• 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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This morning on The Baseball Show, Clint Evans of Diamond Hoggers and I discussed the following:

– Carl Crawford to the Red Sox. Ramifications of having too many starting outfielders?
– Jay Bruce‘s contract extension
– Mark Reynolds to the Orioles–is this the beginning of the end?
– Carlos Pena to the Cubs
– Possible landing spots for Derrek Lee
– I talk about my work on Prep Baseball Report
– As always, much more!

Here is a video of prospect Matt Moore, a pitcher for the Tampa Bay Rays.  As you can plainly see, Moore is devastating and would be the top pitching prospect in almost any other organization.  Moore is of particular interest to me due to his New Mexican roots.

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Naturally when I went to school this morning, the members of the Dallas faithful I share the lecture hall and lab with were a little quiet and obviously disappointed.  They know I spent a little time between the lines and in the dugout and that I write for this site, and so they come to me with their baseball-related queries.  I must have answered, “What the hell happened to Cliff last night, dude,” around 15 times.  My responses always started with something along the lines of, “Dude, he wasn’t all that bad.”  How could a start in which Cliff Lee, probably the premier pitcher in the game today, gives up six earned and retires only 14 batters not be regarded as disastrous?

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Goose Gossage Award (Reliever of the Year)

National League:
First Place Vote – Brian Wilson (San Francisco)
Second Place Vote – Billy Wagner (Atlanta)
Third Place Vote – Heath Bell (San Diego)

American League:
First Place Vote – Rafael Soriano (Tampa Bay)
Second Place Vote – Neftali Feliz (Texas)
Third Place Vote – Joakim Soria (Kansas City)