion, Big League Stew honors a birthday boy per week by taking a longer look at his career. Please join us in lighting the candles.

Every so often, a sweet-swinging hurler will come along — Dontrelle Willis or Carlos Zambrano or Mike Hampton or Micah Owings — and someone will break out a comparison to Babe Ruth, drawing comparisons to the most famous hitting pitcher of all time. But Ruth was only a full-time pitcher for five years or so. The best-hitting pitcher who actually remained a pitcher was today's birthday boy, Wes Ferrell.

(Ferrell's career OPS of .797 is the highest for any pitcher with at least 300 at-bats. Micah Owings currently has an OPS of .820, but only 203 at-bats in his career, and since his conversion to the bullpen, his batting chances have seriously decreased. For now, it's looking like Wes Ferrell will remain the greatest hitting pitcher of all time for a while longer.)

Wes never made it to the Hall of Fame, but his brother did. Rick Ferrell was a hard-nosed catcher who played 18 seasons from 1929 to 1947 (he didn't appear in 1946). However, Wes was the best hitter in the family. In 6,028 at-bats, Rick Ferrell hit .281/.378/.363/ with 28 homers and 734 RBIs. In 1,176 at-bats, Wes Ferrell hit .280/.351/.446, with 38 homers and 208 RBIs.

He was also a darned good pitcher, pitching from 1927 to 1941 and putting together a 193-128 record with a 4.04 ERA that was actually significantly better than the league average — his career ERA+ was 117, the same as Mark Buehrle last year — especially considering that he did most of his pitching in the 1930's, the greatest offensive explosion in baseball history until the Steroid Era.

Best Year: 1935 Boston Red Sox: 25-14, 3.52 ERA, 322 1/3 IP, 4.05 FIP, 1.38 WHIP, 1.02 K/BB .347/.427/.533, 7 HRs, 32 RBIs, 21/16 BB/K, 9.1 rWAR (pitching plus hitting)

Seriously: Wes Ferrell hit .347 while leading the league in wins and innings pitched. He finished second in the MVP voting that year, and didn't even make the All-Star team; he only made two All-Star teams in his career. (Rick Ferrell made seven All-Star teams.) The MVP went to Hank Greenberg, who finished with 8.3 rWAR; Hammerin' Hank had a terrific season, but Ferrell was arguably better on both sides of the ball.

Still, Ferrell never got any hardware. The rookie of the year award was not inaugurated until Jackie Robinson won the first one in 1947, and the Cy Young Award only began in 1956 with Jackie's teammate Don Newcombe, so Ferrell's second-place MVP finish in 1935 was the highest he ever finished in any awards voting. That probably tells you why he never made the Hall like his brother: he was a pretty good pitcher and an incredibly good hitter, and if he could have just been really good at one of those he probably would have made it. He was just too versatile.

But oh, what a year he had in 1935. He was easily one of the best hitters on the 1935 Red Sox, who had faced the dilemma of finding a position for Babe Ruth less than two decades before, and despite only gathering 150 at-bats, Ferrell nearly outhomered the entire Boston outfield: Mel Almada, Roy Johnson, and Dusty Cooke only poked a combined nine home runs to Ferrell's seven.

Worst Year: 1938: 15-10, 6.28 ERA, 179 IP, 1.85 WHIP, 5.21 FIP, 0.50 K/BB
.213/.377/.311, 1 HR, 7 RBIs, 16/11 BB/K, -1.7 rWAR (pitching plus hitting)
The other problem with Ferrell's Hall of Fame case is that his career was sadly abbreviated by arm pain. As SABR historian Mark Smith writes, Ferrell first felt shoulder pain while warming up for a game in 1931, when he was just 23. He pitched through it, because that's what pitchers did in those days, and he led the league in innings for three years in a row from 1935-1937. That essentially ended his career.

