White Sox Tab Steve Stone As Radio Color Analyst For 2008 Season

The Chicago White Sox have announced the hiring of Steve Stone as their full-time radio color analyst for the 2008 baseball season. Former Sox radio color analyst Chris Singleton recently vacated the position to join ESPN's "Basebeball Tonight" show, and Sox play-by-play man Ed Farmer will retain his duties.

Stone worked as a color commentator for the Chicago Cubs TV broadcasts on WGN for 19 years, before his left the team three years ago. He criticized the mangement and coaching of the Cubs in a postgame broadcast in October of 2004, and then after a meeting with then Cubs president Andy McPhail, GM Jim Hendry, and manager Dusty Baker, Stone left the team after a difference of broadcasting opinion, with his on-air opinion seemingly costing him his job. He was quoted at the time as saying, "You want the truth. You can't handle the truth. The truth of this situation is an extremely talented bunch of guys who want to look at all directions except where they should really look and kind of make excuses for what happened. At the end of the day, boys, don't tell me how rough the water is, you bring in the ship." He has since worked as a baseball analyst for Chicago radio station WSCR 670 (The Score), and occasionally working on ESPN baseball broadcasts.

Rockies Lock Up Hawpe With 3-Year $17.425 Million Deal

The Colorado Rockies are attempting to lock up their young nucleus that helped them get to the World Series last year, and today agreed to a 3-year contract with outfielder Brad Hawpe that will be worth $17.425 million. The deal will keep him with the team through 2010, and there is also a team option for 2011. Hawpe hit .291 last year, with 29 home runs and 116 RBIs (both career highs).

Hawpe is the latest young player the Rockies have locked up for the near future. They have recently agreed to deals with pitcher Aaron Cook (4 years, $34.5 million), outfielder Matt Holiday (2 years, $23 million), shortstop Troy Tulowitzki (6 years, $31 million), and closer Manny Corpas (4 years, $8.025 million). Similar to the Eagles or Patriots in the NFL, the Rockies have been extremely smart about locking up and rewarding their core young players early, and not letting them hit the market to sign overpriced deals.

Phillies Howard Will Receive $10 Million in 2008 After Winning Arbitration Case

The Phillies' first baseman Ryan Howard won his arbitration case, and will be paid $10 million in 2008. The Phillies proposed a salary of $7 million, but with baseball salaries spiraling out of control the last few years, there was little doubt that was a wee bit on the cheap side for Howard, who was the National League's MVP in 2006, and was in the race in 2007 as well.

Howard was the 2005 NL Rookie of the Year, the 2006 NL MVP, and followed up those impressive years with 47 HR and 136 RBI in 2007 (both 2nd in the NL). Howard made $900,000 in 2007, and is the first player in MLB history to make $10 million plus via the arbitration process.

Los Angeles Angels of Aneheim closer Francisco Rodriguez goes to arbitration today, and will likely be the second player to break the $10 million arbitration mark. Rodriguez, who made $7.1 million last year through arbitration, is asking for $12.5 million, and the Angels have countered with $10 million for 2008.

The baseball arbitration process is a mechanism in the Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) between Major League Baseball (MLB) and the Major League Baseball Player's Assocition (MLBPA), in which a player and a team can submit written proposals to a jointly agreed upon arbiter to analyze the situation, and ultimately decide what the player will be paid in the coming league year.

NY Clubhouse Attendant/Steroid Dealer Radomski Escapes Jail After Ratting

Former New York Mets clubhouse attendant Kirk Radomski was sentenced to a mere 5 years probation and hit with a fine of $18,575 (which is about 100 Euros now) for dealing and distributing steroids to players over 5+ years. Radomski worked with the Feds closely, and his cooperation and ratting on players netted him a sweet deal when sentencing time came, as the federal prosecutors filed a 5K1.1 letter on his behalf, requesting only probation.

That wasn't the case for the brother of New York Giants kicker Lawrence Tynes, who is serving a 27 year suspension for dealing marijuana in Florida. I guess no one filed anything on his behalf. This is just an example of the growing disparity in sentencing for similar crimes, and how nonsensical it has become. People can get 20+ years for dealing pot, or 90 days in a work house plus 1000 hours of community service for drunk driving and killing someone. What a joke.

The House That George Built

The 'House That Ruth Built' is being replaced by the 'House That George (Steinbrenner) Built,' and the price tag is already at a staggering $1.3 billion.

Driving up the pricetag will be amenities such as a members-only restaurant, conference areas, concierge service, large party suites, and more things the average blue collar fan doesn't need or want. "We tried to reflect a five-star hotel and put a ballfield in the middle," said Yankees chief operating officer Lonn Trost. This makes you wonder how this will ultimately effect ticket prices for Yankees fans, who already pay the 4th highest amount on average for tickets in Major League Baseball. Couldn't they just cut the crap, lower the prices, and pass the savings on to the ticket buyers, so that they could try to sell out each and every game at the new 53,000 seat stadium?

AP Photo/Frank Franklin II (both photos)

The thing that this stadium really has going for it is the fact that it will have a granite and limestone exterior, like how badass buildings used to be built in the 1920's and 30's, before everything turned to crap from the 1950's onward. Here's to hoping the end product doesn't look like a goddamn spaceship like half of the other 'modern' (aka ugly) stadiums being erected now.