Baseball in 2007 – Year in Review

Tom Singer, for MLB.com, has written an excellent article touching on memorable moments from the 2007 MLB season. Read the entire article, presented below. To get more nostalgia about this year in baseball, read this post.

Padres Sign Mark Prior; Hilarity Ensues

Mark Prior, banished from the Cubs less than a month ago, has found a new home. He is now going to be a San Diego Padre.

Prior receives a one-year major league deal with a $1 million base salary. The contract, which doesn’t include an option, contains incentive clauses that could take the total value of the deal to over $3 million. Prior, however, is not anticipating his season debut with the Padres until mid-to-late May.

“Mark Prior is a competitor and is working hard to regain the form that made him one of the great young pitchers in the game,” general manager Kevin Towers told The Associated Press. “We are confident he is going to help us in our rotation this season. It’s exciting that Mark is coming home to San Diego to pitch for the Padres.”

Prior, 27, last pitched in the majors in 2006, and he had shoulder surgery in April of 2007. Prior believes that he still has a career ahead of him, but he’s really just kidding himself.

“For unfortunate reasons, I just haven’t been healthy since the 2005 season,” he said. Prior went on to say, “2006 was not a good year, when I had shoulder problems. I feel I’ve got things taken care of. I’m on a good rehab program. I feel I’ve got a lot of great years left.” Nothing unfortunate here; he shouldn’t be talking about luck with the way his mechanics are for pitching.

The second overall pick in the 2001 draft, Prior went 18-6 for the Cubs in 2003 before experiencing a series of physical problems.

The only upside about this news is that Prior is returning to his home, in that he was born in San Diego and currently lives in San Diego County. Prior joins a rotation that includes Jake Peavy, Chris Young, Greg Maddux, and Randy Wolf.

Prior’s lifetime record in the big leagues is 42-29, with a 3.51 ERA. Coming to San Diego, he will benefit from the expansive confines of PETCO Park. The Padres didn’t spend much money on Prior and didn’t include an option for him, so this may prove to be a win-win situation for both parties. However, Padres fans shouldn’t be holding their breath.

Merry Christmas (Happy Holidays)!

If you celebrate Christmas, then I hope you have a happy Christmas! If you don’t celebrate it, have a great day nonetheless!

I’ve been taking a bit of a break from baseball these last few days. In light of the holiday spirit, I have enabled snow to fall on my blog (even though I wish there was real snow where I live).

Anyway, happy holidays!

Doggone it, Papelbon!

Jonathan Papelbon’s dog apparently has a taste for expensive rawhide. Papelbon’s dog has apparently ate the baseball that Papelbon used to strike out Colorado’s Seth Smith to close out the four-game sweep by the Red Sox in the World Series.

The lowly remains of the ball are in the living room of Papelbon’s Hattiesburg, Mississippi home.

“My dog ate it,” Papelbon said. “He plays with baseballs like they are his toys. His name is Boss. He jumped up one day on the counter and snatched it. He likes rawhide. He tore that thing to pieces. I’ll keep what’s left of it.”

For a few weeks at least, Papelbon played dumb and pretended to have no knowledge of where the ball was. But he was actually floating the story around in jest for about a month now. He even had an interview with NESN. Lucky for Papelbon, however, the Red Sox aren’t really interested in acquiring this “piece of history.”

“From the Red Sox standpoint, our only real comment is that from the ballclub’s perspective, the 2004 ball was very special because it was the first time we won in 86 years and everything,” said Red Sox spokesman John Blake. “This one, obviously, if Pap says the dog ate the ball or whatever, we have to believe him. It’s really kind of a non-issue with us.”

This news come to you on a light noter; we remember that just a week after the Mitchell Report was released. I am pretty sure the dog wasn’t on steroids.

The Mitchell Report – Thoughts from the Blogosphere (Part II)

It has been about 48 hours since the Mitchell Report has been released, and the ongoing fervor of blogging continues. Here are the latest blogs from around WordPress dealing with the Mitchell Report:

1. The Mitchell Report aftermath
2. The Mitchell Report: Misconceptions clarified
3. The Mitchell Report, How we process information in the world of Web 2.0
4. Relievers React to Mitchell Report
5. The Mitchell Report… Thought For The Day, With Malice
6. The Mitchell Blues
7. The Mitchell Report
8. More on the Mitchell Report
9. Substance Abuse in Sports
10. Roger and Barry: Poster Boys for the Steroid Era
11. How Baseball Failed America
12. Reading Jayson Stark-ly: Looking at Roger Clemens Through PED-Colored Glasses
13. Some Guys Used Steroids
14. ‘Roids, Records, and Racism…
15. Pettitte confesses: He used HGH
16. Steroids extends its vice-like grip
17. STERIODS linked to top BASEBALL Professionals…sports…baseball…drugs…
18. The Mitchell Files (The Truth is out there … somewhere)
19. Roger Clemens should still be in the Hall of Fame
20. Clemens’ Hall candidacy now in doubt
21. Not the Biggest Shocker in the Worl
22. We Talkin’ ‘Bout the Mitchell Report. . . the What
23. The Mitchell Report: Rocket Fue
24. (Not So) Juicy Reading: The Mitchell Repor
25. The Mitchell Report…
26. George Mitchell issues report on steroids in MLB
27. Does the Mitchell Report make the Yankees dynasty a sham?
28. What You Won’t Find On Baseball’s Mitchell Report
29. Say It Ain’t So
30. The Mitchell Report: Another reason to hate the Yankees
31. MLB Steroids, The Witch Hunt Part II
32. Mitchell Report Q & A with Seth Bondroff (Rainman)
33. The Dark Day
34. Mitchell, Mitchell, Mitchell
35. The Purity of Baseball: Told Through Two At Bats By Benito Santiago
36. Baseball’s Inquisition
37. You don’t see this in golf
38. Canseco “shocked” A-Rod not on report!
39. McCain Critical of Baseball Players Union
40. Mitchell Report Recap
41. I hope everyone enjoyed their Mitchell Report Day . . .
42. “Bitch”ell Report Reveals Mitches
43. Some Thoughts On the Mitchell Report
44. MLB: Give back what belongs to Maris!
45. Baseball Cheats
46. Mitchell Investigation Post-Mortem’s Post-Mortem
47. Steroids in Baseball: Symptom of a Larger Problem?
48. Vindication?
49. Sporting World Shocked: Baseball Players Willing To Cheat In Order To Earn Ridiculous Sums of Money
50. Baseball…sort it out !

