Late Arrivals

Barret Loux.  Remember him?  Drafted #6 overall by the D-Bags and then failed his physical.  Didn't sign.  Any of this ringin' a bell?  Anyway, MLB declared him a free agent as of September 1, allowing him to latch on with any team.  Loux auditioned for about 15 organizations this past week, most notably the Astros.  The word is that he'll focus on college classes through the fall and might sign in December.  Someone is going to grab a huge value talent.  Indians.  Hint, hint, nudge, nudge.

Believe it or not, the Royals are shopping Zack Greinke.  While the '09 Cy Young Award winner is under KC control until 2013, the brain trust :-j o'er Missoura way isn't confident that the team will contend by then (I wonder if the last 25 years was their 1st clue?).  With the mindset to maximize their return, the Royals are accepting offers starting now.  Guess what?  The Yankees are involved.  Christ.

As previously noted, the Columbus Clippers are your 2010 International League Champions.  There is, however, one game to go.  Tomorrow night (09.21) the Clips take on the Tacoma Rainiers in Oklahoma City for the AAA National Championship.  This game is so important that Mike Sarbaugh is taking no risks, David Huff gets the start. Tune in, 8p on Vs.

Several in the Detroit media believe that it would be in the Tigers best interest to pick up Jhonny Peralta's $7mil option for next season.  I can't say that I agree, but, who cares, it's Detroit.  A much better fit, some have suggested, would be with the rebuilding Orioles as a free-agent.  There I find some wisdom.  Jhonny flourishes out of the spotlight and under the ease of low expectations.  Sound like any team in orange that you know?

Congrats to Michael Vick for making it all the way back.  In his 1st start since 2006, the former overall #1 and convicted felon led the Iggles to victory over the Lions by throwing for 280 some yards and rushing for another 37 on 7 carries.  Vick looked confident, composed and in possession of the vast majority of the athleticism that made him such a media darling back in the day.  I'd root for him wholeheartedly (I believe everyone deserves a 2nd chance, I'm on #43) but Kevin Kolb is still on my !fantasy! team.

So the Browns are 0-2.  The Browns have started two different scrub QBs.  The Browns have held double digit leads in both of the games.  Jerome Harrison sucks.  Peyton Hillis can't hold onto the ball.  We let Matt Cassel beat us.  I feel lucky that I can't watch.

Thanks to a series of rain delays on Saturday night, the Indians/Royals game did not finish until well after midnight local time.  By the time that the 9th inning rolled around (and thank god they got this game in, it is all important) there were literally (and I do not use the word lightly) about 65 people in the stadium.  The shots over the mound at home plate revealed 0 (ZERO!) people sitting in the expensive seats.  Wow.  It was eerie, surreal, almost like the end of a 6 month nightmare.

Congrats to Shin-Soo Choo for popping #20 over the wall in the loss yesterday.  It looks a lot better on paper when your team leader in home runs has more than 16.

Cheers.