Hot Stove: Lee Isn’t Only Newsmaker

All anyone will be talking about today is the Cliff Lee signing, and while I too will lead off with his improbable deal with the Phillies, there are some other moves that are worthy of at least throwing a paragraph at.

Cliff Lee: Ted Carlson already covered the Phillies swopping in a and nabbing the top pitcher on the market out from under the Yankees and Rangers in Phil-Lee Surprise. Here is my favorite line from the piece. “That’s the best quartet that Philly has seen since Boyz II Men.” Classic. Debate will rage about if this is the best foursome of pitchers since the Braves’ in the 1990, the Orioles in the early 70′s or the Indians in 50′s, but let’s just say Roy Halladay, Cliff Lee, Cole Hamels and Roy Oswalt is a flat out amazing group of arms. As pointed out by ESPN’s Jayson Stark, the top-4 now sports the 2010 major league leader in Wins Above Replacement (Lee), the NL leader in WHIP (Oswalt at 1.03), the NL Cy Young winner (Halladay), and the best left-handed pitcher in the Senior Circuit after 7/1 (Hamels posted a 2.28 ERA, 1.04 WHIP, 9.4 K/9 and a 4.24 K/BB mark over his final 118.1 IP). As was also pointed out by @ggiants on Twitter, the World Series Champion San Francisco Giants beat all four of those pitchers in the 2010 playoffs, so don’t go coronating the Phillies as the 2011 champs just yet.

Adam LaRoche/Derrek Lee: It would appear that the Nationals, Orioles and D’backs all need a starting first baseman, and these two are obviously the top-2 options on the free agent market. Both hitters bring solid bats and can be expected to hit 20 homers with at least 80 RBI, and while that isn’t overly exciting by any means, there is nary a team in the game that wouldn’t take that kind of production if the price was right. Lee is likely to command bigger dollars even though he is coming off a slightly depressed season (.260-19-80) and despite the fact that he is four years old at 35. Either one would be a nice pickup at this point with all the big names flying off the free agent board, and neither is going to be poor with teams throwing around money like a drunken frat boy at a gentleman’s club.

Russell Martin: It appears a near certainty that Martin will join the Yankees which sends the wheels moving (he’ll need to pass a physical to make it official). (1) Martin will sign a one year deal with the club, though it’s really a 2-year deal since Martin will be arbitration eligible for the 2012 season, so the Yankees can choose to keep him for one more season if they so desire. (2) It appears that despite coming back off hip surgery, the Yankees are confident that Martin will be able to catch the majority of the time. (3) His signing means that Jesus Montero will likely get some more time to work on his glove in the minors. The dude is ready to hit big league pitching, but many “in the know” worry if he will ever be able to handle the rigors of catching everyday in the big leagues. (4) The real question at this point is what does Martin have left? The hip issue is a huge concern in it’s own right given that a catcher sometimes has to squat and all, but as concerning is the lack of any type of production from his bat. From 2006-08 Martin’s average season was .285-14-74-80-16 as he was a fantasy darling. Since then he has produced an average yearly outing of .249-6-40-54-9, which hardly the stuff of legend. Hitting in a loaded lineup in New York, in a great hitter’s park will help, but I would like his outlook a lot better if he wasn’t being counted on to catch four or five days a week. Don’t be swayed by the love of all things Yankees when considering Martin on draft day, 2011.

Hideki Matsui: The Athletics will announce that they have signed Hideki Matsui after he completes his physical (reports are the deal will be for about $4.25 million for one year). It would appear that Godzilla will be asked to take over as the primary DH in Oakland now that Jack Cust has signed with the Mariners (you can read about that move in Hot Stove: December 8, 2010). Matsui finished 2010 well, and that is putting it mildly, as he batted .309 with 11 homers and 37 RBI, not to mention a .955 OPS, over his last 60 games. The end result was a .274-21-84 line that gave at least those three numbers in each of his last five seasons of 450 at-bats (he hit “only” 16 homers in 2003 when he batted .287 with 106 RBI). Oakland isn’t a great place to hit, and it’s not like their lineup is overflowing with talent, but with Matsui you know what you are going to get.

By Ray Flowers

The End of Baseball?

“And I saw, and behold, a pale horse, and its rider’s name was Death, and Hades followed him; and they were given power over a fourth of the earth, to kill with sword and with famine and with pestilence and by wild beasts of the Earth.”
- The beginning of the Apocalypse in the Book of Revelation (by the way everyone, there is no “S” in the title of that work).

