Baseball Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscelaneous baseball thoughts and observations.

- Ken Caminiti is dead at age 41. So many wrestlers who used steroids died early. It is well known that cocaine is bad for your heart. I hope the death of Caminiti is not the start of a trend and I also hope that it acts as a warning to young players who may be tempted to use either steroids or cocaine. Part of me also wonders how Mike Piazza feels about Caminiti. In 1996 Piazza finished second to Caminiti in the MVP voting but later Caminiti admitted to using steroids that season. Piazza will finish as a Hall of Fame player but he will never win an MVP Award. 1996 was his best chance.

- Right now the Tampa Bay Devil Rays are about $108 million away from the 2005 Luxury Tax threshold. The Yankees are already about $50 million over the 2005 threshold. The amount the Yankees are over the threshold will probably be $10 million (at least) greater than what the Devil Rays pay in salaries in 2005.

- With Steve Finley's $6.75 million and Matt Mantei's $7 million off the books - the Diamondbacks should be able to offer Richie Sexson a pretty good contract. The question will be whether Sexson will want to sign on with the down on their luck Diamondbacks. Who else will be interested in Sexson? Will the Yankees make a play thinking Giambi is a lost cause? What about the Mariners or Mets?

- My guess is that Adrian Beltre will re-sign with Dodgers who will have some money freed up via the contracts of Nomo ($8 million), Todd Hundley ($6.5 million), Paul LoDuca ($3.9 million) and Brian Jordan's $2.5 million that was on this year's books. That's $20.9 million right there. I'm sure $5 of it could go toward giving Beltre a $10 million per year deal (Beltre already makes $5 million per year). With the normal raises and maybe signing Brad Penny and Steve Finley - the Dodgers could field a very good team for less payroll than they spent this year.

- Barry Larkin and BJ Surhoff may call it quits after this season. Did you know that they were both picked before Barry Bonds in the 1985 MLB draft? Surhoff was picked first overall by the Brewers and Larkin was taken 4th by the Reds. Also taken in front of Bonds in 1985 were Will Clark (2nd by the Giants), Bobby Witt (3rd by the Rangers) and a catcher from Glendora, CA named Curt Brown taken by the White Sox at number 5 (right in front of Bonds). White Sox fans probably realize that Brown never played an inning in MLB.