Archives › Craig Calcaterra

Yahoo!’s Tim Brown reports that the Giants and Lincecum are going to square-off in arbitration on Friday. Mel Antonen reports that union honcho Michael Weiner will be there in person, which is pretty interesting. Brown asks a question in his tweet: “Why are the Giants picking this fight?” I’ve been critical of the Giants here…

The New York Times reports that Major League Baseball is looking to get proactive in an effort to combat OhMyGodHesReally25 disease: Major League Baseball is studying a series of initiatives, including the fingerprinting of youths under the age of 16, as it attempts to gain control of the age and identity problems it has encountered…

UPDATE: Mayne has corrected the record. I mentioned a couple of weeks ago that I was lovin’ former catcher Brent Mayne’s blog. And I still am, but I just discovered that he’s tellin’ lies. In his latest entry he decides to come clean and admit that he once told a hitter what pitch was coming.…

One day his agent is proclaiming his love of octopus in order to brown nose the Tigers. The next day he’s texting writers in Atlanta saying that the Braves are at the “top of the list.” Tampa Bay is allegedly in the running too.  Look for Boras to go on the radio today talking about…

Yankees’ pitching coach Dave Eiland confirmed yesterday that “The Joba Rules” are officially history: “He’s just going to go out and pitch and he’ll be the one who’ll dictate when he comes out as far as getting hit or getting tired or losing his stuff. He’s not going to have any restrictions, so Joe (Girardi)…

I wrote yesterday that tons of ink will be spilled over Derek Jeter’s extension despite the fact that it’s probably going to all go down rather quickly and painlessly after the season is over.  As if on cue, Joel Sherman of the Post chimes in, showing just how hard the tabloids are going to work…

The Mets have made a lot of bad decisions this offseason, but here’s a really, really good one: having Keith Hernandez help Daniel Murphy with his defense at first base: The tutorials are underway in Port St. Lucie, after general manager Omar Minaya called Hernandez requesting that he help ease Murphy’s transition to first base.…

UPDATE: MLB.com’s Bill Ladson hears that the Nationals are “aggressively pursuing” Wang and are “one of the finalists” for his services. 5:23pm: Rosenthal reports that two teams have already made Chien-Ming Wang offers, have watched him pitch multiple times and have even given him a physical.  The teams that made said offers have not been…

Trolling around for stuff to write about and I come across this piece from FanHouse yesterday, in which John Hickey runs down the “x-factors” of all the NL teams. You know, those guys who will hopefully make the difference.  The Pirates’ entry caught my eye: Ronny Cedeno, shortstop. Cedeno’s last two managers, Lou Piniella with…

Fractional ownership suites aren’t the only new things coming to Wrigley Field next year: The Cubs are following the lead of the Boston Red Sox, opening up the space underneath the right-field bleachers for corporate pregame events, and for bleacher fans who may want to come down during the game and watch the action on…

Scott Boras has been taking a beating over the fate of Johnny Damon this offseason, but he’s not deterred.  In fact today he has offered a couple of Black-Knight-in-Monty-Python-and-the-Holy-Grail-style “have at yous!” First in the Detroit Free Press: Although Damon, 36, has been a free agent since November, Boras said the market for him really…

FOX’s Jay Glazer reports that Mike Shanahan is interviewing Bill Romanowski to be the Redskins’ new strength and conditioning coach. I repeat: a man who took the “cream” and the “clear” just like Barry Bonds did is poised to be the STRENGTH and CONDITIONING coach for an NFL team. In light of the bruising Mark…

Jon Weisman of the newly-relocated Dodger Thoughts sat down with Dodgers’ owner Frank McCourt for an extended interview recently. Most of it was spent talking about how, despite doing things like not offering Orlando Hudson and Randy Wolf arbitration, the Dodgers are all about winning and not cost-cutting these days. But with responses like these,…

And you thought he was scary with a bat.

I’ll stop writing stuff like that when dudes stop writing stuff like this: Halladay’s departure leaves Romero, who went 13-9 as a rookie, as the most experienced healthy starting pitcher on the roster, and the 25-year-old is tackling the new challenge the way Halladay would. By training like a maniac. In addition to his throwing…

Add Mets’ pitcher Mike Pelfrey to the list of this offseason’s biggest losers: One week until Fat Tuesday, but Mike Pelfrey won’t be participating. The Mets pitcher is prepared to arrive in camp next week some 25 pounds lighter than last season and believes that will propel him to new heights after a disappointing 2009.…

Buster Olney names what he thinks fits that bill anyway.  His list, in order: Red Sox, Yankees, White Sox, Angels, Cardinals.  He has the Phillies at 5a. Yes, I’m a fanboy, but shouldn’t the Braves crack the top five? Olney has them “in the conversation” and said he would have ranked them third if they…

The Cubs are consolidating the luxury suites down the left field line in Wrigley Field and are turning the space into something of a mega-suite. Season tickets will be able to be purchased individually at the price of $300 a game instead of in lots of 12-15 like normal luxury suites, but the service and…

So I clicked over to NBC Sports.com last night to see if any of you had added any other hot chick links in what I’ll call the Drew Barrymore thread, and I was greeted with this ugly sight: Not that NBC is alone in this.  The Manning = the 90s Braves meme was all over…

The New York Post says that the Yankees aren’t talking extension with Jeter, Rivera or Girardi.  This is not a surprise, really, as the Yankees have a pretty solid track record of not negotiating with their own free agents until their deals actually expire. Such an approach makes perfect sense for them, of course, because…

My dad gave me one dollar bill ‘Cause I’m his smartest son, and I swapped it for two shiny quarters ’cause two is more than one.  And then I took the quarters and traded them to Lou for three dimes — I guess he don’t know that three is more than two: In an American…

The wall was sixteen feet high last year. Now it’s going to be eight feet, says Adam Rubin of the Daily News. David Wright is probably happy. Johan Santana is probably sad.  And so it goes. But here’s a question: what are the Mets going to do for their other 81 games? After all, they…

According to NPB Tracker, the Orix Buffaloes of the Pacific League have hired former Giants bench warmer, Reds slugging MVP and Mets free agent disappointment George Foster as a cross-checker for U.S. baseball players. I kind of don’t care about that, but I am fascinated by the pic of Foster that accompanies this Japanese language…

Really, he’s rarin’ to go: Phil Niekro claims he’s in great shape, and if the wind is favorable enough, the 70-year-old right-hander said he can still crank his fastball up in the 80-mph range . . . “I’m in excellent shape,” Niekro said on a conference call with reporters on Monday. “In fact, I’m on…

They’ve made a mini-celebration out of “Truck Day” in Boston — that day when the semis full of gear leave Fenway and head down to Ft. Myers — for the past ten years or so. Kinda silly, but a nice enough little ceremony. Better than the groundhog as far as harbingers of spring go anyway.…