In fact, 1937 was the beginning of the end. He started out the year in Boston with a 7.61 ERA in his first 12 games, so they traded him to Washington for Ben Chapman and Bobo Newsom. He pitched decently for the Senators in 1937, but terribly in 1938. They finally released him in August, when he was picked up by the Yankees, for whom he allowed 33 runs (27 earned) in 30 1/3 innings. He had elbow surgery after the 1938 season, when he was just 30, but his career was nearly over. He pitched 37 1/3 innings from 1939 to 1941, with a 5.06 ERA, and hung up his spikes after that.

Claim to Fame: After his retirement from the majors, Ferrell stayed in baseball, and continued to crush the ball, as Mark Smith writes:

Between 1941 and 1949 Ferrell served as manager (sometimes player-manager) for a number of minor-league teams based in the southeastern states. He had not lost his hitting touch. In 1942, as player-manager for Lynchburg in the Virginia League he batted .361 with 31 homers and 99 RBIs in 123 games. As late as 1948, with Marion in the Western Carolina League, he hit .425 with 24 homers, 30 doubles, 14 triples, and 119 RBIs in 104 games.

Wes Ferrell was the greatest hitting pitcher of all time, and you could probably win a bar bet on that. Bottoms up, Wes.

2 Feb 2012 at 2:18pm

More than three years after its possible existence first came to light, America remains enamored with the idea of A-Rod owning an oil painting portraying himself as a centaur.

So much so that one Boston-area reporter actually asked Madonna about it on Thursday as she held a press conference in Indianapolis for her upcoming Super Bowl halftime show. And while A-Rod's ex-gal pal would not confirm or deny anything about the awkward question, Madge's dodging of the question was a lot more entertaining than the time someone showed Kate Hudson the famous Big League Stew photoshop that's at the top of this post.

Here's the video:

Rich Shirtenlieb, Toucher and Rich Show: "I know that you've spent time with athletes before, Alex Rodriguez being one of them. Is it true that he has an oil painting of himself depicting himself as a centaur — half-man, half-horse — in his home?

Madonna: "Wow. If he does, I haven't seen it. But I'm pretty sure he has a very large photograph of me lying on a horse. I hope that answers your question."

Well, it looks like we know which question A-Rod will be asked first when he reports to Tampa and Yankees spring training in a few weeks.

It really is amazing, though, that A-Rod has found his way into a silly Super Bowl storyline for the second straight year. Last year, it was ex-girlfriend Cameron Diaz handfeeding him popcorn during the big game, this year it's his first post-divorce celebrity girlfriend being asked about the white whale of the art-collecting world.

Given that A-Rod was just spotted by Deadspin buying gossip magazines at an airport, we're guessing he doesn't mind this type of reportage in the slightest.

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2 Feb 2012 at 12:34pm

Despite the amount of riches falling on other players, the free-agent market has yet to shower anything on Edwin Jackson.

Being a reliable 28-year-old workhorse with occasional "really good stuff" apparently doesn't go as far as it used to.

While Jackson has reportedly received a few three-year deals, the current belief is that none of them were very exciting and that he'll take a one-year deal with a contender in order to boost his value in the free-agent class of 2013.

Seizing on the first part of that belief ("one-year deal") and completely ignoring the second ("a contender") , Pittsburgh Pirates fans took to Twitter on Wednesday night in an attempt to convince Jackson that a one-year stint at PNC Park is an ideal place to showcase his talent.

Centered around the hashtag #ejaxtobucs, Edwin received exhortations from anyone and everyone: From random Pirates fans coveting an ace for the top of their rotation, all the way on up to closer Joel Hanrahan who offered to get Jackson some custom black-and-gold cleats if he ends up in the 'Burgh.

