The Smoking Gun Arrives

Wow Brian McNamee brings out the evidence he has to prove Roger Clemens is an HGH/steroid user and it is a paper trail….oh wait no, it is bloody gauze pads and the actual needles he used on Roger in 2000-2001. This guy is sick, that is all I can say. I think Roger did it, but man McNamee was thinking about this day 7-8 years ago. McNamee has absolutely no respect for the man that took him in and gave him everything he has. I mean Roger paid him a ton of money and gave him other high priced clients that paid him a ton of money and for him to do this, just shows how low class he is. I am in no way defending Rocket for what he allegedly did, but McNamee is a complete jerk if these really are needles from 7 years ago.

Man did Roger pick the wrong trainer, Bonds trainer goes to jail for months on end so he can protect Barry and McNamee is holding needles and gauze from 7 years ago. I think if the needles show HGH in them and steroids in them with DNA from Rocket he is in trouble. I am not sure how much they will hold in the court of law though. I mean if McNamee did inject him with B-12, couldn’t McNamee have loaded the needles in the last 7 years with steroids.

I will take a wait and see on this one, maybe the testing can prove how old the substances are in the needles. If they can and DNA matches Clemens’, as well as HGH/Steroids in needle that is 7 years old he is done. There will be jail time possible and Hall of Fame is done.

Rough Off-season for Donnie Baseball

Kim Mattingly was arrested for public intoxication and this is the mug shot at her arrest. Holy S what happened to her? She refused to leave Mattingly’s ranch and he had to have her arrested for public intoxication, as per the AP reports. I always remember her in pictures when Donnie was playing I always thought wow, Donnie has a hot wife. This is a shocking photo and just shows money does not buy happiness.

What a decision by the Yankees this off-season. I know Mattingly was hurt by the Yankees hiring Joe Girardi, but it looks like they made the right call. Donnie baseball has had to resign from his position as bench coach with the Dodgers and take a lesser role of special assistant. He left for personal reasons as reports surfaced of his divorce.

Donnie Baseball gave us all a million memories to cherish; I hope all will out work for him and his family and hope he is on the Dodger bench sooner rather then later.

Johan traded and Yanks Get Morgan!!!!

Well the Mets waited all teams out and gave up pretty much nothing from there roster for the best pitcher in the game. The 72 hour window closes today at 5:00PM, which I do not even thing matters, they will get it done. My prediction of the contract:

$7 million signing bonus (that gets his contract this year to $20 million)
6 more years at $120 million and a vesting option if Johan pitches a certain amount of innings for the 7th year to kick in at $20 million. Signed sealed and delivered!!!!!

If I am the Twins owner I fire the Twins GM the minute this trade is completed. He tried to hold the Yankees and Red Sox ransom and could have had Phil Hughes and Melky Cabrera plus 2 prospects for Santana 2 months ago and now he gets 4 prospects and none of them are can’t miss have to have guys. I mean at least get Fernando Martinez over Carlos Gomez. All reports are Martinez is the stud of the Mets farm system.

The Yankees responded to this back page news with some major acquisition of there own drum roll please…………….Morgan Ensberg is a NY Yankee, YES!!!!!!!! Looks like Yankees are going with the quantity over quality theory at 1B. This is shaping up to be some competition. Jason Giambi-awful, Wilson Betimit- next, Shelly Duncan- if only hit and fielded as well as he celebrated, Jason Lane and Morgan Ensberg- both never played 1B regularly. Should be a fun Spring Training. I think the Ensberg signing is a good no risk possible high reward signing. He claims his shoulder is 100% and if that was the reason he sucked the last 2 years and he can get back to 2005 form it is a great move. We will see.

Time for Yankees to call Twins and try to see what else they are giving away. Pat Nesek, Joe Nathan want to wear pinstripes, they do, make the trade RIGHT NOW.

Johan oh Johan Where Will You Be

Rumors are out there that the Yankees and Red Sox are both lowering there offer to the Twins and the front runner if they had to handicap it right now would be the New York Mets. The rumors did not say who Yankees pulled out of trade but I doubt Hughes is that guy.

