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Will he be ripped on like Bonds is should his guilt become undeniable? Right now everyone seems to be treating him with kid gloves. Is there a racial component here that’s working in his favor?

• Barry Bonds- Welcome to the A.L…or jail.
• Barry Zito- Better career numbers than I thought. He will be paid in full.
• Alfonso Soriano- The Angels are hot for him now, the thought process being they can still do something this year. Another guy that will be paid in full. But although his primary numbers like HRs and SBs always look good, he’s an out machine with a career OPS of .828. Considering now that he is an outfielder and not a 2B, is he worth the money? Doubtful.
• Carlos Lee- He’s on pace to hit 50 bombs and yet has never hit more than 32 in any previous season. Like Soriano, Lee is a good player who would be great to have on your team. But if you are giving him the majority of your dollars I’m guessing your team will not be that good. He can’t carry you. A career OPS of .832
• Jason Marquis- Marquis is in the midst of burning his golden parachute. He will be only 28 in 2007 and had the chance to get paid with a good season this year. He’s been brutal. 50-40 K/BB ratio, more hits than IP and 19 HR allowed in 17 starts. His 2004 season is looking like a mirage. Others ruining their free agent years include Mark Mulder, Juan Pierre, Andy Petitte.
• Jason Schmidt- Certainly one of the more dominant pitchers when healthy. Schimdt is pitching great in ’06. He has an ERA of 2.69, over 100 K’s and is on pace to pitch a career-high for innings. Yet since 1997 he’s made it past 200 IP only 4 times. He will also be 34 in January. Teams that throw 5 years his way might first want to think about Kevin Brown for a spell.

Interesting stuff on the minimum wage increase battle and how its purchasing power has shriveled.

The Man Called Cash and how he made his last album “American V” with Rick Rubin.

Jay Mariotti’s Year in Review. Too funny. He is the windsock. Burn!

Cindy Sheehan would rather live under Chavez than Bush. Hey, have at it. Must watch video of her interview with Norah O’Donnell, who does an excellent job.

But it seems more and more that Jim Hendry is resigned to firing Dusty Baker and make wholesale changes to the club.

“I’m evaluating everything,” Hendry said. “When you’re having this kind of a year … I’m evaluating all situations. When you’re 20-plus games below .500 … we certainly want to give us a chance to see if we can make a run here before the break, see if we can do well the rest of the week. I’ll spend a lot of time over the break [evaluating], not just the way the [coaching] situation is, but also with your own players.

“You’re getting ready to go into a month where you have to evaluate what you have and who you for sure think is going to get better and you want to keep, and in some other cases, maybe move some guys. You want to give everyone a fair chance to succeed.”

My read into that is quit farting around with Neifi Perez and Phil Nevin and play Cedeno and Murton full-time, all the time. Cedeno is playing a lot and should return to start at SS next year, and Murton needs more PT to see if he actually is a starter in this league. Either way, they are both rookies and during these types of seasons the only thing that can be garnered is experience for your younger players.

The Trib reports that the Cubs are 17-45 since the end of April after starting 13-8.

Along with the dismissal of Baker, it would be wise to ship out players for prospects as the farm system has once again dried up. Maddux and Walker head the list as they are free agents to be, but I can also see the case for trading Pierre, Ramirez, Howry, Dempster, Jones and anyone else not named Lee, Barrett or Zambrano.

CHICAGO (AP) -
Brewers leftfielder Carlos Lee is interested in
returning to Chicago.

Should he make it to free agency, Lee confirms he expressed
interest in playing for the Cubs next year.

Lee kept his home in Chicago after he was traded from the White
Sox to the Brewers after the 2004 season.

The Chicago Tribune reported that Lee is looking for a five-year
deal for around 75 (M) million, which Lee denies.

Brewers general manager Doug Melvin says Derrek Lee didn’t even
get that, referring to the five-year, 65 (M) million dollar
extension the Cubs gave him last year.

Melvin says don’t assume they’d be interested in trading Lee.

You can access the broadcast by logging onto kbrw.org and by clicking on the pulsating boom box under the “Listen Live” link.

Song of the week: Sufjan Stevens- John Wayne Gacy Jr.

His father was a drinker
And his mother cried in bed
Folding John Wayne’s T-shirts
When the swingset hit his head
The neighbors they adored him
For his humor and his conversation
Look underneath the house there
Find the few living things
Rotting fast in their sleep of the dead
Twenty-seven people, even more
They were boys with their cars, summer jobs
Oh my God

Are you one of them?

He dressed up like a clown for them
With his face paint white and red
And on his best behavior
In a dark room on the bed he kissed them all
He’d kill ten thousand peopleWith a sleight of his hand
Running far, running fast to the dead
He took off all their clothes for them
He put a cloth on their lips
Quiet hands, quiet kiss
On the mouth

And in my best behavior
I am really just like him
Look beneath the floorboards
For the secrets I have hid