A few of our favorite tweets:

• "In Pittsburgh, nobody will recognize you at a restaurant and bug you for an autograph." @rutkap75
• "(You) pitched in the world series last year, time to let someone else have a turn I'd say. Come to Pittsburgh!" @McEffect

• "I think we need to stop asking @EJ36 to come to Pittsburgh. We need to tell him to. Assume the close #sales101" @DamicoMark

"And no Braun for 50 games. RT @McEffect No Fielder, no Pujols. I could look good pitching in this division." @vipe29

Edwin Jackson himself finally acknowledge the torrent of Tweets on Thursday morning, thanking "#BucsNation for the support" and remarking that it is "appreciated."

Will anything actually come of this impressive movement? Doubtful. It takes a lot more than 140 characters to convince someone to slog through one season in Pittsburgh or cajole ownership into opening their wallets for a longer-term contract. The Pirates aren't going to spend when they're already planning on a cost-effective future led by the surplus of prospect pitchers they've drafted the past few years.

Still, it's nice to see an overlooked pitcher being courted by an overlooked base of dedicated fans. In a world without money and contracts, it'd be a perfect fit.

UPDATE: Yup, that's a negatron for E-Jax and Bucs fans. Jon Heyman of CBS Sports reports that Jackson and his agent, Scott Boras, have come to terms on a deal with the Washington Nationals.

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2 Feb 2012 at 10:23am

We all have questions about the 2012 season and Alex Remington luckily has some answers. The Stew's resident stats guru will address some of the big ones as the year progresses.

The Situation: The New York Yankees entered the offseason with a lot of question marks in their rotation following ace C.C. Sabathia. But in one of the biggest blockbusters of the offseason, they turned the question mark into an exclamation point, swapping their top prospect, Jesus Montero, for the Mariners' top rookie pitcher, 23-year-old Michael Pineda.

A 6-foot-7 behemoth with a 98-mile MPH fastball and killer slider, Pineda was near the top of the league ERA leaderboards  in 2011 until flagging in the second half of the season. The Yankees clearly want him at the top of their rotation for years, but pitching in Yankee Stadium and the hyperpowered AL East will clearly be a different proposition than roomy Safeco Field and the AL West.

The Question: Can Michael Pineda keep his ERA under 4.00 in the AL East?

The Analysis: There are a few areas of concern for Pineda. First of all, while he has a fine fastball and slider, his changeup is pretty bad. Second, he's leaving pitcher-friendly Safeco for Yankee Stadium, one of the most homer-happy parks in the majors. Third, he's entering the AL East, the toughest division in baseball. Even though Pineda won't have to face the Yankees, the Yanks play a third of their games against the Rays, Red Sox, and Blue Jays, three of the best teams in the league.

On the basis of ERA, it looked like a tale of two seasons for Michael Pineda, who had a 2.33 ERA through his first 12 starts but a 4.90 ERA through his final 16, and he finished with a 3.74 ERA. The Mariners took care to limit his innings at the end of the season, allowing him to make just seven starts in August and September. At first blush it might seem likely that his struggles were simply a matter of normal fatigue for a young pitcher: Pineda threw 171 innings last year after never having thrown more than 139 1/3 in the minors. Moreover, his home ERA was 2.92 and his road ERA was 4.40, supporting the thesis that he'll struggle away from Seattle.

But Dave Cameron of Fangraphs doesn't buy either of those cautions. Basically, he believes that both differences, the home/away split and the first half/second half split, are explainable by luck. Cameron writes that Pineda's struggles on the road were largely attributable to a flukily low strand rate, which measures the number of men on base that a pitcher is able to strand. The league average is around 72 percent; Pineda stranded just 64 percent of runners on the road last year, which is likely to improve.

On the other hand, his first half success was supported by a healthy bit of luck on his Batting Average on Balls in Play (BABIP) and home run per fly ball rate (HR/FB).

As Cameron writes:

The spike in runs allowed was basically due to a regression in his BABIP and HR/FB rates from the first half of the season... Pineda's first half BABIP was .247, and his HR/FB rate was 7.1%. Those numbers aren't really sustainable for anyone.

