Sources tell Buster Olney/Peter Gammons, and everyone else that Jake Peavy is headed to the windy city if he agrees to wave his no trade clause.

Though apparently it won't be to the Cubs, as the White Sox and Padres have agreed on a deal.

ESPN's Peter Gammons reported that according to sources, the White Sox will send the Padres four players to complete the deal. He reported that Peavy called White Sox right-hander Scott Linebrink last night for his opinion about going to Chicago and got strong feedback.

Sources told Gammons that White Sox shortstop prospect Gordon Beckham is not among the players in the deal. Beckham was the eighth overall pick in last year's amateur draft.

Hello fellow LLers,

I coach a 13-14 year old baseball team and we've played 11 games.  We're 9-1. (We had a game protested that we have to replay the last inning of.  We'll win that and move to 10-1.)

That being said, I don't think we're always getting the maximum output from our lineup.

Below, you'll find stats from the 10 games we've played that counted (stats from protested game omitted).

(Alex is the only LH batter on the team)

And so, my request: put together the optimal lineup (regardless of position) just 1-9 what you'd put as your batting order.

Thanks in advance!

Today, Stephen Strasburg threw a no-hitter, FML.

San Diego State right-hander Stephen Strasburg, the possible No. 1 overall draft pick next month, threw a no-hitter in a 5-0 victory over Air Force on Friday night.

Strasburg (11-0) struck out 17 and walked two in front of a school-record crowd of 3,337 in what was likely his final home appearance. The 6-foot-5 junior from San Diego, whose fastball was clocked at 102 mph earlier this season, has struck out 11 or more in 11 of his 12 starts for San Diego State (32-19, 11-8 Mountain West Conference).

It was the second no-hitter thrown against Air Force (14-32, 3-13) this season.

"There's a few pitches that I got away with that they fouled back that were kind of up and in the zone," Strasburg said in an interview posted on the school's Web site. "When it came crunch time and I needed a punchout or I needed to get a groundball, I was able to do that."

Strasburg is considered the favorite to be selected by the Washington Nationals, who hold the first pick in the baseball draft on June 9. Scheduled to receive the USA Baseball player of the year award Saturday, Strasburg lowered his ERA to 1.24 with 164 strikeouts in 87 1-3 innings.

He retired the first nine hitters he faced Friday, seven by strikeouts, before walking Nathan Carter to start the fourth inning. The Falcons' only other baserunner came on K.J. Randhawa's leadoff walk in the sixth.

Strasburg retired his final 12 batters, including striking out the side in the ninth.

Mitch Blackburn drove in two runs against Casey Allen (1-3), who allowed five runs — four earned — in eight innings for Air Force.

Apparently, Tom Hicks (rangers owner) is having money troubles.

Hicks owns the Rangers, the Dallas Stars, and has defaulted on $525M in loans.

Creditors to Texas financier Tom Hicks's Hicks Sports Group have declared the company in default, a measure that could eventually dislodge the Texas Rangers baseball club and Dallas Stars hockey franchise from his control.

Additionally, the NYT adds:

The Rangers baseball team and the Stars hockey team are now unable to pay both their operating expenses and their debt service, the newspaper said.

As for whether the team might be sold:

Major League Baseball's rules for such situations are more fluid, though if Hicks Sports Group can't satisfy lenders, the lenders can eventually force an MLB-sanctioned sale of the Rangers.

Hicks, on the other hand thinks he won't have to sell the teams:

"I'm confident that I'll be able to reach agreement with 51% of the lenders because I will be able to fund all the cash needs of the two teams during the period that I'm bringing in new partners, which will help us to drastically reduce if not eliminate HSG's debt,"

Felix vs. Puerto Rico.

Starting now.

Requisite viewing: Here

Winner to the Semifinals.

Loser plays the US tomorrow in a win or go back to spring training game.

Game is on ESPN.

Gameday is here: Link

Ian Snell goes for Puerto Rico which puts out a lineup including Beltran, Rios, Delgado, Pudge, Felipe Lopez, Yadier Molina, and Alex Cora.

Also, feel free to turn this into a Jose Lopez vs. the World thread as well.

Finally, The market for cocaine dried up a bit, worldwide, today.

I am wondering if anyone has interest in getting together either before, during, or after the Mariners game Friday the 13th against the Diamondbacks at Tucson Electric Park?

I'll be going to the game, and have seats in section 108.

Also, I have a question to anyone who knows more than spring training than I do, which probably leaves everyone: do you know how the Mariners decide who goes where for split squad games?  Friday's game in Tucson is half of a split squad game, with the other half up in Mesa as the M's take on the Cubs.

Will there be a list released at some point of players who will be heading down to Tucson?

Hi everyone at BE.  I'm a long, long, long time lurker, and now a first time poster.

I wanted to make a quick observation about the Blazers tendencies and see how frustrating and/or noticeable it is to others.

We all know about the proneness to start slow, and get into holes, as we've seen the last two nights.  Yea, that really ticks me off, and there's no need for it.  But, that's not my main concern at this point.

What bothers me the most right now is the shot selection during runs.  For example, during tonight's game, We were on a 11-3 run, within six, and Channing Frye came down the court, caught a pass at the top of the key and bricked a 21 foot jumper and the Spurs took it the other way and scored.

Frye did the same thing later, when we were down 5, shooting a three from the corner that had no chance.

Outlaw was guilty of this too, shooting off balance, and deep, contested jumpers that just happened to go in.  And, as we all know, a shot that falls is not necessarily a good shot.

