Borat or Bream?

Who knew that Sid Bream, former first baseman for the Pirates and Braves, had Kazakhstani roots?

Bream was immortalized in baseball history for his laggard run from first base to score the winning run that put the Braves into the '92 World Series. More notable of this play was how it highlighted the weak arm of the young Pirate left fielder, Barry Bonds.

Bonds to the A's?

Now that the A's lost their power hitting designated hitter, Frank Thomas, might they look across the bay for another slugging, high on-base percentage, slow as tar future hall of famer?

Compare the stats for the two big guys from 2006:

	AVG	OBP	SLG	OPS
Bonds	0.270	0.444	0.545	0.989
Thomas	0.270	0.378	0.545	0.923

While they matched each other for batting average and slugging percentage, Bonds has the clear edge for on-base percentage. This is largely due to the early season wave of pitchers not challenging him.

Red Sox outbid Yankees?

First the Democrats have a successful election, and now the Yankees are outbid for a star player? By the Red Sox? Have we gone through the looking glass? Next we'll be hearing how Twinkies are good for you and vegetables cause obesity.

The Bosox bid over $51 million for the right to negotiate with Daisuke Matsuzaka, a star pitcher from Japan who has never pitched in the major leagues. On top of that, they'll need to actually pay him a salary north of $12 million/year. This is a big event for several reasons.
- It keeps the Yankees from getting a star starting pitcher which they desperately need.
- It shows that the Red Sox are not content with one World Series title every eighty years or so
- Inflated salaries are back! Watch for other star players (or more importantly their agents) to smell blood in the water and punce on owner's wallets.

Are you listening Barry Zito?