MLB news and notes; Crabtree has no brain

It has been far too long since I have updated, mainly thanks to an incredibly busy and eventful week. But I'm back to discuss some baseball news and some noise out of Michael Crabtree.

- I'll start by looking at some of the MLB trade deadline moves that are paying HUGE dividends. Cliff Lee has bee spectacular in two starts for the Phillies, winning both decisions while pitching 16 out of 18 possible innings and surrendering only two earned runs. I'm looking forward to the battle between the Phillies and Dodgers for National League supremacy down the stretch.

The second biggest addition has to be Freddy Sanchez heading from Pittsburgh to San Francisco. Sanchez has already produced for the Giants, hitting .388 since the trade and has also scored a run in each of his first four games with the Giants.

If Sanchez is the second biggest addition, Ryan Garko has to be 2a. The first basemen is 6 for 14 at the plate since moving from Cleveland to San Francisco, and has helped the Giants win 8 out of their last 10 games (hmm...I'm pretty sure someone predicted that the G-men would make waves in the second half of the season...).

I'll put Victor Martinez at number three, only because the Giants have been extremely hot lately and the Red Sox were beaten badly last night by the Yankees. Martinez is hitting just under .500 with five RBI's since joining the Sox, and drew three walks in last night's contest. Sick numbers, but with the Red Sox 3.5 games back of the Yanks, I gotta limit him to number three.

To wrap up my MLB thoughts, I'll take a second to discuss Jason Giambi, who was released today by Oakland. Giambi has been injured for most of this season, and his production has been way off compared to previous years. This could potentially be the end of his career, and I gotta say that I give the (to quote John Sterling) "Giam-bino" alot of credit for the things he has accomplished in his career. Many will say that his numbers will be tainted due to his admission of steroid use, but I give the guy props for coming out and admitting what he did, and that he was wrong.

- Michael Crabtree is not at San Francisco 49ers training camp. In fact, he most likely will not be there anytime soon. He may even possibly miss the entire regular season. Here's what I have to say to that: Michael, get your head out of your butt.

Sure, maybe this is a case of someone around Crabtree (in this case, his cousin) saying something ridiculous that doesn't really reflect the mindset of Michael himself. But what I'm arguing is that Michael has to realize that this is only killing his reputation, putting him on a one-way train toward the title of first-round BUST.

If Crabtree was smart, he would come out HIMSELF and publicly deny these comments. Better yet, he could put his ego aside, sign a contract, and then report to camp. Maybe then he could prove himself on the field, and maybe then people would start to think "holy smokes, maybe this guy really IS worth a crapload of money."

But that's not what the NFL is about anymore. The NFL is about money, being paid, and generating revenue. I just wish Crabtree would take the opportunity to prove me wrong.