Duck-Billed Catechist

It's on myspace: http://www.myspace.com/sunkilmoon I have been listening to Ghosts of the Great Highway a lot.

It was a letter to season ticket holders, right? He can't call them all. Obviously he's a goober.

Pretty sure it's true. The Rangers have called a press conference.

I wonder what Cleveland is going to do with its cap space. There are a lot of teams that will have a hard time using their space without giving out bad contracts.

It's true.

What are the proceeds? How much is ESPN paying? Or is it a telethon? Does the city that donates the most get Lebron? I can't imagine that he'd host a television special and go anywhere but Cleveland. Otherwise it would just seem like an hour-long "fuck you."

He already had a big payday--his Cavaliers contract that Sacramento eventually bought out. One reason he got passed around was that he never played up to his contract and then was used in trades as cap filler.

The White Sox may solve their DH problem by trading for Adam Dunn. They could've signed Jim Thome for the same amount as they signed Kotsay for.

The perils of batting ninth. You bat last in a perfect game or when the opposing pitcher gives up 9 base-runners (8 BB + 1 error). He was the lead-off hitter in the Braden game, though, so he got out of that one.

This is the internet! There must be pictures of him taking a dump at a truck stop. Actually, it does look like there is a gap of pictures between October 2009 and June 2010, but he has been out at a couple of events in June http://www.gettyimages.com/Search/Search.aspx?contractUrl=2&language=en-US&family=editorial&p=David%20Bowie&assetType=image#

The White Sox signed their 1st round pick, Chris Sale, who hopes to be a September callup: http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2010/06/chris-sale-white-sox-reach-agreement.html Their current LOOGY is having a historically bad season: http://www.baseball-reference.com/play-index/shareit/yB88b

I guess the White Sox are not going to be selling off pieces for now because of the inevitable NL run. Nevermind that they are not any closer in the standings (Minny and Detroit get to play the NL as well).

I think cryptique is suggesting that the low performance all across the board suggests that Ozzie isn't motivating the team. Some of them just have sucked and not because they are old (Beckham, Floyd, Peavy, Quentin, etc.). Though maybe Peavy and Floyd have been unlucky more than sucked (both with xFIP in the low 4's). It is, of course, difficult to evaluate manager's in these terms and certainly players should motivate themselves. But expected vs. actual performance has to take play some role.

http://twitter.com/Buster_ESPN Who wants Paul Konerko in a career/contract year? You know you want to give up your best prospect for him. C'mon, you know you want to.

Does your son's team wear union blue? It couldn't have hurt.

I guess that may have come off harsher than I intended. It is a nice thing to do for a player. They are essentially spending other people's money, though, as I assume that the pension fund is contributed to by the owners and possibly the union, so they're paying 1/30th of that or whatever at most. I'm just surprised that the idea of a player's pension in this context would come up in news stories or online baseball discussion.

That's nice and all, but Burrell has made $60 million in his career. Hardly a great humanitarian gesture.

Are you going to put in a call to get a laid-off colleague work as a proofreader in exchange for favorable coverage?

Of all the weird and uncomfortable stories about one's high school alma mater, I would wager that very few top this: http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/1215065salad1.html

I like Secret of the Sea, but I think it was PigSooie that once said that it sounds like the soundtrack to a chewing gum ad.

Happy birthday, Lou! One of my favorite Lou memories of Lou is from September of 2003. I was sitting in lower balcony/box seats at the Auditorium Theater. Lou was walking down the aisle/stairway and chatting with people along the way. My non-VCer friend said "This guy knows everybody!" Indeed, it seemed like Lou stopped at every row or box seat. So where was I going with this? Not sure. But happy birthday to one of the most hospitable VCers!

No cable. I watch the White Sox, Bulls, and Bears games that are on free TV. Except I don't get CBS.

Preview of the White Sox front office reality show on MLB Network: http://mlb.mlb.com/video/play.jsp?affiliateId=CommentWidget&affiliateId=facebook_share&content_id=7739931

LOLou

This guy has been good. 4 IP, 0 hits, 1 BB, 7K.