Angels only team left going after Adrian Beltre since the Rangers bailed out due to asking price of 5-year $85 million and the need to move Michael Young to DH spot or trade him. The Angels could get Beltre cheap if nobody else joins and a few more weeks pass by to lower his value.

11 teams in the bidding war for Brian Fuentes with the asking price of at least 3-years $15 million. The Blue Jays, Rays, Rockies, Mariners, Twins, Pirates, Phillies, Brewers, Yankees, Red Sox, and Mets all are in the race to get him.

If the Red Sox get Fuentes then Papelbon is gone, sooner. I mean you guys all ready have Jenks being the 8th inning guy. I don't think Fuentes would settle for anything less then an 8th inning guy. And switching the 8th inning between Fuentes and Jenks might get a bit dicey. So if the Red Sox pick up Fuentes it is nearly 100 percent sure that they have a trade place for Paps.

I wonder what team will get him. The Jays did just get Dotel right? But would they consider him a closer? He strikes me more as an 8th inning guy. I think the Jays might go hard after him. But, I could say that about all of the teams here.

The Jays don't really need to lock up a closer for 3 years. They need to put money elsewhere and maybe find a closer within the organization. Personally a closer that eats up a lot of salary on a rebuilding team is wasteful.... but it's a sign of willing to spend some dough-ray-me, so I'm happy about that. AS LONG AS they don't turn around and say they can't sign or extend *player X* because of budget concerns.

Palmeiro still insists he never used steroids

Rafael Palmeiro is sticking to his story that a tainted vitamin shot caused his failed drug test five years ago, and hopes Hall of Fame voters will overlook the mistake and honor him for his 3,020 hits and 569 homers.

A week before the Baseball Writers Association of America announces its inductees to baseball’s Hall of Fame, Palmeiro told SI.com in a phone interview posted Wednesday that he never used performance-enhancing drugs in his 20-year career. As he asserted in 2005 after he was suspended for failing a test, Palmeiro again insisted the anabolic steroid was in a B-12 vial given to him by Baltimore Orioles teammate Miguel Tejada(notes).
[...]

http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news;_yl...-palmeiro-peds

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Finger wagging at Tejada
*tsk*

-surely this clears his name!

Harmon Killebrew has esophageal cancer :(

You never know with those guys from the 90's and early 2000's...there's no way to know who was clean and who wasn't. I have a tough time believing Rafael Palmerio knowingly took Steroids, but that's just me.

Anyway, whether you take Steroids or not, being able to hit a 95MPH Fastball 400 Feet, or a Breaking Curve to the opposite field, takes skill, hand eye coordination, and if any of us took Steroids, it doesn't mean we will be able to go to the Major Leagues and hit 40 Home Runs.

So I believe they should vote in the guys who have the numbers, and leave it at that. What are you going to do...

LMFAO! Sure they are. I've got a bridge to sell you if you believe that.

<font color=goldenrod>If Fuentes' price drops down to say 2 years, $10 million I'd LOVE for the Mets to jump in. Parnell-Fuentes-K-Rod would be a decent late inning punch.

Even better - they could give Fuentes a few chances to close out games and keep K-Rod from getting that 55 games finished option from vesting. I'm pretty sure the Players Association is gonna file a grievance if that option doesn't vest, so the Mets would need a really good excuse.</font>

I doubt he's going to drop either in years or price since he wants a 3-year deal and all those teams in the hunt means good news to his agent since he's going to go well over $5 million per year in the original request.

I'd be more worried about the Yankees boosting his price more than the Phillies since its been pretty disappointing off-season and no way they let the other New York team have the media focus and a "win" in free agency for a player.

You make it sound so black and white.

You leave it how it helps recover from injuries quicker, builds muscle just to name a couple things.

Guy that already have baseball skills are able with 'drugs' to take themselves to a higher level, play longer, recover faster. Those are advantages based not on God given gifts but on chemicals.

just saying...

If steroids didn't help, people wouldn't use them.

