Cliff Lee to the Yankees? (UPDATE: Or Not)

UPDATE: Well, so much for that. Over the course of the afternoon, talks between the Yanks and M's broke down, with the Mariners concerned about the health of David Adams. According to Joel Sherman the Rangers are set to acquire Lee (and reliever Mark Lowe...who is injured and will not pitch at all this season. God knows why he was included) for 1B Justin Smoak and three other prospects. I'm guessing the Mariners will pay his salary, given that the Rangers have no owner at the moment. At least the Yankees don't have to face Lee tonight.

We all know that whenever a big name player is available, be it via trade or free agency, the Yankees are always attached. But I never once believed the Yankees were truly interested in acquiring Cliff Lee in a trade. The pitching rotation is very solid right now, with AJ Burnett seemingly back on track. Sure, Hughes is scuffling a bit, but that is to be expected with a young starter. And Javy Vazquez has really picked it up after an awful start. So it came with great surprise when I read this morning that the Yanks were "on the verge" of acquiring Cliff Lee from the Mariners (Link Here.)

Supposedly, the deal involves highly touted catching prospect Jesus Montero as well as 2nd base prospect David Adams. It's a bit tough to lose a prospect like Montero, especially with Jorge Posada's days behind the plate numbered. But the Yanks do have a lot of depth in the minors at catcher, including Austin Romine and Gary Sanchez, and I have read that the Yankees don't consider Montero much of a catcher. And considering what the Yankees get in return, it's a bit of a no-brainer (and I see no way that they aren't able to sign Lee long term).

The big question this trade brings up is who leaves the rotation. I have read that Vazquez would be traded somewhere, perhaps to the Phillies for Jayson Werth. But according to Ken Davidoff of Newsweek, the Yankees aren't close to trading Javy, and may even keep him until the trade deadline. Putting Hughes in the bullpen would be a mistake, in my opinion. They should learn from Joba that constantly changing a starter's role from year to year is not a good idea. It worked last year, but Hughes needs to finish this year as a starter. If anybody is going to go into the bullpen, I would put Javy. He could work as a good long man, I think. I know it's tempting to put Hughes in the pen, given his success last year and the trouble they have had this year with the pen, but I just think that would be a terrible idea.

Regardless, this should make for an interesting day (and here's hoping this trade gets done before the Yankees have to face him tonight!)

Swisher and Votto are In!

Congratulations to Nick Swisher and Joey Votto for making the final spot of their respective All Star Teams! So both of my guys won...go me!

Last Chance to Vote For Last All Star Player; Also, Starcraft 2 Beta Phase 2 Begins

Just a reminder, today is the last day you can vote for the final man on both rosters in the All Star game. Here is the ballot. I voted for Nick Swisher and Joey Votto. But, uh, I'm totally not telling you to do that.

Also, the Starcraft 2 beta is back up! Hooray! There seems to be some trouble with the matchmaking service in the beta, but that should be fixed soon.

And finally, LeBron James will be making his decision tonight on the aptly named ESPN special "The Decision." All signs seem to be pointing to him joining Dwayne Wade and Chris Bosh with the Miami Heat. People are going to vilify him for taking the "easy way out," but the fact is he wasn't going to win a championship with Cleveland. Nor would he win one with New York. He had a shot with Chicago, but Miami certainly is his best chance to get that ring.

OMG WHY WAS VOTTO SNUBBED?

Update: FYI, Votto has two HRs in tonight's game against the Mets, bringing his totals up to 21 HRs and 59 RBIs.

Everyone is making a big deal about how Joey Votto could not have been voted to be a starter for the NL All Stars. There is a pretty obvious reason he isn't there (for the moment, anyway, he is currently leading the votes for 34th player): it's name is Albert Pujols. Let's be honest, the voting for the All Star game is really a popularity contest, and Pujols is a bigger name than Votto. Not that King Albert was having a bad year. In fact, both Pujols and Votto had similar numbers coming into tonight's games:

Pujols: .305 BA 20 HR 60 RBI .413 OBP

Votto: .312 BA 19 HR 57 RBI .412 OBP

Now there certainly were some problems with both All Star rosters (how in the world did Omar Infante make the All Star team?), but Votto not getting in, while certainly a snub, is not the biggest.

Offensive Ineptitudes

It's really amazing to me that the Mariner's co-ace (and soon to be ace, once Cliff Lee is traded) is only 6-5 after last's dominating complete game shut out over the Yankees. I do realize that he did pitch against a struggling Yankees offense (only one run so far of Ryan Rowland-Smith...really?) but he has been like this for most of the year. He did struggle a bit early on in the season, but he has been this dominant for most of the year. His record really speaks volumes about how bad Seattle's offense has been (despite what they've shown against the Yankees).

Speaking of lack of run support, how bad must Roy Halladay feel right now? All we heard after his trade to the Phillies was how he might win 25 games with all the run support he would get. Well, he's gotten almost no run support and he lost his 8th game yesterday (though he did give up the lead). I wonder if he wishes he stayed in Toronto now.

Hey Announcers: Call the Damn Game

I am very well aware that baseball is a slow sport. At times, it is agonizingly slow. So sometimes, announcers have to talk about something else so they aren't stuck saying nothing. I understand that. These days, however, I feel it's going too far. Right now, I'm watching the Yankees-Dodgers game on ESPN. It's the top of the third inning, a man on second, Jeter is at the plate, looking to get his team on the scoreboard in what is currently a scoreless affair. So what are John Miller, Joe Morgan, and Orel Hershiser talking about? Whether Stephen Strasburg should pitch in the All Star Game. Throughout the entire inning. And in the opening of the inning, they were talking about Joe Torre's job security...even after Brett Gardner was hit by a pitch. And an inning before, they spent most of the time talking about the latest injuries to the Boston Red Sox. Are these announcers, or are these just a bunch of guys talking about baseball in their living room? (Over paid guys, at that).

Of course, ESPN is not the only network guilty of this. YES does it a lot, Fox is almost absurd in the way they do it, and many, many other stations do it as well. The only person I know of who doesn't do it all that often is the great Dodger's announcer Vin Scully. Watching games these days really makes me wish he did every game I saw. Because it's getting to the point where I'm having to mute the games a lot because these guys just are giving me no information about the game...you know, the game they are supposed to call.

Edwin Jackson No-Hits The Rays...With 8 Walks

UPDATE: And MLB Network answered my first question. The Padres were the last and only team (in the modern era) to be no-hit twice in one season. That was in 2001 when AJ Burnett (who walked 10 in that game) and Bud Smith no-hit them.

Has a team ever been no-hit twice in the same year? Well, apparently the 1898 Boston Beanbeaters were, but I'm not sure if that counts. Either way, though, the Rays became the first team (this year, anyway) to be no-hit twice after Edwin Jackson of the Dbacks hurled a no-no against them tonight; Dallas "get off my mound" Braden threw a perfect game against them on Mother's Day. This wasn't your typical dominant no-hitter--Jackson walked 8 batters--but in a way, that is what made it all the more impressive. He made some great pitches in hitters counts, and he worked out of a bases loaded no out situation early in the game (third inning, I believe). He also threw a whopping 149 pitches. There was certainly a case to be made to take the young hurler out of the game, but the Dbacks aren't going anywhere, and I thought it was the right call by AJ Hinch to leave him in.

So counting Armando Gallagraga's near perfect game, there have been five no-hitters this year. This certainly is the year of the pitcher.