White Sox Plan On Claiming Manny Ramirez

The Los Angeles Dodgers are yet to place Manny Ramirez on waivers, but the prevailing thought throughout baseball is that it's only a matter of time before the team does just that. The Dodgers trail San Diego by 12 games in the NL West -- with San Francisco and Colorado between them -- and the ongoing divorce between the team's owners has them in a money-shedding move.

So it makes sense for the Dodgers to see if they can get anything for Manny, and it seems they already know there will be at least one suitor interested in his services. Numerous tweets say that Kenny Williams and the White Sox are itching to place a claim on Ramirez...

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Report: Red Sox Place Claim On Johnny Damon

The Detroit Tigers found themselves in a bit of a bidding war with the Chicago White Sox this winter over Johnny Damon before signing the free agent, but now that they find themselves out of the playoff picture, they're looking to move him. Which is why the Tigers placed Damon on waivers on Thursday, and as of Monday afternoon, one team had placed a claim on Damon.

That team being the one Damon helped win it's first World Series title in 86 years back in 2004: the Boston Red Sox...

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Hiroshima Carp Outfielder Soichiro Amaya Gets His Spiderman On

Attention Torii Hunter: Soichiro Amaya is an outfielder with the Hiroshima Carp of the Nippon Professional Baseball league would like you to know that you can no longer claim the nickname of "Spiderman." Why? Well, just because you've robbed many a Major Leaguer of a home run throughout your career, you've generally made all those catches by leaping at the wall, or maybe sometimes using the wall as a step to help get you higher in the air and get to the ball.

Still, Spiderman isn't really known for his jumping skills as much as he is for being able to climb things.

And Soichiro Amaya climbs walls to rob people of home runs in incredible fashion...

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Vin Scully Will Return to Dodgers Booth in 2011

While baseball may be losing Lou Piniella, the game found out that it will be keeping one of its all-time greats on Sunday for one more season at least.

Dodgers broadcaster Vin Scully announced on Sunday morning that he would be returning for one more season in the booth -- his sixty-second season -- with the Dodgers in 2011. He's been working on one-year deals since 2009...

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Lou Piniella Will Retire Following Sunday's Game Due to Family Reasons

Lou Piniella announced that he was going to retire as a manager following the season back on July 20. Since making the announcement, Piniella has left the Cubs twice to tend to his ailing mother. Now, on Sunday, Piniella announced that due to his mother's failing health, his retirement will be effective following the Cubs game against the Braves on Sunday afternoon.

"When I previously announced my intentions to retire at the end of the season, a primary reason for my decision was that it would allow me to spend more valuable time with my family," said Piniella in a statement. "That time has unfortunately gotten here sooner than I could have ever expected. As many know, the several weeks since that announcement was made have been very difficult on a family level, requiring two leaves of absence from the club. While I fully intended to manage this club the rest of the season, a family situation at home now requires my full attention...

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Jacoby Ellsbury's Ribs Keep Cracking, Season Likely Over

There aren't many more injuries a person can suffer through that are as painful as a broken rib. It's not so much the intensity of the pain involved as it is the constant reminder that it's there.

After all, it only hurts when you breathe.

So it's pretty safe to say that 2010 has been one of the most miserable years of Jacoby Ellsbury's life. He broke five of his ribs during a collision with Adrian Beltre back on April 11, and now that those bones had supposedly healed, Ellsbury has broken another one...

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Mike Leake Is The Newest Member Of The Reds Bullpen

Mike Leake made waves earlier this season when he became the first pitcher to completely bypass the minor leagues and make his professional debut in the Majors since Jim Abbot in 1989. The 22-year old out of Arizona State would win his first five decisions, and start out 7-1 before hitting a rough patch at the end of July, and his record now sits at 8-4.

Wherever that record goes from here, for now it seems, that it'll improve or get worse while Leake pitches out of the bullpen. That's where the Reds placed their young pitcher on Tuesday, as the team plans on bringing up Travis Wood to pitch on Thursday...

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Andy Pettitte Is Still Feeling Pain, Will Undergo MRI

Yankees starter Andy Pettitte has been on the disabled list since July 19 with a strained left groin, and judging from some of the news of the last few days, it doesn't look like he's going to be back anytime in the near future. Pettitte rejoined the Yankees on Saturday to meet with trainers after experiencing more soreness in his groin after throwing a simulated game on Friday.

