6-4-2 — an Angels/Dodgers double play blog

• Jeff Kent will have knee surgery, possibly ending his season and career. The best-case scenario is a two-week return, the worst is his career is over.
• The Dodgers called up Chin-Lung Hu from Las Vegas to replace Kent on the 25-man roster.
• The early warnings that the Angels wouldn't get to reunite with David Eckstein proved true, as the Diamondbacks traded him to Toronto for minor leaguer RHP Chad Beck.
• The Angels disabled Shane Loux because of oral surgery, and called up Kendry Morales to replace him on the 25-man roster.
• Erick Aybar and Howie Kendrick may miss the road trip to focus on rehabbing their injured hamstrings.
• The Angels also released relief pitcher Alex Serrano, who had been at Salt Lake.
• San Diego released Brett Tomko and Tadahito Iguchi to make way for prospects Matt Antonelli and Wade LeBlanc.

Labels: angels, diamondbacks, dodgers, ex-angels, injuries, padres, trades

I'm in Chicago to see the Cubs — who, if the Angels get ever so lucky, will be their World Series opponents this year. Posting will be accordingly light over the next few.

Labels: meta

Gene Wojciechowski (and if you think I didn't cut and paste that last name, you're crazy) writes about the Angels' late success. One of the principle reasons for that has been owner Arte Moreno, something Torii Hunter appreciates:

"Arte's awesome," Hunter says. "First of all, he knows my name. [Twins owner Carl Pohlad] called me 'Kirby Puckett' sometimes."

Labels: angels

• Jeff Kent, sent for an MRI on Friday, has not yet received word of the results but it is expected his career is over.

  Kent, 40, has been playing through pain from slightly torn cartilage in his knee for about a month, fully aware that the continued grind of playing baseball on an everyday basis meant there was a strong risk of additional, more painful tearing.

  That additional tearing is believed to be what took place during Friday's game. Kent was said to be in "excruciating pain" after leaving the game, and club officials were holding out slim hope of getting him back in what is widely expected to be his final season.

  Blake DeWitt will likely get the rest of the starts at 2B, according to Tony Jackson.
• Jackson also has a list of September Dodger callups, which includes "[Andruw] Jones, Scott Proctor, Chin-lung Hu, A.J. Ellis, Delwyn Young, James McDonald, Eric Stults and Clayton Kershaw. There could be others."
• The Angels' alleged pursuit of David Eckstein may end up for naught, as Ken Rosenthal reports the Diamondbacks have become his leading suitors. The Angels are looking at Omar Vizquel and Juan Castro (!). Let's hope that's nothing but speculation.
• Oakland placed Frank Thomas on the 15-day DL with a strained right quadriceps. It's the second time this year he's been on the DL.
• "We’ve got our horse back!" exclaimed Dustin Pedroia upon learning that Josh Beckett's elbow is merely sore rather than facing structural damage. Beckett was shut down earlier in the week. Via BTF.

Labels: angels, athletics, blue jays, diamondbacks, dodgers, ex-angels, injuries, red sox, rumors

News

• Here's this week's Prospect Hot Sheet, the last of the year (maybe):

  No. 5 PEDRO BAEZ, 3B DODGERS
  Team: Rookie-level Ogden (Pioneer)
  Age: 20
  Why He's Here: .458/.500/1.042 (11-for-24), 3 2B, 1 3B, 3 HR, 6 RBIs, 6 R, 2 BB, 1 SO
  The Scoop: Baez ranked as the Dodgers' 10th-best prospect before the season. Signed out of the Dominican Republic last year for $200,000, Baez began his professional career by hitting .274/.341/.408 over 201 at-bats in the Gulf Coast League in 2007. He struggled at the beginning of this season with an assignment to the Midwest League and found himself back in rookie ball by mid June, this time with Ogden. On the season, he's hitting .237/.294/.414 but his power has come alive in August, as he's hitting .293/.369/.640 on the month.

  No. 7 IVAN DeJESUS, 2B/SS DODGERS
  Team: Double-A Jacksonville (Southern)
  Age: 21
  Why He's Here: .500/.556/.636 (11-for-22), 9 R, 1 HR, 4 RBIs, 4 BB (1 IBB), 2 SO
  The Scoop: DeJesus has made Southern League pitchers look like they've just been throwing him BP the last few weeks, as he now has a 21-game hitting streak that's kicked his numbers up to .454/.513/.629 in 25 August games. DeJesus has impressed scouts and managers this season by showing an ability to make adjustments both during the course of the season and within individual games. "I thought he was real long with his swing, more of a pull mode early in the series," said one manager. "Then he made some adjustments and got short, and he started working the balls to all fields line to line." DeJesus has good bat speed and squares up balls well. He made five errors this week and may ultimately end up moving to second base, but a second baseman with a .400 OBP has plenty of value.

