Tanaka Chooses Jeter's Agent As Clock Runs

It may not mean a thing, but with the clock now ticking for teams to try to sign Japanese free agent Masahiro Tanaka, the star pitcher has chosen Casey Close as his agent. Close's best known client is Yankees captain Derek Jeter.

January 24, 2014 at 5 p.m. EST is hard line in the sand for signing Tanaka to a Major League deal. The 25-year old will head back to Japan and no MLB team will be out $20MM if no terms are agreed upon.

The Yankees, obviously, are going to be major players in trying to add Tanaka to their starting staff at a cost that will reportedly exceed $100MM. And that is not counting the $20MM posting fee. The Los Angeles Dodgers have been very quiet, but are rumored to be ready to whip out their checkbooks as well. It's one of the reasons that they are trying to deal Matt Kemp and as much of the $128MM he's guaranteed over the next six seasons.

The Texas Rangers have been mentioned, but I wouldn't be so sure about that after the $130MM they handed Shin-Soo Choo.  The Chicago Cubs, Los Angeles Angels, and Boston Red Sox have also been rumored to be highly interested as well and I wouldn't count out Seattle or San Francisco either.

For Sweet Lou, Life's a Pitch

Lou  Piniella, the fiery former Major League baseball player, manager, and general manager is enjoying his retirement these days. He's providing color commentary on a handful of Yankees games on the YES Network and will be throwing out the first pitch on Opening Day (4/1) when the Yankees start their season against the Boston Red Sox.

Sweet Lou spent parts of 18 years in the big leagues, the final 11 with the Yankees (1974-1984). In a steal of a deal, Piniella came to the Yankees from Kansas City with pitcher Ken Wright for reliever Lindy McDaniel. He split time between the corner outfields and DH, hit .295 as a Yankee and won two World Series titles.

He managed the Yankees in 1986 and 1987 (179-145) and was then moved up to general manager so George Steinbrenner could bring Billy Martin back as manager yet again. Of course, Martin didn't make it to the end of the season (fired on 6/23) and Piniella finished out the season as manager with a 45-49 record. Steinbrenner fired Piniella in favor of Dallas Green (still shaking my head at that move, but Syd Thrift's hire as Senior VP of baseball operation was an even worse replacement for Piniella).

Piniella went on to manage the Cincinnati Reds (World Series title in 1990), Seattle Mariners (AL record 116 wins), Tampa Bay Devil Rays, and Chicago Cubs.  Piniella was going to step down after the 2010 season, but left after 125 games to be with his critically ill mother.

The Pennant Race - 9/25

Pandemonium in Flushing. Mets fans woke up this morning with a September hangover, unsure if it was 2007 or 2008. The Mets blew a 5-1 lead to the Cubs last night, blew a chance to win it in the ninth inning, and then lost to the Cubs in 10 innings, 9-6.

Dan Murphy tripled off of Bobby Howry to lead off the bottom of the ninth, sending the Shea faithful into a frenzy. But Howry struck out David Wright and after intentionally walking the Carloses, Beltran and Delgado to load the bases, got Ryan Church to ground to second baseman Ronny Cedeno, who forced Murphy at home. Howry then made a better escape than David Blaine could any day, by striking out Ramon Castro to retire the side.

Derek Lee doubled in the go ahead run in the tenth and Aramis Ramirez put the game away with a 2-run home run.

C.C. Sabathia pitched the Brewers into a tie for the wildcard lead with the Mets in Milwaukee's 4-2 win over the Pirates. The big left-hander won his 10th game in 16 Brew Crew starts, and his 16th win overall, by limiting Pittsburgh to one run and four hits in seven innings, while striking out 11. Sabathia was working on three days rest and is expected to duplicate that feat again on Sunday.

The Twins beat the White Sox for the second straight night, this time 3-2, to move within one-half game of the AL Central lead. Nick Blackburn threw a solid five innings and four relievers limited the White Sox to just one hit from the sixth inning on. Gavin Floyd faces Kevin Slowey in tonight's series finale.

The Dodgers magic number to clinch the NL West is down to one. Manny Ramirez hit his 17th home run since "going west coast" and the Dodgers pounded the Padres 12-4. Meanwhile, Adam Wainwright and four relievers limited the Diamondbacks to two runs in the Cardinals 4-2 win over Arizona. A Dodgers win or Diamondbacks loss today will give LA the western crown.

While the Angels are prepping for the playoffs, Francisco Rodriguez is improving his resume. K-Rod added to his record setting season with his 62nd save of the season.