Currently the Mets will not part with there 19 year old OF prospect Fernando Martinez (if name is wrong who cares he is a Met) as part of a 5 player prospect filled package to get Santana. I must say I am not a Met fan and could care less what they do, but the Twins are trying to get every top prospect from them, if they will not put Reyes in trade. They pull this trade off and trade all 5 prospects there farm system is done for years to come. We all say who cares not all prospects will make it, but the Twins are asking for A. Heilman and there top 4 prospects seems like a little much.

I really think Santana will start the year with the Twins and at the trade deadline they may move him (although why would Santana waive his no-trade when he is 2 months from the Mets/Yankees/Red Sox in an all out bidding war for him). They will not receive close to what they can get now and might even have to throw Joe Nathan in (Jason that would be UNREAL, that is all I can say).

My 5 predictions for 2008 season (add yours in the comments and win a free T-shirt…Of course it will be one of my old crusty undershirts with Yankee pinstripe club in black marker on it, but hey at least you get something).

1-A-rod will be fine. 10 year deal or not the guy has too much pride not to work hard and play hard. Will he have a drop off yes, (who can keep up that pace) but he will still be the best player in the game.

2A- Mo Rivera will not be the Mo we know and love- Rumors will start to fly that Joba should be the closer. Mo will still be a good closer but the days of under 2 ERA’s and mowing down batters every outing will be over.

2B- Jorge Posada will drop off considerably. The guy had an unreal year and proved older catchers can play, but the years of catching and playing in all those post seasons will cause his offense to fall and I think he will be our #8 or # 9 hitter by all-star break.

Reason I put these together are that the 2 contracts Mo and Jorge signed this off-season the Yankees may be regretting them sooner rather then later.

3- Hideki Matsui will have a bounce back year. I do not know why I am feeling this, but I think the nagging injuries hurt a lot more then he let on and he will be more consistent this year. I know he had 100 rbi’s last year but he only played well for approx. 2 months last year.

4- Joba will be a stud no matter what role he plays. The stuff is just too good not to be an ace, Josh Beckett type starter. He has the lights out attitude that an ace needs to have and he will be an All-Star this year. He is the real deal.

5- The Yankees will make some sort of trade to bolster the bullpen. I have no idea what is out there, but I can not see them sitting tight with this pen. I mean Farnsworth is still in the talks as an 8th inning guy and Latroy Hawkins is a huge question mark. Sean Henn is the best lefty in the pen, that is a problem.

Is This Team Championship Caliber???

Is this the 2008 Yankees?

Are the Yankees done this off-season, will they make a final move to get Johan or Joe Blanton type starter:

Is this the lineup and staff we will end up with (1B spot in order depends on who is playing):

LF- Damon
SS-Jeter
RF- Abreu
3B- A-Rod
C- Posada
DH-Matsui
1B- Giambi/ S. Duncan/Jason Lane
2B- Cano
CF- Melky

Starters
Wang
Petitte
Joba
Hughes
Mussina

Main Bullpen guys:
Rivera
Farnsworth
Hawkins
Henn
Igawa
Ramirez
Ohlendorf
Possible bullpen guys Jose Veres and Sanchez

Is this team enough to bring championship # 27 to New York? At this point I have to say no……..I think they really need Johan to give this team any shot. As much as I do not want to give up Hughes it is time for Cashman to take over and get this team an Ace. You get Johan can put Joba back in the pen and get that bullpen in order. That bullpen is AWFUL if you ask me. This team may not even make the playoffs, The AL is stacked right now and while they will win a lot of 10-6 games this seems to be the same old story not enough pitching.

Team preview/breakdown is to come soon hope I will be putting Johan in my analysis.