• Nice bit from the Prospect Hot Sheet chat:

  Q: mike from durham asks:
  I see Andrew Lambo was promoted to AA (where he has 2 HRs in 4 games) and that he is going to be playing in the AFL (as one of the youngest players in the league) are the Dodgers giving thoughts to having him skip High-A and starting him as a 20 year old in AA next year?

  A: Moderator: I love Lambo's bat, and feel like I got some bad info when I wrote him up draft-wise in 2007, when all I heard about was the "Dazed & Confused" makeup issues regarding Lambo. His bat is ready to be challenged, yes, and as one of the very few low Class A players in the AFL (Aug. 6 is the cutoff date for that), he's going to be challenged. How he handles the AFL will be key to his '09 assignment.

Scores

Again without comment tonight ... much to do in the morning ...

Labels: minors

Manny Ramirez homered twice, but that wasn't really the big feature of this game; it was everyone else.

The season isn't quite over, not yet. And the Dodgers end their eight-game slide.

Yahoo box • Dodgers recap

Labels: diamondbacks, dodgers, recaps

As much as I wanted wring Jered Weaver's neck during this game for his all-but-totally-consistently-high pitch counts, there's this much to say in his defense: he kept the team in it despite facing the toughest offense in the league. Against Scott Feldman the Angels accomplished almost nothing for four innings, scratching out a pair of meaningless singles and a one-out walk. They got to him in the fifth with a couple of runs scored in prototypical Angels fashion on four singles, one of them an infield hit by Brandon Wood who knocked it back to Feldman.

The Rangers answered with two of their own in the top of the sixth, knocking Jered Weaver out on 108 pitches after he failed to get out either of the two batters he faced to lead off the frame, Milton Bradley or Hank Blalock. That led to Jose Arredondo, who was, by his lights, rather wobbly; he allowed both his inherited runners to score, thus evicting Weaver (rightfully, considering the low expectations he met) from a possible win. But he contained further damage, and despite a blown call on Chris Davis' 3-4 force (which should have been a 3-4-1 double play, but Davis was ruled safe on a makeup call, about which, more presently), the Angels escaped further damage.

The Angels scored one of their runs in the fifth on a rather dubious call — let's call it a gift — when home plate umpire Dale Scott called Torii Hunter safe on Mike Napoli's "RBI" single despite the fact Hunter retagged the bag after crossing it. That brought out Ron Washington, who argued pointlessly with Scott; they got one back later, but their pitching wasn't able to hold up, and thus it mattered not.

Arredondo's adventures aside, Scot Shields pitched a scoreless if wobbly (two walks) eighth, saved from disaster by yet another Torii Hunter theft of a home run, this time off Hank Blalock. Frankie nailed down the save in another fairly uneventful ninth, earning his 53rd save almost like clockwork.

The Angels' magic number is now nine. I marvel at the fact, and at the series win.

Update: The MVN blog Baseball Time In Arlington has video of the blown call at home. From the TV replay (you may as well turn down the audio, it's pretty poor), it's indisputable that Hunter missed the bag on the first pass.

Yahoo box • Angels recap

Labels: angels, rangers, recaps

Very belated ...

Labels: minors

I was following this on my phone; for a while the Dodgers were in it, returning fire to take the lead briefly 2-1 after four and a half innings, but the the Snakes pretty much stepped on Hiroki Kuroda for three more right after that, and that was all they needed. Not that they stopped there, mind you, taking Chan Ho Park out behind the shed and bullwhipping him, too. Park's defense let him down, too, when a fielding error by Nomar caused an unearned run. It just didn't matter. They weren't good enough.

Because we park in the parking garage on the north side of Katella when we go to Angels games, I typically can't get either Angels or Dodgers broadcasts while I'm in there, but for whatever bizarre reason, XM comes in just fine. Waiting to get out — it seemed far too long considering how many people left early or never even arrived at the park — I turned on the XM receiver and got the Arizona feed, as is XM's custom. The Snakes radio announcers mentioned how beaten the Dodgers looked, and I have to believe them. This is a team in search of a fork, or a fat lady.

