Baseball Slows Down

With some big holidays approaching (and some already in full effect), baseball has begun to slow down a bit.  Not much to report today, so here’s a nice clip I found on Youtube.  It’s Babe Ruth dressed up as Santa Claus and, even if you don’t celebrate Christmas, I’m sure you can enjoy seeing the man fiddle with his fake beard over and over again.

Enjoy.  I’ll still be posting during the holidays, so definitely stop by.

Scott Boras’ Magical A-Rod Book

Thanks to MLBTradeRumors for this one. The website You Been Blinded has found a copy of the blue binders that Scott Boras used to ship out back when A-Rod was looking for suitors. The binder reads like a coffee table piece, outlining the great abilities of A-Rod as a slugger, team leader, etc. I am a bit surprised at it, just because you would assume that all of the teams were well aware of this stuff without having a binder filled with fun factoids (or opinions masked as factoids). If you’re interested in learning how public relations works, then check out the Boras Binder. It’s interesting when viewed as the promotional tool that it is.

Jeter and Joba Respond to The Clemens Situation

The captain Derek Jeter and the newbie Joba Chamberlain offered some supportive statements in relation to Roger Clemens and the recent HGH/steroid allegations released via the Mitchell Report. When asked about Clemens and his current situation, Jeter had this to say:

Jeter said of Clemens, who has denied using steroids: “It seems right now a lot of people are rushing to judgment. You have to let it play out a little bit before you say he is guilty or not guilty.”

Pettitte, on the other hand, has admitted using human growth hormone on two occasions while on the disabled list in 2002. Jeter gave him props for stepping forward. “I’ve talked to Andy and he knows how I feel about him,” Jeter said. “It took a lot of courage for him to come out and admit it. He came out and was honest about it and it’s time to move on.”

Good to hear from the captain. He’s probably just happy he’s not in the papers anymore for his tax problems. In addition, when asked about Clemens’ recent woes, Joba Chamberlain also showed his support for Clemens:

Joba Chamberlain made a holiday appearance, too, visiting kids at the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center Thursday. He also supported Clemens, a mentor of his. “He has nothing left to prove in this game,” Chamberlain said. “He has nothing to prove to anybody.”

Joba and Clemens got pretty close as the season progressed, so of course he’ll go to bat for him. That’s pretty much all that was said by both guys regarding Roger Clemens, but Jeter and Joba also made some other interesting comments about the future of their team for 2008.

The biggest change will be the departure of Joe Torre, who was replaced by Joe Girardi. Jeter always calls Torre “Mr. Torre” or “Mr. T” but said Girardi, a former teammate, will be “Joe.” Jeter, who is close to Torre, said, “It’s going to be weird. He was always a little Hollywood anyway, I told him. But it’s going to be real.ly weird, for me especially.”

As you can see, I’ve got a lot of hard hitting news for you today. Derek Jeter will address Joe Girardi as “Joe.” This isn’t nearly as exciting as a Jamie Lynn Spears pregnancy (watch the google hits flood in), but it’s something. That’s pretty much it, I’ll leave you with the following text about Joba (from Kat O’Brien) until later. It’s great.

He joked that he had no idea about offseason events because he conveniently “forgot how to read.” Actually, he has talked to almost all his teammates and said he is glad A-Rod returned so “I don’t have to strike out Alex and make him look bad.”

I Love This Statement

From PA’s Lohud Blog:

In October of 2006, the Los Angeles Times reported that Roger Clemens was one of the players implicated by Jason Grimsley in a federal affidavit. Clemens denied it at the time and was vindicated yesterday when the affidavit was unsealed and Clemens was not on the list.Roger’s attorney, Rusty Hardin, issued this statement tonight:

“When this grossly inaccurate story broke in October 2006, Roger said it was untrue and the Los Angeles Times chose not to believe him. As the record now clearly proves, Roger was telling the truth then, just as he continues to tell the truth today. Roger Clemens did not take steroids, and anybody who says he did had better start looking for a hell of a good lawyer.”

This would seem to imply that Clemens plans to go to court. Now that would be interesting.

You have got to love it. I cannot wait to see how this plays out and, as a fan simply of the game, I hope Clemens can continue to find his way out of this situation and demonstrate an adequate level of innocence (enough to further vindicate the man). If Clemens can go to court against the MLB, I’ll be extremely happy just to see a player stick it to baseball for the manner in which they dealt with the steroid era. Such a lack of agency combined with rather weak evidence when issuing a historical steroid report deserves some form of punishment.