Jason Bay from Trail, B.C.
One of Canada’s top baseball players suddenly is being dangled as trade bait.
General managers assembled for MLB meetings in Florida this week were surprised to hear new Pittsburgh GM Neal Huntington spreading word that outfielder Jason Bay can be had for a package of minor-league players. Huntingon plans to restock the Pirates’ farm system and, to accomplish that, will deal Bay and/or other Pittsburgh veterans.
A native of Trail, B.C., Bay has starred with Pittsburgh the past four seasons, averaging .282 in 616 games. At 29, Bay is guaranteed more than $3.5 million US next season.
Showing the most interest in Bay so far are the Cleveland Indians.
• On eBay, no relation to Jason, you can buy one of Manny Ramirez’s spiffy sports cars. The multi-gazillionaire slugger is trying to sell a 2006 Chrysler on the website. Last spring, Boston’s always controversial outfielder unsuccessfully tried to peddle a grill on eBay … The Red Sox, incidentally, have taken a pass on free agent Alex Rodriguez and will re-sign Mike Lowell before Tuesday … Minus A-Rod, the New York Yankees covet the Baltimore Orioles’ Miguel Tejada and would like to transform him into a third baseman.
•Big news: NFL superstar Tom Brady has been offered a million bucks to model underwear for Calvin Klein … Sports writing as we’ve known it is changing. At the Toronto Star, sports writers are being trained to use video recorders in locker rooms so their interviews can go online … Craig Daniels, who has toiled for several Canadian newspapers in the past couple decades, has left the Globe and Mail as deputy sports editor to become a pilot … Colton Orr, an enforcer with the New York Rangers, recently turned down an invitation from TV types to succeed Jesse Palmer and others as The Bachelor. Actress Brittany Scobie had something to do with the rejection. She is Orr’s girlfriend.
•The Raptors have many shameless shills in Toronto, like Chuck Swirsky, but media types elsewhere in Canada seem to dislike them.
“To me,” Randy Turner wrote in the Winnipeg Free Press, “Canada’s national basketball team is the one that employs (B.C.’s) Steve Nash.”
Oh, and Turner is no fan of TSN’s Michael Landsberg, either.
“It’s a testament to the frightening lack of creativity on Canadian sports cable networks that a loud-mouthed bore like Landsberg — with his string of no-name guests — has had a show for the last decade,” Turner wrote. “It’s called Off
The Record. Why it isn’t Off The Television is one of the world’s greatest mysteries.”
• Be sure to check outmy latestCFL Report.
In three-plus decades as a columnist and broadcaster, Marty York has built a network of solid contacts and a renowned reputation for his hard-hitting, groundbreaking style. The tradition continues in Metro Sports.
