Seattle Mariners

“This is something I’ve looked forward to for a long time,” said Wakamatsu, who becomes the 14th full-time manager in Mariners history and will wear uniform No. 16 in Seattle. “It is a tremendous opportunity and I can’t wait to get going with Jack and his group as we start working on the 2009 team.”

For Zduriencik, who has been tasked with getting the once-powerful Seattle ballclub back to its winning ways after a 101-defeat season, Wakamatsu is the right man to steer the ship.

“When I started this process, there were some key attributes we were looking for,” Zduriencik said. “We wanted energy, a passion and the skills to translate that passion to the players. We wanted leadership, a presence that could help us as we define the ‘Mariners Way’ to win. We wanted someone that both the community and the players could embrace. We wanted someone who sees the big picture and cares about the players and wants to win. Don embodies all of those traits.”

Kudo’s to the Mariners for jumping on the wave of ethnic deversity in leadership. This hire promises to be an interesting read throughout the 2009 MLB season.

New York Yanlees

The Yankees have expressed strong interest in righthanded pitchers Derek Lowe and A.J. Burnett in the past couple of days, according to sources familiar with the talks, after offering ace lefty CC Sabathia a contract in the ballpark of six years and $140 million.

Sabathia, a source said, is “mulling things over.” He spent the weekend with friends and family in Houston.

While Sabathia waits for other offers to roll in, the Yankees moved on to their other targets of Lowe and Burnett. They also should have a decision from Mike Mussina soon. His agent, Arn Tellem, wrote in an e-mail that Mussina will decide whether to retire or to pitch in 2009 in the next few days.

“Mike is likely to make a decision by the end of this week or early next week,” Tellem wrote.

Now that the Yankee’s are proceeding to swallow up every available pitcher in the world in attempt to buy themselves another string of championships. I can’t help but think that they are either preparing themselves for great success or monstrous failure. Recent history would point towards failure and may lend to further push Hank over the edge as he watches the former Championship Yankee’s falter year after year.

Now just in case the Yankee fans decide to e-mail me as if I am against the Yank’s, I am not. I wish them all the best as a fan of the game, however one has to wonder how long attempting to buy Championships can last before the Yankee’s become irrelevant.

Coco Crisp diving over wall

The Royals acquired center fielder Coco Crisp from the Boston Red Sox on Wednesday in exchange for relief pitcher Ramon Ramirez.

The Royals confirmed the trade via a press release. Ramirez said from the Dominican Republic that he was informed of the deal by the Royals shortly after 9 a.m. CT.

Crisp figures to be the Royals’ center fielder, presumably with David DeJesus moving to left field.

Last season for Boston, Crisp batted .283 in 118 games with seven home runs and 41 RBIs. Although he lost playing time to Jacoby Ellsbury, Crisp returned to regular duty in the postseason and played well, going 10-for-24 in the playoffs.

Ramirez, obtained last spring from the Colorado Rockies, developed into a dependable right-handed setup man for the Royals. In 71 games, he was 3-2 with a 2.64 ERA.

The acquisition of Crisp could trigger more deals. On Tuesday, Royals outfielder Mark Teahen was linked with the Chicago Cubs, but sources with that club downplayed that interest.

Reported by: Dick Kaegel is a reporter for MLB.com

Joey Porter

I didn’t like the Patriots and felt New England disrespected the Dolphins last season in a 28-7 victory by running the ball instead of kneeling late in the fourth quarter. Porter also accused the Patriots of purposely punting into the area where the Dolphins were stretching during warm-ups before the teams’ first meeting this season, a 38-13 win for Miami”

Fullback Heath Evans said he wasn’t aware of Porter’s comments, but he gave the linebacker his due.

“I don’t know, but if you’ve got 13 1/2 sacks in 10 games, you can pretty much say whatever you want in this league and get away with it,” said Evans. “Until we do something about him, he’s earned the right to say what he wants to say. They’re 1-0 against us this year.”

Let’s face it, Porter is a beast, the Pat’s as injury riddled as they are right now are still coached by one William Bellicheck. However, the Dolphins are not exactly standing up with an untested staff and GM as has been proven so far by an impressive 6-4 record.

I say this about Porter’s comments, don’t guarentee a victory or talk about the other team as having no chance of beating you. Outside of that, talk all the trash you like, but come Sunday back it up. This is called the “Back-it-up or Shut-up” theory.

Joe Paterno

“I don’t think they should be coming because they think this is my last game,” he said.

“When we’re going to get it done and what’s going to be done, we’ll probably make a decision late this week or early next week,” Paterno said. “But I am certainly going to be involved one way or the other even if I have to walk around again with a cane for a month.”

