Recently signed Kansas City outfielder Jose Guillen and Baltimore outfielder Jay Gibbons have been suspended for the first 15 days of the 2008 season for “violating baseball’s drug policy.” The issue is human growth hormone. Others accused of such violations but not suspended include Rick Ankiel, Troy Glaus, Gary Matthews Jr., and Scott Schoeneweis.
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 …read more

Preseason Picks Revisited
The story so far:

AL West
AL Central
AL East
NL West

Ladies and gentlemen, the least interesting division in Major League Baseball:

Cubs – Somebody had to win the division; it might as well be the team that spent $300 million on free agents.
Astros – Why did I like this team so much? Perhaps their recent track record fooled me? I’d expected more out of Morgan Ensberg and Jason Jennings. Instead, everyone got fired.
Cardinals – Hey, I got one right. Everything about their 2006 season seemed like a fluke to me. The Cards deserve credit for winning the World Series, but this was …read more

Yeah, so one of the “feel-good stories of the year” maybe isn’t. At least, that’s what some people think. Rick Ankiel, for his part, claims that he was acting under doctor’s orders when he took human growth hormone.
What do we believe? I don’t know. I’m pretty sure we’ll hear a bunch of stuff about Barry Bonds and double standards. Who knows, maybe the race card will be played. For now, here are two statements I’m comfortable making about the situation:

Nobody who has played Major League Baseball within the past 15-20 years is above suspicion of taking any kind of performance-enhancing …read more

With the season winding down, I thought it might be fun to look back at some of the bigger surprises this year. In no particular order, here are nine things that have blown my mind:

I made that last one up. There are no big leaguers I’m aware of named Gesundheit. But I could be wrong…
American League

Mariners at Yankees, 4:05 p.m. PT — I’m contractually obligated to pimp the Yankees game, because no-one else will. Philip Hughes gets the start for New York. He’s coughed up five runs in each of his past three starts, but whatever. Outfielder Wladimir Balentien is up for Seattle. In addition to the great name, Balentien has some of the sickest power I’ve seen in the minors. Dude hit some serious shots when he was in the California League. Big …read more

There are a lot of fun stories this year in baseball: Josh Hamilton, Jack Cust, Rick Ankiel. How about YALHH (yet another left-handed hitter), Carlos Pena?
Pena, in case you missed it, ranks second in the American League with 33 homers through September 1. This is a guy who hit 23 home runs all last year at Triple-A (plus one with the Red Sox). Hot prospect? Well, yeah, like in 2000 and 2001. Pena had his shot with the Tigers, did okay before fading away, and now has come back with the Tampa Bay Devil Rays.
Somewhere along the line, Pena turned …read more

Super lightning quick, here are your games for Friday:

Yankees at Tigers, 4:05 p.m. PT — It seems like these two teams are always playing each other. Anyway, Roger Clemens and Andrew Miller makes for an interesting matchup. Aside from the fact that Clemens is twice as old as Miller, it’s also worth noting that lefties are hitting just .140/.241/.180 against the young southpaw. Granted, it’s in all of 60 plate appearances, but yikes.
Blue Jays at Angels, 7:05 p.m. PT — Roy Halladay and Jered Weaver hook up at Anaheim. If I didn’t have a softball game, I’d make the drive …read more