So when you put it all together, his luck may have more or less canceled out: he had poor luck away and good luck in the first half, and normal luck at home and in the second half. On the basis of those splits — which are a small sample size anyway, and so you can't put too much stock in them — it's hard to say that he's due for a major improvement or a major regression.

The most remarkable thing about Pineda's season was his terrific control. Suffice to say that six-and-a-half foot 22-year-olds with blazing fastballs don't often know where the ball is going. Last year, Pineda became just one of 23 starters in baseball history, and one of just five active starters, to pitch a full season with a strikeout-to-walk ratio above 3.0 before his 23rd birthday. The other four are Pineda's former teammate, Felix Hernandez, along with Mat Latos, Brett Anderson, and Madison Bumgarner. (The previous seven indicate additional injury caution: Mark Prior, Ismael Valdez, Pedro Martinez, Ramon Martinez, Dwight Gooden, and Brett Saberhagen.)

The Forecast for 2012: All of that is to say that Pineda is a fine young pitcher and the Yankees aren't likely to regret getting him. Of course, while Pineda is likely to have a good career for a long time, that doesn't mean that he won't have a bump in the road. Anderson, Latos, and Hernandez all experienced slight downturns after the seasons that put them on that list, and the injury histories of Latos and Anderson, as well as the above seven recently retired pitchers who excelled at a young age, may make the Yankees leery to compare.

But the most important factor for this analysis may just be the change of divisions. C.C. Sabathia made 13 of his 33 starts against the Red Sox, Rays, and Blue Jays in 2011, and Pineda is likely to make a third of his starts against those teams too. Even if his luck normalizes, it's easy to imagine that would cause his ERA to jump a quarter of a run or more, which would push it above the 4.00 threshold. Of course, with the Yankee offense, that's hardly a tragedy. I'm predicting 15 wins, with an ERA between 4.00 and 4.25.

* * *

Other Ask Alex questions for 2012
• Can Adam Dunn return to 30 home run territory?
• Can Jason Heyward return to his rookie form?
• Can Matt Kemp go 50/50?

2 Feb 2012 at 8:43am

Every sports fan has something they would like to personally express to a person in power representing their favorite team(s).

Whether it be a trade suggestion, concern over player salaries, frustrations over loyalty to the manager or coach, ticket prices, or any number of on and off the field issues, they would simply relish the opportunity to be heard, and maybe even acknowledged.

Truth is, most of those thoughts end up being yelled at the television and/or vented to disinterested beat writers on Twitter.

But there's one Los Angeles Angels fan out there — a man named Aaron, who also writes under the moniker of Of Maicer of Men on the Angels blog Halos Heaven — who took the time and put forth the effort to write his well thought out trade suggestion on a piece of paper, placed it in an envelope, licked a stamp, and mailed it to their new general manager Jerry Dipoto.

Like I said, it's something we've all considered at least once or twice in our sports loving lives, but I don't think any of us would anticipate what Aaron would receive: An actual direct response from Dipoto, handwritten on a postcard.

Sam Miller of the Orange County Register transcribes Dipoto's response for us:

Aaron,

A quick note to thank you for your recent letter. I enjoyed reading your thoughts and the creative idea you shared. Clearly you have a solid knowledge of the league and potential "players" on the horizon. Unfortunately, trades are always very complex, as you alluded to in your letter. Salaries and finance tend to become an overriding factor.

Know that I do appreciate the suggestion and creativity you've shown.

All my best,

Jerry Dipoto

Writing direct responses to individual fans is not something Dipoto is expected to do, obviously. I don't think we'll be hearing many stories about other GMs sacrificing their valuable time to do so anytime soon, and that's not a mark against them at all.

But it's no secret Dipoto established a reputation during his front office stints with the Colorado Rockies and Arizona Diamondbacks of being a polished communicator and someone who's open, honest and confident. He's not threatened by feedback or dissenting opinions, he actually values them. And apparently that extends all the way to the fans.

