Ken Rosenthal is reporting that John Lackey is going to be taking a physical today in Boston... While Peter Gammons is saying that Mike Lowell may be requiring surgery on his thumb. It doesn't say if it will change the deal to Texas, but if it does.. One less suitor for Beltre? 

Contract is expected by Rosenthal to be similar than AJ Burnett money - I must say, I am pretty stoked about Lackey leaving the division, even if it is a lateral move in terms of amount of hate.

Here is the Rosenthal link

Here is the Gammons link

I don't know, maybe it's just me, but Bob Klapisch on Northjersey.com has a piece up where he talks about the Halladay trade rumors, but he also throws in a piece about the Yankees and Jarrod Washburn..

The M’s reportedly asked the Yankees for Melky Cabrera and Brett Gardner, which is why the talks never gained momentum. It’s unlikely Washburn is going anywhere at this rate

This seems to be old information, didn't Pelekoudas ask for those two last year? Why would we be trying to get two outfielders back for Washburn at this point? What with Saunders, Gutz and Ichiro in the OF mix along with Langerhans.. Just doesn't make much sense to me.

In today's Arizona Republic, the newspaper that covers the Phoenix area, there is a story about Randy Johnson and how he is considering going in to the hall of fame as a Mariner..

When asked how it felt to perform so well in front of his former bosses, Johnson mockingly asked if Jerry Colangelo was in attendance. And then he did something unexpected. He made it clear that his sentimental home is in Seattle, just in case the Hall of Fame was curious as to what hat he'd like to wear for eternity.

"I'd say the biggest thrill I got was going back to Seattle," Johnson said. "The time I spent there, what it meant to me and my career . . . I had more wins there than any place else, more time there then any place else. It was kind of my steppingstone. All the other teams I played for kind of reaped the benefits . . . "

Interesting bit of news and considering it was in a paper / website that not a whole lot of people probably read around this site, here ya go!

More Mariners in the hall of fame is a-ok with me..

Whoops - forgot the link.. Link here

Well.. It looks as if we are going to be down one pick when heading in to this years draft, according the Official Website

I am not so sure that I am a fan of this move.. Well, I am going to go out on a limb and say that I am very much not a fan of this move.

I was looking forward to this front office having an extra first round pick, but apparently the need for another bullpen arm was just too great?

Granted, I know a bunch of people are going to read that and think RRS problem? But he is a starter now!!!! ZOMG!

But yea, that's not what I mean.

I have RSS feeds of both the fanposts as well as the articles on the page. However, as of this morning, all that shows up in the main articles feed are minor league wraps and the Carlos Beltran must be destroyed, the tRA post and Felix on the DL.

Is anyone else having this problem or is it just me? I have looked on a couple different computers and I am having the issue on both of em.

Indeed.. I was sitting here watching ESPNEWS and lo and behold, across the bottom of the screen came this little diddy..

"Ken Griffey Jr. considering waiving no-trade clause for a trade to the Tampa Bay Rays."

My first thought? WHEW! My second thought? Poor Rays. Although I guess it doesn't really matter because Andrew Freidman is 400 times better than Bavasi and won't give up any Jeff Clement style of prospect to get him.. But good for Griffey to possibly be on a winning team again.

It doesn't say there is a trade imminent, but the wording made it sound like there is something brewiing.

This may just be emotion spilling over from another rough series where nothing went right (funny how no talent leads to nothing going right..) but, this is from Baker's blog ..

"We're playing our (bleep) off every day and got nothing to show for it. I'm tired of (bleeping) losing, I'm tired of getting my (bleep) beat, and so have those guys. We gotta change this (bleeping bleep) around and get after it. And only we can do it. The fans are (bleeped) off, and I'm (bleeped) off, and the players are (bleeped) off. And that's the way it is. There's no (bleeping) easy way out of this, can't feel sorry for ourself, we gotta (bleeping) buckle it up and get after it. I'm tired of (bleep) losing this, (bleeping) every night we bust our (bleep). It's gotta be a total team (bleeping) effort to turn this thing around, and that's it."

How much more of this can possibly be had? Half empty, quarter full ballparks seem to be the first sign, but cmon..

Maybe Bavasi will be out on his ass after this weekend's Ammy draft and Mac can follow.. one can dream right?

Do you think this is what they meant when the front office said they want to have veteran leadership in the clubhouse?

"Too many babies here," Guillen stormed while seated in front of his locker and spicing his language with obscenity. "They don't know how to play the game and win the game right, the way it's supposed to be played. And that's the problem here. Now I know why this organization's been losing for a while. Now I know."

That's Jose Guillen for those that did not assume - or thought it was Ozzie.

Makes me wonder if Guillen is regretting finally getting that long-term contract he has been looking for for years.

Somewhat surprised that nobody has posted this anywhere on here, but, according to Baker, McLaren and Co. is starting to entertain the idea of moving Morrow ::gasp:: in to the rotation.

"We have thought about it,'' he said. "We haven't come to a conclusion yet, but that is a possibility.''

Morrow could either go back to Class AAA to begin the transition, or work out of Seattle's bullpen in the majors.

"There are a couple of schools of thought,'' McLaren said. "That he could be like Chamberlain and work on it here.''

I don't see why they would be throwing Morrow back to AAA in order to stretch him out when the team is in dire straits as it is.. Why not keep him at the major league level and let him work it out up here? What's the worst that can happen? (barring injury which would happen in AAA too if it's gonna happen) Morrow fails to go 5 innings? He loses? Yeaaa... what's new?

Link right here