Around the league

Ben Sheets needs elbow surgery....huge shocker

Cliff Floyd agreed to terms with the Padres

Yanks made a minor trading sending Chase Wright (who was DFA'd following the Pettitte signing) to somewhere for someone.... (Brewers for Eric Fryer).

I've really been wanting to write about the infamous Torre/ Verducci book more, but wanted to wait until after I read it. Well much to my chagrin I can't get a copy of the book anywhere. So I will eventually read it and post my thoughts on what was actually said.

Steroids have been making some more news lately. Apparently Clemens DNA can be linked to hypodermic needles. This evidence really isn't going to get anyone where. How can hypo's that Brian MacNamee has been holding onto for years (how weird is that? Is this guy trying to clone the Rocket and make little angry pitchers with icyhot on their man berries?) be used as legitimate evidence. Also new evidence against big Barry Bonds has come out. Apparently there is a positive urine sample from a 2003 PED test. However, Judge Susan Illston is leaning towards throwing this evidence out unless there is "direct testimony tying it to Bonds." So although we've been hearing new stuff on the steroid front, it really amounts to a whole lot of nothing.
This all being the case, I think that despite the rampant cheating going on, you need to let these guys in the Hall of Fame. There really is no way to know, as a 100% absolute certainty, that these guys are in fact guilty. So you have to treat this as simply another era in baseball history. The 1960's was characterized as the Dead Ball era with guys like Bob Gibson being so relentlessly, disgusting, filthy, that baseball had to take action and change it's rules. The era of 1988-2006 can be called the Shrunken Balls era. Just look at these guys for what they did compared to other players of the period. 500 homers is no longer a lock for the hall. Bonds, McGwire, and even Sosa demolished mammoth home run after mammoth home run. They did more than other guys who were on steroids, and hit many home runs off of pitchers who were on steroids (Clemens, Pettitte, etc). What I personally take away from this period is how great the guys who apparently stayed clean really were. Boggs, Ripken, Griffey, Jeter, Gwynn, Frank Thomas, these are the guys who I will remember as the true stars of the time.