To transition this verse over to the world of baseball, are the Yankees “Death” and the Red Sox “Hades?”

The Red Sox traded for Adrian Gonzalez. Because of tax related issues, the club has a deal in place with Gonzalez (wink, wink) for a reported 7-years and $154 million (the announcement will have to wait until April. Oh, and I’m not buying Gonzalez saying earlier today that there is no deal in place).

Was that all the spending the Red Sox engaged in this week? Why of course not. They went out and added Carl Crawford on a deal that is being reported as a 7-years, $142 million (thanks to Jayson Werth for driving that price up – he can expect a huge flat screen TV under his tree from Mr. Crawford).

So, in the span of mere days, the Red Sox invested nearly $300 million in two players.

The Yankees? They have remained relatively quiet so far, a shock to be sure, but it’s only a matter of time before they land their man – Cliff Lee – on a deal that is expected to grow to well over $130 million (potentially as high as $150). Oh wait, I almost forgot. The Yankees did invest over $80 million to retain all-time greats Derek Jeter and Mariano Rivera, so it’s not like they have completely sat out the offseason party.

Welcome to the world of 21st century baseball folks.

This should come as no surprise though. According to ESPN, and I’ll get back to them in a moment, the Yankees payroll in 2010 was $206,738,389. No other team in baseball was over the $160,913,333 that the – you guessed it – Red Sox spent. In fact, they were the only teams in baseball over $150 million. Moreover, only eight teams in baseball, including the aforementioned Yanks and Sox, spent $100 million as the World Champion San Francisco Giants just missed joining the group at just slightly over $98.5 million.

Need something to talk about at your companies holiday party? If you add up the payrolls of the four lowest paying teams in 2010 – the Pirates, Padres, Diamondbacks and Athletics – you would just barely move past the Red Sox team salary at $172,424,366 – some $34 million short of the Yankees outlay.

You need some more data to share when the spiked eggnog starts to wear out? If we average out the prospective deals of Crawford and Gonzalez we end up with an annual salary for the duo of about $42.3 million. That’s more than either the Pirates or Padres spent on their entire teams in 2010.

I think you get the point.

I’m a free market guy, an ideas such as income redistribution that are often floated by people in our government disgust me. However, will you permit me to be a bit of a hypocrite here? Thank you.

Baseball has to do something to rectify this situation. You simply can’t have one team spending, literally, five times as much as others. How in the world can there be any competitive balance in such a world? Speaking of that, the real shock in all of this might be how in the world the Yankees or Red Sox don’t win the World Series every year given their financial commitments. Am I in favor of a salary cap? It hurts me to type this, but I think baseball has to move in that direction. It might be beneficial to not only have a cap, but also to have some kind of flooring like the NHL does. In truth, I would be in favor of there being a flooring more than an upper echelon limit that would impede teams from improving their club. Revenue sharing and the like could be brought into play, but whatever decisions are made, something must be done.

And this brings me back to ESPN. How are they culpable? Have you tried to watch your hometown team on ESPN lately? Unless you live in New York, Boston, Philadelphia or Chicago, ESPN doesn’t admit that you exist. Ever watch Sportscenter, or as I have dubbed it “Yankees – Red Sox television?” A whole generation of kids who don’t live in those cities are never exposed to any other clubs. Have 95 percent of people in the United States ever seen the wondrous Andrew McCutchen play? Does anyone outside of California realize that the Athletics had the best starting pitching in the American League last season? By focusing so heavily on the “big” markets, ESPN is effectively telling people, tangentially, that the other teams don’t matter. So, is anyone surprised that the Giants and Rangers World Series was the lowest rated Series in television history? I mean, for goodness sakes, it’s not like San Francisco isn’t a huge media market. Moreover, the Rangers had never won the World Series while the Giants hadn’t won since 1954, so there is no reason the baseball universe shouldn’t have been riveted by the matchup.

Baseball isn’t broken by any means, but the path they are currently on will one day end up in ruins. Before The Four Horseman come to wreak havoc on the land, hopefully the powers that be in baseball will avert the disaster by policing themselves a bit better to ensure the ultimately survival of the whole sport, and not just the well being of teams that play their home games in two cities.

By Ray Flowers

Around the Horn: Hot Stove, Dec.6, 2010

(1) Adrian Gonzalez traded to Red Sox.

(2) Derek Jeter agrees to 3-year deal with Yankees.

(3) Mariano Rivera agrees to 2-year deal with Yankees.

