Here are a few things that happened around baseball this week that didn't quite warrant a full post.
Adam Jones, Multitasker
We can go ahead and file this one under "unfortunate." The Orioles prized young outfielder (who I'm still not drinking the Kool-Aid on, by the way) was pulled over at the most inconvenient of times on Wednesday. No, he wasn't with a lovely co-ed, but he
was giving a radio interview at the time.
Awkwarddddd.
Adam Jones was conducting a telephone interview on XM's MLB Home Plate show on Wednesday when he was pulled over by police in Arizona. Apparently, there is not law in Arizona outlawing talking while driving. Jones was pulled over for having windows that are too tinted.
That's discrimination... against his windows for being a certain color!
Do You Believe In Omens?
If so, then the Rays might
want to rethink this one:
The Rays announced Wednesday that they have agreed to sell the naming rights for their spring training home, the Charlotte Sports Park, to the Mosaic Co., which mines phosphate to produce fertilizer.
The county has spent $12 million on litigation in the past decade fighting Mosaic permits for mining on thousands of acres in the Charlotte Harbor watershed.
Pending county approval, the Rays' spring training site will be called Mosaic Field at Charlotte Sports Park. The value of the 15-year agreement was not disclosed. Mosaic spokesman David Townsend said that information was confidential.
Unfortunately it isn't the early 2000s when I could make a joke about the quality of the talent on the field being appropriate for the name of the stadium. DAMN!
Do Not Question Adam Dunn
He now possesses a certain set of skills,
skills that make him a nightmare for people who question his preference for the Three True Outcomes and his lack of fielding ability.
No one has ever accused Adam Dunn of being Willie Mays with his glove, but the Nats' slugger has repeatedly said how much he enjoys playing defense. And with first base his anointed position heading into 2010, a few Nats fans had their interest piqued when Manager Jim Riggleman said Dunn was learning jiu-jitsu this offseason to help improve his agility in the field.
"Adam can play good defense at first base," Riggleman told MASN on Dec. 19, when breaking the jiu-jitsu news. "Dunn is the least of our concerns."
Well, Dunn was in town last week for the Nats winter caravan, offering me my first opportunity to ask him about the Brazilian martial art and how it would help his job performance at first base this spring.
"It'll help me whoop somebody's ass," Dunn noted.
JP Ricciardi, when asked for comment, was nowhere to be found, though reports of him cowering in his basement clenching his blankie have been reported by several outlets.