Odds and ends

We can start with Greg's questions in my last post. No, nothing new with the sale. As much as I believe it will happen, I also believe that each day longer this takes that the odds of a collapse increases. What kind of odds do I give it? 90 percent of going through.

For those who are holding out hope that the Defenders/AA ball stays here, if the sale falls apart, the team ain't going anywhere any time soon. My sources tell me that Eastern League President Joe McEachern as well as some higher ups in Minor League Baseball are the driving forces behind the sale. So much so that there might have been a blind eye or two turned away from some tampering months ago. Needless to say, this all comes down to money and Richmond would make more than Norwich. Should this sale not happen, don't be surprised if there are changes on the executive level around the minor league baseball community.

However...don't count on this falling apart. Pieces are still moving slowly such as Richmond ownership getting a two-year lease to play at the Diamond until a new stadium is built.

Regarding a short-season A team coming in, Lou DiBella has told me he wants nothing to do with making any sort of inquiries that might be seen as tampering or put the chances of a team relocating at risk.

DiBella has been pretty upset -- and I believe genuinely so -- over the way everything has played out. At the end of the day, he feels the fans are going to get the shaft because MiLB won't guarantee a team relocates should the Defenders leave.

What else do I have for you...

Simon Klink is back in school at Purdue, where he played college ball.

I don't want to say this is for certain, but after just a few games that I've covered I don't feel as if the clubhouse has meshed as well as it had in years past. Maybe, considering the past results, this is a good thing.

Nothing new pitchers arriving. Steve Decker said the Giants told him nothing as of yesterday afternoon. "Deck" is a lot more forthcoming than his predecessors, so my guess is this is a waiting game. However, pitching isn't the team's big concern. They need to hit, which is as slow developing as the Earth's plates shifting into the next expected land formation (200 million years from now, give or take a century or five).