Travis

Got samples of is handiwork anywhere?

Don't forget that Heatley, Hossa, and Kovalchuk all played for Atlanta.

Kronwall Zetterberg Datsyuk Howard Filppula and Buffalo dry rub.

The Rays will be wearing those 'fauxbacks' this week against the Tigers - who will wear their late-70's / early 80's era, block letter pullovers. I can't wait to see Cabby, Prince, and company in those bad boys. Wonder if Chicago will adopt the Yoouuuk calls?

JVR has had a seemingly rough time in Philadelphia, no? I mean, obviously, the kid is talented - but for him to come out and say he'd embrace a trade to CBJ.. That says a lot about the situation.

As most others have said, the Wings are totally capable of upgrading their D without trading White. Obviously, Suter is the top priority but I'd love to see Matt Carle sign with Detroit and would feel pretty good about a defense with White, Suter, Kronwall, and Carle. I can't imagine why the Red Wings would trade him, sure his value is high - and anyone who plays with Lids will be better - but it's not like we signed some schmuck or career AHLer who lucked out. White outperformed career numbers, sure, but he's still a valuable piece of this team.

I've been away and the first thing I asked myself was when the Griffins fired Fraser. Not at all upset to see Fraser leave. I've felt for a couple of years now that the team has had the talent level - especially last year - to compete but they simply did not. Hopefully this will be a positive change.

Highest attendance for a mid-week series in Wrigley history. ESPN

While the Cubs are a [very distant] second to the Tigers as far as allegiances go, I can't say I did for a second. There were actually a ton of Tiger fans there, and lots of back and forth between the two sides similar to Leafs / Red Wings games. One of the biggest kicks came as we were heading to Goose Island for a pre-game drink. The Tigers had a 'Tweetup' at a local pub called O'Malley's - whose sign read, "At least it's not the Red Wings".

Went to game 1 of the Tigers / Cubs series at Wrigley. Tons of Tigers fans in attendance and lots of back-and-forth between the fans. Tough way to lose on a couple of blown calls, though. Sigh.

Fister to the 15-day DL, Tigers call up Casey Crosby. He'll make his first career start Friday against New York. Ryan Raburn has been optioned to AAA, it's his final option. The Tigers have recalled C Omir Santos - he and Laird are both likely to be in the line-up tonight.

"Ken Rosenthal of Fox Sports reports the possibility of Oswalt returning in June is diminishing. According to Rosenthal, Major League executives say it's his asking price. One source tells Rosenthal Oswalt wants a pro-rated $7.5 million in base salary. Another said that Oswalt’s desired salary is a moving target, 'but always high.'" Per MLB Trade Rumors

Shanahan looks like he's trying to trudge his way through that bad boy. Really happy for the Kings, probably the only team I would be remotely interested in seeing come out of the West after the Wings' elimination. Not particularly interested in the brand of hockey the Rangers are playing at this point, but I'd still really like to see a NY vs. LA Finals for the sake of the sport.

It's tough to watch them struggle. Real tough. We were in a similar spot last year, though, and ended up cruising through the rest of the season - here's hoping they get their groove back soon. In related news, RP Colin Balester has been designated for assignment and the Tigers have purchased the contract of Quintin Berry. Berry, a career minor-leaguer impressed in Spring Training and has a tremendous amount of speed and good glove in the OF and should be a nice stop-gap while Austin Jackson recovers from his side strain that - depending on how he feels today - may result in a trip to the DL.

So how do you feel about year-long Interleague play next year?

"I'm Batman." Story: ESPN.com

From the And 1 Mixtape?

No worries. I wasn't trying to call you out; the thread got kind of buried. It'll be nice to have one spot for everyone to rosterbate in.

I posted this awhile back where we discussed the cap potentially growing to $70 million. To be conservative, I estimated $69.3 million. FORWARDS Zach Parise ($8.000m) / Pavel Datsyuk ($6.700m) / Johan Franzen ($3.955m) Henrik Zetterberg ($6.083m) / Valtteri Filppula ($3.000m) / Gustav Nyquist ($0.875m) Danny Cleary ($2.800m) / Paul Gaustad ($3.000m) / Todd Bertuzzi ($2.075m) Darren Helm ($1.000m) / Justin Abdelkader ($0.900m) / Patrick Eaves ($1.200m) Drew Miller ($0.838m) / DEFENSEMEN Nicklas Lidstrom ($6.000m) / Niklas Kronwall ($4.750m) Ian White ($2.875m) / Kyle Quincey ($4.000m) Jonathan Ericsson ($3.250m) / Brendan Smith ($0.875m) Jakub Kindl ($0.883m) / Shane O'Brien ($2.000m) GOALTENDERS Jimmy Howard ($2.250m) Josh Harding ($1.000m) ------ CAPGEEK.COM TOTALS (follow @capgeek on Twitter) (these totals are compiled without the bonus cushion) SALARY CAP: $69,300,000; CAP PAYROLL: $68,308,712; BONUSES: $37,500 CAP SPACE (23-man roster): $991,288 New acquisitions are italicized.

Major League Baseball's first organized strike, as well. It says a lot about the state of the country and the history of baseball that the Tigers' showing of solidarity came despite their intense hatred for Cobb himself. "Calling a man a half-****** was too much for any white man to bare." The story of Cobb is incredibly interesting, from his mother killing his father in a case of mistaken identity to the aforementioned assault to other teams trying to cheat away Cobb's shot at the batting title to his lonely death. Cobb is easily one of the greatest baseball players the game has ever known, but it is undeniable that - in his prime - he was one of the worst human beings the game has known. Even Cobb himself attributed his anger to his on-field success and some baseball historians have gone so far as to consider Ty Cobb a detriment to the game; as his demeanor and actions were not outweighed by his abilities.

Yeah. He went on to say that they only, "get 18 off days a year" and "deserve a little time to ourselves".

I was just coming here to post about this. This guy is an absolute idiot and seems to embody everything that's going wrong with the Red Sox right now. It's hard to believe a team with such a giant payroll can be so mediocre. And that's coming from a fan of a team that's 16-15. Reading about how fractured and disjointed the Red Sox are makes me feel a million times better about the state of the Tigers.

I find it surprising and rather unnecessary that Hamels gets 5 games for hitting Harper on purpose. It happens all the time, just because Harper is the 'next big thing' doesn't make it any different.

Happy to see the Kings advance. Not because I have anything against the Blues, but because a possible New York vs. Los Angeles Stanley Cup Final could be great for the sport.