Mickey Morandini Inducted Into Hall of Fame

Yes, that’s right; the triple-play man himself was elected into the Cape Cod Baseball League Hall of Fame this past week.  A stellar rookie season with the Yarmouth-Dennis Red Sox hitting .376 and stealing 43 bases pretty much sealed the deal for the two-time Phillie second baseman.  Now if that’s not news, I don’t know what is.

Ok, let’s try this: the Phils have been rumored to be in the Josh Beckett market.  As Hurricane Gamma bears down on the state of Florida, it looks as if the Marlins still won’t get the new stadium they need to finance the salaries of their stars.  Therefore the Marlins are tossing Josh Beckett into the market; but caveat emptor, he comes with one fairly expensive string attached in Mike Lowell and the $18 million left on his contract.  Together Beckett and Lowell are set to be paid $28 million over the next two years.  There are of course a few obvious detractions to this rumor in that the Fish might not want to trade intra-division and the Phils probably won’t want to sacrifice more young talent.  Most glaringly though, this is not the kind of salary the Phils are looking to take on, but a third baseman and a starter in the same deal might be right up the Phillies’ power alley.  If they lose the Wagner sweepstakes – which will become apparent tomorrow after Billy’s trip to the big rotten apple

– look for the Phils to start some discussions with Florida.  Right now the Boston, Detroit or Texas appear to be the most likely destination for the two Marlin stars.