Feeding Frenzy

The sharks will be a swimming with the scent of blood in the water. Every year there is a trade rumor du juor that will be harped up one incessantly and Barry Zito is going to be 2006's.

"I think every guy, that crosses his mind. Just because when you go into New York, you play [against] New York, you see how intense everything is there," Zito said Friday. "How fun it is just to play in front of those East Coast fans. Baseball is different on the East Coast.

"But as for right now, this is where I'm at. This is my allegiance. This is where I want to be."

Now everyone says that stuff since they want to keep their marker and their bidding wide open and do not want to alienate teams, so I would not read too far into that. As far as trading him goes, Zito is not going anywhere barring a collapse by the A's. The A's have a very, very good team. They should easily be in contention for the AL West through the entire year and Barry Zito is going to be a big part of that. At that point, Omar can do what he does best and that is not acquire guys through trades. He can spend money in free agency and reel in the big catch.

Zito at Shea in 2007 has a nice ring, but thinking he will be here any sooner is just a stretch for me. Rich Harden can be a certifiable ace, but counting on Danny Harren and Joe Blanton to step it up to form a top three to compete for a championship is probably not going to happen. The small market GMs always have to continue looking forward while playing for today. They just have to keep everything in perspective and constantly make moves for the future, but trading Zito during a year they have a shot to compete is not a way to go about it. As the White Sox taught us last year, good pitching can take you a long way and the A's have some pretty damn good pitching. It is not out of the realm of possibilities that their staff can take them far this year.

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This sounds like good news.

Peterson said Martinez threw approximately 15 pitches per "frame" (in addition to warm-up throws) and said Martinez threw "very close" to maximum capacity.

"Absolutely awesome," Peterson called the session.

John Schuerholz is a cock... Hopefully Tommy shoves this back in his face at the end of the season.

Rest up big guy.

"I will not play until I'm 100 percent," Delgado said. As for when that might be, he replied, "I wish I knew. The morning that I get up and I say it feels better and it's a hundred percent, that's the morning we're going to go."

Also from the above link, Zambrano has muscle soreness in his lower back.

After throwing in the bullpen, Zambrano said the minor discomfort most likely was caused by sleeping in an awkward position. It didn't affect his session.

Is it jst me, or do ball players get hurt in the most bizarre ways.

Bad news...

Juan Padilla might not be as lucky. He could be a candidate for Tommy John surgery depending on Saturday's visit with noted orthopedist Lewis Yocum.

Matsui looks like he is getting his last shot at second base.

"Kaz probably has the upper hand," the manager said after characterizing Hernandez's standing as "probably not as high as Kaz's" and identifying Jeff Keppinger, always the last candidate in this race, as a "long shot."