Fastball Fans

It looks like heralded Japanese hurler Junichi Tazawa has decided on a team — the Boston Red Sox.

From MLB.com: In what was essentially his final step before joining the Red Sox, Japanese right-hander Junichi Tazawa informed all other interested Major League teams that he has rejected their offers.

According to the Kyodo News agency, Tazawa contacted the Rangers, Mariners and Braves on Friday to formally tell them he wouldn’t be joining their teams.

Tazawa, according to several media outlets in Japan, is expected to formally announce his signing with the Boston Red Sox in the early part of next week, perhaps as soon as Monday.

The Red Sox have yet to comment on their reported signing of Tazawa, only acknowledging that they made him an offer.

The 22-year-old Tazawa will be the third Japanese pitcher on Boston’s 40-man roster, joining Daisuke Matsuzaka and Hideki Okajima, who both came to the Red Sox two offseasons ago.

But the big difference in this case is that Tazawa comes without any professional experience. He asked teams not to select him in the November draft for Japanese Professional Baseball.

It looks like the Red Sox’s effort in Japan has paid off….

Will this drama ever end?

According to the Sports Digest, Clemens’ former trainer gave samples of his DNA to federal investigators trying to ascertain whether the star pitcher committed perjury before Congress, two New York newspapers reported.

The request for a DNA sample from trainer Brian McNamee suggests that investigators found readable DNA on the syringes, needles and gauze pads McNamee turned over to federal prosecutors in January, The New York Times and Daily News reported. McNamee’s lawyers have said the items, when tested, would link Clemens to the use of performance-enhancing drugs. They claim McNamee used those needles and a gauze pad while injecting Clemens with steroids and human growth hormone.

Clemens, etc., just go away…

According to the Boston Globe, Sankei Sports reported on Thursday that Japanese righthander Junichi Tazawa told an associate that he has agreed to a three-year major league deal with the Red Sox.

Speaking of the Mitchell Report — if there’s one guy whose life has been turned upside from his inclusion in it — it’s Clemens.

Now, he’s paying for his alleged misdeeds — again.

From ESPN: Roger Clemens has been asked to end his involvement with a charity golf tournament he has hosted for four years as the fallout from the Mitchell report continues to haunt the seven-time Cy Young award winner, the New York Daily News reported in Wednesday’s edition.

Although Clemens helped raise millions of dollars for charities associated with the event, the Giff Nielsen Day of Golf for Kids was held Nov. 11 at Houston’s Shadow Hawk Golf Club without him.

“Roger Clemens is no longer affiliated with the tournament,” said Nielsen, a Houston broadcaster. “We decided we would go our separate ways until his off-field stuff is settled.

“I approached him, and as we talked, we reached a mutual agreement that we would put our relationship on hold. He was good about it. He said `I agree with the decision.”

It really must suck to be him.

My eyebrows rose high when I read this; however, it makes perfect sense and could very well happen if the lefty hurler doesn’t re-up with the Yankees…

Pettitte, 36, has spoken more than once with his former manager, Joe Torre, about joining the Dodgers, according to major-league sources.

And, lest anyone forget, Pettitte has a history of changing teams as a free agent when he does not feel completely wanted.

Go back to 2003, when the Yankees dragged out their negotiations with Pettitte, only to lose him to the Astros despite making a significantly higher last-minute offer.

Or, go back to 2006, when the Astros would not budge off their one-year proposal to Pettitte, only to see the Yankees grab him by offering a higher salary and the option to return for a second year.

He’s had some of his best years with Torre as well as won four World Series…

Why not?

One year after the Mitchell Report came out and shook the foundation of Major League Baseball forever — Goerge Mitchell, whom the report is named after — is considering his landmark work a success.

Fox Sports: “There is an awareness of the problem and a focus on dealing with it,” Mitchell said as he sat at the end of a long conference table in the offices of his law firm in Midtown Manhattan. “I think they have come a long way and deserve credit, both the clubs and players association, and I hope they continue.”

During the 30-minute interview, Mitchell did not criticize baseball’s actions, or for that matter, any inaction, in the 11 months since the report was issued. Mitchell said he was encouraged by how the commissioner’s office and the players union had worked together to accept many of the recommendations he had made on improving the sport’s drug-testing program and said he expected more improvements as the program evolves in coming years.

In regard to his controversial decision to use the report to publicly link dozens of current and former players to performance-enhancing drugs, Mitchell said he had no regrets..

“I believed it was the right thing to do,” he said. “I believed it then and I believe it now.”

Yes, the Mitchell Report has more or less done it’s job — cut down the drug use in the sport, or the appearances of it. The numbers of the drug users are down, and it looks like baseball is starting to move on from the so-called Steroid era.

However, until MLB starts testing for HGH, I think much of the success of the Mitchell Report is moot.

Do I think the sport has been cleaned up? Maybe. I also think the players may have gotten very scared, or in some cases — a tad bit smarter.

No matter what I think, this report was needed and perhaps has helped the sport for the better.

The Orioles today announced that they have named Wayne Krivsky as Special Assistant to the President of Baseball Operations.

Now, Krivsky — who had some hits and misses as the former GM of the Reds — has nearly three decades of experience in Major League Baseball.

I don’t know a lot about him aside from what I have seen from the media and some Reds blogs, but his knowledge might serve some value to the team, especially on the scouting and talent side.

