Not all that much for news today. Nice to see the Canadian men's hockey team play a good game. We picked up a few medals yesterday too, which is nice, if just to shut up the writers complaining about our lack of medals. I think a fat sports writer has to have a lot of gall to complain that an athlete only came in 6th or whatever. Wouldn't you like to be the 6th best in the world at something?
Anyway the story du jour is about Vernon talking about being a leader on the team. I really don't think 'leaders' or clubhouse presence makes that big a difference. I remember someone last year telling us that having Kevin Millar in the clubhouse and as a leader would make us 10 games better. Teams win and lose on the field. I think Doc was a great leader because he was such a great example of how you should approach the game. I think John McDonald is a good leader because he seems to have fun. Same for Marco Scutaro. I'm sure Aaron Hill would be a good leader too.
But then the Yankee teams of the late 70's had a bunch of guys that hated each other, hated the manager, fought constantly and still won. So I really don't have much worry about who calls himself a leader, the players will pick who the leaders are and it will all workout.
Jordan Bastian reports that Randy Ruiz has made it to camp and has lost some weight. Only player left to show is Alex Gonzalez. Tomorrow is the day all players at to be there. Cito has been away as well today, his wife an appendectomy. I hope she's ok.
Jordan also talked to Alex Anthopoulos a bit. Alex says he wants to draft "high impact, high ceiling players'. Which, course, sets him apart from other GMs who want low impact, low ceiling guys. He also says he'd draft the best available player, whether he's a college or high school player, which makes sense. Pick the guy you think will work out best. As well he said that the Jays have plenty of money to spend on international free agents.
The other story that is everywhere is about Mark McGwire's brother who, of course, has a book out, telling us that Mark took the steroids to get stronger. Shocker that one, eh? Brotherly love is a wonderful thing. Wait till you see Jessef's tell-all book about Hugo.
And the White Sox aren't thrilled with Ozzie Guillen's twittering.