Odds and Sods

Chelsea Midfielder Frank Lampard, unsurprisingly, has begun clamoring for a new contract with the club.

Lampard, 29, has 15 months remaining on his current deal, expiring at the end of next season.

After talks slowed last Summer, Lampard halted negotiations so that he could concentrate on football. He now feels slighted that Chelsea held him at his word.

“I said at the beginning of the season I didn’t want to talk about the contract and that was me [speaking] personally because I wanted to concentrate on my football. But they have made contact this season and it hasn’t been followed up with any news. They’ve said something is going to happen. If we wait to the summer and nothing happens then I’ll have a year left, which is not a position I want to be in. I’ve made it very clear I want to be here and I want to know what’s going on, basically,” Lampard told The Guardian.

Ideally, Lampard would like to say with Chelsea. He is the vice captain. He thinks he could command upwards of 130,000 GBP. Hopefully, he would get some sort of sinecure coaching or executive job after he retires. Should he stay, he would be both complacent and comfortable.

But, perhaps this is an opportunity for Lampard to go abroad.

He has already won the Premier League, the FA Cup, and the Carling Cup with Chelsea. He isn’t going to get any younger or stronger, so his place in the squad will be continually challenged. With his game stagnating, Lampard would also continue to be frozen out of the England Starting XI.

However, he should be an attractive proposition for other European clubs. He is available at a relatively cheap price – a team can purchase him by buying out his contract for next season. He has the tactical acumen to adjust his game to that of Spain or Italy. There is also a chance that he could be reunited with Jose Mourinho to flourish at one of the big four continental clubs next season. And who doesn’t like a 20-goal per season scorer from midfield?

A move abroad would cost Lampard comfort and cash, but it would also afford him an opportunity to both expand and enhance his career.

Coco Crisp has been trade bait since he lost his starting CF job to Jacoby Ellsbury mid-way through the 2007 playoffs.  He has reportedly garnered serious interest from both the Mets and Cubs, as well as fleeting fancy from the Reds, Rangers, White Sox and Pirates.  The question is why?

He has some useful skills.  He switch-hits.  He can run.  He is an adept outfielder.  He is named after a breakfast cereal.  He is cool enough to rock a Fu Manchu without the stache.

However, he has one slight problem with his game.  He’s not a very good hitter.  He had a .712 OPS last season, which was 54th out of 57 everyday outfielders in MLB last season.  And that was not a fluke.  He only played in a 105 games for the Sox in ‘06, but he posted an even lower .705 OPS.  If he had enough at bats to qualify, that would have placed him 57th out of 59 outfielders.

The only outfielder you could make a case for being worse the past two seasons is Juan Pierre, and he plays at Dodger Stadium (one of the best pitchers parks) while Crisp plays at Fenway Park (one of the best hitters parks).  He has been feasting off the fact that he hit .300 for the Indians in 2005.

With the numbers Crisp put up the past two seasons, it is hard to picture him penciled into an everyday lineup for any team this season.  He would thus be relegated to a fill-in or backup role on the bench, which is approximately where he stood in Boston.
Coco is a fan-favorite and a great clubhouse and media guy.  Unfortunately, he cannot hit a baseball.  Theo should cash out on him now, before risking that another team actually looks up his numbers up on Baseball-Reference.

Mike Cameron thinks he has post-concussion syndrome, stemming from an ugly collision in 2005. To cope with his condition, he has applied for a “therapeutic exemption” to use amphetamines this season – after receiving a 25-game suspension for a second failed amphetamines test.

It should arouse suspicion that Cameron came to this realization three years after the incident.

What should arouse even more suspicion is that amphetamines are not used to treat PCS. There is no specific pharmacological treatment for PCS.

Google post-concussion syndrome and amphetamines. You get a number of articles about Mike Cameron.

Drugs are only prescribed to combat side-effects from the illness, like depression, dizziness or nausea.

What are Cameron’s side effects three years after the fact? Fatigue and lack of concentration? And is that not a normal side-effect of say – playing a 162 game baseball season?

I suppose that his previous usage was self-medication for his condition as well.

Jose is back with sidekick Sven and a special guest caller from “LA.”