Citigroup — the huge financial conglomerate — that is currently going through layoffs and has lost billions of dollars will stick to their sponsorship deal with the Mets’s new park.

The deal is a 20-year, $400 million pact in which the bank will have their name on the new stadium.

It’s a bit crass to stick to this when you’re in the midst of laying off some of the people who may attend a ball game or two.

Pathetic.

Well, Sabathia is still on the market, and there may be another team interested in him — the Los Angeles Angels.

The Angels, unwilling to meet Mark Teixeira’s desire for a 10-year contract, are in discussions with CC Sabathia and could offer him a contract that approaches the $140-million bid extended to him by the New York Yankees.

The Angels appear reluctant to guarantee more than seven years in a contract for Teixeira, said a source familiar with the club’s thinking. They appear more likely at this time to pursue Sabathia, with an offer in the range of Johan Santana’s six-year, $137.5-million contract with the New York Mets.

Teixeira remains the Angels’ top priority — the club would sign him but does not want to miss out on Sabathia while waiting to see whether Teixeira’s asking price falls. The Angels are not believed to have made a formal offer to either player.

It looks like the Pirates got new talent — this time from a reality show. Then again, for a team that has had 17 straight losing seasons, anything other than the ordinary might change things…

The Pittsburgh Pirates hope Rinku Singh and Dinesh Patel really do have million-dollar arms.

he two 20-year-old pitchers, neither of whom had picked up a baseball until earlier this year, signed free-agent contracts Monday with the Pirates. They are believed to be the first athletes from India to sign professional baseball contracts outside their country.

Singh and Patel came to the United States six months ago after being the top finishers in an Indian reality TV show called the “Million Dollar Arm” that drew about 30,000 contestants. The show sought to find athletes who could throw strikes at 85 miles per hour or faster.

While neither pitcher threw hard enough to earn the $1 million prize, Singh made $100,000 from the contest and Patel made $2,500, plus his trip to the United States.

(more…)

Barry Bonds has not had a good 2008; however, he did receive a tad bit of good news today…

As the Barry Bonds perjury case continues to move toward a March jury trial, the judge on Monday dismissed three of the 15 counts but left intact the bulk of the government’s charges against the former Giants slugger.

Judge Susan Illston dropped one count because it was duplicitous, another because Bonds’ answer before the BALCO grand jury was too vague and a third because the government’s question was ambiguous. She also ordered two other counts merged.

Illston denied Bonds’ lawyers’ request to dismiss several other counts.

In the end, it appears Bonds will face 11 counts — 10 for perjury and one for obstruction of justice stemming from his December 2003 testimony in the steroids case.

Monday’s ruling was largely procedural and isn’t expected to impact either potential sentencing in the case or the overall crux of the prosecution: Did Bonds lie to a federal grand jury when he denied taking performance-enhancing drugs?

Still, Illston’s decision does represent another blemish on the government’s prosecution of the home run king. After indicting Bonds a year ago, the prosecutors were ordered to rewrite their indictment because Illston ruled it was both ambiguous and repetitive in many places.

He’s still in potentially a lot of trouble, and for now has been pretty much exiled from baseball.

Former major league All-Star Tim Raines has signed a two-year contract to manage the Newark Bears of the independent Atlantic League; meanwhile, former Expos and Mets’ catcher Gary Carter — longing for an MLB managing job — has signed onto managing the Long Island Ducks.

Daisuke Matsuzaka, said Thursday he will start in December in preparation for the World Baseball Classic in March.

Meanwhile, Ichiro Suzuki of the Seattle Mariners has also said he expects to play in the 16-nation tournament, which starts March 5 in Tokyo.

However, Hideki Matsui will skip the World Baseball Classic as he tries to come back from injury.

Oops, watch out for the ice!

Pitcher Chad Billingsley had surgery after fracturing his leg in a fall at his Pennsylvania home.

Team spokesman Josh Rawitch said Billingsley, 24, slipped on ice outside his house in Reading, Pa., and suffered a spiral fracture of the fibula in his left leg Friday. Rawitch said the surgery went as expected and Billingsley, who was 16-10 with a 3.14 ERA last season, should be ready to throw by spring training.

It looks like the Yankees will open up their new ballpark for a dry run before the season with a heralded opponent — the Chicago Cubs.

NEW YORK — The Chicago Cubs will play the first exhibition games at the new Yankee Stadium, meeting New York on Friday night April 3 and again the following afternoon.

The $1.3 billion ballpark, scheduled for substantial completion by Feb. 17, will host its first regular-season game when the Yankees play Cleveland on April 16.

“As we welcome our fans into the ballpark for the first time, it is fitting to showcase two of baseball’s greatest and most historic franchises,” Yankees co-chairman Hal Steinbrenner said.

The Cubs are led by manager Lou Piniella, who won World Series titles with the Yankees in 1977 and 1978.

“Lou Piniella and eight of our players had the honor to partake in All-Star Game festivities that helped say farewell to Yankee Stadium last summer, and we look forward to participating in the opening of the Yankees’ new ballpark next spring,” Crane Kenney, chairman of the Cubs, said.

These will be the Yankees’ first preseason exhibitions at home since a two-game, two-stadium series against the Mets in 1993, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.

Should be interesting, and being a few hours south of NYC, I’d like to see if I could make the trip…