Baseball in-briefs:

• Philip Hughes pitched 6 2/3 innings of shutout ball yesterday at Triple-A.  He threw 91 pitches in what has to be his last tuneup before returning to the Yankees starting rotation.  The Yanks won't need their #5 starter until Saturday, so pencil him in for that start.  We suspect Depressed Fan will be on top of this all week.
• Speaking of Yankee pitching prospects, Joba Chamberlain has officially been converted to a reliever in Triple-A, after being a starter all season long.  This is probably in preparation for soon being added to the Yankee's bullpen.  The 6'3, 230 pound 21 year old Joba has been a pretty solid starter in the minors already -   he is currently 9-2 with a 2.56 ERA and 1.04 WHIP this season, at Tampa, Trenton and Scranton.  He is averaging 13.3 K/9 as a starter, which is just sick.  He has the necessary control in a young pitcher to be an effective closer... his K to BB ratio is 4/1 for his minor league career.  He is the Yankees' first round pick in 2006, out of the University of Nebraska.  Also, note that Joba is a Native American.  He is a member of the Winnebago Tribe (no trailer park jokes, please); it would be interesting to see him pitch against the Indians this season.

My take, if it comes to it:  He might be able to have a Papelborn-like effect in the Yankees' bullpen.  Some of the best closers have been former starters (including Papelbon, Mariano, and Gagne) who were converted at the major league level.  Just like Papelbon, Gagne, and Mariano were all projected as #2 or 3 type starters in their prime, so is Joba.  He's not Philip Hughes, even with all his dominance.  He's worth a shot at the setup role (especially with Farnsworth's struggles).  Plus I can make all sorts of Joba the Hut jokes (especially given his weight issues)...

• Finally, Gary Sheffield is making some waves with his talk once again, this time blasting Bud Selig: 

"I'm sick of Bud Selig and Major League Baseball and the way they've been grandstanding", Sheffield said in a USA Today article. 

"Barry Bonds should be the face of baseball. Instead, Bud Selig is making him the face of the steroid era. It's the most ridiculous thing ever. Why doesn't Bud Selig tell the truth? Why does he keep lying and saying he doesn't know nothing about nothing? It's a bunch of hogwash. It's a cop-out. He knew everything (about steroids) we knew.

"Bud Selig wants to talk about the integrity of the game? To him, the integrity of the game is how much money they make. That's how far their integrity goes. I hope Barry not only breaks the record, but shatters it. The more homers Barry hits, the better, because that'll really piss Bud Selig off."

Bravo, Gary.  I applaud him.   It's hard to argue with anything he said, though I'm sure that he'll somehow get nailed by the media anyway... or maybe not, since Selig isn't exactly as well-liked as Joe Torre.  

Keep in mind that Gary Sheffield is a critic of both Barry Bonds and steroids.  He's spoken about his personal beef with Barry Bonds many times (as I have documented here), and steroids.  So what's he saying?  Well, that Bud Selig is a hypocrite, a "lying" commissioner who "knew everything (about steroids) we know" now. 

How can you doubt that?  Much like Canseco and Camientti have both broken the silence and spoken out about their steroid abuse, and in doing so named about half the league, so has Sheffield.  He hasn't named names, but he's been speaking out about steroids without pretending it isn't as widespread as it really is (unlike say, the bullsh*t that comes out of Schilling's mouth).  Where as no one in the media has ever said anything much about disciplining Schilling for his comments, there are voices in the media already calling for a suspension for Sheffield - check this trash from Bill Madden (one of the biggest hypocrites in the MSM):

"Said one long term exec: "For the integrity of the commissioner's office alone, Bud has got to suspend Sheffield.  You can't be saying things like that."

The "integrity" of the commissioner's office?!?  What?  There hasn't been any "integrity" in the commissioner's office since the owners decided that having an impartial authority wasn't necessary, and elected a fellow owner to be the commissioner.  At that point the commissioner's office became about only one thing - maximizing profit for the owners.  And if that meant doing everything possible after the '94 strike to get fans back in the seats, including selling their souls for homers, then that's what they would do.  Smaller stadiums, no more high strikes, tighter wound balls, and sticking steroids in ballplayer's asses were all approved by the commissioner's office.  Don't start talking about "integrity" now, not when you are refusing to deal with the reality of the situation you created.  Sheffield might be an outspoken prick, but I am certain he has more integrity than Bud Selig or Bill Madden every single day....

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