Jays Back After Delgado?, Lecavalier Asked to Waive NTC?, Damon Turns Down Yankees, Verlander, Dunn, BG James Back to WWE?
NHL
– The NHL has reportedly talked with Jeffrey Vinik about a possible agreement to buy the Lightning for $170M. The report also suggests that Vinik would want F Vincent Lecavalier to waive his no-trade clause in an effort to cut costs. Lecavalier is in the first season of an 11-year deal that will pay him $10M in each season between 2009-10 and 2015-16. Stay tuned.
MLB
– According to SI.com’s Jon Heyman, the Yankees offered OF Johnny Damon a one-year/$6M contract late last week and he turned it down. Half of the contract would have been paid out in deferred sums over the next few years. Damon, who hit .282/.365/.489 with 24 home runs, 82 RBI and 107 runs scored last year, is holding out for something better. So far the A’s, Rays, Tigers, Reds, Braves and Blue Jays have expressed interest in the 36-year-old outfielder.
– According to MLB.com’s Jordan Bastian, Blue Jays manager Cito Gaston “spent time lobbying” for the club to bring back 1B Carlos Delgado on Thursday. The Mets inked IF Fernando Tatis to a contract on Thursday and appear set at first base, leaving few remaining options for the 37-year-old Delgado. “If there’s some way to bring Carlos back here, I’d love to see him back here because he can do a lot of things as far as helping the young kids about knowing about hitting.” He batted .298/.393/.521 with four home runs and 23 RBI last year in the 26 games he was healthy.
– Twins’ manager Ron Gadrenhire told USA Today’s Bob Nightengale Friday that contract extension discussions with C Joe Mauer “couldn’t be going better.” “It would be [a[ massive upset if Mauer['s] contract extension isn’t resolved by spring,” writes Nightengale. That’s obviously great news for Twins fans and the organization. Mauer, 26, hit an incredible .365/.444/.587 in 2009 with a career-high 28 home runs and 96 RBI. He also won a Gold Glove.
– Bill Ladson of MLB.com reports that the Nationals and OF Adam Dunn are “talking about” a contract extension. Dunn batted .267/.398/.529 last season and paced all Nationals with 38 homers and 105 RBI while earning $8M. He is under contract for the 2010 season at a salary of $12M. The slugger just turned 30 and could help the Nats build a respectable ball club over the long term.
– A source told Yahoo’s Jeff Passan that the Tigers are working with RHP Justin Verlander on a five-year contract extension worth around $75M. The Detroit ace is apparently asking for a six-year commitment, but GM Dave Dombrowski isn’t likely to go that high. Either way, the extension would cover his last two seasons of arbitration-eligibility and at least three years of free agency. Verlander, 25, went 19-9 last season with a 3.45 ERA, 1.18 WHIP, and an AL-leading 269 strikeouts.
– Larry Stone of the Seattle Times reports that the Mariners have signed OF Eric Byrnes to a one-year contract. The oft-injured 33-year-old was cut loose by the Diamondbacks earlier this month and will join the Mariners at the major league minimum.
– According to Jayson Stark of ESPN.com, RHP Mark Prior (shoulder) is throwing off a mound in California. His agent, John Boggs said,”Mark has been through so many timelines, at this point I’m almost allergic to the word. But he’s out there. He’s getting himself ready. And when he’s ready, I’m sure you’ll hear a lot about him. Then we’ll invite teams to come watch him throw. And hopefully, he’ll be the next Ben Sheets.” He won’t come anywhere close to the salary that RHP Ben Sheets landed with Oakland. Prior, 29, hasn’t thrown a pitch in the majors since 2006.
– Jon Paul Morosi of FOXSports.com reports that 1B Mike Sweeney still wants to play this season. Sweeney, 36, batted .281/.335/.442 with eight home runs and 34 RBI with the Mariners last season, but was bothered by his balky back early on. The .298 lifetime hitter is almost exclusively a DH at this point, limiting the pool of teams who could afford to sign him.