And Paterno indicated he’s no closer to a decision on retirement, saying:

“Please, let’s get off that. I haven’t even thought about any of that. I know you’ve got to figure out who is going to get a jump on some kind of a story. I don’t know what kind of a story you are looking for, but I have not even thought about any of that stuff. I really haven’t. I’m not trying to be cute. I’m not trying to be dishonest about it. I really haven’t even thought about it.”

Now that Joe has cleared that up, leave the man alone. He has earned the right to pass piecefully at his head coaching desk at Penn State. Perhaps Joe should give everyone a date for his retirement, but after 40+ years of winning does it really matter. I thank Joe Pa for all the years of service and success with Penn State and wish him all the best regardless of his decision.

Lebron James

Lebron Says:

“The franchise is going to do what’s best for the franchise. For some odd reason, when the players do what’s best for the players, it always comes back on us. It almost looks bad. But when a franchise gives up on a player, it’s okay.”

New York Post columnist Jay Greenberg tackles the subject of LeBron James’ free agency to New York:

“Unless Nike steps up with some massive, eight-figure, Michael-Jordan-equity-type of deal to have him in New York, LeBron is not going to make more money there,” said Chicago-based sports business consultant Marc Ganis. “And in this economic climate, we don’t know where Nike will be [in 2010].

This reminds me of the Pre-mature Presidential Campaign season. Starting 20 months before the election and dragging on for so long that it’s rhetoric actually may have negatively affected the country. Now having said that, where James ends up means little at this early stage. Most teams will not even have the same players, coach and possibly GM’s by the summer of 2010. The reality is, the Bird Rule gives the Cav’s the best chance to retain Mr. James for Michael Jordan like money. I look for James to build up to an historic run and retire a Cleveland Cavalier with a few championships.

Pedroia Win MVP

“We’re enormously proud of Dustin and Youk, and we’re glad they were recognized by the voters today,” Red Sox general manager Theo Epstein wrote in an e-mail. “Both players were signed by this organization, both learned in our farm system, and now both are models for how we want Red Sox players to approach the game.”

Congrats to Pedroia on a great season!

Steelers Celebrate

The NFL said, “After replay review and crew conference, the on-field ruling of touchdown was incorrectly reversed to no touchdown due to an illegal forward pass by San Diego.”

There were three passes on the play. The first was from San Diego’s Philip Rivers to LaDainian Tomlinson. The second, from Tomlinson to Chris Chambers, was initially ruled a legal backward pass but then reversed in replay to an illegal forward pass. The third, from Chambers, was a legal backward pass that hit the ground and was returned for the TD by Polamalu.

If any forward pass, legal or illegal, hits the ground, the play is dead immediately. The officiating crew mistakenly determined that the backward pass that Polamalu legally recovered and returned for the TD was the pass that was reversed in replay to being forward and illegal. Therefore, the crew ruled the ball was dead when it hit the ground and the play was over. (The actual illegal forward pass - Tomlinson to Chambers - did not hit the ground and therefore the play is allowed to continue.)

“We should have let the play go through in the end,” said referee Scott Green immediately after the game.

As a novice to officiating at any level I can’t help but feel for the referee’s involved in this situation. Having said that, how could you possibly not take the time to figure it out and make the right call. Regardless of the outcome the integrity of the game demands that a proper resolution is reached without unfairly affecting the outcome of a given contest.

To play devils advocate for a moment, what if the Steelers had lost the game as a result of this play? In addition, I will not advocate for gambling, however the irony is that the gambling aspect of the situation seems to be more the media friendly tidbit than does the overall integrity of the NFL’s officiating.

ESPN

“The BCS will thrive on ESPN,” ESPN president George Bodenheimer said. “Our slogan is ‘College Football Lives Here’ and the BCS will now top college football’s best regular-season and studio coverage, the sport’s top awards shows, Bowl Week and other national championships all carried on our family of networks. This is a proud day for ESPN and an exceptional day for this great sport and its passionate fans.”

“We are tremendously pleased to reach an agreement with ESPN and feel that the BCS games from 2011-14 will be in good hands,” said BCS commissioner John Swofford, who is also the commissioner of the ACC. “With the continued growth of technology and the depth of coverage that ESPN gives to the college football fan on all its platforms during the regular season, this postseason partnership is a natural fit.”

While ESPN continues to expand into the television power house in sports, I can’t help but wonder at what point will the BCS become a thing of the past. Differing opinions may be against a college football playoff system, I for one think it’s time to worry less about what channel we can watch on and more about creating a fair system in route to selecting a National Champion.