The Tell-Tale Heart

Not much Cardinal news to speak of. Dan over at C70 at the bat pretty well covered the salient points from Dave Duncan's interview (published in the post-dispatch yesterday).

The big news is two fold: Manny rejecting a 1-year, $25M offer from the Dodgers, and the ongoing Barry Bonds saga.

Some people are all up in arms about Manny's contract demands. I'm not. Yes, the money these guys get to play a kid's game (or what once was the kid's game) is ridiculous, but it has been so for years; this is not new. It was ridiculous when Kevin Brown got $15M a year from the Dodgers; it was ridiculous when Dave Winfield got $2.3M a year from the Yankees; hell, it was ridiculous when Mike Schmidt got paid $1M a year.

And this skewing of how much compensation one should get to play a sport isn't unique to baseball players. Remember when Latrell Sprewell famously said, "I've got a family to feed" regarding the NBA strike? I believe he was making upwards of $15M a season at that time. Makes you wonder who the family was he needed to feed - the greater St Louis area?

Although I agree Scott Boras feeds on the souls of the damned, this isn't something to get fired up over. The market will correct; Manny will accept some more reasonable terms (I can't believe I'd think $20M is more reasonable; that's still outrageous), or he won't play in 2009.

The more interesting story, to me, is the Barry Bonds saga. The judge presiding over his perjury trial has unsealed some documents (the trial starts 2 March). Here's what they said:

- Bonds tested positive for steroids in 2000 and 2001, his two highest HR years.
- Samples collected in 2003 were re-tested; steroids were found in those, too. Not surprisingly, this sample was tested by MLB in 2004, and passed; that should tell you all you need know regarding the standards MLB had for doping back then.
- Other ancillary evidence regarding taped conversations, etc.

All of it makes the government's case look far, far stronger than it did. All if it makes the argument Bonds is being persecuted because he's black much weaker. It makes me wonder what, if anything, MLB will do if the courts find Bonds guilty of perjury - will they place an asterisk next to his records? Will they expunge them entirely from the record books? And will this influence voters when he is eligible for the Hall in 2012?

The title of this post refers to a pretty good short story by Edgar Allen Poe. I wonder if Barry hears it beating whenever he walks into a room with baseball 'stuff' in it.

More MLB Crap for your Office/Sanctuary

One of the things you discover about kids is they are the consumers that drive the economic wheel. Especially young kids; they grow so fast you seem to be constantly buying new clothes for them. Not to mention all the things they need to be safe and comfortable (diapers, various kinds of baby wipes and powders, medicine, tylenol/oralgel for teething, food, and so on).




Kids are also a blank canvas on which to place all the things you like (and some of your hates and fears, although any responsible parent (like me) tries to minimize the damage there). Like, say, sports teams.



Well, Pottery Barn isn't dumb. The Pottery Barn Kids catalog arrived in the mail yesterday, with this photo on the cover:




Looks like Pottery Barn has joined the MLB family of merchandise outlets. Let's see what they've got for sale, shall we?

Well among other things (mostly bedding), they had these throw pillows on sale, although not actually called a pillow:




This is a kids store, but good grief there's some wierdness going on here.


- Since when are the White Sox represented by a Dinosaur?


- What the hell is that thing underneath the Indians hat? looks like a yam with bad acne.


- Apparently the Angels (how are angels not kid-cute?), Braves (a brave is a child - no one can draw a child Indian in Atlanta?), Cubs (at least they included a bear), Yankees (I guess a drunk fan shouting obscenities didn't make the cut), Giants (Paul Bunyan not available?), Dodgers (too busy scrounging nickels to sign Manny to include a surfer dude?), and Padres (where's the Friar?!?) couldn't be bothered to come up with a cutsie character for the sham.


- A Diamondback is a snake (or a bike), but there's a cat on that pillow?

- Is the Nationals character a bald eagle, or a chicken? Bald eagle would obviously fit the team in our national capital, and a chicken would obviously fit the actual team.

Eckstein's a Padre

David Eckstein has signed a 1 year, $850K deal with the Padres, apparently to play second base, as reported by mlb.com (among others). On the one hand, good for David. On the other hand, as a casual Padre observer (mostly because I get bombarded with San Diego Padre news since I live in San Diego) it doesn't make sense, since Edgar Gonzalez had a good year with the bat in 2008 (one of the few Padres who did) in about 4 months of work, and he demonstrated some competency at the bag.

You could stretch the truth and say the Cardinals traded Eckstein for Greene (ignoring the reality of Eckker playing for Toronto and Arizona last year), which is a net upgrade in range and power for us. And a commensurate loss of a leadoff hitter and OBP guy.

Whoo Hoo.