• Philadelphia Phillies first baseman Ryan Howard won his arbitration case and has been awarded $10 million for 2008. This is the largest amount ever received by a victorious player.
• You may be aware that my colleague, Hunter Pence, was injured in a freak accident earlier this week. He’s got the details up at his blog. Here’s wishing Hunter a speedy recovery.
• Another colleague, Albert Bianchi at Dejuiced, informs us that New York Mets shortstop Jose Reyes will be giving up a celebratory handshake thing he used to do. I can’t speak to that because I don’t follow the Mets closely, but I will say that the photo Albert chose to accompany his story is priceless. Seriously, if the Mets ever get tired of playing baseball, they might try their hand at putting on a musical.

Ugh. Play some games already. I’m getting bored…

Post from: Knuckle Curve

Post from: Knuckle Curve

Once again, it’s good to be a Molina. Last winter, Bengie cashed in with the Giants. This time, Yadier has hit the jackpot, re-signing with the St. Louis Cardinals for 4 years, $15.5 million.

Molina and the Cardinals had been scheduled for arbitration, with Molina asking for $2.75 million and the club offering $1.85. Molina earned $525,000 in 2007, so even if he’d lost arbitration, he would’ve won big time.

Molina batted .275/.340/.368 last year and owns a career line of .248/.304/.349 over three seasons and change. He’s 25 years old and he comes with a stellar defensive reputation, but that’s a lot of cash for a guy who hits like Royce Clayton. Oh well, good for him…

Post from: Knuckle Curve