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Around Baseball: January 5, 2009 — Rays Sign Burrell; Deals Near For Bradley, Giambi; Phils’ Romero To Be Suspended 50 Games For PEDs; RIP: Carl Pohlad
By Administrator | January 5, 2009
As the Red Sox continue to twiddle their thumbs, BOTH of the teams that will serve as their primary competition in the AL East have substantially improved themselves heading into the 2009 season.
We already knew about the Yankees acquisitions of CC Sabathia, AJ Burnett and (most recently) Mark Teixeira — who was the apple of Theo Epstein’s eye and the cornerstone of the Sox off-season plans. And we already knew that Tampa Bay would be improved as they begin defense of the AL pennant — if only because David Price will have a full rookie season to display his talents to major league hitters. Now, the Rays have signed free agent OF Pat Burrell away from the world champion Phillies, agreeing to a two-year, $16 million contract with the slugger.
Burrell has played left field in his nine seasons with the Phillies, but will serve (primarily) as the Ray’s designated hitter.
After making the announcement, Andrew Friedman, Tampa Bay’s vice-president of baseball operations, said: “(Pat) solidifies the middle of our already potent lineup… We weren’t just singularly focused on a right-handed hitter, but it certainly is an advantage for us in terms of the way our lineup stacks up… We feel like any time you can add a hitter like Pat to the middle of the lineup, we’re a much-improved team today than we were at the end of last season.”
Burrell is a .257 lifetime hitter. He has averaged 31 HR and 99 RBI over the past four seasons. Last year, he hit .250, with 33 HR and 86 RBI.
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A baseball source has told MLB.com that the Oakland A’s and free agent Jason Giambi may agree to a contract within the week now that Tampa Bay has settled on Pat BUrrell in their quest for a new DH. The conjecture is that the deal will be for one year, possibly with an option for a second year.
Giambi, 37, batted .247, with 32 HR, 96 RBI last season while posting a .373 OBP.
He made nearly $23.5 million while playing his final season for the Yankees.
ESPN.com and FOXSports.com have similarly reported an impending deal between the Athletics and Giambi, who played for Oakland from 1995 - 2001, winning an AL MVP while a member of the club in 2000.
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According to multiple reports, the Chicago Cubs are on the verge of finalizing a three-year, $30 million contract with free-agent outfielder Milton Bradley. If the deal is completed, the Cubs are expected to trade pitcher Jason Marquis to the Colorado Rockies in exchange for reliever Luis Vizcaino in an effort to free up some salary.
Bradley has been a top priority for the Cubbies since the end of the 2008 campaign. The switch-hitter will fit nicely into the club’s heavily right-handed lineup. He hit .321, with 22 HR for the Texas Rangers in 2008… the all-star led the American League with a .436 on-base percentage.
He has a career .280 batting average, with 103 home runs and 399 RBIs.
Injuries have allowed him to surpass 400 at-bats in a season only twice in his career.
He will likely play right field in Chicago, with Kosuke Fukudome (who played RF in ;08) platooning with Reed Johnson in center field.
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Major League Baseball has judged Phillies relief pitcher J C Romero guilty of “negligence” in his use of an over-the-counter supplement that is said to have caused him to fail a league-administered drug test… as a result, he will be suspended for the first 50 games of the 2009 season.
Today, Romero said he bought the supplement in question from a GNC store in Cherry Hill, NJ, back in July. The Major League Baseball Players Association had told players the supplement could be used; however, that advice no appears to have been faulty.
After learning of the suspension, Romero said: “I still cannot see where I did something wrong. There is nothing that should take away from the rings of my teammates. I didn’t cheat. I tried to follow the rules”. Romero said he does not want to name the supplement because he does not want younger athletes to go out and purchase it.
Romero had been suspended earlier in the year, but appealed the matter to arbitration (in part to enable himself to pitch in the post-season).
At his arbitration hearing, it was learned that the National Center for Drug Free Sport had notified MLB of questions about the supplement Romero had purchased… somehow, Major League Baseball and the players’ union never got onto the same page as to whether the supplement was, or wasn’t, all right.
Romero, who was the winning pitcher in Games 3 and 5 of the World Series, has now earned his championship ring, but says “What’s most important is that I get back my honor. This just isn’t fair”.
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Minnesota Twins owner Carl Pohlad died at his home in Edina, MN, today at the age of 93.
A financier who came to be best known as a result of his 1984 acquisition of the Twins, Pohlad headed a family-owned network of banking, bottling, real estate and other companies. In its annual ranking of America’s wealthiest individuals (in September), Forbes magazine said that Pohlad was worth $3.6 billion.
Topics: Around Baseball |
