Happy July 1! It's now only 365 days until the Mets start paying Bobby Bonilla his deferred compensation package, which consists of him being paid $1.2 million every July 1 from 2011 through 2035 because the Mets didn't want to give him the $5.9 million they owed him in 2000! I have cut and pasted five or six different bits of this Wall Street Journal piece on exactly why and how this fiasco happened for inclusion here, because they're all just so cringe/facepalm-worthy. But you should go read the whole thing, because at the very least, it's a nice primer for any future labor negotiations you might have! [...]

The Texas Rangers have entered voluntary bankruptcy to prepare for the team's sale to a group headed by former MLB pitcher Nolan Ryan. The Dallas Morning News has a peek at just who the Rangers are in arrears to, and as it turns out, the team's top six creditors are players. No. 1 on the list is the ever-troubled Alex Rodriguez, who's owed some $25 million in deferred compensation, while No. 5 is former Rangers catcher Mickey Tettleton, who hasn't played since 1997; the team is in arrears to him for $1.4 million. (No. 3 is current Rangers third baseman Michael Young, who the team is in hock to [...]

I know E-40 is a big dude. I know he's a heavy hitter in the rap game. (A baseball lover, the Bay Area rap great sometimes goes by the name "Charlie Hustle." Hey, maybe he should collaborate with Ohio rocker Robert Pollard on the soundtrack to that Pete Rose documentary that's coming out in July? On second thought, there probably aren't two artists I'd less rather hear collaborate, though I'm a fan of them both.) And I guess this new track doesn't tip the scales like the 500-megaton-whomp of the "Weedman" beat. But still, this is lightweight jammin'? No way!

Despite Phillies' fans pleadings for security to once again subdue an on-field intruder — the team's second in two games against the St. Louis Cardinals — with a Taser gun, the unidentified 33-year-old who ran on the field during the ninth inning last night was "merely" apprehended by stadium personnel while taking what seems to be a pretty leisurely jog around the Citizens Bank Park warning track. Is hopping out of the stands going to become a thing at Phillies games now? Can't the team just set up a Phanatic-assisted Drunks Run The Bases post-game promotion in order to cut this sort of behavior off at the pass? [...]

As someone who has found the New York Yankee career of Alex "A-Rod" Rodriguez both fascinating and baffling, I watched with interest the flare-up yesterday during which Rodriguez, trying to expedite his trip back to first base from third after a foul ball, cut across the diamond instead of retracing his steps across the basepath. His path took him across the pitchers' mound, which greatly upset A's pitcher Dallas Braden. ("He should just maybe watch his captain a little more often," Braden said afterward, in the umpteenth instance of someone setting up a "Goofus & Gallant" situation between Rodriguez and Yankee-for-life Derek Jeter. Wait, how has that not become [...]

Snow, slush, odd moments where one wonders if the world is really ending: This winter has been getting a lot of people down. But here's a reason to believe that there's light at the end of the tunnel!