(4) Lance Berkman signs with Cardinals.

(5) Cliff Lee will become insanely rich.

(6) Carl Pavano will hit it big as 2nd best SP on market.

(7) Jayson Werth gets seven years from Nationals.

(8) Adam Dunn signs with White Sox.

(9) Carl Crawford looking for $150 million plus over eight years.

(10) Mark Reynolds now an Oriole.

By Ray Flowers

NL Cy and an Import

NL Cy Young Controversy?

I just don’t get it sometimes. It could be the booze or it could be the fact that I’m usually only half paying attention when I write given that I have about 867 tasks a day to complete, but how in the world did the Baseball Writers Association of America name Roy Halladay the unanimous Cy Young Award winner in the NL? I admit it, I selected Halladay as my winner in the piece Who is the NL Cy Young?, but as I pointed out in that piece, Halladay’s numbers were almost matched by the Cardinals ‘Adam Wainwright. Check it out (you can access all the numbers by clicking on the link to the original piece).

Halladay had one more win than Wainwright.
Halladay’s ERA was 0.02 worse than Wainwright.
Halladay’s WHIP was 0.01 better than Wainwright.
Halladay struck out fewer batters per nine than Wainwright.
Halladay allowed more homers per nine than Wainwright.
Halladay was only 0.04 better than Wainwright in GB/FB ratio.
Halladay basically doubled Wainwright in K/BB.

I don’t know about you, but those numbers just don’t scream out unanimous selection. Like I wrote Halladay was still my choice to win the award, but I’m just shocked that no one gave a first place nod to Wainwright.

Three other notes that are everywhere but needs to be mentioned nonetheless. (1) Halladay became the 5th pitcher to win the Cy Young Award in both leagues as he joins Roger Clemens, Randy Johnson, Pedro Martinez and Gaylord Perry. (2) Halladay became the 7th Phillie to win the award. (3) Halladay was just the 13th unanimous choice in the NL.

Oh, and before moving on, here is an interesting note for the bridesmaid, Mr. Wainwright. Since he finished second in the Cy Young voting, his options for 2012 and 2013 will become automatically activated – as long as he doesn’t finish the 2011 season on the DL. If he can just stay healthy he will be guaranteed $9 million in ’12 and $12 million in ’13 – plus be eligible for bonuses based on his Cy Young finishes.

Kuroda Re-Signs with Dodgers

Hiroki Kuroda decided to remain with the Dodgers for at least one more season after signing a 1-year, $12 million deal (rumors are that he might return to Japan for the 2012 season which is why he signed for only one year). I find that number off since Kuroda made $13 million last season and because of the fact that Ted Lilly, also of the Dodgers, recently signed a 3-year, $33 million deal. I will say this, the 35 year old Kuroda pitched very well last season. Sure he went only 11-13, but the numbers were mighty impressive.

His 3.39 ERA was better than the 3.43 mark of Tim Lincecum.

His 196.1 innings were more than Wandy Rodriguez, Ted Lilly, Chad Billingsley and Jonathan Sanchez to name but a few.

His 1.16 WHIP was better than Clayton Kershaw (1.18), Johan Santana (1.18) and Chris Carpenter (1.18) to name but a few.

His .243 BAA was better than Ryan Dempster (.244), Roy Halladay (.245) and Brett Myers (.248) to name but a few.

Face it, Kuroda is a solid pitcher who has shown no sign of decline as he hits his mid 30′s (for one, his K/9 rate was a career best at 7.29, well above his 6.56 career mark), even if his career record of 28-30 would lead you to another conclusion.

By Ray Flowers

Top-10 2B for 2011

Taking a look back at 2010 and trying to project what will happen in 2011 is what we do at Fanball. To that end, Ted Carlson has been sending out assignments for the staff to rank our top options at each position for the 2011 season. Today, I’ll defend my rankings for the Top-10 Second Basemen for 2011 and explain why I favor Chase Utley over Robinson Cano.

For the other reviews in this series, click on the following links.

Top-20 SPs: Latos and Jimenez?

Top-10 RPs for 2011.

Top-20 OFs for 2011.

Top-10 SS for 2011.

Top-10 3B for 2011.

UTLEY OVER CANO

Am I the black sheep or what? It seems like every time we look at these staff rankings I’m the maverick out there saying something no one else agrees with. To be honest I had zero intention of stirring up any controversy, it’s just how things played out.

So why in the world would I list Utley #1 when everyone else on staff had him #2 behind the Yankees’ Cano? Here are my thoughts.

