Hey, I live in the Virginia swamps. Or near them at least. But we don't get Texas radio.

Mags, how do you do "This Day in Baseball" today and not mention Jeremy Hermida, the Marlin rook who last night became only the second MLB player to hit a grand slam in his first big league at-bat?

Sidney Ponson got released by the O's today. The icing on the cake for the O's is that they voided his contract and won't be liable for 10 mil for 2006 (what in God's name, were they thinking signing him for that much? What did they see...ever?). Anyway, it's not final as the players union will likely whine. Here's the link:
http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=2148842

If the Jays don't want the O's to free up all this money to take a run at Burnett, the Jays should side with the union on this one.

Question on the Ponson issue:

According to the ESPN.com story:

"Every player on the 40-man roster signs a standard Unified Players Contract that includes a morals clause, paragraph 3(a), that reads: "The Player agrees to perform his services hereunder diligently and faithfully, to keep himself in first-class physical condition and to obey the Club's training rules, and pledges himself to the American public and to the Club to conform to high standards of personal conduct, fair play and good sportsmanship.""

Given this is a "standard Unified Players Contract", is this standard to all teams? Including the Blue Jays? Are our players pledging themselves to the "American public", whatever that is?

How odd.

Hm. To answer my own question I just looked in the MLBPA collective bargaining agreement, and that language is there.

So -- for, say, Corey Koskie to play with the Toronto Blue Jays, he has to "pledge himself" to the "American public"?

This is just me creating a tempest in my own teapot, but it seems nutty.

In the strictest linguistic sense, Canada is part of America, just like the United States is part of America (in particular, the North part of America) ... Although we call ourselves "Americans," it is "the United States of America" not "The United States is America."

It's too fine a point for most people to care about or to explain to most people who as mentioned, don't care about the legalistic parsing of a country's name.

"The Player agrees to perform his services hereunder diligently and faithfully, to keep himself in first-class physical condition and to obey the Club's training rules, and pledges himself to the American public and to the Club to conform to high standards of personal conduct, fair play and good sportsmanship.""

That clause is so vague it is meaningless. If Baltimore is going to rely upon this clause to get out of a $10 million dollar obligation - forget it. This is his second DUI and they did not cut him for his first or for punching the judge in the offseason. He was on the disabled list so he didn't miss any time.

I am not familiar with how the clause has been interpreted previously but I would think they would have a better chance saying he was a fat blob than that he was charged criminally.

I am not saying Sir Sid deserves any sympathy just that that clause doesn't seem to be strong enough or clear enough to allow them to get out of the contract.

This could be an interesting case. Apparently invoking the so-called morals clause in order to get out from underneath as what has been fairly described here and other places, as a poor management decision signing Ponson to such a heavy contract.

Earlier in the season we heard rumours that the Yankee's were exploring the possibility of having Giambi's contract declared null & void. My guess is weighty legal opinion said the team would not be able to sustain that position either with the MLBPA or perhaps even in the national labour relations board and perhaps in the US Supreme Court if eligible to file such a suit.

I believe most people would agree a contract is as good as its language allows. But contracts that are air tight, whether they be between employers and employee's or between business interests must be respected if they were arrived at in a fair and equitable manner. Ie, no duress.

There may be other language contained in the personal services contract that we are unaware of that could give the Orioles the upper hand in this dispute. So we'll have to wait and see.

I think it should not go unrecognized that if Baltimore is opening up new ground or setting new precedent in MLB contract interpretation thats fine. But it is therefore also fine if the MLBPA disputes this position as well.

If Baltimore is succesful in this effort, MLB contracts will without any doubt change in their structure. Players agents will be nervous if their client is out late at night and reported to be seen in a strip club that the contract will be voided.

I think it is unfair to simply characterize the players union as likely to whine.

I think it should also be noted that we only hear about these considerations when a player is vastly under-performing. Manny Rameriez will never have to worry about this because his team will turn a blind eye to misconduct.

My guess is that Baltimore will offer a lump sum payment less than the contractual amount if Ponson agree's to walk away. So Poson is being leveraged.

