Piazza to go part-time as catcher

The A's want Mike Piazza to rotate between catcher and DH after he returns from his sprained right shoulder.

Oakland plans to keep Jack Cust, who has gone 4-for-35 with no homers since the 19th of May and to rotate Piazza in the DH.

Jason Kendall, the A's regular catcher, has a .446 on-base which is the lowest in the majors.

Yankees Knock out Toronto Ends Losing Streak

The New York Yankees end their five-game losing streak with the help of A-Rod. Rodriguez distracted Toronto's third baseman Howie Clark by shouting at him on a crucial popup in the ninth. After the play was over there were arguments all over the field on this controversial tactic A-Rod did.

Alex Rodriguez claimed that all he said was "Hah!" and said that "Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't."

Replays showed that A-Rod shouted something and Clark backed off at the last second. Howie said that Rodriguez called for the ball and that he(Clark) stopped going after the popup.

That helped the Yankees overcome a potential six-game losing steak. I guess you have to be creative to win a game when your on a losing streak and find yourself tied for last place.

Yankees Tied For Last Place in AL East

Yankees drop their fourth straight game. They were defeated by the Blue Jays Monday night 7-2. The Yankees are down 13 and a half games behind the Boston Red Sox. This is their biggest deficit since August 1995. Hopefully the Yanks could pull together and win games to make it to the playoffs but it does not look to good.

Yankees interested in Rockies' Helton

In the rumor mill today the New York Yankees are interested in Todd Helton.

Helton has played in the Majors for a little under ten years. He was drafted on August 2, 1997 for the Colorado Rockies as a first baseman. Todd won the Gold Golve awards in 2001, 2002 and 2004. The five time All-Star and Silver Slugger started the 2007 season hot by having the highest batting average with .333.

Retired Troy Percival may play for the Phillies

The Philadelphia Phillies' assistant general manager Ruben Amaro Jr. confirmed that they have contacted Troy's agent.

Percival was drafted to the MLB in 1995 by the California Angels as a reliever. He has an ERA of 3.10, had 324 saves, and a life time record of 30-41. He retired on July 9th, 2005 from the Detroit tigers.

Jon Lester to stay in minors

The red sox have decided to keep Lester in the minors for the time being to regain stamina and arm strength necessary to compete at the major league level. Jon's battle with lymphoma over the off-season raised concern with Boston that he may not be able to compete at the major league caliber. Boston opted to keep Lester in the minors seems a good decision for the pitcher's long-term success.

Roger Clemens still thinking if he will return

Roger Clemens still has not made up his mind if he will continue his career. Rumor has it that, he will make his decision in about a month. If he does continue, Clemens said that he would still limit his choice to the Red Sox, Astros, and Yankees.

Sosa hit first home run of spring training

The Texas Rangers beat the KC Royals 5-0 Sunday. Sosa’s home run in the second inning was his first homer since August 4, 2005 when he was with the Baltimore Orioles. Sosa did not play last season but played in the minors during the offseason. Looks like Sosa is picking up things where he left off. His presence will help the Rangers this year to have a good season.

Mauer and the Twins agree to $33 million contract

The American League star and batting champion Joe Mauer and the Twins agreed to a $33 million four year contract Sunday. The twenty-three year old catcher hit a .347 with 84 RBIs last year to help the Twins win the AL Central and played his first All-Star game last summer.

He was selected first in the 2001 amateur draft out of Cretin-Derham Hall high school in St. Paul. Mauer was eligible for arbitration this winter for the first time. The pro-catcher is the first in his position to lead the majors in batting average of all AL catchers.

Mauer will be getting 3.75 million this year, 6.25 million in 2008, 10.5 million in 2009 and 12.5 million in 2010. He will also be eligible for performence base bonuses and has the right to designate three teams each year that he can't be traded to without his consent.

Sosa is back!

The Texas Rangers agreed on a minor league contract with Sosa on Tuesday. Sosa is posed to enter the Majors by the end of spring training. He is quoted that there is only a one in a million chance that he will not make the big leagues. If he does make it to the Majors, he will get a fraction of what he was paid before he retired. For the season, he would get a $500,000 one-year deal, and can earn up to $2.1 million during the season.

Arizona Diamondbacks may aquire Randy Johnson

The Arizona Diamondbacks are in talks with the New York Yankees to aquire Randy Johnson. The five-time Cy Young Award winner may agree with the Diamondbacks to a one-year, $10 million extension. Hopefully Arizona can get this superstar back in their ranks next season. The Padres are interested in Johnson also but have a slim chance of taking Johnson away from the Diamondbacks.

Guitar Hero causes missed games!

The Detroit Tigers pitcher, Joel Zumaya missed three playoff games from a repetitive strain injury caused by playing way too much Guitar Hero(best game ever). The right-handed pitcher missed the games during the American League Championship Series in October because of forearm pain. Training staff found that his injury was more in line with a guitar playing motion than throwing. Guitar Hero’s main selling-point is the guitar-shaped controller that simulates the strumming and fretboard fingering of a real guitar. When staff told him to stop playing the PlayStation 2 game, the pain went away, and he pitched pain-free for three appearances during the World Series.
The funny thing is, I totally don't blame him for playing the game, it gets VERY addicting.

