Posts from the Mlb Gossip Category at FanHouse - AOL Sports Blog

Every time you think athletes are pampered, rich and famous, remember that "regular" celebrities are even more pampered and even more famous (rich is debatable). Take, for instance, the comparison of Chipper Jones and Kelly Clarkson.

To those of us who care deeply about athletics, Chipper is immensely famous. More so than Clarkson anyway. But to the rest of the world, Clarkson >>> Larry when it comes to fame. And she let him know it the other night too. From ESPN the Mag outtakes with Kenny Mayne via LBS:

KM: Do you get recognized everywhere you go by now?

CJ: Funny story about that. Last year I was at the Daytona 500 with a friend and Richard Childress. Kelly Clarkson, who had sung before the race, came into the room. She walked my way, looking at me like she knew who I was, so I started to put out my hand. Then she pulls out a camera and asks me to take a photo of her and her friends. My buddy lost it. I'm from Daytona, so everybody knows me there. I was so embarrassed that I just wanted to go get a beer. Boy, was I put out.

That's like the time I tried to talk to Fantasia when she was in High Point and she totally blew me off. ("But I blog for a living! What's not to get?") Only if I was a successful baseball player and she was still famous for her American Idol run.

In other words, embarrassing, yes, but big deal? Absolutely not. That's why Chipper's laughing about it in the back page of an overly dramatic sports mag.

It should be no surprise that a bunch of celebrities attended the June 29, 2006 Madonna concert in Madison Square Garden. She's the material girl. She's huge. People love her. We don't question why, we just let her keep making her money and talking in her fake British accent.

But the fact that the celebrity divorce couple of the hour -- Mr. and Mrs. A. Rod -- were in attendance is a little bizarre. And ironic, I suppose. Of course, not as bizarre or ironic as the fact that C-Rod's rumored man, Lenny Kravitz, was also there.

And all of that might sound a bit like a fictional tale of celebrity lore, were it not for the illustrious Don Chavez, who somehow has pictures of the whole thing. Does this actually mean anything? Absolutely Maybe not. But you can bet that this will be the perceived starting point for the whole alleged A-Rod - Madonna affair (and maybe the C-Rod - Kravitz business too).

The lesson, as always? Never take your celebrity spouse to a Madonna concert in New York. Been sayin' it for years.

Throughout the history of mankind, people have looked to others to help them figure out how to get by and survive their lives. In some cultures, people turn to their elders for advice since they have a lot more experience, and have seen many different situations and how they've played out. In other places, people just do a whole bunch of hallucinogenic drugs hoping to have a vision that will solve whatever problem they're dealing with at the time.

In American culture, we have strippers. Yes, much like the oracles of ancient Greece, we Americans prefer our advice to come from naked women who are probably just really, really high. That's why Cynthia Rodriguez should talk to one of her soon to be ex-husband's former ladies if she ever thinks of forgiving Alex.

Cheating Yankees slugger Alex Rodriguez had a two-night stand with an ex-Centerfolds stripper while in town to play the Red Sox in 2004, and Candice Houlihan says A-Rod's wife "did the right thing" by filing for divorce yesterday.

"A leopard doesn't change his spots," Houlihan, now a Reading hairdresser, told the Track. "Good for her, I think she's doing the smart thing. And she'll probably get tons of cash."

It always comes back to money with strippers, doesn't it?

Though Cynthia isn't the only one getting advice, as a gigolo in Manhattan named Hugo told A-Rod last night not to worry about losing his wife because he has over $100 million and can "get all the booty a man could dream of. Being married is for guys who can't get any."

The Alex Rodriguez divorce story was officially announced late last night, but after the Madonna fiasco and the Lenny Kravitz nonsense -- seriously, man, Lenny Kravitz -- it was a foregone conclusion. It felt like old news. The one tidbit left to examine is Cynthia Rodriguez's claim that the couple's prenup may or may not be "legal." From the divorce papers' summary bulletin:

20. ANTENUPTIAL AGREEMENT: On October 3, 2002, the parties executed a "document" titled "Antenuptial Agreement". A determination as to the validity or enforceability of the agreement requires additional investigation and discovery.

