The San Diego Padres signed Chris Young to a four year contact extension today (details), through 2010. The Padres hold a team option for 2011. This would replace his current contract if my math is right, as a four year extension through 2010 would also include the 2007 season. I’m still not thrilled at his not being here anymore, we really could use him, but there’s not much this Rangers fan can do about that. I’ve already gotten mad over this one enough. :(
In the press release, Kevin Towers called Young “one of the elite pitchers in the game”. He’s a great pitcher yes, but I don’t know if he has enough track record to be called “elite” quite yet.
So good for Chris Young that he got a nice payday. Bad for us.
UPDATE: Saw the breakdown of the contract terms, which I detailed on his roster page here.
2011: $8.5 Million (Team option, could be worth more based on performance)
2010: $6.25 Million
2009: $4.5 Million
2008: $2.5 Million
2007: $750,000 (was originally $600,000 before 4 year contract signed on Apr 10, 07)

If Chan Ho Park was griping about starting the season in the Mets bullpen, he’s really gotta be steamed now. The New York mets optioned him to AAA today. (Linkage)

There was an article over at SI.com by Jon Heyman about Gary Matthews and the Angels and HGH. The article seems to take the stance that the Angels are more upset than they are publically saying they are. Check it out. The article also briefly mentions Jerry Hairston Jr & Raffy Palmeiro.
One thing that does seem suspicious is that he’s hired Bob Shapiro as his lawyer in this matter. That’s significant, as he was one of OJ Simpson’s lawyers. That alone is an eyebrow raiser.
I’d really like Gary to be innocent. But if he’s not, and he is guilty – yeesh. How can someone now be busted for this stuff? I know it happened in 2004, but come on – how can you be that dumb?

Saw this story over at bizofbaseball today about Gary Matthews possibly being involved an an Internet sale of steroids problem.
That’s a bit of a surprise. No further commentary at this time.

Most Rangers fans remember Colby Lewis, the hard throwing pitcher the Rangers had for awhile in the majors from 2002-2004. We lost him on a waiver claim to Detroit, and I recall there being a lot of fans up in arms about that at the time. He’s not done much since then, in fact, he spent all of 2005 injured with the Tigers, and in 2006, he appeared in three games with the Tigers before being DFA’ed in mid September 2006. I wonder if he got a share of the World Series money with the Tigers. Anyway, I digress.

The Washington Nationals fan site Capitol Punishment just published an article on Colby. Colby was picked up by the Nats this past November 6th on a minor league deal. The CP article on Colby had this to say:

It’s hard to say what the Nats should expect from Lewis. He’s clearly got a solid track record in the minors, and he showed an ability to adapt post-surgery, but we’re left with an ungodly track record of performance in the majors.

Kind of sounds like the same feelings a lot of Ranger fans had when he was here. Great potential, couldn’t seem to put it together in the bigs. Check out the article. Also, I have several other teams’ fan blogs listed below. Check out the menu on the right side of the page, and scroll downwards. I have some links in there you might want to check out.

Former Ranger Rick Helling retired on Monday. Rick was a great guy, and was someone I was sad to see go after the 2001 season. He came back briefly for a cup of coffee in our minor league system in 2004, but bounced around quite a lot since leaving after Arod’s first year in Texas. Rick was with us for a few seasons, making his debut in 1994, and then being traded in 1996 for John Burkett who was instrumental in the 1996 championship team. We reacquired Helling again in 1997, and he remained through 2001, producing these years the second time around.
1998: 20-7, 216.3 IP, 4.41 ERA, 4 complete games, two shutouts
1999: 13-11, 219.3 IP, 4.84 ERA, 2 complete games
2000: 16-13, 217.0 IP, 4.48 ERA
2001: 12-11, 215.7 IP, 5.17
While his ERA and wins didn’t keep up with his 1998 campaign, he certainly was durable, putting in a consistent number of innings. In fact, of all his seasons, these were the only four with more than 200 innings pitched. In fact, since leaving the Rangers in 2001, his travels were to the Diamondbacks (2002), Orioles & Marlins (2003), Twins & Rangers again (2004), Brewers (2005 & 2006). He actually signed a minor league contract with the Phillies on Jan 29, 2007, but retired Monday, about a week after that, claiming he wanted to be with his family. I can understand that.
So good luck to Rick in whatever he does in the future, to me the Rangers uniform #32 will always be Rick’s.

In reading some other teams’ blogs tonight, it would seem that the Phillies have signed Antonio Alfonseca to a one year deal on Sunday. Antonio got a bum rap from fans when he was here, but I rather enjoyed his short time in a Rangers uniform.
It appears to be an incentive laden deal worth upwards of $1.1 Million.

In a bit of good news for the Rangers, it appears Rod Barajas has signed a one year deal with the Phillies.
This is a good move for the Phillies, as they have some stud kid catchers, but they’re not mature enough to handle the full time job. So a one year is good for the Phillies in that regard, as Carlos Ruiz and a kid with the last name of Jaramillo are apparently the (somewhat near) future.
This is a good move for the Rangers, as it puts to rest that rumour from a few days back that the Rangers were thinking of brining him back. While I liked Rod when he was here (my fav moment was that home run to beat the Yankees at home – I was there), I felt it was time to part. Laird deserves the job, and we don’t need him back as a backup, nor do I think he’d want that.
This is a bad move for Rod Barajas, as he… well… He probably screwed himself with the deal in Toronto, that was probably a better deal in terms of years and stature, I would think. As much of a Phillies fan as I am, I would think it would have been better for Rod in Toronto. Of course, I’m just a guy at a keyboard in Garland Texas, I’m not the actual player. :)

Former Rangers infielder Luis Alicea is back in the major leagues. He’s been hired to be the first base coach for the Boston Red Sox. I always liked Alicea – who was mentally paired with Roberto Kelley as bench players in the late 90’s.
It’ll be nice to see Alicea again, who I believe is the last Ranger player to hit an inside the park home run in Arlington. Could be wrong, but I seem to remember it being the last Ranger one.