Goose is Loose on the Hall of Fame

Congrats to Rich “Goose” Gossage as he has been elected to the Hall of Fame. The Hall just became a lot more fun with the Goose being there. As he said you can not compare his save numbers to the modern closers. When he retired he was # 3 on the all time saves list. The closer is such a specialized roll, when he was a “closer” he came in when he was needed and when the game became on the line. 52 of his 310 saves were 6 outs or more, that is pitching both the 8th and 9th inning and possibly coming in for the seventh. That is unreal.

Rich Gossage was a quote machine in his days and always said what was on his mind.

Once a reporter asked him how Steinbrenner felt about something and he said “I don’t know, why don’t you go upstairs and ask the fat man”

Joan Kroc (owner of the Padres and she was in control of McDonalds) when he found out she banned Beer at Padres games. “She is poisoning the world with her hamburgers and we can’t even get a lousy beer”

On his relief pitching “I was brought into situations God couldn’t get out of, and I got out of them”.

Recently he was asked could he check his ego at the door and set up for Mo Rivera “I would rather set up, I always wanted the harder job”

He was just a great guy who would tell it like it is. Should he have said he would have done steroids, probably not, but I respect the fact that he can acknowledge the choices these guys have and how hard it would be to say no. To prolong his carrer and makes tons of money he likely would have done it. He did not take the holier then thou stance of, I never did and never would have, these guys are all stupid…blah blah blah. Oh and Ethan I stole the Goose is loose line from Strat days, thanks.

Rocket Man Pulling out all the stops

Well it is approximately a month until pitchers and catchers will be reporting to camp, but the back pages are all Rocket and talk radio shows are Clemens this and Clemens that 24-7.

Things Rocket has done and what impact I think they have made on a scale of 1-5 Steroid Needles:

60 Minutes Interview IMPACT 2.5 Needles

Roger was angry and seemed to be sincere. Wallace Matthews did ask some tough questions but the entire interview I could not wait until he got to the Pettitte part and he asked one question about it, did not get into it further. I mean come on Andy and Roger have been best friends and training partners for years. Pettite did not ask Roger about HGH and stuff Mcnamme (Roger’s boy at the time) was using on him, reeks of deception. He let Roget slide on that one. I must say the most comical part; Mike Wallace: "Did you do steroids?" Rocket: "No" Wallace: "You swear" Roger: "I swear". Well there you go case closed. When he gets brought up on perjury, Roger will play that and say see judge I swore…

Suing Brian Mcnamee IMPACT 5 Needles

I have always said, you get “lied” about you better sue. Does he need to win to make this to slam dunk that he did not do steroids, no doubt, but at least Clemens has taken legal action.

Taped Call IMPACT: - 10 Needles

I think this taped call just blows up all Roger did over the last 2-3 weeks to try and clear his name. I mean to call a guy back and tape a call without him knowing, come on Rocket man that just shows how desperate you are. He even had his lawyer there as he did not want to be convicted of tampering with a witness. That call proved nothing, but it showed how crazy Roger is getting. Not once in that call did Mcnamee say he lied about Roger, or that he told Mitchell, just because he was pressured. Roger could not flat out ask him why he lied, or ask why did you say I did that stuff when I did not. He does that he is in jail for tampering with a witness. Just a waste of time and again proves Roger is really reaching at this point.

My overall feeling is in the court of public opinion Rocket will be guilty and that is that. Baseball fans are looking for poster boys for the Steroid Era, so why not the greatest pitcher of the generation to go along with Barry Bonds. There was no reason for Mncamee to lie, him lying would actually be worse for him, then telling them Roger did nothing. I also think Roger was the only smart one and he had everything go through Mcnamee. He was on Clemens payroll anyway, so to see money deposited from Roger’s to Mcnamee’s account was not uncommon. Brian Mcnamee bought all the stuff from Radomski and then injected it in Clemens. There is no paper trail for Roger, so he can deny, deny, deny unlike the players that wrote checks to Radomski.

Side note here is a great article going piece by piece in what Clemens has said:

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/columns/story?columnist=wojciechowski_gene&id=3185451&sportCat=mlb