Fan News

The acting and baseball community lost a great one yesterday as actor James Gammon, who famously played manager Lou Brown in the movie, Major League , passed away at the age of 70. He passed away at his home in Costa Mesa, CA. 

This is definitely sad news. Gammon's Lou Brown character in Major League was one of the classic sports movie characters of all time. You know a guy is great in a role when you can’t picture anyone else playing that character.

Let the speculation begin.

Lou Piniella will retire at season's end, meaning there will be no shortage of rumors swirling around Wrigley Field in regards to their new manager.

It won't be LeBron James-caliber of rumors, but you'll expect to hear the names Ryne Sandberg, Joe Girardi, Joe Torre, Bob Brenly, and, for that matter, Phil Jackson, over the next three months.

Piniella seemed defeated long ago, even before the 2010 season began.

His Cubs' career began with such promise, but, like all things Cubs-related, it will end on a sour note.

Either tonight, tomorrow, or at some point in the near future, New York Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez is going to swing his familiar swing the way he has 599 times before and become the seventh player ever to hit 600 major league home runs.

When he does so, he will join an exclusive club comprised of Barry Bonds, Hank Aaron, Babe Ruth, Willie Mays, Ken Griffey Jr., and Sammy Sosa.

Lou Piniella is finally going to hang it up.  He's confirmed that this season will be his last on anybody's bench, and I think it's about time.

Why? How could I think it's time for Lou to hang it up when he's such a great "baseball mind"?

Well, let's consider the obvious.  There's the: temper tantrums, temper tantrums, tempter tantrums, and inexplicable losses in the postseason.

One of baseball's best managers is leaving the game. Like Bobby Cox, another respected manager, Lou Piniella has decided that after this season he will retire. 

Some might say it's because of the Cubs, but while they gave Lou his fair share of aches and pains, he's also shared laughter and joy while managing the Chicago Cubs. In his career, he was a two time American League Manager of the year and one time National League Manager of the year

It has been reported, via Foxsports.com, that talks between the Boston Red Sox and the Colorado Rockies regarding catcher Chris Iannetta have re-opened. 

Boston's front office has been interested in Chris Iannetta for a while. He's a relatively young catcher who is about to enter his prime. 

Iannetta has been bouncing back and forth from Triple A and Colorado this season and he's batting a .220 with seven homers and 14 RBI. 

According to the Miami Herald's Clark Spencer, the Boston Red Sox are interested in acquiring righty reliever Leo Nunez and outfielder Cody Ross. 

Boston's major issue is health. They have suffered an tremendous amount of injuries this year, but they are still alive in the strong American League East. But, the one part of the team that has struggled and has been relatively healthy is the bullpen.

Call it J-Werth’s Senior-itis

The second semester of my senior year of high school I eschewed four years of perfect attendance, relegated studying to only that of the opposite sex, and made it a point to live it up at any and every moment because I knew, “Hell, I’m not going to be here in five months.”

Earlier today, I wrote a post in defense of New York Mets manager Jerry Manuel.

To summarize the article, I said that I thought he made the right move by bringing in his closer in a save situation this weekend. I also defended him against claims made by another writer on this site about him being the "stupidest man in baseball." You can read my original post by clicking here.

Several sources (Fox’s Ken Rosenthal and the Chicago Sun Times’ Joe Cowley) say the White Sox are working hard to pry Adam Dunn away from the Washington Nationals, but aren’t having much success due to the Nationals’ exorbitant asking price.  Reportedly, the Nats want Carlos Quentin or Gordon Beckham, both of whom the ChiSox are understandably reluctant to trade away.

However, the White Sox have apparently offered up just about anyone else in their farm system, including 1B/3B Dayan Viciedo and RHP Daniel Hudson.