Quick Hits - MLB Stuffage

Torii Hunter Gets a Slap on the Hand? Torii Hunter is a nice guy and a great ambassador for the sport; however, he might have crossed the line this past weekend.

All of it involves an expensive bottle of bubbly…

According to ESPN: “Hunter's gift of four bottles of Dom Perignon, which he had delivered to the Royals clubhouse this past weekend, was meant as a reward for the Royals sweeping the Detroit Tigers last September, allowing the Twins to come from behind to win the American League Central. The gift fulfilled a promise Hunter made last fall.

But baseball has rules about this sort of thing.

Namely, rule 21-b, which proclaims "Any player or person connected with a Club who shall offer or give any gift or reward to a player or person connected with another Club for services rendered ... in defeating or attempting to defeat a competing Club ... shall be declared ineligible for not less than three years."

And after "The Cheater's Guide to Baseball Blog" reported the violation, the Twins got a phone call from the commissioner's office about the proffered bubbly. And the Twins found themselves in an awkward position -- having to call the Royals to ask that the champagne be returned.”

Nice. Torii says he didn’t know the rules. Hey, I still think it’s cool he did that.

A-Rod: The Hitting Freak: Can we officially say that A-Rod is over his issues as a Yankee? The freak A-Rod hit his 13th and 14th homers of the year, but the third baseman's big hits weren't enough to pull the Yankees out of a slump.

Of course, not matter what he does, if he does not win a championship, his April will just be trivia in the future and go into the annals of history.

Philip Hughes: As we know, the Yankees pitching has been nothing of short of a train wreck. With Pavano, Mussina and Wang on the DL, the Bronx Bombers have need to call on reinforcements, and they plan on having their top pitching prospect start Thursday against Toronto. The Yankees had been saying all spring that Hughes would progress slowly through the system, but that is not the case with the team’s struggles.

Iwamura on the DL, Cantu Back Up in the Majors: The Tampa Bay Devil Rays on Tuesday placed third baseman Akinori Iwamura on the 15-day disabled list with a right oblique strain, and have recalled Jorge Cantu.

Eric Gagne on the DL: The Texas Rangers put closer Eric Gagne on the 15-day disabled list Monday, with a hip injury.

Harden & Bradley on the DL: The A’s placed Rich Harden, their ace, on the 15-day disabled list Monday with a strained right shoulder along with Milton Bradley.

Felix Hernandez on the DL: The Mariners placed their young flame-throwing righty on the 15 day DL as he was diagnosed with a muscle strain inside his right elbow and forearm.