See what Cynthia's lawyer did there? Very clever. It's not a document, it's a "document." If you put it in quotes, it might not exist!

Unfortunately for Cynthia, the prenup is probably legal -- were it not, one guesses the lawyers would be far more condemning here -- and the astronomical amount of money she's likely to receive from her soon-to-be-former husband is thus nominally reduced. It's cool though, 'cause Lenny Kravitz totally banks. Love + Revolution -- marketing like that simply does not fail.

In recent weeks there had been plenty of teams who were interested in the services of 16-year old Dominican pitcher Michael Inoa. The 6'7 prospect has had scout salivating for a while now, and organizations were lining up for the chance to add him to their team. Well, when it was all said and done and Inoa was allowed to sign with somebody, he ended up choosing the Oakland Athletics.

As details came out about the signing, other teams (like the Rangers and Reds) found out that even though they offered Inoa more money, he still chose the Athletics over them. This didn't make sense to these other teams, so in their minds, the only logical explanation is that Oakland cheated and signed Inoa before the deadline. Now it looks like MLB will be taking a look into the deal.

Adam Katz, Inoa's agent, would not discuss the offer from Texas (or a reportedly larger offer from Cincinnati), but he said the A's did not sign Inoa until the 12:01 a.m. EDT deadline Wednesday.

"There was no contract before the deadline," Katz told The Chronicle on Sunday. "Absolutely not. Billy (Beane) and the team followed all the rules carefully. Billy and I were both very aware how high profile (Inoa) is."

Personally, I don't think Oakland did anything wrong here. I mean, maybe Inoa and his agent chose a smaller offer from the A's because they've seen the success Oakland has had in developing young pitchers. You know, guys like Tim Hudson, Mark Mulder, Barry Zito (he used to be good Giants fans, I swear), Dan Haren, and now Rich Harden and Justin Duchscherer.

Needless to say, the Rangers and Reds don't have the same kind of history. Well, the Rangers can develop good pitching, they just trade it all away before it's ready for the bigs. Just ask John Danks and Edinson Volquez.

The 2008 season has been a great one for Cliff Lee, despite the fact that just about everything else has gone wrong when it comes to the Indians team he plays for. Lee has rebounded from a horrible 2007 campaign to go 11-2 with a 2.43 ERA this season, and was just named the AL starter in the All Star Game. So you would think that he'd probably be in a pretty good mood, but that doesn't seem to be the case.

Apparently the success and newfound fame has gone to Cliff's head, because he doesn't think he should have to move around or field the ball anymore. That can be the only reason why he got mad at the Twins' Carlos Gomez on Sunday after Gomez laid down a bunt in the first inning.

Gomez attempted to bunt on an 0-2 pitch in the first inning but pushed the ball too close to the mound. Lee fielded the ball, threw him out, then said something to Gomez after the play.

Lee and Gomez then jawed at each other after Gomez reached on an infield single in the third.

"I was just trying to do my job and he ... jumped on me,'' Gomez said after the Twins won 4-3. "He say, 'Stop bunting.' But not like that. With bad language.

The story that will not die just gained another nine lives -- Alex Rodriguez's wife, Cynthia, is officially suing for divorce, according to both the Miami Herald and the far more reputable TMZ. (AOL! Woo!) You can probably guess the reasons for the divorce: A-Rod's "alleged" extramarital affairs, not least of which may or may not involve Madonna. Cynthia's lawyer scored the first blows:

Cynthia Rodriguez's lawyer tells TMZ, "A-Rod may be an All-Star baseball player, but he's flunked the All-Star team as far as marriage is concerned." Lilly says, "We're not gonna lose this case." He acknowledges a prenup exists but it's "too early" to decide if he'll challenge it. He says there will be a "huge settlement" in the case but "not hundreds of millions of dollars." Lilly says A-Rod's estate is "vast ... beyond what anyone knows."