If they weren't a problem, they wouldn't be illegal.

http://mlb.fanhouse.com/2010/12/29/j...is-hall-voter/

<font color=goldenrod>It disgusts me that douchebags like this are allowed to vote for the HOF.

"Yeah I don't know that he did steroids and there's no evidence that he did, but I'm not gonna vote for him anyway!"

That's almost as bad as the assholes who send in blank ballots every year to prevent there being a unanimous HOFer.</font>

You mention, the guy has to have the baseball skills in the first place.

If it was all about the drugs, Arnold Schwarzenegger could've played in the Majors and hit 50 Home Runs.

A few teams just made some moves.

O's and Derrek Lee agree to a 1-year deal worth about $7.5 - $8 mil.

Hideki Okajima goes back to Boston on a 1-year deal.

Nationals offer Adam LaRoche a 2-year deal after the O's picked Derrek Lee.

The 1 year deal for Lee to me means the Os are gonna go hard after Fielder next offseason.

What makes you think it's Fielder and not Pujols? Pujols would be a equally good guy to have short term at least.

I am REALLY liking the Orioles. I'm not saying they're going to win the AL East, but I believe they can finish above .500.

That pissed me off too. And this:

Made him sound like even more of a jerk.

Makes it seem like he is going to point the finger (or is already doing it) at players who took steroids if Bagwell doesn't make the Hall. Unreal.

Writers irk me. They think they know it all. They haven't played in the MLB yet they think they know what it takes to be a Hall of Famer.

I think the only people who should get to vote for who gets in the HOF should be those IN the HOF. I would have the Hall of Famers vote, since they know what it takes to be a HOF'er, and see things from a different perspective...that of a player.

I totally want Jeff Bagwell in the Hall, by the way.

Just sayin...

If I remember correctly, the idea behind the veterans committee was to try to get players into the Hall that the writers either ignored or forgot about.

The big problem was the veterans committee is even more stingy in voting since a lot of them don't want to expand the membership or only cared about themselves once they actually got inducted.

What qualifications must a writer have in order to have a vote? I know some writers vote, others don't.

Need to be part of the Baseball Writers' Association of America (BBWAA) for 10 years as the minimum requirement and its possible to lose the ability to vote if the employer is upset at a writer or doesn't want to be involved in the BBWAA or Hall of Fame.

The writer himself/herself also has to be part of an approved list of companies and newspapers to be eligible as well. Also have to be at a certain number of games each year in person as part of reporter part of the requirement.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basebal...ion_of_America

I think it has to be 10 years straight but doesn't have to be about the same team or same company for a writer to be eligible.

No writer should vote for who gets into the HOF. I don't think it's fair. I'm still upset Roberto Alomar didn't make it last year. It should be up to the players already in the HOF.

It's douchebags like that who try to make themselves bigger than the players.

Lee is one player that would have filled a need in Toronto. I was hoping the Jays were in talkes with Lee is silence.

The Jays should sign Carlos Delgado once he is healthy again. It could be to a Minor League contract or whatever.

or Jose Canseco!

Jose Canseco is in talks with the Puerto Rico Baseball League about coming down here and playing.

of course it's not all about the drugs. no one has ever in the history of intelligence argued it was.

You'd be surprised at how much "power" some people will give to Steroids.

fangraphs is predicting the Os upgraded lineup will produce 5 runs a game (800 runs total) this year, up from 3.3 last year. Only two AL Teams scored 800 runs last year, and unfortunately they were both in the AL East.

Probably due to the fact that Albert Pujols is going to be buried in some sort of St. Louis Cardinals memorabilia. Few and far between are the athletes in this day and age that will be borne to and die with the same franchise, but he's pretty clearly one of the few.

Jeter and Mariano are probably some of that few.

Os reliever Alfredo Simon main suspect in shooting

way to start 2011..ugh

main suspect in killing, not just shooting.

Wow, Alfredo Simon actually blew someone away.

If only he had that kind of accuracy with a breaking ball.

Wow, I never expected to hear this. I'm kinda shocked.