It's that approach that helped Dipoto earn the respect of his teammates and coaches throughout his eight-year career in the big leagues, and it's that approach that continues to bring him success off the field as a scouting director, a director of player personnel and now a general manager.

By the way, Aaron noted in the comments section on Halos Heaven that his proposed trade would send Bobby Abreu and Alberto Callaspo to the Baltimore Orioles for minor-league infielder Jonathan Schoop and minor-league pitcher Clayton Schrader.

File those names away just in case there are any Angels-Orioles trade talks heating up in the coming weeks.

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2 Feb 2012 at 3:36am

It was a culinary paradox: How could a Missouri sports bar and grill named for slugger Albert Pujols continue to exist after he departed the beloved St. Louis Cardinals for the dreaded West Coast via free agency?

Answer: It couldn't. The Pujols 5 Westport Grill is being renamed. John Marecek, a sports talk radio host on KTRS in St. Louis, had the scoop on Twitter on Wednesday night:

Pujols 5 Restaurant to be re-branded the St. Louis Sports Hall of Fame Bar and Grill. Expect an announcement tomorrow #stlcards

The hambre (hungry) Hombre himself soon issued a statement on the matter, which Marecek also passed along:

Pujols: "I want to wish Pat Sr., Dave, Pat Jr., and the rest of the Hanon family nothing but success and happiness with their new restaurant"

And just like that (along with $254 million) he was gone.

Because he works in Albert's new domain covering the Los Angeles Angels, blogger Sam Miller of the Orange County Register quickly spotted the Pujols-related tweets. Miller addressed the two obvious issues:

• What are they really going to call the restaurant now? The "St. Louis Sports Hall of Fame Bar and Grill"? Sheesh, your dinner is cold by the time you're done pronouncing it all.

• What are they going to do with the huge statue of Albert out in front of the joint?

Sam had some great ideas for a reboot, especially "Appreciate What You Had!" — but I got it. I have solved the problem. Just call me the problem-solving wizard, if you will.

Unless you're from St. Louis or just a rabid Cardinals fan (what is the bird equivalent of rabies?), you probably don't know that Cardinals legend Ozzie Smith also operated a sports bar and grill in the same plaza. It was open for something like 25 years (an eternity in the restaurant business) before it closed in 2009.

All the Hanon family needs to do is make a phone call to Ozzie Smith, and I'll bet the Hall of Famer would get back in the restaurant game. Wouldn't it be nice for him, especially with arch nemesis Tony La Russa out of town? Ozzie could get some closure on his vague estrangement from St. Louis by returning to being a restauranteur.

Update I: Apparently, the Wizard has a new restaurant in downtown St. Louis. Look at this as a chance to return to the suburbs, where it all began!

And what about the statue? Well, it was donated, but if Albert won't pay for UPS to ship it to Orange County, all the Hanons need is to find an enterprising local sculptor with a pick ax and a blow torch and let he or she whittle that baby down into Wizard of Oz proportions. Most of the uniform doesn't have to change. The statue's body just needs to drop 50 pounds of bronze and add a glove, along with a full beard. And do some work on the cheekbones. Chisel the "5" into a "1." And you're done.

Update II: There are no plans to remove the statue at this time. But it doesn't say anything about altering it!

You are welcome, Greater St. Louis restaurant and statue scene.

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1 Feb 2012 at 7:17pm

The end is near, as far as a playing career goes, for Chicago White Sox slugger Paul Konerko. He said as much over the weekend at his team's fan fest.

Konerko, who turns 36 in March, has amassed 396 career home runs, an .858 OPS, five All-Star appearances and one World Series ring in parts of 15 seasons. He is signed through 2013 and told reporter Chuck Garfien of CSN Chicago that two more seasons might be enough:

"No doubt it could be," Konerko said in an interview with Comcast SportsNet. "Yeah, in all reality I would see it ending after next year or maybe another year. I mean, at some point you got to go home and be around your kids and have other things to do."

