Guillen is filing a grievance, while Gibbons is accepting his fate as-is.

Guillen, you may recall, just signed with the Royals for beaucoup bucks. It will be interesting to see how his signing and subsequent suspension affect Mike Cameron, who will miss the first 25 games of ‘08 due to testing positive for a banned stimulant.

It’ll also be “fun” to watch as other names are revealed when the Mitchell Report is released. Lord knows I love my sport of baseball, but sometimes it drives me batty (pun only somewhat intended)…

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Post from: Knuckle Curve

(Guest blogger TD — thanks, bud! — covered this transaction while I cavorted about the Pacific and was similarly unimpressed.)

I don’t really see how the Angels were even players here given that they threw $50 million at Gary Matthews Jr. last winter to play Hunter’s position. Matthews had a nice little Damion Easley type season, which isn’t bad, but which also isn’t worth $10 million a year.

Presumably Hunter’s presence pushes Matthews to a corner outfield spot, reducing the latter’s value even further. I guess the good news, if you’re an Angels fan, is that the franchise has plenty of dough and can afford to be a little careless at times. Best hope it doesn’t happen too often, though.

Post from: Knuckle Curve

Seems Moreno had one idea of how Matthews should handle the situation, while the player had another. Quoth Moreno:

Address the press and say: “Yes, my name has been linked to this story. I’m sorry this has become a distraction and we’re going to try to clear it up as quickly as possible. I’m not asking him to admit to anything illegal. His response was, “I’m talking to my people and we’ll get back to you.”

Heh. Behold the power of a very strong labor union. Moreno doesn’t get to call this shot, and it’s killing him.

Meanwhile, Matthews has hired noted lawyer Robert Shapiro. How does Moreno feel about this?

When he hired Shapiro, this doesn’t send a very good signal. When 8 or 10 days go by and the only response is from a criminal attorney, what signals does that send to your fans?

Moreno asks a good question. I’ll follow up with three more of my own:

1. What signals does it send to your fans when the team owner publicly slags his biggest free-agent acquisition of the winter on the basis of an ongoing investigation?
2. What are the motives of a man who insists on identifying his team with the city of Los Angeles despite the fact that it plays in a different county? (Hint: It starts with “m” and rhymes with honey.)
3. Is it possible that Moreno finally got the memo that signing Matthews to a long-term deal worth big bucks wasn’t such a hot idea, and that maybe he’s looking for a way out?

Note that I don’t have answers to these questions (well, except for the second one — but it doesn’t take a genius to figure that out). I’m just throwing stuff out there for discussion. I don’t see a happy ending here. For that, you’ll still need to take the 10-minute drive to Disneyland. If you do, please give my regards to Fantasyland.

Post from: Knuckle Curve