With the loss, the Dodgers extended a road skid dating back to August 9 that has seen them lose 10 straight road games. They're one loss away from tying the all-time Los Angeles Dodgers franchise mark of eleven, set in 1992 from June 2 through June 21.

Update: Forgot to mention that Jeff Kent's knee locked up and he couldn't swing the bat in the seventh. He'll get an MRI.

Yahoo box • Dodgers recap

Labels: diamondbacks, dodgers, recaps

Six foot Seven and out of options...show me somethin' kid.

— from Dustin Nippert's Baseball Reference page

Dustin Nippert gets routinely clobbered, it seems; three times this year he's surrendered six runs or more, one of them to the Angels on April 4, a two-out, six-earned-run outing, his first of the year, leaving him with an insane 81.00 season ERA. But the Angels saw him a second time on July 7 at Texas, a seven-inning appearance during which he limited the Angels to just one run, but lost anyway thanks to an execrable performance by starter Luis Mendoza. It was the longest relief appearance recorded by any player all year; you'd have to go back to Ryan Madsen's seven-inning wonder on May 23, 2006 for the last time somebody did something that crazy that long.

Anyway, true to his previous form, Nippert actually was pretty good against the Angels for the most part, and in fact came within a couple outs of a quality start. But after five shutout innings, he got into trouble, giving up a single to Chone Figgins, and a 1-1 count homer to Garret Anderson that landed in the Scott Spiezio seats in right field. Ron Washington was understandably nervous about going to his bullpen, and so by the time Nippert left the game, the Angels had loaded the bases, the last two on consecutive walks. (Nippert's only out that frame was a leadoff strikeout of Sean Rodriguez.) Managerial conventions being what they are, in went ex-Angel product Warner Madrigal, who allowed another run to score on Juan Rivera's sac fly, but that was it for either side.

The Rangers got their lone run in the fourth, when Michael Young blasted a leadoff double off starter Ervin Santana, and was eventually cashed in on Milton Bradley's ensuing RBI single. But other than that, Santana did an excellent job keeping the powerful Texas offense from scoring, keeping Josh Hamilton off the bases altogether and limiting the 1-through-4 batters to only three hits, one of them an infield single. They had a chance at another in the seventh, when Santana again gave up a leadoff double, this time to Hank Blalock. He was followed up by Marlon Byrd, who hit a rocket to the centerfield fence that Torii Hunter intercepted with a spectacular catch to rob him of a home run, to the crowd's great delight.

K-Rod notched his 52nd save of the season, an uneventful 1-2-3 against the 4-5-6 hitters in the lineup. It seems odd and full of hubris to mention this, but the Angels' magic number is now down to eleven. In August.

Update: From Doug Padilla's blog:

"Oh man, Byrd is one of those guys that likes to go to right-center and I was playing in the other gap," Hunter said. "It was a long run and the ball was beating me there. I caught the ball but went face-first into the wall. I tasted it too. It was pretty nasty."

...

"It was pretty painful," Hunter said. "I wish I could describe it, but I think you saw my facial expression afterward. I was in pain. ... That was one of my favorites because I went face first and everybody was talking about me. It felt like Mike Tyson hit me. It was pretty ludicrous."

And if that wasn't enough, Hunter said the wall tasted like "collard greens." He suggested the team install a strawberry flavored wall in the near future.

Yahoo box • Angels recap

Labels: angels, rangers, recaps

News

• The GCL Phillies, not the Dodgers, will be going to the GCL postseason this year.
• On that subject, MILB.com finally has a good centralized postseason page.
• Ty Boykin was named AZL Manager of the Year.

Scores

Presented without comment ...

Labels: minors

It's been a weird season for the Rangers, who almost accidentally seemed to have discovered a superstar-caliber bat in Josh Hamilton, only to trade away a Cy Young-caliber starter (Edinson Volquez) to get him. They can bash with the best of 'em, and own the best offensive record in the league; their 748 runs scored is not only tops in the AL, it's almost 60 runs better than the second-best team, the Boston Red Sox.

Jon Garland spotted the Rangers four runs early, and that should have been enough for the Angels to lose; by the time I started paying attention to this game (after the conclusion of the Dodgers fiasco above), I couldn't deal with it and decided the Angels could lose without me. However, I also forgot that the Rangers have also surrendered the most runs in the league with 803. While it is unlikely they will touch the franchise record of 974 given up by the 2000 club (featuring Darren Oliver as a starter!), it is conceivable that they will come close. If their pitching staff continues at their current rates, they will allow 963 runs total once they are done with their remaining 27 games, making this the third worst staff in franchise history.