The list now consists of fifty posts, just like Part I of the list. If you’ve written your thoughts and have been omitted, or would like to point out other interesting blogs that deal with the Mitchell Report, please leave a comment.

Pujols Speaks about Mitchell Report

Before the Mitchell Report officially came out at 2PM ET on December 13, 2007, there were many leaks in the media and on the internet about the players who were cited in the Mitchell Report. One of the media outlets that spread the rumors was WNBC-TV in New York.  The early rumor included a list of names of players who allegedly would be cited in the report, and one name in the initial list was Pujols’. Pujols, one of the best players in the game, came out with the following statement:

“It has come to my attention that several national and local news outlets have published false reports that associated my name with the Mitchell Report. I have never disrespected, nor cheated the game of baseball and knew without a doubt that my name would not be mentioned in the official investigation. I would like to express how upset and disappointed I am over the reckless reporting that took place this morning. It has caused me and my family a lot of senseless aggravation due to their inaccurate information.

“What concerns me, is the affect this has had on my family and that my character and values have now been questioned due to the media’s lack of accuracy in their reporting. I have never had a problem with the media when they do their job correctly, whether it is positive or negative — just as long as they report truthfully.

“I would like to thank my fans for their continued support and never doubting my integrity. God has blessed me and allowed me to play a game that I would never take for granted.”

I believe Albert Pujols is one of the best players in the game because he works out and has natural ability. He is a genuine player who has a great sense of morals.

It’s sad to see all these leaks occurring before the actual names were released. What was the point? It’s not a competition. It’s always better to get accurate information to the public, rather than hasty information. Yesterday, I tuned into ESPN coverage starting at around 1PM. For about one hour, Buster Olney and company speculated on the players’ names, what the report implicates, who should and shouldn’t be in the Hall of Fame, etc. Most of the discussions were pretty drab and narrow-minded (not to mention speculative). ESPN reporters did discuss Roger Clemens and Andy Pettitte being included in the report, but those names were validated one hour later.  But they could have just begun the coverage at 2PM; the world wouldn’t have stopped if the public received its information just an hour later.

The Mitchell Report – Thoughts from the Blogosphere

There are now hundreds of posts relating to the Mitchell Report from around the web. Here are the top hits from around WordPress, which I’ll update as more bloggers post their thoughts:

1. Mitchell Report – McCarthyism in baseball?
2. The Mitchell Report Was Long Overdue
3. Mitchell Report Reaction
4. Initial Thoughts on the Mitchell Report
5. Mitch Slapped
6. Mitchell Post-Mortem
7. MLB: Play Ball
8. Blah blah blah steroids blah Clemens blah blah
9. Steroid Era
10. It’s My Fault (Kind Of)
11. The Mitchell Report: Now What?
12. Where Were You At 2 O’Clock On December 13, 2007?
13. Saying It Ain’t So Won’t Make Mitchell Report Go Away
14. The Mitchell Report
15. Baseball Assterisks
16. They Busted the Rocket Maaaaaaaaaan!
17. The Mitchell Report
18. Reading the Mitchell Report: The first 8 names
19. Mitchell Report hits
20. Mitchell: “Are You Sure He Said MO Vaughn?”
21. And So It Begins
22. Baseball Controversy… College Bound?
23. MLB: Mitchell Report Slams All Star Players…but not the fans.
24. The Mitchell Report
25. Mitchell Report Released, Bob Wickman With Huge Sigh of Relief
26. Mitchell Report Fingers Players
27. The Mitchell Report – or, why I don’t care, I lost my faith in Baseball a long time ago
28. Who Cares About the Mitchell Report?
29. Steriods Mitchell report drops bombshell
30. Baseball… busted!
31. You Paid How Much for That?
32. Mitchell Investigation Abbreviated List
33. The Mitchell Report: Paul Byrd
34. Wait, there’s a steroid problem in baseball?
35. So what did we learn…
36. asterisk management.
37. MLB: The Mitchell Report
38. A Sexy Early Christmas Present: The Mitchell Report
39. Don’t believe the hype!
40. Mitchell Report
41. The Mitchell Report: Kevin Brown
42. What the average sports fan can take away from the Mitchell Report
43. Roger Clemens, Barry Bonds, Andy Pettitte Get Named in the Mitchell Report
44. Mitchell Report: 60 million for this?
45. The Mitchell Report: Miguel Tejada
46. The Babe was the Best, Bar None
47. Black Eye for baseball.
48. The Mitchell Report on Steroids in Baseball
49. Mitchell Report
50. The Day Baseball Died.

And the list keeps growing by the minute!