Baseball. Blogging. Whenever.

Wednesday, February 11, 2009

Dunn to the Nats

The Washington Nationals have agreed to a preliminary deal with free agent Adam Dunn, a signing that would fulfill their offseason-long search for a left-handed power hitter. Two independent sources have told the Post that Dunn will sign a two-year deal, possibly announced as early as tomorrow.

Dunn's arrival gives Washington perhaps its most legitimate power threat since baseball returned to DC, and closes the speculation about whether the club had a willingness to pay for higher-end free agents.

Vote No, Miami-Dade

The Florida Marlins stadium deal coming up for final showdown votes Friday -- where the public would foot 70 percent of the construction bill and share none of the revenue -- would be among the more generous to a team owner this decade, a Miami Herald analysis found.

Fourteen Major League stadiums have been built, or begun, since 2000. The average public contribution for construction of those stadiums has been 44 percent, the newspaper found.

Under the proposed Miami deal, the Marlins would rank ninth of the 14 in the percentage of construction costs borne by the team, the newspaper found.

''It's probably not the best deal that has ever been worked out between a community and a team,'' Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Alvarez said after his State of the County speech on Tuesday.

But he insisted it's better than most and comes at a time the region is thirsting for a public works jolt, adding: ``At some point, negotiations have to stop.''

'We really would have preferred if the public had taken the risk instead of us.''

Brian Giles is an Idiot

He also seeks the return of a diamond engagement ring he said he gave to her on Christmas Eve 2005 that is valued at $107,952.

Abreu to the Angels

The Angels are nearing a one-year deal with free agent Bobby Abreu that will pay the former Yankees outfielder between $5 million and $7 million, according to a baseball source . . . He was believed to be seeking a three-year, $48 million deal when he filed for free agency in November. But he -- and many of his peers -- soon discovered a free-agent market unkind to the aging veteran.

Great Moments in White House Reporting

Question: Yes, thank you, sir. What is your reaction to Alex Rodriguez's admission that he used steroids as a member of the Texas Rangers?

“We hauled around more Bud than the Clydesdales”

he New York Post reports the one-time baseball prodigy has a book due out in April and that "Straw: Finding My Way" will detail the boozing, skirt-chasing New York Mets of the mid-1980s.

"We were the boys of summer. The drunk, speed-freak, sneaking-a-smoke boys of summer," Strawberry writes. "(An) infamous rolling frat party . . . drinking, drugs, fights, gambling, groupies."

Strawberry's teammates from the 1986 championship team included big names such as Keith Hernandez, Dwight Gooden, Lee Mazzilli, Ron Darling, Lenny Dykstra, Ray Knight and Mookie Wilson.

Strawberry says beer "was the foundation of our alcoholic lifestyle. We hauled around more Bud than the Clydesdales. The beer was just to get the party started and maybe take the edge off the speed and coke."

Thanks for the 54-108, you jerk

Outgoing Miami Dolphins majority owner H. Wayne Huizenga bid an emotional farewell to his favorite franchise Tuesday, but for the first time admitted he might have broke up the Marlins a year too soon after they won the 1997 World Series.

"We lost 34 million dollars the year we won the World Series and I just said, ’You know what? I’m not going to do that,’ " Huizenga said at Dolphins headquarters when asked if he had any regrets about dismantling the Marlins in the aftermath of their World Series triumph over the Indians.

"If I had to do it all over again I’d say, ’OK, we’ll go one more year. I’m telling you right now at the end of this year I’m out of here.’ That’s what I would’ve done, but that’s in hindsight. There’s nothing you could do about it. The decision was made and we made it."

This is simply horrible

Baseball great Roberto Alomar has full-blown AIDS but insisted on having unprotected sex, his ex-girlfriend charged Tuesday in a bombshell lawsuit. The shocking claim was leveled by Ilya Dall, 31, who said she lived with the ex-Met for three years and watched in horror as his health worsened. In papers filed in state and federal court, Dall said Alomar finally got tested in January 2006 while suffering from a cough, fatigue and shingles. "The test results of him being HIV-positive was given to him and the plaintiff on or about Feb.6, 2006," the $15 million negligence suit says. Nine days later, the couple went to see a disease specialist who discovered a mass in the retired second baseman's chest, the court papers say.

Up next: Jose Lima

Today at THT