There's a bunch of different stuff I wanted to get to today so I figured it's time to break out Larry King-style bullet points.
- First, is America great or what? In what other country can you be pulled in front of the country's lawmakers to defend your sport and honor and the next day you receive an extension? I was kind of hoping Selig would ride off into the sunset having "dealt" with the steroids smear on his record through the Mitchell Report, but oh well, what are you gonna do? We've got more Bud to look forward to now. All the way until the A's are contenders again.
- I like the insurance policy of signing Los Kirk. The A's need as much depth as they can get in available starting pitchers since many of the current A's are question marks, health-wise. Plus, Saarloos was always a fun guy to watch because you always seemed to come away from his good outings wondering how he did it. I'm sure being back in the friendly confines of the Coliseum will help him once again.
- I hate to beat a dead horse, but the A's have traded two of my three favorite players this offseason. That being Haren and Kotsay. If ever there was going to be a time to test my loyalty of green and gold, this is it. Still, I wear my A's cap with pride. Only now my daughter's Kotsay tee shirt is woefully out of date. Plain A's tees are the way to go.
- As for what team I'll be following closely this year (I followed the Padres pretty closely when Hernandez was dealt there and our old pal DePodesta showed up there), the Diamondbacks are the leading candidate. Even though I really don't like Eric Byrnes, Haren will always have a warm place in my heart. His time with the A's was waaaaay too short. At the same time, I understand why Beane has done what he's done this offseason.
- This point is very debatable, but it seems like Roger Clemens has gotten a lot more of the benefit of the doubt than Barry Bonds ever did. Listen, I don't like either guy at all, but I've heard ESPN personalities say that Clemens has never done anything to make them mistrust him. I do think that the manner in which guys deal with the media has a whole lot to do with what happens when the s$^# hits the fan. That and having a personal barcalounger appear to be a big no no.
- If I've been noticeably absent from AN this week, it's because our new platform went into beta with all of the SBN bloggers and we've found a ton of bugs that are getting logged and fixed. So I apologize for that. The beta will probably go another two or three weeks and it's going to be intense.
- Finally, two personal notes. I wanted to say Happy Anniversary to my beautiful wife who has found the strength to put up with me for 10 years. 10 years ago today we said "I do" to each other. And Saturday is my little daughter will be turning three years old. So Happy Birthday my baby girl who is growing up way too fast.