Anyone else think that Rance is the best analyst of the four? I feel much closer to knowing what is actually happening during the game when I listen to him. I hope that GV27 reads this and passes it on.

I would agree with that. If this season has been an extended try out then I think Rance has been better than the rest.

I would place them in this order. Rance, Tabby, Candy and Fletcher. Though I think with seasoning Fletcher could exceed both Tabler and Candiotti.

I think it is unfair to simply characterize the players union as likely to whine.

I perhaps shouldn't have chosen "whine." I just think they're wrong sometimes. MLBPA seems to knee-jerk appeal everything. Sometimes suspensions are deserved. Sometimes players should be fined and/or cut. This clearly seems like one of them to me.

Ponson has always been a loose cannon. Remember a few years ago when he went to a concert in New Jersey the night before he started a game against the Jays? The O's were furious and considered suspending him. If I recall correctly, he pitched a great game and beat the Jays.

What can't be forgotten here is, unlike the example above, what if Ponson's detestable off-field actions are causing his underperformance. Whatever Manny's doing off the field, first of all isn't illegal, and second of all, isn't affecting what he's being paid to do.

Punching a judge and 2 DUI's all withing 10 months seems like terrific cause for firing, regardless of profession.

To me, it seems that Rance is unsure if he should say anything. He hesitates a couple of time before he starts talking but when he does talk, what he has to say is usually intelligent but he just has to more confident.

I wasn't trying to be the judge and jury with my comments. All I was pointing out was there is a process, as well this could lead into uncharted territory.

I believe the Orioles are trying to rid themselves of an obviously unsavoury character and if they can use it as an excuse to dump 10 million foolishly spent dollars at the same time ..... Bonus.

However this shouldn't be viewed in an emotional light, but one of contract language and law.

Now if Ponson hit that judge with his pitching hand and broke it then Baltimore might have been able to act. But they didn't. Usually contracts contain language like, no snow sking, no basketball etc. Maybe they need to write in no punch-ups. That should include water coolers or judges.

If you going to void on the basis of impaired driving then unless you were a bus driver, airline pilot or train engineer caught at work impaired, I think its tough to sack a guy.

If every Canadian or American that was ever caught in a roadblock and blew over the legal limit lost his job we would have to import labour from abroad to fulfil the needs of commerce.

Check, Andrew. I will indeed pass it on. Thank you.

I like Rance a lot. He's one of the few analysts who actually, you know, analyses. Unlike a certain ex-knuckleball pitcher who just spouts cliches, Rance will often talk about how the pitcher wants to pitch, what the batter is thinking, how the defense is playing, etc. He does this for both teams, too. Also, he's often correct (in the sense that the pitcher throws the pitch that Rance says he'll throw.)

It's nice to have an announcer that actually passes along interesting information.

Since all the cool kids are doing it, I too will praise Rance's work.

If only his name didn't remind me of that Wendy's commercial...

If only his name didn't remind me of that Wendy's commercial...

Ahahahaha.

First Mr. Wendy, and now this. Just who the hell thinks these are good marketing ideas?

How long before Ponson is either a Blue Jay or Ranger? Sign him for the right (low) price, put him in rehab over the winter, start him in AAA next season, and VOILA ... league-average pitcher.

I think he'd be the bomb in relief.

I seriously doubt the Jays will sign Ponson as JP has talked a lot about character and that is the one thing you know Ponson is missing.

I heard Rance fill in for Jerry many years ago on the radio and at that time I thought he was awesome; he was like the Johnny Miller of baseball analysis. He called it like he saw it and didn't care if it sounded harsh or not. Now he has toned it down a fair bit. He is ok but I prefer Tabler with Campbell; I think they have a good chemistry together and the humour doesn't sound forced (attn Mr. Black).

According to Friday's Baselines in the Globe and Mail, J.P. Ricciardi expressed absolutely zero interest in signing Ponson.

Which is good, because we in 518 don't want to have to abandon the "ham, haaaaaam" chant.

Speaking of players the Jays could look at in the off season, I thought that Piazza might be an option for a power hitting DH.

Then I looked at his numbers this year... he's really fallen off from where he used to be. Which is to bad.