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Pedro Update, Coste, Ibanez

According to ESPN, Pedro Martinez threw a 3 inning simulated game for Ruben Amaro today, giving up 3 hits and striking out 3. A rumor had started yesterday in the Dominican Republic that the Phils and Martinez had agreed to a $4 million prorated deal, which would end up paying Pedro about $2 million. I'd expect to see that deal get done.

Raul Ibanez was also activated from the 15-day DL today. Chris Coste was designated for assignment today and claimed off waivers by the Astros. It was good knowing ya Costey, wish it was Bruntlett instead.

Phillies Interested in Wang

SI reporter Jon Heyman tweets that the Phillies are interested in acquiring Chien-Ming Wang from the Yankees. They reportedly offered the Yankees a prospect for him but were turned down. Wang, a 2-time 19-game winner is 1-6 with a 10.06 ERA this year but has not allowed more than 3 runs in his last four starts.

The Worst of the Blogs: The Effects of Poor Journalism

On June 8, a blogger at MidwestSportsFans.com, wrote an article. In that article, JRod, the handle under which the article was written, stated that the performance of Raul Ibanez this year should raise eyebrows and call into question whether or not he has been taking performance enhancing drugs. The article provided no facts, simply speculation and conjecture written by someone clearly in need of attention.

The following is an excerpt from the article: "Maybe the 37-year old Ibanez trained differently this offseason with the pressure of joining the Phillies’ great lineup and is in the best shape he’s ever been in. And maybe that training included… Well, you know where that one was going, but I’d prefer to leave it as unstated speculation."

That is irresponsible journalism at its finest. In response to these allegations, Raul Ibanez said that he wouldn't let just anyone harm his reputation--that he would fight back. I, for one, hope he does. I hope that Raul Ibanez sues "JRod" for libel and takes him to court. Will he win? Unlikely. It will be hard to him to prove malice on the part of MidwestSportsFans. However, he should make a statement to the world that there should be a higher level of journalistic ethics not just for the mainstream media, but for new media like MidwestSportsFans--as Ken Rosenthal called it today on ESPN's Outside The Lines, "a simple code of decency."

"JRod" should be ashamed of the slanderous article he wrote and should hope that he doesn't end up losing money in the process because I'm sure he's already lost a lot of respect.

Lidge to DL; Bako Purchased

The Phillies placed Brad Lidge on the DL today with what they are calling a "sprained knee." Yeah, ok. Lidge was placed on the DL today to give him time to work on his mechanics and clear his head so that hopefully he can come back and pitch like 2008. The move is retroactive to June 7.

In a somewhat surprising move, the Phils purchased the contract of Paul Bako from AAA to fill the roster spot. I'm not quite sure what the thinking was behind bringing up a third catcher, especially one that adds yet another left handed bat to the bench. If anyone has any ideas, let me know.

Phillies Climbing Up the All-Star Ranks

With the 3rd set of All-Star voting updates released today, it is clear that Phillies fans are making a huge push. Chase Utley, Jimmy Rollins, and Raul Ibanez lead at their positions with Chase more than 1 million votes ahead of 2nd place Orlando Hudson.

Ibanez's vote tally keeps growing and growing since the first update was released where he sat in 6th place. Ryan Howard sits in 2nd place among first basemen behind Albert Pujols and a surprising name in Shane Victorino is not that far back in outfield voting. Victorino trails Carlos Beltran for a starting spot by only 240,000 votes, an amount that can easily be overcome. So get voting now and get your Phillies a secure spot in this year's Midsummer Classic. Click here to vote.