• The start to the final week of 2010 brought the disturbing news that FIU’s Garrett Wittels had been charged with the rape of two 17-year old girls while on vacation in the Bahamas.  Wittels, who currently holds the second-longest hitting streak in NCAA history at 56 games, is headed into his senior season and has a chance to make history- he is two games shy of tying Robin Ventura’s record of 58 games.  It is too early to know, or speculate for that matter, what type of impact the allegations will have on Wittels’ eligibility.

• With Carl Crawford long departed, the Tampa Bay Rays are hoping that rookie Desmond Jennings will fill the void in left field.  Jennings, who has comparable speed but less pop than his predecessor, will have Spring Training to prove to the Rays that he is the man for the job.  If not, Matt Joyce should have no problem manning the position.  Realistically, the Rays want Jennings to be their left fielder, so I’d expect a platoon scenario…at least until one of their two youngsters shows some consistency.

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• ESPN’s Buster Olney finally confirmed last night’s rumor that Zack Greinke had been traded to the Milwaukee Brewers, a story that was first reported by Jim Breen of Bernie’s Crew.  The Kansas City Royals will send Greinke and another major league player – suspected to be Yuniesky Betancourt – to the Brewers, and the Royals will receive shortstop Alcides Escobar, outfielder Lorenzo Cain, flame-throwing right hander Jeremy Jeffress, and 2008 first-round draft pick, Jake Odorizzi.

• With the acquisition of Greinke, the Brewers have made it clear that the 2011 season will be do or die, especially with Prince Fielder’s looming free agency prior to 2012.  If they aren’t having the season that they expected by the All-Star break, it wouldn’t surprise me to see both Fielder and Greinke be dealt, respectively.  The 2009 A.L. Cy Young winner is set to join a Brewers’ rotation that includes Yovani Gallardo, Chris Narveson, and the recently acquired Shaun Marcum.

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• White Sox have picked up Matt Thornton‘s $2.25 million option for 2010…..Thornton says he’s only getting better with age and believes that he deserves an opportunity to close…..he’s prepared for anything that Kenny Williams throws his way….. [Scott Merkin/MLB.com]

• Ozzie Guillen plans to debut his new website[OzzieGuillen.com] by SoxFest on Jan. 21-23…..site will allow fans to “communicate” with the White Sox manager…..his sons will be running it and all content will be pre-approved by Major League Baseball……[Chicago Breaking Sports]

• Aaron Rowand and Juan Uribe won another World Series ring, this time as members of San Francisco Giants…..Rowand even got the feel-good start in Game 5…..Juan Uribe is still the same old Juan Uribe….. [Sox Machine]

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The Golden Sombrero presents MLB Look-alikes: Adam LaRoche & Bert from Sesame Street

As I browsed through some tweets last night, I came across a story that was too funny not to pass along.  According to Steve Gilbert, the Arizona Diamondbacks beat writer for MLB.com, Adam LaRoche changed Kelly Johnson’s hitting music to prior to the start of Tuesday night’s game against the Padres.

As Johnson stepped to the plate in the first inning, “It’s Raining Men” was blasted throughout the stadium, much to the delight of his teammates.  The same thing happened as Johnson came to the plate for his second at-bat, which prompted Gilbert to predict that, “Payback certain to follow.”

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