Friday Smatter

So, it seems that Chris Carpenter, historically a fragile sort, needs Tommy John surgery. Meaning he's out for the season and probably, at least, the first half of next year. When I curse the Giants for their silly decisions, at least I can console myself in the fact that they didn't pay Carp $63.5 million last winter even though he was already signed through 2008. It's contracts like that which illustrate the evil of agents. And dumb management.

And look, I'm no genius. I know this. But I avoided Carpenter this year in fantasy baseball drafts because he was going for a ton of money, and aside from the last two or three years, he always got injured. If I can show a bit of caution that way, shouldn't Cardinals management feel similarly?

Word is coming down that Michael Vick may take a leave of absence...but it's not clear who this is coming from. The Falcons? The league office? Certainly not from Mr. Vick. It's a clearly correct decision, even though I do strongly believe in the concept of innocence until guilt is proven...this is pretty shady stuff. Vick almost certainly glossed over the truth (at a bare minimum) when he sat down with Roger Goodell and professed complete ignorance about all of this dogfighting horror. (Of course, this being the world of sports, the union is hopeful that Vick will be paid his full $7MM salary while on leave, if that transpires. Nothing like keeping your eye on the ball, union folks.)

For those of us in the Bay Area, we were woken up at about 4:45 to a decent sized earthquake. Apparently, it was "only" a 4.2 on the Richter scale, but it certainly felt pretty strong. And I think I fell back asleep in approximately 14 seconds...