Happy birthday to Hall-of-Famer Jim Rice, who turns 59 today. On a more somber note, it was on this day in 1999 that the legendary Joe DiMaggio passed away at age 84 after a battle with lung cancer.
Here's some news from around the majors as we head into the end of the work week…
- Edwin Jackson tells Rick Hummel of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch that he didn't receive any interest from the Cardinals about returning to the team. "There was no involvement with the Cardinals. Pitching wasn't a department they needed help in. Their rotation is pretty much set," Jackson said. "It was a place I wouldn't have minded going back to…but, coming into the offseason, it was never a place I realistically thought I had a chance to go back to."
- Phil Mackey of 1500 ESPN Twin Cities radio details Glen Perkins' path from filing a grievance against the Twins in 2009 and seemingly being on the outs with the club to today's three-year extension that keeps the southpaw in Minnesota through 2015.
- Jason Lane talks to Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic about his attempt to return to the Major Leagues as a pitcher, and how a chance meeting with Diamondbacks GM Kevin Towers last summer led to Lane getting a minor league deal with Arizona.
- C.J. Nitkowski, who last pitched in the majors in 2005, threw a bullpen session with the Mets on Thursday, reports MLB.com's Anthony DiComo. Nitkowski pitched in Japan and Korea from 2007-2010 and, as MLB.com's Anthony Castrovince details, underwent a controversial blood-and-stem cell treatment last year. Nitkowski was the ninth overall pick of the 1994 amateur draft and pitched for eight teams in a 10-year Major League career, including a five-game stint with the Mets in 2001.
- The long-term effects of Lucas Giolito's UCL strain have yet to be determined, but Baseball America's Conor Glassey examines how the injury could impact Giolito's position in the 2012 amateur draft.
- The Mexican Baseball League has announced that Jose Canseco will not play for Quintana Roo Tigers after the slugger allegedly took a banned substance and refused to take a drug test, reports ESPN's news news services. League president Plinio Escalante told ESPN Deportes that testosterone was the banned substance. Canseco has denied the charge on his Twitter account.
Canseco still juicing? Why am I not surprised…
Perhaps he should have blamed the messenger.
I wonder how often Jose Conseco kicks himself for being about five years too older to have reaped the full financial benefits of the steroids era.
I knew Lane was trying to make a comeback with the D-backs, but I didn’t know it was as a pitcher. Interesting move this late in his career. Good luck to him though, I enjoyed watching him play during the Astro’s run in ’05.
watched him come up in New Orleans with the zephyrs and with the Astros but he was a big dude with only an average arm from the outfield ,do not see how he could possibly do well as a pitcher but ,more power to him it would be cool to see him get back in the game.
if he never tested how can he be banned…
The definition of Jose Canseco has been changed to “tests positive for banned substance.”
You would think Canseco would learn by now.
A proven liar and cheater, the only word that describes him is pathetic. I thoroughly enjoyed him getting destroyed in MMA.
Ryan Braun is in MMA?
Jackson > Westbrook.
Not sure why the Cards didn’t try to do somethin’ there.
No trade clause for both Westbrook and Lohse. Hard to move someone to justify it.