Did I miss anything while I was gone?

I was in Chicago for the weekend, meeting with my publisher on the final details for STP, having a Pizza Feed, and spending Saturday at Tom House's pitching clinic. Amazing experiences, all of them, but Saturday was one of the best days I've ever had in baseball. I could work with kids and pitching all day and end up with a big smile on my face. If you're remotely interested in pitching or have a child that is, I can't recommend these highly enough.

I'd give more details, but I'm going to write this up for BP.

Chavez and Blalock both sign for five years at vastly different amounts. I'm not sure why Blalock took the offer, but it's cost certainty for both parties and $15m isn't chump change. Chavez's seems pretty fair and ends speculation that he'll join the Yankees next season. It's also something of a shift for the A's. I'm curious to see how this will affect the re-signing of the big three.

Steroid story is getting interesting and there's some pretty major rumblings about names. I've also heard very vague rumors that I haven't been able to substantiate that the cups will be coming very early in camp. I think the free pass given by the drug policy on a first offense is going to really come back and bite MLB and the players in the butt. Some players and their reps have asked me if there's any reason to worry about that first offense.

I'll be hard at work on the THR's over the next week, trying to catch up a bit. Just wait until you see all the things happening here and at BP in the coming weeks. EXCEPTIONALLY exciting and Im proud to be a part of both.