Both players have a history of excellence at the dish, though I still say Utley has the higher ceiling here. The data.

Cano has:
* Hit at least .297 in five of his six seasons and owns a .309 career average.
* Hit at least 14 homers in each of his six seasons.
* Knocked in at least 72 runs in each of the past five seasons (he had 62 as a rookie).
* Scored at least 70 runs in five of his six season.
* Produced at least 155 hits in each of his six seasons.
* Hit at least least 34 doubles each of the past six seasons. In fact, he is fifth in baseball with 240 doubles since the beginning of the 2005 season.

Now for Utley who has:
* He has hit at least .275 each of the past six seasons and owns a .293 career average.
* Hit at least 22 homers in five of the past six seasons.
* Knocked in at least 93 runs in five of the past six seasons.
* Scored at least 93 runs in five of the past six seasons.
* Produced at least 158 hits in five of the past six seasons.
* Hit at least 28 doubles in five of the past six seasons. In fact, he is 14th in baseball with 216 doubles since the beginning of the 2005 season.

Remember, Utley was limited to just 115 games in 2010 because of injury or those columns above would almost certainly read all six seasons instead of five of six (he hit .275-16-65-75-13, 20 doubles and 117 hits in 115 games).

Let’s do a more direct comparison between the two.

From 2005-09 Utley averaged 29 homers a season. Cano has only one season in his career with 29 homers.

From 2005-09 Utley averaged 101 RBI a season. Cano only has one season in his career with more than 97 RBI.

From 2005-09 Utley averaged 111 runs a season. Cano has never scored 105 runs in a campaign.

From 2005-09 Utley averaged 15 steals a season. Cano has never stolen more than five bases in a season.

Are you catching my drift here? More directly, here are each man’s totals, per 162 games, over their careers.

Utley: 29 homers, 105 RBI, 109 runs, 15 steals
Cano: 21 homers, 91 RBI, 92 runs, 4 steals

I’m sure some will argue for the difference in the batting average of the two pushing the Yankees’ second sacker ahead of Utley, admittedly Cano has Utley beat there (career: .309 to .293), but I would counter with the following. Utley has a career OBP of .380. Cano has only one season in his career in which he can match that (.381 in 2010). Utley also owns a .514 SLG in his career, well clear of the .489 mark of Cano.

Don’t get me wrong I love Cano, but I think he is coming off a career best season which will drive up his price. He is also on the Yankees, and that always makes guys more expensive. I’m more than willing to give up a few batting average points for the better production in the other four fantasy categories that Utley will likely offer in 2011, so you can go ahead and take Cano first.

And finally, why no Howie Kendrick love (I was the only one to mention him in the top-10)? I got news for everyone, not only does Kendrick own a .295 career average, he had more homers (10) than Ian Kinsler (nine), more RBI than Kelly Johnson (71), more runs than Juan Uribe (67 to 64) and more steals than Utley (14 to 13) in 2010. I’ll gladly take Kendrick as my second basemen in 2011.

By Ray Flowers

Top-10 SS for 2011

Taking a look back at 2010 and trying to project what will happen in 2011 is what we do at Fanball. To that end, Ted Carlson has been sending out assignments for the staff to rank our top options at each position for the 2011 season. Today, I’ll defend my rankings for the Top-10 Shortstops for 2011 an explain why I ranked Jimmy Rollins ahead of Jose Reyes.

For the other reviews in this series, click on the following links.

Top-20 SPs: Latos and Jimenez?.

Top-10 RPs for 2011.

Top-20 OFs for 2011.

ROLLINS vs. REYES

I was the only voter on staff who listed Rollins ahead of Reyes as the Mets’ shortstop was listed third on everyone else’s ballot (I had Reyes 4th). Moreover, Rollins fell to as low as 7th in the staff voting. Here is my defense of my selection of Rollins over Reyes.

(1) Both players were injured in 2010 limiting their production (Reyes appeared in 133 games, Rollins 88). While injuries have bogged down Reyes the last two years – he appeared in only 36 games in 2009 – Rollins had appeared in at least 137 games in each of the previous nine seasons, an in fact he had appeared in at least 154 games in eight of those nine seasons. He clearly has a durability advantage over Reyes.

