With the 2008 baseball season starting in less than 8 hours with the Red Sox and A’s facing off in Japan, I decided to compile a list of some baseball sluggers, and their prospects of hitting 500 HR’s, as the 500 HR club will almost certainly welcome Manny Ramirez and Gary Sheffield this season. Below is a list of players with their age and career HR totals, and whether or not I think they will join the club:

Ryan Howard: Age 28, 131 HR. Prospects on 500 HR Club: IN
Mike Piazza: 39, 427. In if he can latch on with a team and play for 3-5 more years. Otherwise, he’s out
Carlos Delgado: 35, 431. In
Chipper Jones: 35, 386. Going to be close, depending on how many more years he plays
Jason Giambi: 37, 364. Out
Andruw Jones: Soon to be 31, 368. In
Vladimir Guerrero: 32, 365. In
Todd Helton: 34, 303. Out
Richie Sexson: 33, 294. Out
Troy Glaus: 31, 277. Out
Albert Pujols: 28, 282. In
Paul Konerko: 32, 276. In
Scott Rolen: Soon to be 33, 261. Out
Jermaine Dye: 34, 264. Out
Miguel Tejada: 31, 258. In
David Ortiz: 32, 266. In
Lance Berkman: 32, 259. Out
Carlos Lee: 253, 31. Out
Magglio Ordonez: 34, 247. Out
Eric Chavez: 30, 227. Out
Alfonso Soriano: 32, 241. In
Derrek Lee: 32, 238. Out
Adam Dunn: 28, 238. In
Carlos Beltran: Soon to be 31, 236. In
Aramis Ramirez: 29, 222. In
Travis Hafner: 30, 142. Out

With Pacman Jones having resolved all his legal issues last month, the suspended Tennessee Titans cornerback says he is ready to return to the NFL and his season-long suspension was enough punishment.

And BTW - He wants to play for the Dallas Cowboys, saying:

“I thought I was going to get back in eight games and then 10 games, and then you [have to] sit out the whole year,” Jones said.

“It is hard watching the whole season go by when you know that you are better than 90 percent of the people that’s out there. I can’t wait [to play], man. It is just a matter of time now. The hard part is over with for the most part. I am just waiting so when they pull the plug I am back on. I am in top-tip shape.

“I just have to do what I have to do to get back on the field. Hopefully it won’t be long and hopefully it will be a couple of more months. I would love to play for the Cowboys, America’s team.”

What the fuck is Pacman smoking!!?? He thinks the season-long suspension has been enough!? NO WAY. He hasn’t learned at all.

“Sometimes I make some bad decisions, it is not always that trouble seems to find me. I am learning how to adjust to it and I am bettering myself as a person. I’m moving on and learning what I need to do to take care of myself and my family.”

Sometimes, you make bad decisions? No, Pacman, you frequently make bad decisions. You told Roger Goodell you’d stay out of bars and strip clubs, yet you continue to visit them. You haven’t learned anything from your suspension. Playing in the NFL is not a right, it’s a privilege, and Pacman continues to abuse it.

I call for Pacman to be suspended the first 8 games of the 2008 season with reinstatement up for review at that time.

(Cue up the piano music)

(Picture of Tyrus Thomas being a bum)

Where Tyrus Thomas blows off practice because he’s mad about his playing time happens

(Picture of Larry Hughes not caring)

Where Larry Hughes not playing to win happens

(Picture of Chris Duhon at Duke-UNC game)

Where Chris Duhon blows off shoot-around and doesn’t care about his suspension happens.

(Picture of Bulls logo)

Bulls basketball: Where not caring happens

In case you haven’t heard the news, the latest Bull to blow off practice is Chris Duhon. This comes on the heels of Tyrus Thomas’ 2 game suspension for blowing off practice because he was upset over a lack of playing time, and Larry Hughes saying he doesn’t play the game to win, he plays to have fun, saying:

“I play to enjoy myself. Some people take this the wrong way, but winning a championship is not what I base everything on. I was given an opportunity to play basketball, travel around and have fun doing it, and that’s what I want to do. I wouldn’t take being unhappy and not being myself and winning. I would rather enjoy myself with 18,000-20,000 people watching the game and people sending fan mail and those things and be happy.”

After all this, Duhon went to the Duke-UNC game on Saturday without telling Bulls management. He then missed the morning shoot-around, saying he never got his wakeup call, and he didn’t care for the suspension because he wasn’t planning on playing much and he knows the Bulls don’t want him back for next year. This is ridiculous. It’s gotten out of hand.

In January after Joakim Noah blew up at assistant Ron Adams, he got suspended 1 game for it. The players didn’t feel that this was enough and decided to increase it another game. It was a unanimous vote, which means Ben Wallace, Thomas, and Duhon were in on it. Who are these players to suspend Noah, one of the few players on this team who actually cares, when they don’t care themselves? This is despicable. John Paxson is going to need to blow this whole team up if he wants to re-make the team into a title contender.

