Scratching and Clawing for News

Now that the Superbowl is over, the only Major Sport going right now is basketball (and, in a surprise newsflash, the Golden State Warriors are bad like a a barrel-full of rotten dill pickles). With my attention not likely to be diverted to such futile pursuits as hoping the Warriors could just look competitive for a week, I can now focus all of my vast mental resources to baseball...okay, I can now make an attempt to focus all of my questionable mental resources to baseball. Like that better?

The problem is, there isn't much likely to happen of consequence with the Giants until spring training, at the earliest, so look for more of my stupid read-the-transaction-wire-and-comment type of posts, with a little bit more of personal stuff thrown in. It's either that or cut down to posting once or twice a week. And I know you wouldn't want me to do that, right? Right? Rig...hey, where are you going?

• Magglio, Magglio, wherefore art thou, Magglio? Detroit? What the #%$& did you do that for? Seventy-five million? Oh, okay. For some reason, it seems like there can't be any middle ground with this 5 year, 75 million dollar agreement between Magglio Ordonez and the Detroit Tigers. It'll either be great, or it'll be horrible. The Tigers, in a fit of competence, did put some insurance in the contract against Maggs' questionable knee, but did they put some insurance in there against Maggs' move from one of the top hitter's parks to a pitcher's park? Call me crazy, but I'm doubting that for some reason.
  
• Former Giant Jose Cruz, Jr. is now an Arizona Diamondback, after a trade that sent Casey Fossum to the Tampa Bay Devil Rays and Cruz to Arizona. The Diamondbacks are looking to make him their centerfielder, which means their quest for Eric Byrnes or Mike Cameron is over. Cruz' offensive numbers don't look too good as a right fielder, but they look okay for a centerfielder. He walks very well, has some power, and has good baserunning skills, as Giants fans know. I haven't witnessed Cruz play much centerfield, but I believe he has the range to do it, and of course his arm is simply top-notch. However, when one thinks of Cruz playing center with Luis Gonzalez and Shawn Green flanking him, it doesn't look so good (doesn't look so good being a synonym for "very bad" in this instance). Cruz will be spending a lot of time cleaning up the messes and leftovers of his left and right fielders, I think. Overall, if Cameron couldn't be acquired, I think this is a decent move for Arizona. I don't think Byrnes over Cruz would have been any sort of significant upgrade.
  
• Speaking of Eric Byrnes, would everyone laud him for his hustle like they do if the guy had short hair? I'm thinking a lot of that perceived hustle is simply because his hair flies all over the darn place whenever he does more than jog, making it look like he's expending a bunch of energy. Give the guy a crewcut, and then see if it looks like he's putting out more effort than everyone else.
  

Alright, I'm going to call it quits for now, mainly because I'm saving other baseball news commentary for tomorrow's post. Yeah, I'm cheap like that.

Oh, by the way, after my last poker session, I would like to submit that I hate getting Big Slick (ace/king). I got beat with Big Slick twice consecutively, once by a pair of sixes, and the time after that by a pair of threes. Of course, I usually get beat up with pocket queens (Seigfried and Roy), gotten my lunch money taken with pocket kings (cowboys), and of the two times in over 3,000 hands played that I've actually gotten pocket aces (rockets), somebody just happened to catch a full boat -- threes full of freaking twos. I got called on an all-in by someone with 2/3 offsuit, and they flopped a boat. I mean...

But I'm not bitter or anything...no, not me. Ahem.