(2) Not only am I concerned about Reyes’ ability to stay on the field, I’m really concerned about his ability to be an elite base stealer because of his physical maladies. From 2005-08 Reyes never stole fewer than 56 bags, but over his last 169 games he has swiped a mere 41 bases. There is no disputing that he has more upside in the steal category than Rollins, but there is a massive difference in fantasy value if you are stealing 60 bases or 40. As for Rollins, he swiped 17 bases in half a season which put him on pace for what would have been a 7th straight season of at least 30 thefts.

(3) Since 2005, Reyes’ first full season in the bigs, he has scored 554 runs, the 17th most run in the game. In that time he also appeared in 802 games. As for Rollins, he appeared in 55 more games but scored 51 more runs scored for a total of 605, the 8th best mark in the game.

(4) Power – this is where Reyes takes a back seat to Rollins. Reyes has never hit more than 19 homers in a season, and since 2005 he has averaged 13 homers a year (if we remove his 36 games ’09 campaign). Rollins has hit 25 or more homers twice in his career, and since 2005 he has averaged 20 homers a year (if we remove his 88 game effort in 2010). That’s a pretty substabtial advantage for Rollins, about 35 percent worth.

(5) Neither man is a wonder when it comes to getting on base. In fact, a strong arguement could be put forward that neither man should actually be a leadoff hitter because, despite their speed, neither gets on base very well – Reyes owns a career OBP of .335 while Rollins is slightly lower at .328. For some perspective, the NL average since 2000, the first year of Rollins career, is .332. Face it, both of these men have ample skills, but getting on base isn’t one of them. To state it another way, unless they play everyday, and hit at the top their club’s batting order, their runs scored totals could lag because of their inability to get on base.

Let’s boil this down to 162 game efforts for each man. Here are their career marks.

Reyes: .286-13-66-111-58
Rollins: .272-17-72-108-37

Reyes has the advantage if the he can return to his previous levels of thievery, but I’m just not sure he will be able to in 2011.

By Ray Flowers

Around the Horn: NLCS Preview

Ray Flowers breaks down the National League Championship Series with a position by position breakdown of the Phillies and the Giants. Here is a link to the ALCS Preview in case you missed it.

By Ray Flowers

Playoff Perspective

It’s playoff time, and thankfully, just before a heart attack set in, the Giants dispatched the Braves to move on to the NLCS. They now face arguably the best team in baseball in the Phillies, but you have to beat the best to be the best. Here are some playoff thoughts as we head deep into October baseball.

Phillies vs. Giants

Speaking of the Phillies against the Giants, could you possibly construct a scenario more interesting than the presumed Game 1 matchup of Halladay vs. Lincecum? Let’s go to the tale of the tape.

Age, Height, Weight

Halladay: 33 years old, 6’6″, 230 lbs
Lincecum: 26 years old, 5’11″, 170 lbs

ERA, WHIP, K/9, K/BB, BAA

Halladay: 2.44, 1.04, 7.86, 7.30, .245
Lincecum: 3.43 1.27, 9.79, 3.04, .242

Styles

Halladay: Tall, lanky and the possessor of one of the most versatile arsenals in the game, Halladay can beat you pretty much any way you can think of. If he needs a strikeout he can pick one up, and he is never going to beat himself with the free pass. When he is “on” you will be hard pressed to see someone who can control both sides of the plate any better, and he simply gets filthy movement on his pitches to constantly mess with the hitters line of site. There is no better “pitcher” in the game today.

Lincecum: He couldn’t be any different than the Phillies’ ace. While Halladay has the prototypical pitchers build and a smooth flowing motion, Lincecum is all arms and legs as he seems to propel himself plate ward with every pitch. No bigger than the guy you just ran into in line at Starbucks, Lincecum generates tremendous whip with his arm, and it allows him to hurl the ball harder than he should for a man his size. While he can certainly “pitch,” Lincecum is the type of dominating hurler that when he is “on” batters give each other high five’s if they merely manage to put the barrel on the ball.

If I had to some it up I would say this. Halladay quietly retires the side over and over while Lincecum does the same while striking fear into the hearts of batters.

It should be a wonderful matchup.

Thanks to Jeff Fletcher of AOL for the following Tweets:

* Roy Halladay- Roy Oswalt-Cole Hamels vs SF this year: 1-2, 6.12;
Tim Lincecum- Matt Cain- Jonathan Sanchez vs PHI: 2-1, 1.96
* OK, here’s one you won’t believe: Slugging pct: Phillies .413; SF Giants .408.

* Since 9/1 Phillies scored 167 runs (most in MLB), SF Giants allowed 60 runs (fewest in MLB).