With the Seattle Seahawks signing Julius Jones to a 4 year deal worth about $3M a year, this on the heels of a 5 year, $14M contract TJ Duckett signed with the team earlier in the week, it looks like the Shaun Alexander era in Seattle is over. My, what a fall he has taken. Just 2 years ago he won the MVP, set the NFL record for TD’s in a season and helped lead the Seachickens to Super Bowl XL. The Madden Curse has officially struck once again!!

Brandon Lloyd?? Brandon Lloyd!!?? Is this who the Bears think will help them win?

Last Friday, the Bears made a horrible move and signed Brandon Lloyd to a 1-year deal. WHAT THE HELL ARE THEY DOING!! Brandon Lloyd sucks!!

Lloyd has attitude issues, and he has no desire. He was criticized by teammates for his attitude in San Francisco and had to be disciplined on more than one occasion in Washington. Why do the Bears want this kind of guy on their team!?

And the best part about it, less than 24 hours after joining the Bears, Lloyd was already running his mouth:

“Rex Grossman is the starter,” Lloyd replied when asked how the quarterback situation was explained to him. “Coach Turner and coach Lovie [Smith] think very highly of him.”

Last time there was mis-speak in Halas Hall, it led to Brian Griese being shown the door, except Griese was speaking the truth. We all know dam well that Griese called those plays on his own. Ron Turner does not have the mental capacity to call such a drive.

And while I’m taking shots at the Bears, I decided I might as well go after the fans as well. I’ve been reading the message boards, how in the world can the Bears think that with the retirement of Favre, the Bears are going to win the NFC North now? It amazes me how stupid Bears fans are. Like in 2006 when I said he needed to be fired, everyone was like how can you want a coach who just won 2 NFC North titles to be fired? I tell you: Winning the NFC North is like winning 10 cents in the lottery. Here’s to the Bears sucking in 2008.

So, Green Bay Packers quarterback Brett Favre hung it up for good, as he retired. Favre retires as the NFL’s only three-time MVP, the all-time leader with 442 touchdown passes, 61,655 yards passing and 160 career victories. He started 253 consecutive regular-season games, which is a record for QBs. He also holds the mark for most picks thrown in a career, with 288.

Why now? Having overcome so much, from nearly losing his life in 1990, to battling his addictions to Vicodin and alcohol, to losing his father to a heart attack, to his wife’s breast cancer, to his brother-in-law dying in an ATV accident, to his home in Mississippi being destroyed by Hurricane Katrina, why now?

With the team built to win it all, with Favre, an offensive line, a defense, a running game, a good WR corps, why is he leaving now? Doesn’t he want to go out on top, making for the ultimate happy ending in sports? The script isn’t finished just yet. If it is true that not attempting to get Randy Moss is the reason, then that’s just bad. Favre was never one to back down from a challenge, but here he is, saying:

I know I can still play, but it’s like I told my wife, I’m just tired mentally. I’m just tired,” Favre told ESPN’s Chris Mortensen, in a voice mail message. “If I felt like coming back — and Deanna and I talked about this — the only way for me to be successful would be to win a Super Bowl. To go to the Super Bowl and lose, would almost be worse than anything else. Anything less than a Super Bowl win would be unsuccessful.

“I know it shouldn’t feel unsuccessful, but the only way to come back and make that be the right decision would be to come back and win a Super Bowl. And honestly, the odds of that, they’re tough. Those are big shoes for me to fill, and I guess it was a challenge I wasn’t up for.”

No, Brett, we would not view you as a failure for losing the big game. You’d still be hailed as a great hero. Your 253 consecutive games played serve as a symbol of the miserable failure the QB position has been here in Chicago, where us Bears fans have had to endure 21 different QB’s during your streak. The way you tormented the Bears will never be forgotten, going 22-10 vs. us, including a 20-4 mark until the Lovetron came along.

I’ll never forget the days where I used to hate you so much, that I wished ill things happened, including creating a monster player in my Madden NFL game just to destroy you and end your career. As I watched football more and more, I gained an appreciation and grew to respect and admire your play.

Everything was set in place for #4 to write a storybook ending. Instead, he has decided to hang it up before it was complete. Good luck with retirement, Brett.

Kent Mercker. Paul Bako. Now Jerry Hairston Jr. and Corey Patterson. What’s going on here? Is Neifi Perez available for hire? Why did the Cincinnati Reds sign them? These guys are just 2 unproductive veterans, the kind of players Dusty Baker loves, the kind that make your team suck. As a Cubs fan, Dusty is just going to play them no matter what, over the young kids they got. These guys don’t get on base, therefore not clogging up the bases for guys who can run.

Reds fans, you’re in for a long season. Dusty Baker is a horrible manager, and he still hasn’t learned from his time in Chicago.