The Rays maintained their three game lead over the Red Sox in the AL East with an 11-6 win over the Orioles. Aki Iwamura drove in three runs and Edwin Jackson, despite allowing six runs in 5.1 innings pitched, won his career high 13th game.

The Red Sox won their second consecutive 5-4 decision over the Indians. Mark Kotsay snapped a 4-4 tie with an RBI double in the eighth inning. Fausto Carmona got yanked after just one inning and an inconceivable 51 pitches thrown.

News and Notes

Twenty year veteran first baseman Mickey Vernon has passed away at the age of 90. The seven time All-Star won two batting titles and spent most of his career playing for the down trodden Washington Senators.

The Seattle Times is reporting that there is much animosity in the clubhouse towards All-Star Ichiro Suzuki. Teammates have nearly come to blows with the outfielder's selfish attitude.

The Diamondbacks' Mark Reynolds became the first player in major league history to strike out 200 times in a season when he k'ed this afternoon against the Cardinals. Reynolds had broken Ryan Howard's year old single season record last night. The record may not hold though since Reynolds has just four more than Howard this year. Oh, and Reynolds has committed 34 errors.

The Rockies' Todd Helton has opted for back surgery next week to correct a disk problem.

The Pennant Race - 9/25

Pandemonium in Flushing. Mets fans woke up this morning with a September hangover, unsure if it was 2007 or 2008. The Mets blew a 5-1 lead to the Cubs last night, blew a chance to win it in the ninth inning, and then lost to the Cubs in 10 innings, 9-6.

Dan Murphy tripled off of Bobby Howry to lead off the bottom of the ninth, sending the Shea faithful into a frenzy. But Howry struck out David Wright and after intentionally walking the Carloses, Beltran and Delgado to load the bases, got Ryan Church to ground to second baseman Ronny Cedeno, who forced Murphy at home. Howry then made a better escape than David Blaine could any day, by striking out Ramon Castro to retire the side.

Derek Lee doubled in the go ahead run in the tenth and Aramis Ramirez put the game away with a 2-run home run.

C.C. Sabathia pitched the Brewers into a tie for the wildcard lead with the Mets in Milwaukee's 4-2 win over the Pirates. The big left-hander won his 10th game in 16 Brew Crew starts, and his 16th win overall, by limiting Pittsburgh to one run and four hits in seven innings, while striking out 11. Sabathia was working on three days rest and is expected to duplicate that feat again on Sunday.

The Twins beat the White Sox for the second straight night, this time 3-2, to move within one-half game of the AL Central lead. Nick Blackburn threw a solid five innings and four relievers limited the White Sox to just one hit from the sixth inning on. Gavin Floyd faces Kevin Slowey in tonight's series finale.

The Dodgers magic number to clinch the NL West is down to one. Manny Ramirez hit his 17th home run since "going west coast" and the Dodgers pounded the Padres 12-4. Meanwhile, Adam Wainwright and four relievers limited the Diamondbacks to two runs in the Cardinals 4-2 win over Arizona. A Dodgers win or Diamondbacks loss today will give LA the western crown.

While the Angels are prepping for the playoffs, Francisco Rodriguez is improving his resume. K-Rod added to his record setting season with his 62nd save of the season.

The Rays maintained their three game lead over the Red Sox in the AL East with an 11-6 win over the Orioles. Aki Iwamura drove in three runs and Edwin Jackson, despite allowing six runs in 5.1 innings pitched, won his career high 13th game.

The Red Sox won their second consecutive 5-4 decision over the Indians. Mark Kotsay snapped a 4-4 tie with an RBI double in the eighth inning. Fausto Carmona got yanked after just one inning and an inconceivable 51 pitches thrown.

News and Notes

Twenty year veteran first baseman Mickey Vernon has passed away at the age of 90. The seven time All-Star won two batting titles and spent most of his career playing for the down trodden Washington Senators.

The Seattle Times is reporting that there is much animosity in the clubhouse towards All-Star Ichiro Suzuki. Teammates have nearly come to blows with the outfielder's selfish attitude.

The Diamondbacks' Mark Reynolds became the first player in major league history to strike out 200 times in a season when he k'ed this afternoon against the Cardinals. Reynolds had broken Ryan Howard's year old single season record last night. The record may not hold though since Reynolds has just four more than Howard this year. Oh, and Reynolds has committed 34 errors.

The Rockies' Todd Helton has opted for back surgery next week to correct a disk problem.

Tigers Jacque for Position

The Tigers, who had already strengthened their infield with the acquisition of Edgar Renteria, picked up outfielder Jacques Jones from the Cubs today, for infielder Omar Infante.

Jones had signed a 3-year, $16 million contract prior to the '06 season. The Cubs are also sending along some cash to help cover the last year of the deal.