Igawa to play for Yankees next season.

The New York Yankees signed Igawa to play for them next season. The left-handed pitcher has agreed to a five year, $20 million dollar contract. Kei Igawa played for the Japanese club, Hanshin Tigers. He had an ERA of 2.97, 194 strikeouts, and a 14-9 record last season with them. Igawa eight-season career with the Hanshin Tigers, the pitcher went 86-60 with an ERA of 3.15. Kei’s best season was in 2003 where he finished with a 20-5 record and was named the league’s MVP.

Wells Agree's to Blue Jays Extension

Vernon Wells agreed to a seven year, $126 million extension with the Toronto Blue Jays on Friday, December 15. There should be a press conference early this week so announce the deal but Blue Jays general manager J.P. Ricciardi wouldn't confirm or deny that a deal had in fact been reached, saying only that "nothing has been finalized from our end." The extension is said to include a no-trade clause and an opt-out clause after the fourth season. Since the extension is so high, it had to be approved by the Blue Jays team owner Ted Rogers.

Wells offered $120 million extension by Toronto Blue Jays

All-Star center fielder Vernon Wells was offered a contract extension worth more than $120 million making it the sixth-largest contract in baseball history. The general manager of the Toronto Blue Jays, J.P. Ricciardi, would not give a specific amount as to how much the extention would be worth but did say it will be between $126 million to $136 million and would extend seven or eight years.

If they cannot reach an agreement, the Blue Jays might trade Wells, but Ricciardi didn't give any details on when he wanted to finish the deal.

Daisuke Matsuzaka agreed to a six-year contrat with the Red Sox

Matsuzaka signed a six year contract with the Boston Red Sox worth $52 million Wednesday afternoon. The pitcher has high expectations from the Red Sox; scouts from the organization seen Daisuke play dozens of times; they say, "He has plus stuff across the board" and a 96 mph fastball that tops off his arsenal. While Boston is optimistic for this import, Matsuzaka is not the most major-league ready player to come out of Japan. On the other hand, Daisuke arrived in Japanese professional baseball like LeBron James did in the NBA. It will be interesting on how Daisuke Matsuzaka will impact the Boston Red Sox next season.

Matsuzaka possible to play for Red Sox

Matsuzaka may be able to play for the Red Sox as early as next season. The star pitcher for Seibu Lions reportedly is flying to Boston, a good sign that both Daisuke Matsuzaka and the Red Sox have reached an agreement. An official with knowledge of the negotiations said, "You should assume a deal is close or done."

A few days prior, Scott Boras would not allow Matsuzaka to take a physical unless both the pitcher and Boston had reached a preliminary agreement. The MLB team has a deadline of midnight Thursday to reach an agreement.

The Red Sox bid $51.1 million last month for the rights to negotiate with Matsuzaka. If Matsuzaka and Boston reaches a deal, the bid will be paid to the Seibu Lions of Japan. If they do not reach a deal, Matsuzaka will not be eligible until he becomes a free agent next November.

Gagne reaches an early agreement with the Rangers

Eric Gagne the reliever for the LA Dodgers has reached an agreement Tuesday with the Texas Rangers on a one-year contract worth about six million dollars. While there is no official announcement, a person familiar with the negotiations has confirmed the agreement. The deal will give Gagne the opportunity to earn around five million more in performance bonuses.

Eric Gagne became the closer for the LA Dodgers in 2002. He had 52 saves and an ERA of 1.97 in 77 games that he closed for the Dodgers that year. The 2003 season, Eric won the Cy Young Award presented to the best pitcher of the season. In 2004, he saved 45 games.

Gagne became a free agent last month when the LA Dodgers declined his twelve million dollar option for 2007.

Juan Uribe is being acquitted of all charges in his alleged involvement in a shooting in the Dominican Republic earlier this year.

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Is this a case of mistaken identity or another baseball player getting away from a scandal unscathed?

My final post

I don't know how many people are still stopping by to check out this blog, but awhile ago I promised an announcement in March, and now it's time for said announcement. While I will no longer be writing about baseball at Universal Baseball Blog, Inc., I will still be writing about baseball on the internet.

I have joined with a bunch of other guys to start a web site called The Hardball Times. We have a welcome message on the front page of the site, so rather than tell you all about it, I'm going to make you go there and read about it. However, I will tell you who the other writers involved with this project are. You may not recognize all of them, but I'm sure you'll recognize at least a few:

Aaron Gleeman
Matthew Namee
Alex Belth
Craig Burley
Joe Dimino
Robert Dudek
Vinay Kumar
Larry Mahnken
Bryan Smith
Dave Studenmund
Steve Treder

Go check out what we have to say, and hopefully you'll keep on coming back for more. Oh yeah, I'd like to thank everybody who read Universal Baseball Blog, Inc. and made it such a fun project for me last season. I really appreciate it.