After his first-inning implosion, Garland managed to contain the Rangers' powerful offense to only a single additional run, that of Chris Davis' fourth inning solo blast. The Angels meanwhile pecked away at Brandon McCarthy, who was making only his second start of the year for Texas after being placed on the 60-day DL just after spring training. From what I saw in the replays, McCarthy looked fresh, as he should have been given the extensive time off, and in fact left the game with a quality start.

That left matters to the Rangers' relief corps, and Jamey Wright simply couldn't get anything right. He walked the bases loaded to Garret Anderson, and then let Mike Napoli get a free pass to score the Angels' third run. After he got Brandon Wood to pop out, that brought in former Angels product Warner Madrigal, who gave up a bases-clearing double to Juan Rivera that decided the game. Francisco Rodriguez then came into the game, allowed a pair of baserunners on a hit and a hit batter (pinch hitter Brandon Boggs), and induced a game-ending 1-6-3 double play off Michael Young.

Thanks to Mike Scioscia's decision to leave Garland in to spare a taxed bullpen, Garland ended up with a victory. I guess it's fair.

Yahoo box • Angels recap

Labels: angels, rangers, recaps

The last time the Nationals swept the Dodgers, they were called the Expos and the year was 1998. Montreal did it in three games from August 4 through 6, the first one interesting and the other two not.

• August 4: Chan Ho Park nursed a 4-0 shutout through seven innings, but imploded in the eighth, walking the bases loaded and then driving in a run on a bases-loaded walk to centerfielder Terry Jones. "That was stupid," Park said later. "I tried to be too perfect, and I wound up hurting the team. I should know better than that, but I wasn't thinking." A subsequent bullpen implosion by Scott Radinsky allowed all but one of his inherited baserunners to score, and the Dodgers lost 5-4 in extras on Chris Widger's RBI single. Vladimir and former Dodger Wilton Guerrero, playing on the same team for the first time that year, both drove in a run; the Dodgers had only days before, at the trade deadline, sent Wilton Guerrero, Ted Lilly, and minor leaguer Jonathan Tucker to Montreal in exchange for Carlos Perez, Mark Grudzielanek, and Hiram Bocachica.
• August 5: Raul Mondesi left his second consecutive game with back stiffness, replaced by pinch-hitter Trenidad Hubbard in the third. Starter Darren Dreifort got off to a terrible start in the first, giving up two runs and ultimately losing the game on four runs, one unearned thanks to an error by Hubbard in the seventh. The Dodgers failed to do anything against rookie starter Carl Pavano, and only scratched out a single run against reliever Shayne Bennett, ultimately falling 5-1.
• August 6: Gary Sheffield missed his third straight game following a suspension resulting from a brawl in Pittsburgh, and it really showed in this one. The Dodgers only got one baserunner to third, while the Expos mauled them to the tune of a 9-0 score, with starter Carlos Perez giving up seven runs; it was Perez's second start as a Dodger.

The 1998 Expos finished 65-97; the current generation of Nats will likely come close to that, maybe a bit more in the loss column, but the bottom line is that both Dodger teams are beleaguered despite their marquee players in the lineup. Manny Ramirez homered in the second to give Clayton Kershaw an instant 2-0 lead, but he imploded immediately for five runs in the bottom of the frame, capped by a three-run jack to Elijah Dukes. More misery awaited the Dodgers in late innings as the Nats cadged runs in every inning form the fifth on. About the only good thing to be said about the evening was that the Snakes were idle.

---

Additional fun factoids about the current losing streak:

• The last time the Dodgers lost seven straight on the road was just last year, from September 9 through September 22 against the Giants, Rockies, and Diamondbacks.
• The worst road losing streak in Los Angeles history was in the tumultuous 1992 season. From June 2 through June 21, the Dodgers lost every road game they played to Pittsburgh, Atlanta, Cincinnati, and Houston, eleven in all. Since that was also mostly one contiguous road trip, the Dodgers managed to rack up a 10-game losing streak in that span.
• The epic-est fail in franchise history befell the dreadful 1944 Dodgers, the last stand for extended loserdom by a team that was about to be transformed by integration into one of the league's marquee franchises. For a solid month — June 16 through July 17 — the Dodgers failed to beat any opponents on the road, falling to Philadelphia, Chicago, St. Louis, Cincinnati, Pittsburgh, and Boston.

