Rumor is Tim Hudson is available

For the record, this is my rumor milling and no one else's. That's not me saying "Hey, I'm Jon, I'm on the pulse of trade rumors because I write in a stupid blog." it's more along the lines of this here check list that it seems Theo and Co. seem to go by when selecting free agents:

1. Hudson is past his prime, speaking in terms of pitchers (34 y/o this year) - Check
2. He is recovering from injury - Check
3. He was a premier guy once before and is on the comeback trail - Check
4. He is most likely to decline an option with his current team worth $12 mil to go into free agency where he'll get an incentive based deal until he shows he can pitch again.

Let's see. Who does that remind me of? Oh yeah, that fat guy. What was his name? Bartolo Colon. Hmm, that's one. Oh yes, Brad Penny. And that other old guy. Smoltz? Yes, John Smoltz. And for the hell of it I'll throw in Eric Gagne and David Wells, although Wells was worth it if not just for the entertainment and I don't recall him ever being injured, unless you count being a fat booze hound as an incurable injury.

It's sad that the season is 2 days removed and I'm already dissecting moves that are months away. At least as I listen to the radio I realize I'm not the only one doing so.

JD Drewsless no more.

Yesterday Steve and I were typing on the keyboard into our respective computers and relaying the messages back and forth to eachother via the world wide web. Some people call this emailing. We call it killin' time before a game. The subject of our time wasting maneuver? JD Drew and how soon the luster of that '07 ALCS Grand Slam should wear off and his need to do something worth $14 mil a year, or hell even something worth watching. Helping finish a sweep with a 2 HR performance is a start, but I'm saying this guy has to go on a major tear well into September to make up for the constant days off and general lack of what my 5th grade gym teacher would call "hustle and bustle." We even got so into discussing the Drewster yesterday that we looked into his contract and saw he has a few injury clauses and we* were wondering how one goes about hiring someone to, ahem, loosen up someone's shoulder.

Of course Drew didn't NEED to be "all that" last night because Jon Lester was "all that" and a little bit more, but it's definitely a nice pick me up before the flying circus comes to town. 6.5 games coming in and I'm not going to lie about being scared regarding Friday and Saturdays pitching "duels". Brad Penny will need to summon the souls of the hottest girls he's ever pegged to get the juices flowing and start things off on the right foot tonight. For me it all hinges on tonight. If they rip Pettit up early I think they can keep things going all weekend, which of course ends with a game that I'm going to give the Cheese Guarantee of going over 4.5 hours Sunday night on ESPN with Becks vs Chilli Cheeseburger Sabathia. It's a big weekend coming and I'm sure we'll have some more preview action later on today.

*I mean "we" in the Steve sense. As in he's the guy you're looking for officer. Sick sonuvabitch, I know.

Why I dislike the Rays

Remember the movie The Rookie? Think more Quaid, less Sheen. The part that really made me start disliking the Rays before they did that whole '08 thing was that scene where the main character walks into the Rays clubhouse for the first time and sees the "treasured history" of his fellow Rays hanging in jersey form in the likes of Fred McGriff, Jose Canseco and Wade Boggs. Sorry but those guys didn't exactly bleed purple and teal or whatever the Ray's lame ass colors are. Baseball inaccuracies in movies really tick me off. I won't even bore you with my take on that Brandon Fraiser crapfest "The Scout" or how the hell anyone is supposed to believe that Freddy Prinze Jr. can 1, throw that fast or 2, land Jessica Biel on his best day. Summer Catch my ass.

Also, how did Brad Penny land that? He definitely didn't impress her with his pitching skills. At first the portly bastard was serviceable, but now he's starting to lose that initial fat guy swagger he arrived here with. At leas we have Smoltz starting tonight against the first place Yanks??? Oh man.

Just one more

Today marks the end of interleague play. Thank effing Christ. With a win, the Sox can finish 12-6, with a loss 11-7. It's nothing to complain about but personally I can't wait til they start playing some "normal" games again. Something about interleague play just irks me. Maybe I'm just jealous that the NL has so many opportunities to do all those cool double switches. I bet D.O., Remy and Eck would hate it because a the end of the game their score cards would read like some old Egyptian hieroglyphics.

Brad "I get hot chicks" Penny toes the rubber (that's baseball terminology 101 for you there) today. See what the Braves throw at the boys today but with another rainy day up here in New England we're staring a sweep right in the mug and I like the odds.