Joe Maddon Ops out of Contract

Oh boy, here we go.

With the news last week of the Dodgers stealing Andrew Friedman, Joe Maddon has also decided to jump the Tampa Bay Rays ship and opt out of his current contract that ran through 2015. Which, according to Jon Heyman, was his right. Yes, I did just link a tweet by Jon Heyman. That's how serious this is.

Torii Hunter Is Getting Better At Twitter

Angels outfielder and all-around-good-guy Torii Hunter has been on Twitter for a while now (@ToriiHunter48) but he finally seems to be getting the hang of it. While he isn't going to be as controversial or fan friendly as the great Logan Morrison (@LoMoMarlins), Hunter appears to be posting more on the social network and he's finally sharing the good stuff. After the Angels split a rather disappointing four game series with the Mariners, Hunter settled in for the plane ride home and had this to share...


Kendrick is quietly enjoying the best season of his career with a .297/.351/.467 line and personal bests 14 home runs and a 5.3 fWAR (Fangraphs wins above replacement). And he might be closing in on a career high HSIM (hot sauce in mouth). But he seems to be upbeat about it...


Zing!


Oh no he din't. I kid but this exchange is actually funnier than any "My Wife and Kids" episode you're watching on ABC Family right now.

Cliff Lee Stars In "Double Mystery!"

It was somewhat of a slow news day unless you were at the Winter Meetings and got to catch some of the fun sound bytes from Joe Maddon's presser or Mike Scioscia acknowledging the existence of on base percentage. Sure we got to tweet for a couple of hours about a potential swap of the Orioles' Nolan Reimold for the Rays' Jason Bartlett until that deal completely fell apart. Leave it to SI's Jon Heyman to save the day/evening with one little hashtag on Twitter. A little after 6 p.m. Heyman tweeted a second team was offering Cliff Lee seven years...


The "double mystery" hashtag was immediately a big hit with the Twitter nation and it sparked jokes ranging from the Scooby Doo variety to anything having to do with hamburgers. Now I could join in all of the reindeer games and make jokes for the rest of the night but I'd prefer to use my time for more productive endeavors. That's right, it's time for some wild and careless speculation about Lee's secret suitors...

1. Angels
This isn't exactly me going out on a limb since the Angels have been attached to every big name free agent on the market but the Halos do not like going over five years for contracts. I'd personally love to see a Lee, Jered Weaver, Dan Haren rotation but I desperately want Carl Crawford too. This is your last chance Santa...

The mystery: Is Arte Moreno's vast fortune actually from billboards or was he the basis of the Mexican Drug Lord from seasons five and six of Weeds? Either way, I'd like to see more Mary-Louise Parker at Angels games.

2. Nationals
Okay, I promise the speculation will get more careless in a minute. The Nats were rumored to be in on the Lee sweepstakes but denied making the initial seven year bid. Perhaps they made the second one.

The mystery: After the Nats laid out seven years and $126 million to Jayson Werth, it seems far fetched that Washington could afford another deal bigger than that. Unless Obama is funding the Nationals new payroll structure under the guise of this insane health care plan where Tommy John surgery is the only thing that's completely free. (Note: Don't send emails. I know Obama is a White Sox fan and I don't care about "Obama care" because I plan on making enough money from this blog to afford my own personal third world country doctor.)

3. Nippon-Ham Fighters
I told you it was about get wild and careless. It's widely known that Cliff Lee is a big Sumo wrestling supporter and his eighth favorite food is sushi.[citation needed] Nippon could afford the fat cash thanks to their success in meat packing (hee-hee).

The mystery: What is Spam made of?

4. Mariners + Indians
In this scenario, Seattle and Cleveland join forces and each of his former teams would get Lee every other year for six years. Then they trade him before the seventh year of the contract because both teams are still lousy. The good news for Cleveland and Seattle is they'll go down in the history books for co-owning a player for a long term contract. The bad news is they are both contracted after combining to lose 319 games in 2017.

The mystery: Why do people watch Mariners and Indians games?

5. Pirates
After 18 losing seasons and never having an ace-caliber starter, the Pirates splurge and dedicate 87% of their payroll to Lee. Unfortunately, Lee also becomes the 2nd and 3rd starters as well as the first baseman and right fielder. The 20 man roster is an utter disaster.

The mystery: Does futility know no bounds?

2010 MLB Draft Coverage

Alright kids, we're about a half an hour away from the 2010 MLB amateur draft. There won't be much to see with the first three picks. Bryce Harper is the lock for number one followed by James Tallion and Manny Machado. There is a slight chance the last two might flip flop spots. I'll be guiding you through tonight's first round and Derwood joins us tomorrow. I'll be spending most of my time on Twitter but I'll get some posts up as I see fit. If for some reason you're too lazy to look for my Twitter handle on the right side of this page, you can follow me @MnkysThrwngDrts.

Jeff Suppan Getting Paid To Stay Home

The Brewers have decided to part ways with Jeff Suppan. By part ways, I mean by paying him $10.08 million to sit on his couch or send out applications to other franchises to, um, throw batting practice. Suppan spent three years under the tutelage of Dave Duncan in St. Louis where he posted a 44-26 record and averaged a 3.95 ERA and a 110 ERA +. Those were easily his three best seasons.

His reward. Brewers GM Doug Melvin gave Suppan a 4-year, $42 million dollar contract in 2006 because why not give a league average (at best) pitcher $10 mil a year. In 2007, Suppan posted a 4.62 ERA and a 96 ERA+. Those would be the best numbers the Brewers would see. The ERA climbed every year as the ERA+ fell until this season when he has been relegated to mop up duty. Apparently, his 7.84 ERA and 51 ERA+ weren't cutting it any longer and he was granted his released. But Dougie had nothing but kind words...

"Jeff has always been a true professional. He gave his best effort to the organization, whether it was on the field or in the community. I am confident that he can return to a starting rotation with another organization. We wish Jeff and his family nothing but the best."

Hold up. He's confident Jeff will find a starting gig for another team? So he's going to pay him $10 million to do so? That's one weird business model.

Fun Suppan Fact Number One. Suppan's nickname is Soup. He owns a restaurant in California called Soup's Grill. They neither specialize in soup nor employ the Soup Nazi. Leaving me uninterested in visiting.

Fun Suppan Fact Number Two. This little nugget comes from one of my favorite things ever, Twitter.



How do I get in touch with Scott Leventhal? I've been sitting on my couch for free for way too many years now.