Also, I have to make mention here of the fact that Christian Guzman hit for the cycle. Christian Guzman!

Yahoo box • Dodgers.com recap

Labels: blecch, dodgers, nationals, recaps

You've gotta think this amounts to a white flag move: the Dodgers will purchase the contract of Scott Elbert from AA Jacksonville on Friday, writes Tony Jackson. A corresponding roster move will be made at that time. Please let it be Berroa.

Update: the Dodgers optioned Clayton Kershaw to AAA Las Vegas to make room, per Diamond Leung.

Labels: dodgers, transactions

The Angels disabled Howie Kendrick after his hamstring injury yesterday, and recalled Brandon Wood, according to today's game notes. Thanks to howiestheman at HH.

Update: Now via AP

Labels: angels, injuries, ohnoes

The Dodgers, who had rescinded their decisions to DFA him yesterday, finally DFA'd Tanyon Sturtze today to make room for the returning Cory Wade.

Labels: dodgers, transactions

The Red Sox have shut down Josh Beckett, and have sent him to see Dr. James Andrews for elbow soreness. It strikes me that the possibility opens for the Twins to take over the AL Wild Card lead and have the Angels, Chisox, and Rays as the division winners.

Labels: angels, injuries, postseason, rays, red sox, white sox

News

• Shane Loux was named PCL Pitcher of the Year.
• Matt Brown was reactivated from the temporary inactive list due to his appearance on Team USA.
• The Kernels clinched a playoff spot with yesterday's victory.
• AFL rosters have been announced (PDF). The Angels will be on the Scottsdale Scorpions this year, and will feature RHPs Ryan Aldridge, Nick Green, and David Herndon; lefty Barret Browning; and position players OF Chris Pettit, 1B Mark Trumbo, and C Tim Duff. Dodger prospects will appear on the Surprise Rafters as follows: LHPs Scott Elbert, Brent Leach, righties Justin Orenduff and Travis Schlichting; catchers Lucas May and Russ Mitchell (the latter appearing on a "taxi squad" to be activated on Wednesdays and Saturdays); infielder Ivan De Jesus, Jr., and outfielders Jaime Hoffmann and Andrew Lambo.
• Ryan Brasier was activated at Cedar Rapids and promoted to Rancho.

Scores

Labels: minors

The Mael brothers have something to say to you:

Labels: angels, dodgers, suck

No, Thank You, We Don't Want The Division Either: Nationals 5, Dodgers 4

Three home runs and the Dodgers still can't carve out a win from the floppiest quadruple-A team in the National League. 1-for-11 with runners in scoring position (worst offenders: Matt Kemp and Nomar), ten left on base, and the team's eighth straight road loss. Jonathan Broxton looked good in the seventh — but, wait, that's not the trouble inning, is it?

Greg Maddux took the loss, his second in a Dodgers uniform this year, though he wasn't especially bad. Two of the runs scored against were unearned thanks to his own fielding error; signs of the Apocalypse, or just another lost season, take your pick.

Yahoo box • Dodgers.com recap

Arrgh: A's 6, Angels 5

Joe Saunders had nothing and injured his pitching hand (in a fielding incident during the game? I didn't hear that part), the Angels offense tried but couldn't convert with runners in scoring position ... where have I heard that before?

As if that weren't enough, Howie Kendrick left the game early with a tight hamstring, and Erick Aybar was seen during the telecast grabbing his hamstring during the game. Update: He, too, is apparently day-to-day with a sore hamstring. Juan Rivera played second base for the first time in his major league career, and if his B-Ref minor league page is to be believed, his professional career, too.

It was the Angels' third series loss of their last four. Enough with the damn sleepwalking already.

Yahoo box • Angels recap

Eliminated: Twins 6, Mariners 5

At least the Mariners were eliminated from the division race. The Twins rallied back from a 4-3 deficit in the top of the eighth to make it 6-4, with scoring capped by Brian Buscher's RBI single that plated two. As I projected yesterday, the Mariners are the first team eliminated in any division — in fact, in any race —

Yahoo box

Angels Option Bulger, Call Up Reggie Willits

The Angels optioned Jason Bulger to AAA Salt Lake and called up Reggie Willits prior to today's game.

