1/28/12

Baseball: Brandon Morrow, Dylan Bundy, Tim Lincecum, Gaylord Perry


The Toronto Blue Jays announced on Tuesday that they have signed a three-year, $21 million contract extension with starting pitcher Brandon Morrow. The deal covers Morrow's final two arbitration seasons and at least one year of free agency, depending on whether the Jays exercise an option that they hold for the 2015 season. According to Mike Wilner of Sportsnet Radio FAN 590 in Toronto, Morrow will make $4 million in 2012, $8 million in 2013 and $8 million in 2014, and Toronto holds a $10 million club option for 2015 with a $1 million buyout attached. The deal guarantees Morrow at least $21 million over the next three years, with a possible payout of $30 million over four years if the option is exercised. http://www.mlbdailydish.com/2012/1/24/2730332/toronto-blue-jays-brandon-morrow-contract-extension-mlb-rumors-2012

When the Baltimore Orioles plucked him out of Northeastern Oklahoma's Sperry High School in the 2008 Draft's eighth round, Bobby Bundy heard the hype. Everyone within earshot told him he was a great pitcher.  But all the talk about Dylan Bundy is much, much louder. Bobby, 22, has taken a backseat to his 100-mph-capable, 19-year-old younger brother, the fourth overall draftee in 2011, and as of this month, MLB.com's fifth-best righty pitching prospect in the game. He is well aware that his little bro beat him to Baltimore's 40-man roster -- the result of signing a Major League contract -- and isn't surprised to learn that Dylan has his own Wikipedia page http://www.milb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20120111&content_id=26316230&fext=.jsp&vkey=news_milb#&tcid=tw_share

Hank Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle reports that the Giants have reached agreement on a two-year, $40.5 million contract with right-hander Tim Lincecum. The Giants were hoping to secure Lincecum to a long-term contract this offseason, but the 27-year-old had a higher asking price than the club could reach. This deal buys out his remaining arbitration years, and allows him to test the open market in 2014. Lincecum registered a sparkling 2.74 ERA and 220/86 K/BB ratio in 217 innings last year for San Francisco and should remain a bonafide ace over the course of his new two-year deal. http://www.rotoworld.com/headlines/mlb/348284/baseball-headlines?r=1

This year is the 40th anniversary of the last time human beings set foot on the moon.  Why haven’t we been back since?  Maybe we should blame Gaylord Perry. One of baseball’s great urban legends is that Perry, a Hall of Fame pitcher from 1962 to 1983, once said a man would walk on the moon before he hit a home run.  Or perhaps the legend is that Alvin Dark, Perry’s manager with the San Francisco Giants, is the one who made that disparaging but humorous remark about Perry’s lack of knack to hit the longball. The confusion and dispute over who said it or if anyone actually said it at all are so well known that the Internet investigators at Snopes have even sniffed it out and can’t find the answer.  What makes the dispute relevant is the second big fact of the story, which is indisputable.  Perry hit his first career home run on July 20, 1969 the day that Neil Armstrong took “one small step for man” on the moon. http://networkedblogs.com/t8LMM

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