Recently, Chicago Cubs pitcher Jason Marquis stated that he doesn’t want to have to compete for a spot in the Cubs rotation, and that he wants to be traded if he has to compete for a spot in the rotation, thinking he doesn’t have to.

“I don’t look at it that way. Like I said all along, I’m out there battling the hitters and trying to get better day by day, and if they don’t want me in the rotation here in Chicago, we’ll go from there. We’ll see what happens.”

“As much as I want to be here in Chicago, and I love it, I love the fans and the stadium, I also have a family to worry about, too. I could take my services elsewhere if that’s the case, and I could help another team in that capacity as a starter. My value doesn’t lie in the bullpen in my mind.”

All I got to say to that is, who the fuck does Jason Marquis think he is? If you don’t want to compete for a job, get out, we don’t want you. First, since when does respect trump winning. Second of all, quit acting like you’re Greg Maddux, or Roger Clemens, b/c you’re not. You got that, Will Ohman Jr.?? Geez. He pitched for Dave Duncan and Leo Mazzone, couldn’t figure it out, and he got left off the Cardinals post-season in 2006 despite all the health issues they had. Is it any wonder he sucks?? I think not.

Lou Piniella was not pleased either:

“If that’s the case, he can go somewhere else. Win a spot in the rotation, you don’t have to worry about it.

I’ve got seven starters for five spots. It’s a little bit too early to start talking about what he wants to do, or not do. I’m giving him a chance to compete and win a spot in the rotation. A little bit too early.”

And then, Piniella went on:

“You know, that galls me about Marquis, it really does,” Piniella said. “I’m not pleased with that comment at all. We’ve had a good camp over here, everybody’s getting an opportunity to go out and win a spot in the rotation. Nobody’s going to stand in your way. That’s the easy way out.”

Thank goodness Piniella came out and blasted him. If Marquis is going to be a baby like this, I don’t want him on my team. You see what happened to Will Ohman last year? That’s what’s going to happen to you, Will Ohman Jr.

Bernard Berrian. Alan Faneca. Dante Stallworth. Michael Turner. Brendon Ayanbadejo. What do these 5 men have in common? They are all players Bears general manager Jerry Angelo didn’t get in free agency, or let walk. What the hell is going on here!!?? The Bears have $30 million to spend under the cap. But according to Angelo, spending is a bad thing:

“The thing you have to do is create sobriety in the marketplace. Because you have the money doesn’t mean you have to spend all the money. You have to put values on players and then you have to stay disciplined to that, or else what you’re going to wind up doing is keeping all those players at an exorbitant amount of money — way beyond how you valued the player.”

I think what Angelo means by value is that you have to spend a certain amount, it doesn’t matter what the player is worth. The Bears are not interested in winning. They are interested in maximizing profit margins, and by not going after these players, that’s how they do it.

“A year from now or two years from now, you’re going to look back and that money shrinks up and you’re going to need to [sign] other players and all of a sudden those players become targets, and we don’t want to get into that cycle where you have those cap casualties. Then you have that dead money. You have to look at it from a broad picture, not just isolate this year and how much cash and how much cap room you have.”

Doesn’t Jerry say this every year? And since when does this become a constant problem? There are other people you can get rid of and free up cap room. Won’t these guys help the team for a few years, and then when they start becoming liabilities, you cut them? Didn’t the Bears complain about how they needed to upgrade the stadium and how they had to increase ticket prices in order to compete for a Super Bowl?

“If money is the bottom line, I don’t want that player. I’m not letting that team rule our thinking. That’s where the sobriety comes in.”

Oh really, so after tagging Lance Briggs last off-season, had there been a market for Briggs, would Angelo have paid the money needed to sign him? I think not. Briggs only came back on the Bears terms because there was no market for him. When it comes time to pay Tommie Harris, is he going to commit the money needed, a 20M signing bonus, and a contract likely in excess of 80M? Or is Angelo going to refuse to pay him, saying that’s he’s all about the money and they need to be sober? Or let’s say some day, a franchise QB comes to the Bears, will Angelo pay him the 100M+ that will be needed to keep him, or is that being drunk? If the plan is to sink the team in 2008 to get a high draft pick, then say it. Otherwise, if you’re going to talk a big game, actually carry it out.

SUPER BOWL XLIII, HERE WE COME!!!

Barry Bonds’ grand jury testimony from 2003 was finally unsealed last week. The testimony reveals a positive test in addition to the one previously reported. The positive tests can be found on the bottom of page 80 and the top of page 81. The 2 substances he tested for are Methenolone, which is testosterone, what records already say he tested positive for, and Nandrolone, the other substance.

Additionally, a judge has ordered prosecutors to amend the indictment against Bonds which charges him with 4 counts of perjury and 1 count of obstruction of justice. The article can be read here and the testimony can be downloaded from there as well. Nice to see the government continue to waste money