Madonna will not be specifically named in the divorce papers. Lilly says infidelity is a "major cause" for the divorce, but not because of any one allegation. Rather, he says, there were a series of dalliances and "Madonna was the last straw." Lilly says Cynthia did not have an affair with Lenny Kravitz and that her relationship with him is "totally innocent and puristic."

So, to recap: A-Rod does have a prenup (phew!), but doesn't have a guarantee that he's not going to get taken for millions (doh!). Also, Cynthia says her relationship with relatively horrible pop singer Lenny Kravitz is "totally puristic." Right. So is writing about this story for money. So puristic, in fact, that I think I'll go take a cold shower.

This is the best and the worst time of year for Dugouts. The trade deadline looms and we'll get a chance to cover a lot of teams we don't normally cover. At the same time, the newsmakers of baseball start making news, and most of the time that involves a steady stream of unbelievable stories from the Yankees and the Red Sox. I want to do more Pirates Dugouts, but nobody in Pittsburgh just had their marriage broken up by a random assemblance of pop musicians. Nobody from the Pirates ran up a wall and high-fived a guy.

We've been sitting on this for a few days, waiting for the logical "oh THIS is what really happened" to come along. It just... isn't coming along. So today we attempt to handle this from an educated, even-handed perspective.

Today's Dugout, which should've just been about the Royals again, is after the jump.

The New York Post has been hard at work bringing the earth-shattering, quasi-gossip news lately. First that whole Roger Clemens - Mindy McCready bidness, then Alex Rodriguez' alleged affair with Madonna. And now, the cherry on the ice cream sundae that is journalistic scoops: Madonna and a religious sect have brainwashed A-Rod in order to get him divorced from his wife.

In a bombshell interview with The Post, Dodd Romero - Rodriguez's former trainer and godfather to his two daughters who spent last week in Paris with Cynthia Rodriguez - said he and C-Rod believe the Yankee superstar has been gradually drawn away by Madonna's allure.

"Alex, God bless him, is lost," A-Rod's ex-pal lamented. "I think he got pulled in by the dark side, if you can say that nicely. He's totally brainwashed."

"She believes it's what ruined her marriage," Romero added.

It makes total sense, of course. All the irrational behavior before, the ditching of Scott Boras to negotiate with the Yankees on his own -- it all fits into place now. But even if Madonna is the ultimate culprit behind the devastation of the Rodriguez' family's life, she has needed some help.

Are all of these major league ballplayers going crazy from the heat or something? First Shawn Chacon goes nuts on Ed Wade, then Manny Ramirez shoves a traveling secretary to the ground. Now, some seemingly innocuous complaining had the potential to turn into another full scale brawl on Saturday night. In the blue corner: Jose Guillen. In the other blue corner: Royals pitching coach Bob McClure.

Guillen was sitting at a table by his locker when he toppled over a chair and made a comment in Spanish. After a teammate attempted to calm him down, Guillen appeared to get more agitated, tossed over another chair and said, "Coaches don't need to be all up in our ... business."

McClure, who was sitting at his locker, turned around and said, "Jose, if you're talking about me, then you need to shut ... up." Guillen then knocked over another chair, yelled at McClure and confronted the coach.

Guillen told McClure he wasn't talking about him and wasn't being disrespectful toward the coach. Guillen added he didn't appreciate McClure telling him to be quiet.

No punches were thrown, so it turns out to be like one of those married couple fights where you start arguing over something dumb like leaving the stove on, and then you get separated and then you work things out and you wonder what the heck you were fighting about in the first place. I guess people will invent things to fight about when their ballclub is ten games under .500, and when one of those people is Jose Guillen ... generally not the calmest person in the world (not that there's anything wrong with that).