Tupac or Biggie? I’ve always been a huge Tupac fan, and that will never change, but as time wears on I’ve been giving Biggie a second look and the dude is growing on me. Just thought I would throw that in there.

Rays vs. Rangers

Heading into Game 5 of the the ALDS – here is one stat line you need to keep in mind; Cliff Lee is 5-0 with a 1.32 ERA an a 0.80 WHIP in the playoffs.

The Rays hit .123 through the fifth inning of Game 3. Since then they are batting .362 with four homers in 58 ABs.

Yankees

The Yankees lost 17 of their last 26 games entering the playoffs before the went out and swept the Twins three games to none.

The Twins, they have lost 12-straight postseason games since 2004, one short of the all-time record set by the Red Sox (1986-95). The last nine loses have all come against the Bronx Bombers.

Some more bad news Twins fans? How about the fact that the Yankees have won the last four playoff matches between the clubs as they have outscored the Twinkies by the score of 69-36. That’s about as ugly as it gets.

By Ray Flowers

Losing Touch

Sometimes I want to puke. Here’s is a quote from Miguel Cairo from the USA Today: “I haven’t made a ton of money in this game. But I’ve cashed a lot of playoff checks.” Huh? Miguel he has made the playoffs on in five different seasons, but that about the other part of that quote – I haven’t made a ton of money in this game. This explains, explicitly, just how out of touch some athletes are. According to BaseballReference.com, Cairo has made $7.075 million in his career. First off, the guy should be praying to the gods for their support since it’s amazing that a guy who owns a pathetic .267/.316/.361 career line has been paid that much dough. Secondly, are you kidding me here Mr. Cairo? You’ve made more than seven m-i-l-l-i-o-n dollars in your career. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the average median household income in 2009 was $49,777. That means, in just a few short years – 142 to be exact – the average U.S. household will be able to make as much money as Cairo has in his 15 season baseball career. Get a clue Mr. Cairo.

Now back to our regularly scheduled program.

Roy Halladay won his 20th game for the Phillies last night. He became the first Phillies’ hurler to win 20 since Steve Carlton in 1982, as well as becoming the first Phillies’ righty to win 20 since Robin Roberts in 1955. It was the third 20-wins season for Halladay, his career-high is 22 back in 2003. He also won 19 games back in 2002.

The Orioles went 32-73 when Dave Trembley was the manager. Since they switched over to Buck Showalter they have gone 29-17. That means the club has more than doubled its winning percentage since the managerial change was made going from a team with a .305 winning percentage to a .630 club. That’s truly amazing.

After a bit of a slow start CC Sabathia has really kicked things into gear. Not only has he won 20-games for the first time, you can read about that in Three’s Company, he has also gone bonkers over his last 21 starts going 16-3 with a 2.52 ERA for the Yankees.

Wandy Rodriguez was having a down season as well causing him to be found on plenty of waiver-wire’s in shallow leagues around mid year. Over his last 16 starts all he has done is go 8-2 with a 1.93 ERA to reward those that picked him up, or had patience and held on to him all year.

I know this is a baseball site, but I like to think of myself as a bit more well rounded. I’m no Leonardo Da Vinci or Michaelangelo, but I do write about football (NFL Player Rater: Week 2) and hockey (Frozen Pucks: Camp Begins) all the time. However, it’s a note from the world of basketball that simply blew me away.

According to Reid Cherner of USA Today, Dan Gilbert hates, an I mean with a passion, LeBron James (Gilbert owns the Cleveland Cavaliers). James, who in the mind of Gilbert is a turncoat of immense proportions for choosing to leave the Cavaliers to join the Heat, had his Fathead sign lowered in price from $99.99 to $17.41. Why the massive drop in price? Gilbert also owns Fathead, and to show his outright contempt for LeBron he chose to put LeBron’s sign on sale for $17.41 to reflect the year that American traitor Benedict Arnold was born. Think I’m full of it? Here is the link to the LeBron is a traitor article. That’s one serious man who is charge of the Cavs and Fathead.

By Ray Flowers

Around the Horn: August 19, 2010

(1) David Wright back in the lineup for Mets.

(2) Ian Kinsler to get MRI on Monday.

(3) Dustin Pedroia out with sore foot.

(4) Lance Berkman to DL. Alex Rodriguez should be back soon for Yankees.

(5) Brad Hawpe released.

(6) Pedro Feliz to Cardinals.

(7) Ryan Howard (ankle) hopes to return on Monday.

(8) Roger Clemens likely to be indicted for lying to Congress.

By Ray Flowers