What part of “shut up and play” doesn’t he understand?

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As should be well-known by now (because this is one of those water cooler topics), Alex discussed opting out of his contract with Mike and the Mad Dog yesterday at Legends Field. Per Pete Abraham, Alex was the one who brought up the subject.

I’ve always tried to defend him, mainly because I thought the fans were being way too unreasonable. At this point, though, I’m ready to give up. If he’s going to say the things he said, he’d better put up the numbers to back it up. And until he does, there’s nothing else to talk about.

Can we put a gag on this guy?

Update: Ken Rosenthal has the same idea.

Trimming the fat

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Via Pete Abraham, the following prospects were cut and sent across the street to minor league camp:

Eric Duncan: 1 for 10, 2 R, 1 HR, 2 RBI, 1 BB, 1 K
Brett Gardner: 1 for 9, 2 R, 0 XBH (surprised?), 1 RBI, 2 BB, 2 K, 2 SB
Alberto Gonzalez: 5 for 15, 1 R, 0 XBH, 1 RBI, 1 BB, 2 K
Juan Miranda: 2 for 5, 0 R, 0 XBH, 1 RBI, 1 BB, 3 K – all or nothing baby, every out he made was a K…
Jose Tabata: 6 for 13, 4 R, 1 HR, 2 RBI, 2 BB, 3 K
Steven Jackson: 3.2 IP, 9 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 4 BB, 2 K
Jeff Kennard: 2 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 1 K
Kevin Whelan: 1.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 0 K

Gotta love the numbers Tabata put up, but you do have to take them with a grain of salt: most of the games he played in were as a late inning replacement with young minor leaguers like himself on the mound. He wasn’t out there mashing against the Brad Lidges and Joe Nathans, heck even the Craig Hansens and Ryan Wagners of the world most of the time. Glad to see the hand isn’t an issue.

Phil Hughes will be hittin’ the bricks later today after throwing a bullpen session. I’m guessin the same is true of Mr. Clippard.

Bronson Sardinha (10 for 24, 4 R, 1 2B, 1 HR, 5 RBI, 0 BB, 2K) and Mighty Matt DeSalvo (6 IP, 7 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 4 BB, 1 K) are the biggest prospects still with the big league club, not counting Hughes and Clippard.

Update: I overlooked Darrell Rasner (7.1 IP, 8 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 4 K) and Jeff Karstens (5 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 5 K) as prospects still with the big boys. I forgot about them because of their ML experience, plus the fact that I just can’t see either in the minors for very long in 2007.