Bob's Links and Rants

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Thursday, November 18, 2004

Tiger Update

According to the Detroit Free Press, Detroit Tigers' pitcher Ugueth Urbina's mother is alive and her Venezuelan kidnappers are asking $6 million for her release. The Tigers did their part, I guess, by picking up Urbina's $4 million option for 2005 a couple of weeks ago. More recently, they hedged their bets, signing veteran California Angels pitcher Troy Percival to a two-year, $12 million contract. Since Percival and Urbina are both closers, and most teams have only one of those, it seems likely that Urbina will be traded. I hope his mother is released safely, and soon. She was kidnapped in Venezuela on September 2, and Urbina has reportedly been in Caracas ever since trying to negotiate her release.

To bring some perspective, Percival's $12 million could have been used to pay for some 240 college educations. Or they could have paid for less than two hours "worth" of war in Iraq. Thank God the values of this nation aren't all screwed up.