I should be baking pumpkin bars for the office party tomorrow, but, well, it's a lot more fun to surf the web for baseball news than to slave in the kitchen. :-)
Since even MLB clubs take the holidays off, I'm not expecting too much to happen between now and New Year's. There are a few tidbits, though....
Darrell Rasner signed a minor league contract with the Yankees. No word yet on DeSalvo, Beam, or Sardinha. They must be looking around for better offers. If they don't get any, they may return to the Yanks.
Former Yankee Sal Fasano signed with the Blue Jays. He signed a minor league deal with them last year. They were very pleased with him, and immediately offered him another minor league deal. He wanted to look around for a big league offer instead, but I guess he couldn't find one. He's back with Toronto (Syracuse, actually).
Brian Roberts, Bubba's one-time roommate, was named in the Mitchell report. Some said he didn't deserve to be tarred as a steroids user based on "hearsay." Well, now he's admitted he used steroids. He says it was just once. (Funny how everyone says it was just once or twice.)
I guess he gets credit for fessing up when so many were rushing to his defense. But I find it hard to believe it was just once, and I'm not the only one. Curiously, in 2005, the season that was cut short when he put his elbow between Bubba and first base, he had 18 home runs. He'd never had more than five before then, including in the minors. His slugging percentage was way out of line with the general trend that year.
And speaking of 'roids...Chad Curtis is shocked that Andy Pettitte admitted to steroid use. He didn't think a nice, religious guy like Andy would cheat.
On 60 Minutes the other night, A-Rod said he's not speaking to Boras. Not sure I buy that, either, and again, I'm not the only one.
Then there's this interesting bit. (It's in Spanish). It says the Yankees will not allow Melky Cabrera to play winterball. (If you run it through Babelfish, it translates "Cabrera" as "Goatherd." :-) Anyway, the article speculates that since Cano and Abreu are being allowed to play, Melky's being held back suggests the Yankees are considering trading him. Perhaps as part of a package for Santana.
I seem to recall that Melky was almost traded last year, to the Pirates or Braves. They ended up not trading him, and it was rumored that one reason was because he didn't play very well in winterball. A few winterball games don't predict a player's career, but there was some doubt about Melky's ability to hit at the big league level anyway, and his struggles in winterball just reminded everyone of that.
Well, I guess I better get baking...
