thats pretty interesting. though i seem to remember reading that jd said there would be no grievances filed against the a’s.

also, what was preventing his agent from taking the rangers offer even if they had agreed to terms with the a’s before they were allowed

instead of using Nippy. Let the Nipster succeed in the pen.

I have a big man cursh on Harrison.

I liked this quote:

MLB generally ignores Latin American rules violations, but there are whispers that it may look into the A’s signing of Inoa.

The quote Adam used above made me a bit angry, where I wasn’t before. It sounds like the A’s went a bit over the line. You can say every team does it, but the way the international market is going, they need to start holding the line here. You can not have bribery, subterfuge, and back dealings be a major part of every team’s player development program.

As for Hamilton’s swing, I’m more worried long term about Washington not resting him enough than him being able to regain his stroke after the All-star festivities.

Don’t mean a thing if they aren’t enforced. GG Beane. :-\

11 of 14 homers on the road, but still has the better home OPS, .984 to .888.

It’s just nice to see a legit home-road split.

The player is amazing… I still remember increasing my drunk pace home many nights, just to check his Clinton/Frisco box score before going to bed.

When the Rangers play on the east coast on Sunday’s. At least I will get to watch the damn game today.

As far has Hamilton’s swing goes, his power hasn’t been there the last 3 weeks and it seems to me he’s behind on a lot of fastballs that he was catching up to before. Of course he is also seeing a lot more off-speed stuff which may mean that’s what he is looking for now and why he is behind on the heaters. Either way it seems the league has made the adjustment to him so it will be interesting to see how he does in the second half. He has been able to keep his average and on base % from dropping too much during this period which is good, but it would be nice to see him hit a bomb or two to get back on track with the power. I’m not so sure hitting in the derby will hurt his swing or not right now.

The Rangers had been scouting Inoa for more than two years and felt like they knew him as well or better than any team out there

Does anyone else feel a bit happy and sad at the same time that Inoa didn’t really choose the A’s because of the pitching development thing? It was, unfortunately, such a reasonable explanation that few questioned it the other day—or, at least, few doubted it played a big part.

But, but, but, Hicks is cheap! Where are these people this week? I guess they’ll come out again if the Rangers don’t sign a draft pick or two.

did violate the rules, what can the MLB do?

i was thinking about this, i don’t think this messes up a swing if the swing isn’t altered just for the situation. Ham does have a natural uppercut swing…hopefully that won’t mess him up for the 2nd half.

confirmed by seeing what has become of Barry Zito and Mark Mulder.

Aces.

there is really no reason not to at this point – every team has sufficient resources to scout and develop (post-draft) down there.

Its ridiculous that an American or Puerto Rican born kid has almost zero leverage about who he plays for and what he signs for, while the same kid born in the Dominican or Venezuela is essentially a free agent.

If the Rangers seriously believed that they had done all that they could, why are they now saying that they would’ve come back and offered more money “if given the chance”?
How many times have you heard a similar version of this story in the last three years?