– The Rangers and RHP Scott Feldman avoided arbitration on Friday by agreeing to a one-year/$2.43M contract. It’s just south of the midpoint submitted by the two sides last week. Feldman, who turns 27 next month, was a pleasant surprise with the Rangers last season, finishing 17-8 with a 4.08 ERA and 1.28 WHIP.
– Brewers OF Jim Edmonds told KSLG 1380 in St. Louis on Friday that the Brewers have told him he will “get a chance to play every day” against right-handers. Edmonds initially expressed interest in returning to baseball with the Cardinals, but they didn’t have enough at-bats available to him. The 39-year-old batted .250/.362/.521 with 19 home runs and 54 RBI in 292 at-bats against righties back in 2008, so he might have a decent amount of impact if used correctly.
– The Cardinals and Rockies are among teams ‘in the mix’ for free agent 2B Felipe Lopez. We haven’t heard a whole lot about Lopez this winter, despite him coming off one of the better seasons among the entire class of free agents. Lopez, who turns 30 in May, batted .310/.383/.427 with nine home runs, 57 RBI and 88 runs scored between the Diamondbacks and Brewers last season.
– The Marlins have signed RHP Derrick Turnbow to a minor league contract. With the deal comes an invitation to spring training, where Turnbow really needs to put on a show in order to secure a place in the Marlins’ bullpen. The last time we saw him in the major leagues, the right-hander posted a 15.63 ERA and a 5/13 K/BB ratio in eight appearances (6 1/3 innings).
– The Cubs have signed OF Xavier Nady to a one-year/$3.3M contract. The deal also contains another $2M in performance incentives based on games played. Nady, 31, is expected to serve mostly as a fourth outfielder for the Cubs but should see a good amount of starts against left-handed pitchers. He hit .305/.357/.510 with 25 homers and 97 RBI with the Pirates and Yankees in 2008, his last truly healthy season.
– Troy Renck of the Denver Post reports that the Rockies have contacted the representatives for free agent RHP Kevin Gregg. Gregg would serve as a seventh- or eighth-inning setup man in Colorado behind Huston Street. The 31-year old had a 4.72 ERA in 72 games last year for the Cubs and converted 23-of-30 save opportunities during the time that he owned the role. It’s not exactly clear what his contract demands might be at this point, but, as Renck notes, “the Rockies aren’t going to overpay.”
– The Mets have signed UTIL Fernando Tatis to a one-year contract. Terms of the contract weren’t released, but he could earn up to $1.5M with incentives, close to the salary he made last season. Tatis, 35, has batted .289/.352/.458 with an 811 OPS over the past two seasons with the Mets.
NFL
– Eagles WR DeSean Jackson’s agent plans to approach the Eagles for a new four-or five-year contract for his client, according to Comcast SportsNet in Philadelphia. The writing has been on the wall since Jackson switched to Drew Rosenhaus during the season. Jackson is still working under his slotted second-round contract, which has two years remaining at a combined $1.025M with roughly $800K in bonuses. The team’s most dangerous weapon on offense and in the return game is deserving of a raise, and the team will likely attempt to lock him up long-term.
WWE
– TNA star Jeff Hardy has commented on the news of Jeff Hardy and Gregory Helms’ getting arrested this week for public intoxication. Hardy wrote on Twitter:
“Sure tmz picked up their mug shot..big deal..their awesome &why should that be second guessed over an extremely simple situation?Love Je …”
He added, “They got arrested…it’s a shame they care or think it makes them look bad..their amazing employees…..&”
Jeff’s girlfriend Beth, who is good friends with Helms and Matt, wrote on Twitter:
“WOW! MMH made the TMZ headlines! He’s on the scoreboard now! So hilarious that the story is about nothing…TMZ is in the entertainment business also, keep that in mind. Funny thing is, Matt wasn’t even drinking & didn’t have any involvement. Classic TMZ sensationalism. Actually, I was asked to post that. And, to clarify, he wasn’t DRUNK. Better?”