Jones will most likely platoon in left field with Marcus Thames, until prospect Cameron Maybin is ready for a full-time gig.

Tigers Jacque for Position

The Tigers, who had already strengthened their infield with the acquisition of Edgar Renteria, picked up outfielder Jacques Jones from the Cubs today, for infielder Omar Infante.

Jones had signed a 3-year, $16 million contract prior to the '06 season. The Cubs are also sending along some cash to help cover the last year of the deal.

Jones will most likely platoon in left field with Marcus Thames, until prospect Cameron Maybin is ready for a full-time gig.

The Wild Wild West, and East, and Central

When Bud Selig sprang the Wild Card on the world, he could not have envisioned a final week such as the one taking place in the National League. All 3 division races as well as the Wild Card are coming down to the wire.

NL East

The Mets got off to a fast start, struggled at times, but still manged to hold a healthy lead over the Philadelphia Phillies and Atlanta Braves. Then the Phillies beat the Mets in 8 straight meetings and the Mets stopped pitching in their other games. The bullpen, once a strength, has become the biggest problem.

After the Mets got swept by the Nationals, they had a match up with the Cardinals last night. The Mets dominated the Central Division this year and hoped to get healthy on the ailing cards. Pedro Martinez took the hill for the Mets and gave them his longest outing this season, 7 innings. But the hot Met bats suddenly went cold and Joel Pineiro shut them down for 8 innings in a 3-0 Cards win.

Meanwhile in the city of brotherly love (boy is that an oxymoron), the Phillies got home runs from Ryan Howard and Pat Burrell to beat John Smoltz and the Braves, 6-4. The Mets and Phillies go into the weekend in a flat footed tie for 1st place.

The Mets open a 3 game series with the woeful Marlins tonight. Here are the pitching match ups:

Byung Kim vs. Oliver Perez
Chris Seddon vs. John Maine
Dontrelle Willis vs. Tom Glavine

The Mets have a clear advantage in 2 of the 3 games, so you would think the Mets would win 2 of 3 minimum. But with the current state of their bullpen, they might just be lucky to win 1 of 3.

The Phillies host the pesky Washington Nationals for 3 games. The (g)Nats helped the Phillies out earlier this week with a 3 game sweep of the Mets. Here are the pitching match ups:

Tim Redding vs. Cole Hammels
Matt Chico vs. Adam Eaton
Jason Bergmann vs. Jamie Moyer

The Phillies have a big advantage tonight with their ace going, but the next 2 are toss-ups. Kyle Lohse will replace Adam Eaton earlier if Eaton falters.

We picked the Phillies to win the NL East prior to the season and even in August, we still felt we had made a stupid pick. People like Guillermo Mota are starting to make us look real smart.

NL Central

Milwaukee sprinted out early while the Cubbies were busy fighting each other. When the Brewers started to falter, the Cubs, and the Cardinals started to reel them in. While the Cards faded, as expected, the Cubs kept firing on all cylinders. Now its the Brewers doing the chasing and it doesn't look good. The Cubs lead by 2 games with just 3 to play. The Cubs got swept by the Marlins, but the Brewers couldn't cut their lead.

The Brew Crew's biggest problem. They started a 4 game series with the San Diego Padres last night. The Pads took the opener 9-5. Meanwhile the Cubs go on the road to face a bad Reds ball club, that just got worse with the loss of Adam Dunn to knee surgery.

Here are the pitching match ups for the 2 series:

Cubs vs. Reds

Carlos Zambrano vs. Bronson Arroyo
Rich Hill vs. Aaron Harang
Ted Lilly vs. Homer Bailey

Padres vs. Brewers

Greg Maddux vs. Chris Capuano
Chris Young vs. David Bush
Brett Tomko vs. Jeff Suppan

Conclusion- the Cubs should have no problem wrapping up the division title. Nice year Brewers.

NL West and Wild Card

We've already talked about the Padres series up above, so we'll focus on the division leading Arizona Diamondbacks. We never saw this coming. We know its a weak division, but the DBacks and their ugly new uni's? They have a 1 game lead over the Pads, thanks in part to an amazing 24-9 mark against the NL East.

Arizona goes on the road for a 3 game series with the hot Colorado Rockies. The Rockies looked like they were dead in the water, but they suddenly find themselves tied with the Mets and Phillies, 1 game behind the Padres for the Wild Card lead.

Here are the series pitching probables:

Brandon Webb vs. Jeff Francis
Edgar Gonzalez vs. Mark Redman
Doug Davis vs. Ubaldo Jiminez

What a great pitching match for tonight's opener. After that you have to give the edge to the Dbacks- decidedly on Saturday, and just barely on Sunday.

