Well, while we are waiting for spring training to begin, I thought it would be fun to share stories related to when, how, and where everyone has gotten a game ball.

My first came at Yankee stadium when I was a kid and we went to a night game and sat in the upper deck behind home plate (in the  days of no net). There I was, glove in hand, just waiting for a foul back. In about the 7th inning, here it comes - light a bat out of hell straight for my head. I dive out of the way, but my uncle grabs it as it hits the row behind us, and I got my first ball.

The second and last came at the Stadium when we sat about 15 rows back of the Angel dugout, and we grabbed a foul tip from a Ranger's lefty at bat. My son got the ball, and promptly got Tim Salmon to sign it a week later.

How did you guys get your "balls", and how many do you have?

PS: only real game balls "in play" count - no batting practice or balls flipped to you by a coach or ball boy. Those are lame.

Well, here it is:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081106/ap_on_sp_ba_ne/bbo_gm_meetings_16

I guess we can say good bye to Tex. If Boras is marketing both of these guys, and according to the article, Manny's $$ will be second only to A-Rod, then we are in trouble. Manny is 36. Tex is 28. If Manny gets closer to $25mm than $20mm, what is Tex worth on the open market? Anybody have any epihany here?

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When a player like Kotch or Tex gets traded the day of a game with no chance to make many plans?  Here's a few questions I have and I'm sure there are many more:

 An hour before the game he re-dresses to street clothes and heads for the airport:

1) The team has already bought him a ticket on a commercial airline - does he fly first or coach?

2) When he arrives, who meets him and where do they go?

3) Assuming he stays at the team hotel, he theoretically has no clothes other than the ones on his back....

4) Assuming (and we do) that he is in the lineup either that day or the next day, he has a locker and a uniform all ready prepared for him which somehow fits perfectly so he is not distracted performing his duties.

Anybody know how all this stuff gets done?

According to the NY Daily News:

Alex Rodriguez may be headed back to the Bronx after all -- but on the Yankees' terms.

Despite all of the back-and-forth posturing between the Yankees and A-Rod' camp, the Daily News learned today that the two sides have been discussing a deal for the past few days to keep the two-time MVP in pinstripes, according to a source with knowledge of the situation.

The biggest catch? The Yankees don't want agent Scott Boras involved in the negotiations.

A high-ranking Yankees source told the Daily News that the team is willing to bring Rodriguez back on a below-market contract, one that would make up for the $21 million subsidy from the Rangers that the Yanks lost when A-Rod opted out of the final three years of his contract.

In addition, the Yankees don't want to deal with Boras, who has been Rodriguez's agent since the slugger was 16 years old.

"We will not negotiate with Scott Boras," a Yankees source said. "He cannot be in the room."

The Yankees are also aware that Boras could convince Rodriguez to stop the talks. "We realize it could be a trap to get us back in the negotiations," said one Yankee official. "But we don't think that's the case."

Rodriguez apparently approached the Yankees through a third-party intermediary. "He went to them," said the source.

As the Daily News reported today, A-Rod will have to have person-to-person talks with the Steinbrenner brothers -- Hank and Hal -- before a deal can be sealed.

According to the first source, the Yankees are waiting for Mariano Rivera to sign a new contract before finalizing any plans with Rodriguez, who is expected to take a 10-year deal worth roughly $275 million. That would be about $75 million less than Boras has been looking for, though most industry insiders believe there was never going to be a $350 million offer out there for Rodriguez.

"Alex is going to be back with the Yankees," the source said, speaking on the condition of anonymity because the deal had not been made public. "The Yankees don't have a choice. How are they going to compete without Alex? They need him back."

After monitoring the third-base market, the Yankees apparently decided that Rodriguez was the best fit for them at third base. Mike Lowell is the only free agent of note, and his numbers were overwhelmingly better at Fenway Park last year than away from Boston.

Miguel Cabrera is the top name available on the trade market, but the Yankees were concerned about his work ethic and his habit of partying hard, something that dissuaded them from dealing for the talented 24-year-old slugger.

Rodriguez opted out of the final three years and $91 million of his contract on Oct. 28, prompting the Yankees to hold their stance that they would not negotiate with him as a free agent. The Yankees never even had a chance to make their offer, as Boras had told the Yankees it would take a minimum offer of 10 years and $350 million to get Rodriguez to meet with club officials face-to-face.

A second Yankees source said that the team believes A-Rod is trying to restore his image, which has taken a beating since Boras announced the opt-out during Game 4 of the World Series.

By taking a contract below market value, Rodriguez would be showing fans that it wasn't all about getting the most money, and that he truly wants to finish his career in pinstripes.

"Alex likes to be the center of the universe," the source said. "He wants to be a part of the Stadium going down and the opening of the new one. It's not about money. It's about his face being everywhere. This is the only stage that can guarantee that."

"Most of this is about Alex trying to salvage his image," said another source close to the negotiations. "He's upset over the way this whole thing has played out and the way he's being portrayed now, because of Boras."

Who will prevail? The below is the MLB Cy Young "predictor" calculation. I think they have got it right that CC is above Beckett. I am surprised that they have Lackey above Beckett though. http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/features/cy?season=2007

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Let's take a look....

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Quite interesting, especially in translation:

K-Rod generates doubts

The stellar Venezuelan lock of the Angelinos, Francisco Rodriguez, has wasted two of its last three chances to save (AP)

The Venezuelan does not have been effective at the time of closing the games
BILLY RUSSO
THE UNIVERSAL ONE
He does not have as usual been so effective. Nevertheless, he has made the work. The press begins to doubt its physical state and its capacity. But manager endorses it and still it trusts him.
The stellar Venezuelan lock of the Angelinos of Los Angeles, Francisco Rodriguez, them has not had all with him this season, specially after the Star Game, lapse in which has four blown saves in 14 opportunities and a percentage of races allowed by each nine entrances of work of 4.58.
"It has not gone to him well, but I think that still it is not moment to worry. Frankie has been a little inconsistente, nevertheless, has given us what we needed him", said Mike Scioscia, to manager of the Angelinos.
Rodriguez, who is the better locking quarter of American Liga at the moment, with 34, was the past punished Friday by the logs of the Indians. That day the inicialista of Cleveland, Ryan Garko, connected a quadrangular one to him to tie the game. It was the second time in his last three opportunities to save that it could not do it.
"It has confidence in itself and we still trusted him. We really hoped that it goes to him better and than whenever sounds the telephone (of they bullpen) leaves to make its work successfully", commented Mike Butcher, coach of pitcheo of the novena of Los Angeles.
The front of his locker, in clubhouse of the Angelinos, the Angels Stadium, the reporters asked to him the Venezuelan for their situation, and he responded: "Simply I have not been able to make well my work. That is what all you want to hear. That is the unique thing that I must to say. Thanks".
The technical body of the club indicates that badly of the evils by which it crosses Rodriguez it finds in his mechanics.
"It is not having the rate nor the synchronization that accustoms in the movements that do when sending. The best thing is to give time him so that it returns to find the point perfect of his mechanics. We are sure that it will find his rate again", said Scioscia, to the newspaper Los Angeles Times.
For serafines he is vital that Rodriguez improves and she is to point for the beginning of the postemporada one, and perhaps is the preoccupation of Californian means there. The Venezuelan has three weeks to do it.

Any Help?

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