It's been a while. I'll have a new piece up about the Albert Pujols fiasco on Nowhere Plans in the next day or two, which I'm sure I'll link here, but check out the other stuff up there in the meantime.
I had my first day as a substitute teacher on Friday, and I successfully went the whole day without saying a swear. I'm fucking amazed with myself.
The obvious piece of noteworthy news from this weekend is the Ryan Braun banned substance test. The latest I've heard is that his test showed that he had testosterone levels that were twice as high as anybody who has ever tested before, and that they were synthetic, obviously. I'm still not sure how this is going to end up, but he's apparently been retested, and will appeal, though nobody has ever successfully won an appeal against the MLB in these circumstances.
The Blue Jays have acquired Ben Francisco from the Phillies for pitching prospect Frank Gailey. Francisco is the guy who I drunkenly screamed at the most, mainly due to proximity, on the Canada Day game in Toronto. Jesse Chavez has been DFA'ed to make room. Benny Boy was a halfway decent bench guy for the Phillies last year, getting 250ish PA's and putting up a .340 OBP. He's a career .260/.342/.430 hitter over parts of 5 seasons, but he should just be a bench guy going forward. This could be a precursor to another trade involving the crowded outfield situation, i.e. Travis Snider/Eric Thames, or maybe someone found interest in Adam Lind/Edwin Encarnacion... we'll see. Gailey has put up good numbers in A/A+/AA ball, but is 26 and has tried those leagues out a few times already. This trade probably means good things for Domonic Brown, and is probably a bit of a salary dump for the Phils. Francisco is arbitration eligible for the second time this year, and should make about $2MM.
The Brewers have officially panicked after losing Prince Fielder(probably) and likely missing Ryan Braun for the first 50 games of the year, so they have signed Aramis Ramirez to a 3 year deal. Terms are not yet disclosed. They have also signed Alex Gonzalez to start at shortstop, severely limiting the market for Jimmy Rollins, if his re-signing in PHI wasn't already a foregone conclusion.
The Jays are apparently kicking the tires on Prince Fielder, though this may just be some rumor mongering. The Cubs are probably the front-runners here, though the Mariners are said to be looking too. The Rangers make the most sense, but apparently they're content with Mitch Moreland and the combination of Mike Napoli and Michael Young.
The Jays are also rumored to be looking to reliever George Sherrill, and have also been talking to the White Sox about Carlos Quentin, Gordon Beckham, and John Danks. They're also expected to make a bid on Yu Darvish, the auction for whom ends this Wednesday.
The Jays have claimed Jim Hoey off waivers from the Twins, and have outrighted Brian Jeroloman from the 40-man roster. Again. Andrew Carpenter has been outrighted as well.
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