So A-Rod just admitted to Peter Gammons that he took some form of PED for three years when he was in Texas (01-03).  Story.

I find it fascinating that he's really gonna be the first active, big-name guy to admit to using PEDs.  Giambi sort of did, but he just gave that generic apology for "what I did," and he ended up coming out looking better than most people.

I wonder if this is going to change the way people look at him: whatever people want to say about his lack of clutchness, or hate him for being paid so much, or for using PEDs, you have to admit it takes a certain amount of courage to be fairly forthright about using PEDs.  I think a lot of fans are tired of being lied to, so maybe they cut A-Rod a break for being honest (even if it's after being outed, which is more than could be said about a lot of other guys).

Looks like John Lackey is going to miss the first month of the season(link is to Rotoworld).  Escobar is already out, and who knows if Lackey will be back on time.  Perhaps the M's can get out to an early lead in the division?  I'm still not that optimistic, but if the Angels keep lowering the bar at some point the Mariners should be able to throw themselves over it.

Anyone else here going?  Want to get some drinks after, to drain away the sorrow of even fairly intelligent folk like Geoff thinking the Bedard trade is a good idea?

I'll be there, figure it'll be a fairly good way to spend my night off...go here for more info.

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To get Javier Vazquez from the White Sox?  Despite what Baker said yesterday in his blog, I do see Javy as being a significant upgrade over the back end of this rotation.  He's had some rough years ERA-wise, but his strikeout and walk numbers have always been strong, and his flyball tendencies would be far less damaging at Safeco then they were at US Cellular or BOB.  I'd certainly consider dealing Wlad + decent pitcher for him.

Is perhaps the scariest thing ever, at least in terms of a visual:

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I can't even decide which picture is worse.  However, if Weaver manages to throw another shutout against the Red Sox I may have to stop making fun of him at every opportunity...naw, who am I kidding?  That will never happen.

Why not this Sunday?  I know it's short turn-around for most folks, but it's also the next start for the King and against our hated rivals the Padres!  It's a 1:05 start time, which is good news for those of us who work nights and thus can't partake of fun things like evening baseball games very often.

We all know he's been terrible.  The worst pitcher in Mariner history.  But did you realize that the team has been outscored 54-13 in games Reefer Jaw starts?  That translates into a 1458 RA/351 RS differential, or a 9-153 Pythagorean record over the full season.  The scarier thing is that Ho has been almost as bad.

When Will it End?

Seriously, this has to be one of the most trying days of my sports fan life.

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Seriously, his most recent piece about Ichiro is a load of garbage.  I wish the guy were capable of writing intelligently about baseball, because it would be nice to have a Mariners fan who doubled as a nationally-known writer, but instead we get the same sort of crap that we're always subjected too: Ichiro isn't a leader because he doesn't talk to reporters enough/score enough runs/bunt enough.  Yes, you read that right.

Just saw that Ken plans to wear number 42 on April 15 as a way to honor the 60th anniversary of Jackie Robinson breaking the color barrier.

But why stop there?  Why not turn this into a grand gesture which would really illustrate what baseball owes Robinson?  Sometimes it feels like baseball sort of half-asses these things, but they certainly got it right when they universally retired 42 ten years ago.