Bud in TN

Jeff Passan only mentions the NHL briefly, but it seems to me this mlb.tv suit would have major GCL implications. Go Scheindlin!

So, I'm the #1 Kratz apologist. But even I know that the current streak can't continue. Yet, if I'm RAJ I go to him before the end of the season, when AFAIK he'll be a free agent, and I say to Kratz, "here, sign this 2 year contract at $1M per year." If I'm Kratz I sign that thing in a heartbeat, and that also gives the Phils options in case of a Chooch injury, or even options for trade with Valle, Joseph, or even Kratz himself.

Teams wearing black jerseys were penalized more, regardless of home/away affiliation. Problem with this theory is that the Pens should be penalized more too? Do they REALLY get special dispensation????

The link goes to a bizarre story about mistaken identity; of course I thought how this might be a cheap way of fixing the current Phils infield problems, or at least patching the minors as other callups occur. Plus, imagine the possible promotions at Reading! "Get your boos out one more time!!!"

The idea of Thome back in pinstripes watching a ball majestically fly into the stands is good (actually, excellent). The idea of him at first base for a lot of games. is bad (actually, painful). The idea of him in yoga pants is ugly (actually, TMI),

A former applicant for Predators owner was named by CNBC as the "Worst CEO of 2011". Of course, had he actually become owner, the Preds would have become the Hamilton Predatordogs, or something like that.

Cards go with the known and cheaper (although not THAT cheap) with Furcal at $7M per year. Looking really like J-roll will be back!!! Yay!

The NHL's choice of Shanahan as rules enforcer may symbolize its lack of concern with overall justice as well as the league's incredibly high rate of penalty recidivism.

So, if Francona goes to the Cubs and Mackanin goes to the Red Sox, there is a chance that Sandberg gets the Phils bench coach job and becomes manager-in-waiting (yay).

While the Thrashers had many years of troubles, as a former Atlantan, I was a bit surprised they were sold so quickly (out of a major US media market!) and that they were the ones that went to Winnipeg (rather than Phoenix, etc). With the linked news above, we now know that Phoenix, Dallas, and New Jersey (!) were all in trouble. This is besides the NYI arena debacle. I've thought for a long time that NYI would move...maybe Bettman is asking Wang to wait for the NJD situation to settle! New Jersey Islanders, anyone??????

The blog denizens here at TGP favor the legal profession, and I don't claim to know all of the ownership and lack-of-anti-trust implications of a baseball team takeover. But from a business point of view this is pretty fascinating, and again from a business point of view, entirely justified. Going further into debt to cover operations costs is a classic way to head toward chapter 7 or chapter 11. If you aren't business oriented, what McCourt is doing is akin to borrowing against the credit card to pay the utility bills. Or, maybe more likely, taking out a reverse mortgage, and then partying with the extra cash every month.

Jim Balsillie has been getting creamed in the business press today. RIM essentially has no strategy. One wonders what kind of owner he would be. But given that his lifestyle is about to take a gigantic hit (CNBC compared RIM to Nortel!!! Wow!!!) I don't think he is going to be buying and moving any teams in the near future.

Good to know that NPR reporting has Chris' back. However, it turns out that linesman S. Miller is now accused of taking the Cup-wnning puck. He denies knowing what happened, but he'd have to be a space cadet to forget what he did with this, Thankfully, Crack investigative journalists are now on the job.

As Puck Daddy points out, whatever happens with the Sabres tonight, thanks to the stinkbomb the Rangers put out in the Thrashers game, the Hurricanes can clinch with a regulation/OT win vs Atlanta and then any win - even a shootout win - against Tampa Bay tomorrow night. If this scenario occurs, this would mean 2 straight years someone made it in by shootout, and also delicious Schadenfreude possibilities if NYR is a victim again.

Not that "season opening" starts matter that much, but it might add a bit more drama to the game. Brett usually "rises to the occasion" but I'm guessing "regression" will characterize most of his season this year.

As a TN resident and frequent watcher of the Preds, something about this deal strikes me as quite odd. I'm not at all sure it was made for purely on-ice reasons.

Lupul and Gardiner for Beauchemin. Anaheim trying for a playoff run?

When I said that it was "all good" for Flyers fans. Welcome, Pierre, to Versus broadcasts. :-(((( The only good news about this is that it may be that NBC will control Versus rather than the other way around. If Dick Ebersole is given complete control, then you will see "NBC Sports Channel" coming to fruition sooner, with overall better technical quality of broadcasts. And, apparently, way worse announcers. But also, likely NBC/Comcast/Versus will be "all-in" on the NHL contract with the resulting higher cap (and Leino multiyear contract, of course).

As a required provision of the upcoming Comcast/NBC Universal merger, the FCC chairman wants to impose conditions of"equal access" of satellite providers to Comcast/NBC content. This may have the positive unintended consequence of allowing CSN broadcasts over satellite, and possible avoiding stupid DirectTV/Dish disputes as happened with Versus/NHL broadcasts (Versus, CSN and NBC would all be owned by Comcast).

Matt Gelb cites FM's bullpen research on philly.com! Nice (and deserved) feather in the cap for you, FM.

Check out whom Baseball Reference thinks Reyes is "similar" to. I'm not encouraged by #1, and I'd rather see the real #2 than Reyes.

It's official

Good take on some of the newer stats from Passan's "near-mainstream media" Yahoo blog. One thing we all can agree on: Pete Happy really stinks now.

Sigh. Murray says Bobby "always wanted to stay". Maybe hyperbole, but since I used to live about 7 miles from the Honda Center, and he went to HS there, I do get if Bobby feels that way. Of course, there are 25 million other reasons to stay.

Here I was, reading cnbc.com as part of my real job, and SBN shows up! Note that they are lumping in SBN with some real big-time startups that I knew about that the Wall Street types are fawning over. Bloglords, congrats on the corporate venture capital from Comcast, too. (note: gotta read through to the end)