Unless you know Konerko a little, it's a strange thing to hear from a guy coming off the best two individual seasons of his career. But there are only so many home runs you can hit, and only so much money you can make, before enough becomes enough. Of course, some play baseball for additional reasons. Guys like Konerko, who derive something from playing for championship contenders.

Ever since the White Sox won the Series in 2005 with Konerko's help, they've been drifting away from winning it again. The 2011 season — from the awful play in the field to the destructive relationship between ex-manager Ozzie Guillen and GM Ken Williams — was particularly brutal.

"I don't think there was a moment last year from the word go where at anytime did we feel like, 'This is kind of special' or 'This is inspiring baseball.' "

The franchise's lack of progress is noticeable in the stands at U.S. Cellular Field. Konerko knows the fans are frustrated. Via a Joe Cowley column in the Chicago Sun-Times, it's easy to tell that Konerko feels worse:

''Truth be told, there was that little glimmer at the end of '08 where we got hot, the Twins got kind of cold and .  .  . we found ourselves in the playoffs. But the honest truth is since '05, we've kind of slowly but surely just kind of given back everything we earned steadily. We're kind of at this spot now where it's like, 'Here we are, back at square one again.'  ''

That goes for fan interest in watching the Sox, and it goes for Konerko's interest in playing for them. Couple the franchise's slide with Konerko's advancing age and a hesitancy to start fresh with a new team and it might mean no more Paulie, and soon.

That would be a shame, considering he still has more to give.

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1 Feb 2012 at 2:54pm

If not for football, Tom Brady might have been Joe Mauer before Joe Mauer came along. Or at least a platoon partner for A.J. Pierzynski.

Because it's Super Bowl week, writers will exhaust every possible angle on the New England Patriots and the New York Giants. But it's not that much of a stretch to imagine Brady — perhaps the best quarterback in NFL history — strapping on the tools of ignorance and playing Major League Baseball as an All-Star catcher instead.

Back in June 1995, Brady was a 17-year-old who had just graduated high school in San Mateo, Calif. He was a couple of months away from heading to the University of Michigan to play football (and, presumably, to go to class) when the Montreal Expos picked him in the 18th round of baseball's draft (a full round ahead of David Ross and Aaron Miles!)

A catcher with a tall, left-handed power stroke and a rocket arm, there was a lot to like. Reporter Rachel Brady (interesting coincidence) of the Globe and Mail examines what might have been:

"Whenever he would take an infield before a game, that's when they really took notice," said Brady's high school baseball coach Pete Jensen, who was also a scout for the Seattle Mariners at the time. "Scouts would see him throw from behind the plate and say, 'Wow,' because he really had an outstanding arm."

Of course, Jensen's recollection includes a tall tale of Brady's considerable power.

Jensen recalls one game when Brady blistered two homers, one of them crushed so far it rapped off Serra's team bus and woke a sleeping bus driver who figured he had parked a safe distance from the fence. Jensen also took his young player to a pre-draft workout for the Mariners, where he rocked a few balls out of the old Kingdome.

The Expos kept courting Brady after he left for Ann Arbor; they invited him to take batting practice at Candlestick Park and even suited him up in an Expos uniform. They also exchanged emails. But, long story short, Montreal never offered him money to sign because Brady seemed committed to college, and to football. Plus, it was the Expos. They couldn't afford to waste a dollar.

Brady obviously made the right decision. All he does is set records and play in Super Bowls. And, despite the violent nature of football, there's no more demanding position in sports than catcher in baseball. What will Mauer's career look like from this year forward? Because of injuries, we're not quite sure. And by the time Brady would have made the majors, the Expos as a franchise weren't exactly at their best. Imagine Brady being the best player on some bad Washington Nationals teams. He's probably better off with New England, no?

Give me baseball every time (and twice on NFL Sundays), but ... Brady took the correct course. At least the "more correct" one. Still, it's fun to wonder.