Scott Boras Replies To The Pirates

Relevant to Scott Boras's bizarre negotiation stance with regards to the contract of Pedro Alvarez (and perhaps another Boras client, Eric Hosmer) comes Boras' not-very-long-awaited response (via BTF):

Scott Boras phoned from California to give this quote: "The Pirates violated Major League Baseball rules and have issued a nearly 600-word statement, made their actions look to be my fault. I think it's time for the Pirates and Mr. Coonelly to come clean with the fans of Pittsburgh and let everyone know about their dealings with Mr. Alvarez."

Rob Neyer ($) adds more to the "Boras is looking to enforce his negotiating leverage" angle:

You see where this leads, right? If Boras didn't get his client a single extra dollar, why bother? With another agent, you might get the same money without Boras' baggage. At least that's what some top amateur players might be thinking next spring. With their August 15 deadline, MLB backed Boras into a corner. With their private negotiations with Alvarez, the Pirates poked Boras in the groin with a sharp stick. It's not surprising that he's trying to poke back.

Will it work? I don't have any idea. Boras doesn't seem to occupy the high ground, though. If Alvarez remains on the restricted list, he can't play for any MLB-affiliated team, or be drafted again next year. I suspect Boras is simply hoping to squeeze a few hundred thousand more dollars from the Pirates, which would make Alvarez the richest of the 2008 draft picks. Because barring a favorable court ruling, I don't see how this one has a happy ending for Boras and his client.

"[A]s far as I'm concerned," Neyer concludes, Boras' retirement "can't happen soon enough." Hear, hear.

Labels: angels, dodgers, draft, nationals, pirates, recaps, scumbags, transactions

The Infinite Improbability Drive is a wonderful new method of crossing interstellar distances in a few seconds; without all that tedious mucking about in hyperspace. As the Improbability Drive reaches infinite improbability, it passes through every conceivable point in every conceivable universe almost simultaneously. In other words, you're never sure where you'll end up or even what species you'll be when you get there. It's therefore important to dress accordingly. The Infinite Improbability Drive was invented following research into finite improbability which was often used to break the ice at parties by making all the molecules in the hostess' undergarments leap one foot simultaneously to the left in accordance with the theory of indeterminacy. Many respectable physicists said they weren't going to stand for that sort of thing, partly because it was a debasement of science, but mostly because they didn't get invited to those sort of parties.

— Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, as quoted in Wikipedia

Somehow, the Padres pulled off a miracle sweep of the Snakes at home, even with the hands of Adrian Gonzalez missing from the lineup, and even with Cha Seung Baek facing the resurgent Randy Johnson. The Pads rallied from 4-0 in the seventh, capped by a two-run homer by catcher Randy Hundley. In the bottom of the eighth, they got a key hit from Jody Gerut to push across the winning run. Just crazy; the Dodgers have a shot at gaining a game on Arizona starting a few minutes from now.

Yahoo box

Labels: diamondbacks, padres, recaps

Diamond Leung reports the Dodgers have recalled Blake DeWitt from AAA Las Vegas, and have designated Pablo Ozuna for assignment.

Labels: dodgers, transactions

I first heard about the Pirates placing first round draft pick Pedro Alvarez on the restricted list ($) this morning when I was listening to the Cubs/Pirates game on XM. (Also available via MLB.com, and in truncated form via AP.) The crux of the matter seems to be this: after Alvarez agreed (apparently verbally) to a $6M signing bonus, the contract was returned and approved by MLB after the 11:15 EDT deadline on August 15, according to the first-year player draft rules. There are several matters here for Scott Boras:

• This is not a loophole, though he would like it to appear so. At worst, what would happen is that Alvarez returns in the 2009 draft. Of course, if the deal actually was signed after the deadline, this raises the question, what good is a deadline is if it's not enforced?
• Boras does not want to be seen as being evadable. From the complete statement issued by the Bucs:

  "Regrettably, we are not surprised that Mr. Boras would attempt to raise a meritless legal claim in an effort to compel us to renegotiate Pedro's contract to one more to his liking. We are, however, disappointed that Pedro would allow his agent to pursue this claim on his behalf. Pedro showed tremendous fortitude and independent thinking when he agreed to his contract on August 15.

  Reading between the lines, the Pirates got around Boras, got Alvarez to agree to a deal, and then Boras found a loophole under which he could reopen negotiations. Only that opens the question:
• What is the time limit on the restricted list? If it's indefinite, Boras just got his client a professional death sentence. Edit: apparently it is indefinite.

Much more good commentary at the BTF thread on this subject.

Labels: draft, pirates, scott boras, scumbags

Labels: minors