Some quick hits of some baseball news items I didn’t cover:

• A sportswriter (Corky Simpson) said that he FORGOT to list Rickey Henderson’s name on the Hall of Fame ballot. He said he was sorry, but it slipped his mind, and he MEANT to vote for Rickey. But, like baseball, there are no “do-overs”. This assures that Rickey will not have 100% of the vote.
• Based on my unofficial counts from sportwriters and Internet writers, as I predicted it looks like Henderson and Rice will get over 75% and be elected. Bert Blyleven is making a STRONG showing by being at 70.9% on this unofficial count. No one else says this, but I truly believe Mike Mussina’s retirement and win total will help Bert get in next year.
• Now that the Yankees unveiled their newest toy: Mark Teixeira, the Washington Nationals are calling Brian Cashman about Nick Swisher and Xavier Nady. I would pass if I was Cashman as those guys are good role players.
• 38-year old reliever/closer Takashi Saito left the Dodgers for the Red Sox. He had an ERA of 1.96 over three years with LA.
• Vince Scully is mulling retirement.
• The Florida Marlins and Pedro Martinez are discussing employment. That would be a great fit for Pedro, however, it doesn’t help him unjump the shark (he jumped the shark when he joined the Mets).
• Braves fans, MEDIA, and players are disgusted about how the front office treated John Smoltz, and only made two “major” offseason moves : getting starter Javier Vazquez and Japanese pitcher Kenshin Kawakami.
• Mike Hampton went back to Houston for a guaranteed contract of $2 million dollars (no wonder Smoltz was angry), with additional incentives that could push the total value to $4 million. What a joke. Hampton, like Pavano, should be at league minimum.
• Manny Ramirez continues to flirt with the Dodgers. Shortstop Rafael Furcal rejoined the Dodgers two weeks ago after the world reported that he returned home to the Braves.
• Bernie Williams got injured, and will probably nix his WBC comeback, especially when a winter league Puerto Rican manager said he’s not a starter.
• Andruw Jones is moaning and crying to get out of Year Two of his two-year deal with the Dodgers. Andruw wants to be freed, and have his $22 million dollars owed to him in 2009 to be deferred and paid in full. This is another Scott Boras fiasco. Considered how out of shape Jones is, if I were him, I’d just serve my one year, while losing some weight.
• The disrespected former Padres closer (dare I say future Hall of Famer?) Trevor Hoffman signed a 1-year deal with the Brewers for $6 million (with $1.5 mil in possible bonuses).
• Speaking of the Brewers, the Melky Cabrera-Mike Cameron never went through, as reported.
• The New York Daily News chose to focus on Jason Giambi’s thong, mustache, steroids, “fake” apology, and lack of rings instead of his level of production or clutch homeruns when sending him off.
• Andy Pettitte’s agents rejected the $10 million/one year offer from Cashman.
• Bobby Valentine was asked not to come back to his Japanese team due to arguments he had with the owner (not to mention his team’s win-loss record). I wonder where Bobby V will wind up now?

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