The DBacks should take 2 of 3, and since the Pads should do the same this weekend, we see the DBacks hanging on for the division and the Pads taking the Wild Card. Which means either the Phils or Mets, and the Rockies are SOL.

The Wild Wild West, and East, and Central

When Bud Selig sprang the Wild Card on the world, he could not have envisioned a final week such as the one taking place in the National League. All 3 division races as well as the Wild Card are coming down to the wire.

NL East

The Mets got off to a fast start, struggled at times, but still manged to hold a healthy lead over the Philadelphia Phillies and Atlanta Braves. Then the Phillies beat the Mets in 8 straight meetings and the Mets stopped pitching in their other games. The bullpen, once a strength, has become the biggest problem.

After the Mets got swept by the Nationals, they had a match up with the Cardinals last night. The Mets dominated the Central Division this year and hoped to get healthy on the ailing cards. Pedro Martinez took the hill for the Mets and gave them his longest outing this season, 7 innings. But the hot Met bats suddenly went cold and Joel Pineiro shut them down for 8 innings in a 3-0 Cards win.

Meanwhile in the city of brotherly love (boy is that an oxymoron), the Phillies got home runs from Ryan Howard and Pat Burrell to beat John Smoltz and the Braves, 6-4. The Mets and Phillies go into the weekend in a flat footed tie for 1st place.

The Mets open a 3 game series with the woeful Marlins tonight. Here are the pitching match ups:

Byung Kim vs. Oliver Perez
Chris Seddon vs. John Maine
Dontrelle Willis vs. Tom Glavine

The Mets have a clear advantage in 2 of the 3 games, so you would think the Mets would win 2 of 3 minimum. But with the current state of their bullpen, they might just be lucky to win 1 of 3.

The Phillies host the pesky Washington Nationals for 3 games. The (g)Nats helped the Phillies out earlier this week with a 3 game sweep of the Mets. Here are the pitching match ups:

Tim Redding vs. Cole Hammels
Matt Chico vs. Adam Eaton
Jason Bergmann vs. Jamie Moyer

The Phillies have a big advantage tonight with their ace going, but the next 2 are toss-ups. Kyle Lohse will replace Adam Eaton earlier if Eaton falters.

We picked the Phillies to win the NL East prior to the season and even in August, we still felt we had made a stupid pick. People like Guillermo Mota are starting to make us look real smart.

NL Central

Milwaukee sprinted out early while the Cubbies were busy fighting each other. When the Brewers started to falter, the Cubs, and the Cardinals started to reel them in. While the Cards faded, as expected, the Cubs kept firing on all cylinders. Now its the Brewers doing the chasing and it doesn't look good. The Cubs lead by 2 games with just 3 to play. The Cubs got swept by the Marlins, but the Brewers couldn't cut their lead.

The Brew Crew's biggest problem. They started a 4 game series with the San Diego Padres last night. The Pads took the opener 9-5. Meanwhile the Cubs go on the road to face a bad Reds ball club, that just got worse with the loss of Adam Dunn to knee surgery.

Here are the pitching match ups for the 2 series:

Cubs vs. Reds

Carlos Zambrano vs. Bronson Arroyo
Rich Hill vs. Aaron Harang
Ted Lilly vs. Homer Bailey

Padres vs. Brewers

Greg Maddux vs. Chris Capuano
Chris Young vs. David Bush
Brett Tomko vs. Jeff Suppan

Conclusion- the Cubs should have no problem wrapping up the division title. Nice year Brewers.

NL West and Wild Card

We've already talked about the Padres series up above, so we'll focus on the division leading Arizona Diamondbacks. We never saw this coming. We know its a weak division, but the DBacks and their ugly new uni's? They have a 1 game lead over the Pads, thanks in part to an amazing 24-9 mark against the NL East.

Arizona goes on the road for a 3 game series with the hot Colorado Rockies. The Rockies looked like they were dead in the water, but they suddenly find themselves tied with the Mets and Phillies, 1 game behind the Padres for the Wild Card lead.

Here are the series pitching probables:

Brandon Webb vs. Jeff Francis
Edgar Gonzalez vs. Mark Redman
Doug Davis vs. Ubaldo Jiminez

What a great pitching match for tonight's opener. After that you have to give the edge to the Dbacks- decidedly on Saturday, and just barely on Sunday.

The DBacks should take 2 of 3, and since the Pads should do the same this weekend, we see the DBacks hanging on for the division and the Pads taking the Wild Card. Which means either the Phils or Mets, and the Rockies are SOL.