Juan stays? Ranger likely to reject Expos trade.

The Montreal Expos reached agreement Tuesday to acquire two-time AL MVP Juan Gonzalez from Texas -- but his attorney said the Rangers' star "in all likelihood'' would reject the trade.

According to one baseball official, Gonzalez's agent, Jeff Moorad, is telling people Gonzalez is reluctant to play in the National League because he's never played there, and he's reluctant to play on the AstroTurf in Montreal, ESPN.com's Jayson Stark reported.

(ESPN.com)

Prospectus Triple Play: White Sox, Cardinals, Rangers. "He's likely to get hot and run off a streak at some point, but [Mark] Buehrle's not as good a pitcher as he looked during his first two years in the league, and if the White Sox are counting on him being a legitimate #1 starter, they're probably overestimating what they've got in hand." (Baseball Prospectus)

Derek Zumsteg: "Edgar Martinez's Hall of Fame candidacy remains controversial, judging by my e-mail, which baffles me. He's one of the 50 best hitters baseball's ever seen, and I don't see how any argument mitigates that. Possibly 'he's not actually human.'" (Baseball Prospectus)

Bryan Smith on Roy Halladay's 11-start winning streak. (Bryball, June 25)

Boston Red Sox: Signed OF Gabe Kapler to a minor-league contract. Dan Szymborski: "[Trot Nixon is] 29 now, is a 213/299/333 career hitter against lefties and the Red Sox look to be into a very vigorous pennant race down the stretch with the Yankees and Blue Jays. When you play Nixon full-time, you're essentially starting Rey Ordonez in leftfield for 50 games a year, not a good situation for a contending team to be in." (Transaction Oracle)

The Bizarro World All-Stars (Part One: The American League). "With his offense at an all-time low and his defense in right field still suffering, [Jermaine] Dye has started to lose playing time to Chris Singleton, Terrence Long and Billy McMillon, which must be pretty depressing for him." (Aaron's Baseball Blog)

The Bizarro World All-Stars (Part Two: The National League). "If Tony Womack deserves some sort of a Lifetime Bizarro Achievement Award, the award he receives should be named after Roger Cedeno. Perhaps the 'Roger Cedeno Award for Complete Suckiness.' The RCACS, that has a nice ring to it, no?" (Aaron's Baseball Blog)

2003 All-Hoosier Team.

Now, to most people, a hoosier is someone from Indiana. But to St. Louisans it means something very different. See, a hoosier (someone who is hooze) is a man or woman with a certain kind of low-brow taste. Think of Sammy Hagar or Tom Arnold or Kurt Warner: a little bit trashy, a little bit country, all ugly. Some tell-tale signs of hoosiers: Oakley sunglasses, two or more Jimmy Buffett CDs, bi-level hair cuts (also known as "mullets," but I will not make a mullet joke, even though I just kinda did), having extra-long sideburns, having no sideburns at all, a neon beer sign hanging in your house, any shirt without sleeves -- you get the idea.

(Redbird Nation)

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