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Signed Bob Howry to a minor-league contract; Invited him to Spring Training

The "Failed" Physical

Well, late last night, word came down that Omar Vizquel failed his physical, nullifying the trade which would had sent him to Seattle for Carlos Guillen. More specifically, Omar's surgically-repaired knee nixed the trade. While this does hurt the Indians in the short-term, as $3M-$4M just disappeared from their budget, this doesn't really change anything past next year. Vizquel isn't going to be brought back at his current salary (a mutual option), and he probably isn't going to be traded during the season.

Seattle GM Bill Bavasi just dodged a huge bullet, and I'm sure some of the more experienced conspiracy theorists will have a field day with this. This probably helps the Indians sell more tickets, along with the 8,756,456 different Omar! products flooding Indians team shops. When Omar finally leaves after the season, fans will still bemoan the Indians for not keeping a fan-favorite around until his retirement. However, once the Indians start winning again, fans will find new favorite players, or (gasp) they'll just root for the teams, not individual players.