I don't understand how Nate's philosophy late in games, especially during runs isn't to get to the hoop more often.

Does this bother anyone else as much as it bothers me?

Lastly, thanks for a tremendous community and a wealth of Blazers information not available anywhere else.

Mike Scioscia has agreed to a lengthy contract extension, ten years to be exact, that will allow him to opt out, were he to choose to do so, after the 2015 season.

Prior to this deal, Scioscia was under contract for this season with a club option for next season.  It's believed that it was worth something in the 1.75M / year area.

No word on what the new deal is worth.

Link

"It's a significant commitment from myself, (Angels owner) Arte Moreno and (general manager) Tony Reagins," Scioscia said Monday. "I think it reflects on their confidence that we're moving in the right direction and will continue to move in the right direction until we get back to the World Series and win a championship. That's our goal."

Carl Pavano has signed with the Cleveland Indians.

ESPN is reporting that sources claim the deal to be worth a base salary of 1.5M with up to 5.3M in incentives based on starts and innings pitched.

Indians rotation shapes up to be Lee and Carmona along with some combination of Laffey, Reyes, Sowers, Lewis, Jackson and Pavano with Westbrook maybe joining the mix after he gets back from elbow surgery.

I'm inclined to say good deal.  Not a lot of downside, I guess, but can he pitch?

Brian Fuentes and the Angels have reportedly agreed on a deal.

Olney says two years.  No dollar value reported.

I don't see it on Fox / SI, but Olney's pretty good authority.

And with the signing the Angels give up their first round pick to the Rockies, leaving them with two first rounders and two supplemental round picks.

Also, JI should be quite the happy camper today, as Fuentes won't be pitching for the Cardinals anytime soon.

Update: LA Times says ~$20M over two years with a club option for a third

Jon Heyman reports that the Yankees are about to ink an 8 year, $180M deal with free agent first baseman Mark Teixeira.

The deal supposedly includes a full no-trade clause.

This makes a total of $423.5M that the Yanks have spent this offseason between Burnett / Sabathia / Teix.

Sucks for the Brewers and the Blue Jays, whose draft picks as compensation keep getting worse.

The AL East should be really, really fun in 2009.

An ESPN source confirms.

Rosenthal says it might be done by the end of the day.

ESPN claims that Burnett and the Yanks have agreed to 5/82.5 with terms still being negotiated by Cashman / Burnett's agent.

That makes it $92 million (roughly) that they'll be paying A-Rod / Jeter / C.C. / Burnett in 2009.  This is more than 17 teams paid players in 2008.

Will they still sign Lowe / Sheets / Pettitte?  Will they go after a bat?

Also, total payroll might approach 240M this year, holy hell.

Well, I'll take a shot at doing one of these.

Ken Griffey Jr. has signed on with a new team.

Economic stimulus package for idiots.

You can still walk around Seattle parks in the buff.

England: less fun every day.

Question for the day.  If you were the captain of a shipping vessel that was operating off the coast of Eastern Africa, how would you best avoid being kidnapped and taken hostage by pirates? 

I mean, how do you commandeer an oil tanker?

Baker's got his piece today on some of the winter moves staring the M's in the face.

He discusses Ibanez' future and talks a lot about the clubhouse issues that the M's have.  He also notes that he still has some weird disdain for Ichiro

And it was a clubhouse in need of some direction, given the problems engulfing it as the season came undone. When it came to Ichiro, who got off to a typically slow start in April and part of May, the internal turmoil nearly hit its boiling point.

"I just can't believe the number of guys who really dislike him," said one clubhouse insider. "It got to a point early on when I thought they were going to get together and go after him."

The coaching staff and then-manager John McLaren intervened when one player was overheard talking — in reference to Ichiro — about wanting to "knock him out." A team meeting was called to clear the air.

 

Ichiro didn't have a slow May.

May 1-12: 18-48, three walks, four doubles, eight runs, 10 SB,  .375 / .400 / .458

May total: 36-113, 12 walks, six doubles, HR, 18 runs, 18 SB, .319 / .384 / .398

But others point out that Ichiro, along with Ibanez, is one of the few Mariners to put up consistently high numbers during a season in which the team has all but collapsed. They also suggest that Ichiro, being Japanese and not a vocal clubhouse presence, is somewhat vulnerable to scapegoating in a clubhouse that at times appeared divided along linguistic and cultural lines.

Geoffry, you're the one who's been doing the scapegoating.

However, if you take away the ribbing Geoff does against Ichiro, it's a relatively good article on decisions facing the M's brass this winter.

I have one selfish reason for writing this and that is that I'm looking for four more players for a fantasy football league that drafts at 2pm today.  If you're into this sort of thing, we'd a) love to have you, and b) be grateful to not have to look for anyone else.

If you're interested, the yahoo league id is 557181 and the password is 12345.

Now, onto other important things such as:

College president fired for being an idiot

Chad Ocho-Cinco, cool or not so much?

Battle of the Jessicas, Alba or Biel?

As a University of Arizona grad student, do I have to change my loyalties from the Ducks to the Wildcats when the two teams play?

Shawne Merriman, will he suffer an injury 5x worse than the one he has now this season?  Will he deserve it?

I'm watching Fox Saturday baseball right now and Rosenthal reports that a Yankees executive told him this morning that the Washburn deal to New York will not happen affter the deadline, and that they'll stick with internal options.

I don't know that Rasner/Ponson is the answer to all or any of life's problems, but sucks for us.

Assuming this is true, well, fuck you Lee.

Also of interest, Rosenthal reports that Junior is considering maybe trying to learn 1B for next season.