Odds and Ends: Garces, Aquino, McPherson

Let’s round up a few Saturday odds and ends.

• Pitcher C.J. Nitkowski writes a semi-defense of Brian McNamee.  Nitkowski has his own blog and recently finished up a season in Japan.
• According to Andrew Baggarly, the Giants have been in touch with Scott Boras regarding free agent corner infielder Dallas McPherson.  He missed the ’07 season with back surgery, but recently appeared in the Arizona Instructional League.  The 27 year-old has a career line of .247/.294/.461 in 360 ABs, including 121 strikeouts in those 117 games.  The 30 HR power may remain but he’ll need to show more than just that. 
• Peter Abraham has a funny comment regarding the appearance of Rich Garces on the phony steroid list that circulated Thursday morning.  That bogus list actually hit my inbox the night before and it was an obvious delete.  I shouldn’t throw stones, because I have definitely put up a few bad trade rumors in my day.  But it was very surprising to see an NBC affiliate running with that crap on Thursday.
• Andy MacPhail continues to leave the door open for an Erik Bedard contract extension.  That same article mentions the Orioles’ claim of 30 year-old reliever Greg Aquino.  Fantasy geeks recall Aquino’s stint as D’Backs closer in 2004, when they were the worst team in baseball.  Aquino supplanted Mike Koplove that summer.