Cincinnati.com had an article up yesterday evening about the arrests of Hurricane Helms and Chris Jericho. They noted that around 4AM on Wednesday, an Erlanger police officer patrolling Crescent Springs saw a group of five people being rowdy in a shopping center parking lot. The officer told the group they needed to leave and some of them got a taxi. This was shortly before the taxi driver pulled over and called 911 after the incident in the backseat. While other reports have came out since then, Cincinnati.com noted that Helms ran and was later found by police but Matt Hardy couldn’t be found by them. It’s been mentioned now that Hardy was not sober and the woman involved is now claiming that the whole thing was blown out of proportion.
A conviction on the misdemeanor charge of public intoxication carries a fine of $25 and court costs of $134. Helms and Jericho can appear in court on February 16th to challenge the charges or they can have the charges dismissed by paying $159 total before court date. WWE released a statement to the paper saying that they assume the authorities will take proper action if necessary but declined further comment.
TNA
– Former WWE & ECW Champion Rob Van Dam was interviewed by FanHouse.com to promote this weekend’s WrestleReunion event in Los Angeles. Some highlights:
How to “Spice Up” Today’s Wrestling: “I would say bring back the day of the jobber. When I was a fan, when I was younger, wrestlers were larger than life because I would watch them totally annihilate some local scrub, some guy that was in the ring, I didn’t know who the jobber was. We called those enhancement matches and they hardly ever do them anymore. That to me was how you build the wrestler, and when I found out two of these superstars would be battling each other, whether it was near me at a live show or when it was on Saturday Night’s Main Event, that was huge and it drew great interest and enthusiasm because I got to see these two big wrestlers who I’ve seen just destroy everybody actually face each other.”
Van Dam feels that the Monday night wars forced both companies to abandon jobbers and always put on marquee matches, but looking back, it’s hurt the companies’ ability to build stars and the overall product.
“Ever since Monday Night Wars, every single match from the bottom to the top of the card seems like it has to be main-event quality - superstar vs. superstar, superstar vs. superstar - and then you gotta find a political way to go into the finish, you know, to try to deck one guy while doing what you want with the other. It’s a bunch of bulls**t I think. You know, I really think that the enhancement matches were what brought everybody into WWE in the ’90s.”
The possibility of returning to WWE or going to TNA: “I mean, it’s possible that I could be interested in either TNA or WWE if it was the right amount of work vs. pay ratio. That’s basically what it is, and I haven’t had that deep of conversations with anyone yet, really. So I don’t know if it’s out there or not, since I haven’t been the active one out there pursuing, you know, the information comes to me as it comes when they’re reaching out to me.”
– During an interview with InYourHeadOnline.com, BG James (a.k.a. Road Dogg) said he recently spoke to WWE officials about returning to the organization, but noted, “it wasn’t meant to be.” James said he feels he’s too old to keep up with the younger wrestlers, but believes he can contribute behind the scenes. He said his best memories in the industry took place during the Attitude Era, mentioning selling stunners for “Stone Cold” Steve Austin.
– TNA President Dixie Carter was interviewed for the latest issue of the UK’s Fighting Spirit Magazine. Carter spoke at length about Hulk Hogan’s new role in TNA, where she sees the company going and more. Here’s what she said about:
Dealing with Big Egos In TNA: “To me, it’s not hard at all I feel if you treat somebody with respect, that’s the only way you can win it back. If you work hard, that’s the way to expect other people to work hard. I don’t have tiered systems of how I treat different people, I treat everyone as the same. don’t care if you’re Kurt Angle or the newest guy on the roster, you’re gonna be treated with the same level of respect, and I expect that back. To me, that’s the easiest way to keep individual egos in check, because I’m not playing a game with different people or favouritism.”
Her Leadership Style vs. Vince McMahon’s: “I have a philosophy and it may not be right, but I feel that if people are happy personally, they’ll work harder for you than if you motivate them through fear. I want to make TNA a place where they bring their families, where their wives are welcome, where their husbands are welcome, where their children are. It creates a different type of atmosphere backstage, but it creates a place where we are all in this for the same goal.”
VoV
– Email - captaincharisma@hotmail.com
– Twitter - @VoiceofValeri
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