On Tuesday Pettitte threw from a mound, and felt pain in his groin when throwing full strength, and now he'll be undergoing an MRI on Tuesday night...

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Former Red Sox Pitcher Bill Lee Signs With Brockton Rox, At 63

On Sunday afternoon we saw Minnesota Twins manager Ron Gardenhire faced with the tough decision of what to do with his starting pitcher Kevin Slowey. Slowey had a no-hitter going through seven innings, but had thrown 106 pitches and had missed his last start thanks to elbow tendinitis.

In the end, Gardenhire pulled Slowey, the bullpen gave up the no-hit bid, and then the Twins went on to win anyway. Right or wrong, it's just another example of the way organizations treat their pitchers these days compared to the way they used them in days of yore.

Which could basically be summed up as "go out there and throw until your arm falls off."

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Nelson Cruz Hits the Disabled List With a Pulled Hamstring

For the third time this season the Texas Rangers had to place Nelson Cruz on the disabled list with a hamstring injury. Cruz spent the first few weeks of May and the first three weeks of June on the disabled list thanks to his hamstring, and it seems he's enjoyed his time there quite considerably.

Cruz's hamstring suffered its latest setback running the bases during Texas' game against the Red Sox on Saturday, a day after his home run in the eleventh inning capped off a comeback victory for the first place Rangers...

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Armando Galarraga And Alex Avila Need to Be Separated By Teammates

Detroit Tigers pitcher Armando Galarraga and catcher Alex Avila had to be separated from one another during the second inning of the team's game in Chicago on Sunday. After a scoreless first inning in which Galarraga gave up a single to Paul Konerko, the pitcher got in the face of his catcher and a heated exchange ensued.

Galaragga stuck his finger in Avila's face while yelling at him before being pulled away by Gerald Laird, Johnny Damon and hitting coach Lloyd McClendon. Even after being separated, Galarraga continued yelling at Avila from the other side of the dugout. ..


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Rangers Place Rich Harden On The Disabled List

Rangers pitcher Rich Harden is headed back to a place he's become incredibly familiar with throughout his Major League career: the disabled list.

The Rangers announced on Sunday that they were placing Harden on the disabled list, retroactive to August 8, with tendinitis in his right shoulder. Harden just came off the disabled list on July 30 after suffering a left gluteal muscle strain and made two starts before coming down with the tendinitis in his throwing shoulder...

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Reds Broadcaster Thom Brennaman Breaks Leg Wakeboarding

Ah, vacations. They're always such a wonderful respite away from the daily grind of life. Sometimes you just need to get away from it all, spend some quality time with the family, and maybe do something exciting.

Reds broadcaster Thom Brennaman was doing just that this week in San Diego, taking some time off from seeing the Reds gets beat up by the Cardinals and fall out of first place in the NL Central. Brennaman decided he'd use the time away to do some wakeboarding at Coronado Beach, but it's a choice he probably regrets.

That's because Brennaman broke his leg doing it...

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Jose Canseco Is Now a Bench Coach/Designated Hitter

Jose Canseco is broke.

Seriously, all you have to do is read his Twitter page to realize that he has no money. In recent days he's tweeted about being evicted, having to give away one of his dogs, and that he's now living in a garage. He also said that he'd play softball for food.

Well it looks like Canseco's not going to have to play softball to eat anymore, but he will have to return to baseball as both a designated hitter and hitting coach for an independent league team...

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Brandon Phillips Thinks the Cardinals Are Tiny Female Dogs

It's been awhile since the Cincinnati Reds were competing for an NL Central title. In fact, since the current divisional format came in to place, the Reds have only won it once, back in 1995. Well, count me as one person who wishes the Reds were competitive more often, especially if it's going to lead to more comments from second baseman Brandon Phillips.

There's already a bit of a rivalry developing between the Reds and Cardinals on the field and in the front office as former Cardinals GM Walt Jocketty is now in charge of putting the Reds together, and on Monday night Brandon Phillips took this rivalry to the next logical level.

Let's just say he's not a huge fan of the Redbirds...

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There Is No Bottoming Out With This Cubs Team

Just a few nights after the Cubs helped the Rockies set a MLB record by giving up 11 consecutive hits, they found that they just weren't satisfied with one record.  So on Monday night they went and tied the franchise record of most hits against them in a single game by allowing the Brewers to rack up 26 hits.

It only tied a mark previously set in 1957, further proving that the Cubs even suck at sucking.

