This is kind of cool: one of the two minor league players who got traded yesterday from the Mets to the Twins for Luis Castillo I actually know. Drew Butera, a 23 year old catcher, is a good friend of one of my college roommates. Last summer I saw him play with two of my former college roommates and we hungout for a bit afterwards. We even went to Dairy Queen (its the minors, what do you expect?). Drew got assigned to Double A with the Twins and I wish him luck. According to my roommate, who has the inside scoop, the Twins might be looking to DH Joe Mauer a bit more next year due to knee problems and continued growth. Anyway, just thought that was cool.
Monthly Archive for July, 2007
This is not how I wanted training camp to start:
Left tackle Chris Samuels is expected to miss about four weeks with a grade 2 sprain of the medial collateral ligament in his right knee. Samuels, a Pro Bowler, had two players roll on his right leg during 11-on-11 drills late in yesterday afternoon’s practice, dropped to the ground for several minutes and went for an MRI exam last night.
We really don’t need offensive line injuries to derail our Super Bowl drive this year. Remember when we lost Jansen a few years ago in the preseason? That sucked. Hopefully Samuels is alright in a month.
Jon Heyman, in his writeup today of the Mark Teixiera trade to the Braves, includes an odd little tidbit of information about new Ranger Jarrod Saltalamacchia:
This last consideration may not bother many, but Salty has an unusual family situation. Now 21, he married a teacher at his high school in West Palm Beach, Fla., who is now 37, according to records. His wife Ashley, who recently gave birth to their second child, insisted to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution that their personal relationship didn’t begin until the fall of 2004, when Salty was 18.
The Rangers apparently are aware of Salty’s unusual family situation and are said to believe he’s maturing. Besides, switch-hitting catchers are hard to come by.
Uh, what? Thats all we get? Luckily The Big Lead had a link in their Roundup today that provided some more details, click here to find out a little more about Ms.Saltalamacchia or “Ashley” as she goes by. And no, no found pictures as of yet, sadly.
Ah well, looks like Maryland native Mark Teixiera won’t be coming to the O’s, at least not this year. Ken Rosenthal is reporting that he’s been traded to the Braves. Sigh. Teixeira would have looked really good playing first and batting fourth for us. Maybe we move on to Adam Dunn? One can only hope.
Redskins training camp opens today. My dear friend The Mexican sent me this video to get me pumped up. It does the trick quite well. Watch till the end to check out the Japanese TV commentary. Hysterical. Lets go Skins.
Sean Taylor Being A Beast - The most popular videos are here
Ken Rosenthal (via MLB Trade Rumors) throws out a bit of Orioles trivia at the end of his column today:
And finally, thanks to FOX statistician Marty Aronoff for this gem: Only one Oriole has led the American League in strikeouts, a feat that left-hander Erik Bedard is trying to achieve this season. That pitcher was not Jim Palmer or Mike Mussina, but righty Bob Turley, who won the AL strikeout title in 1954, the team’s inaugural season. Bedard leads the AL with 167 strikeouts. The Twins’ Johan Santana is second with 140.
This video, from the Tour de France, is kind of hysterical, though dog lovers might cringe a bit.
The trouble here is I like Peter King. His Monday Morning Quarterback column is a must read for me. Having said that, I am furious with Mr. King. How dare he rank the Redskins 24th (24th!) in his pre-training camp power rankings?!?!?! That’s an outrage. Here’s what Peter wrote:
I agonized over this one, because I think the Redskins are moving in the right direction. I like young quarterback Jason Campbell. I like Joe Gibbs’ ability to make owner Dan Snyder a more patient man and I like — really like — the addition of tackling machine London Fletcher-Baker. I could see the ‘Skins winning 10, but maybe in 2008, not 2007.
Damn right we are moving in the right direction. Look, I know we have a young quarterback and a defense that underachieved tremendously last year, not to mention injuries to our starting RB. But how are we worse then the New York Giants, a team that starts Eli Manning and lost its franchise running back when Tiki Barber retired? There are other ridiculous teams ahead of the Skins but I really don’t have the stomach to handle this anymore. At least we can say everyone’s sleeping on the Skins this year; its always more fun to win when no one expects it.
Jon Heyman says Daniel Cabrera is the Orioles most important second half player. Sounds about right.