Baseball Roundup: 1/27/08

With arbitration hearings underway and Baseball just weeks away from pitchers and catchers reporting, things seems to be going just fine for a league troubled with the media frenzy that followed the release of the Mitchell Report.

Just fine that is, as long as you aren't Mike Lieberthal. Phillies and Dodger catcher of fourteen seasons decided to hang up his spikes saying " "There were a lot of reasons, the money was great as a backup, but I have made [enough] money in baseball. I just didn't want to go through what I have to go through with my body to play 20-25 games a year."
The Dodgers were obviously shaken up with Lieberthal's announcemen; they quickly signed backup catcher Gary Bennett to a one year deal.

The Dodgers also extended spring training invites to two left handed (Tom Martin and Mike Myers) relievers in attempts to solidify their bullpen.

In arbitration news, Yankees second baseman Robinson Cano signed a six year deal believed to be worth 56 million dollars, keeping him in pinstripes through the 2011 season (2012 and 13 are option years for the Yanks).

In what should be this off season's most exciting arbitration hearing, the Phillies have set a February 20th date to discuss Ryan Howard's current contract situation.