Carlos Santana Carted Off Field Following Collision At Plate

There was a scary, if not completely stomach-churning, moment during Monday night's game between the Indians at Red Sox at Fenway Park that resulted in Indians catcher Carlos Santana being carted off the field.

During the seventh inning of the game Red Sox pinch hitter Daniel Nava singled into left field with Ryan Kalish on second base. Kalish tried to score on the single and slid into Santana at home plate, bending Santana's left leg in a direction that it's just not supposed to go in the process...

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White Sox Distance Themselves From Ozzie's Latest Comments

If you've watched any episodes of The Club on MLB Network the last few weeks, then you've no doubt seen the clip where White Sox owner Jerry Reinsdorf says that Ozzie Guillen says a lot of things that Reinsdorf would rather he didn't. Well, we have the latest example of just such an occasion.

On Sunday Guillen talked about what he sees as a difference between the way MLB treats Latin players and Asian players. To summarize Guillen's feelings up in as few words as possible, Ozzie feels that MLB goes out of its way to make Asian players comfortable, yet doesn't seem to care at all for the Latin players that fill the rosters of the league.

The White Sox feel differently. So much so that they felt the need to release a statement on Monday...

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Goodbye Uncle Antti: Blackhawks Sign Marty Turco

Remember on Sunday when I said I got the feeling that Antti Niemi wasn't going to be back with the Blackhawks next season?  Yeah, well now I have that feeling where I'm pretty sure I'm right.

The Blackhawks have signed Marty Turco to a one-year deal that will pay him between $1 and $1.5 million next season, a significantly lower amount than what the Hawks would have had to pay Niemi.

"It's an amazing day for my family and me to become a Blackhawk," Turco said.

So it seems that the Niemi Era in Chicago may be coming to an end after one season and one Stanley Cup.  Hooray.

Carlos Silva Hospitalized

It seems that the trade of Ryan Theriot and Ted Lilly broke Carlos Silva's heart.

Silva had to leave the Cubs game on Sunday after throwing only 15 pitches and facing four batters due to what the Cubs later termed an "illness."  Turns out that Silva's illness was an abnormally high heart rate.

One that now has him at St. Joseph's Hospital in Denver for observation.  The problem was reportedly fixed while Silva was being taken to the hospital where he is now laying in a cool bed he can control with a remote, while eating Jell-O and watching free cable television.

He'll be kept there overnight for observation.

Jim Hickey's Grappling Skills Knock Grant Balfour Out 4-6 Weeks

The job of a pitching coach is not only to be a teacher or a coach to his pitchers, but in some cases, a friend and a confidant. Sometimes this means that when you're warming up before a game, you have to wrestle with your players. Tampa Bay Rays pitching coach Jim Hickey was doing just that on Saturday with Rays reliever Grant Balfour.

Turns out that Hickey's Camel Clutch can be quite devastating.

Balfour is now on the disabled list and is going to miss four to six weeks thanks to a left rib strain he suffered from what was no doubt Hickey's finishing move while the two horsed around before the game...

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Something Tells Me Niemi Is Good As Gone

It was announced on Saturday that following an arbitration hearing this week with the Blackhawks that goalie Antti Niemi was awarded $2.75 million for the 2010-2011 season.  Upon hearing the decision Stan Bowman and the Chicago Blackhawks had 48 hours to decide what they want to do with Niemi.

They can accept the ruling and pay him, possibly having to trade another player like Patrick Sharp to do so, or they could say no thanks and let the Stanley Cup-winning goalie walk in free agency.

Or, if Bowman wanted to, he could accept Niemi's contract and then trade him.

The Hawks won't make their announcement known until tomorrow -- perhaps they're working the phones to see what kind of deal they can get -- but trying to read between the lines of what Bowman said on Sunday, something tells me Niemi is gone.

Strasburg Reports No Pain After Throwing Session

Washington Nationals phenom/savior Stephen Strasburg threw a baseball on Sunday for the first time since the Nationals placed him on the disabled list on July 29 and reported no pain in his shoulder afterward. Strasburg threw two sets of 25 pitches in right field under the watchful eyes of pitching coach Steve McCatty and trainer Lee Kuntz.

As of now the next step for Strasburg will be to pitch a simulated game on Thursday before the Nats take on the Arizona Diamondbacks. While manager Jim Riggleman was pleased with the results of Strasburg's session, he's more interested in seeing how he does against actual batters...

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