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1 Feb 2012 at 10:48am

From the "TV ran out of things to broadcast years ago" dept., the MLB Network will televise the upcoming haircut of Miami Marlins star Jose Reyes.

Talk about a hair razing story.

You might recall that Marlins president David Samson said back in December that Reyes would have to abide by team rules like every other player, and one of those rules is: no longhairs allowed.

Yes, that's right: A guy named Samson is making another guy get a haircut.

Anyway, Reyes has dreadlocks. Stylish, functional dreadlocks. Or at least he will until Friday, when the clippers come out and the lights come on, one of his representatives said on Twitter.

Chop, chop, Jose.

I might or might not watch, but I surely would tune in if Reyes went to the barber shop from "Coming to America," where the barbers argue over who was the greatest boxer of all time. We could update it to "Who is the greatest Marlin of all time?"

Obviously, the answer is Chuck Carr. Pound for pound, Chuck Carr was the greatest Marlin baller who ever lived. Plus, Chuckie was always hacking on dreadlocks.

It's been a good week for the Fish, who also announced they sold out the first exhibition game at their new ballpark. And now, Jose Reyes becomes the first major leaguer to get his own TV special based on a haircut. Locks of luck to him.

Big BLS h/t: Joe Capozzi of the Palm Beach Post

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1 Feb 2012 at 9:38am

Jimmy Rollins apparently was doing some spring cleaning when he came across an old photo of himself, Pat Burrell and other Philadelphia Phillies rookies wearing the latest summer of 2000 fashions. Rollins didn't expressly say it, but it seems an homage to Burrell, who recently announced his retirement at age 35. And check out Burrell: Even as a rookie, he was built like a brick ... oven pizzeria.

There are two kinds of people in this world: Those who think men wearing dresses is funny, and those who don't. I go with "funny." Rollins said on Twitter:

Old new discovery....my and Pat's rookie dress up day

Ah, yes. The rookie hazing of choice in Major League Baseball: Making the youngsters look foolish by stealing their regular clothes and replacing them with women's garments, or mascot outfits, or whatnot.

Two other things of note:

The photo was taken in front of Wrigley Field, probably on Sept. 28. Rollins would not identify the photographer but said "the source" of the picture was Wayne Gomes. I'm not sure who the other Phillies in the photo are, but one looks like Reggie Taylor. Not that it matters. The stars are Rollins and Burrell, who both might be wearing Liz Claiborne. But will his rookie hazing outfit become an exhibit in Burrell's personal hall of fame?

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1 Feb 2012 at 6:55am

Did someone put up a sign saying it's OK to steal Tampa Bay Rays stuff? The Fresno Bee put the word out Tuesday that the 2008 AL championship ring belonging to Matt Garza was stolen from his home in Fresno County, Calif.

This breaking-and-entering news comes less than a year after criminals burglarized the spring training Florida residence of Evan Longoria, David Price and Reid Brignac, stealing (among other items) Longoria's AK-47.

Stealing. From Joe Maddon's ballplayers. The nerve of some people.

Garza's 14k white gold ring, encrusted with 47 white and one yellow diamond, is valued at $30,000. So it's not the typical piece of jewelry a high school junior might order through Jostens.

It's also personalized, engraved with Garza's name on the inside. I don't know how easy it is for someone to remove engraving from a ring, but unless Garza's name is taken off, the ring will be pretty tough to fence.

An especially neat detail of the ring: It includes Maddon's 9=8 formula on one side.

He's currently a member of the Chicago Cubs, but Garza was the MVP of the ALCS in '08, when the Rays advanced to their first World Series. Give him his ring back, dang it. He's not going to win one with the Cubs this season.

Hopefully, the sheriff in Fresno will have similar luck to the authorities in Florida, who made several arrests in the Longoria-Price-Brignac case.

Big BLS h/t: Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times

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