Something is wrong with the U.S. justice system when a man pretending to be a baseball player is looking at four years in a state prison! Sure, he broke the law, but how much tax payer money will it cost to "reform" him? Why not make him do something that will benefit society, such as community service?

Like any good baseball fan, I watched the final game at Yankee Stadium last night and reveled in the great history of NY baseball. I have never been a Yankees fan, but last night I was rooting for the Bronx Bombers.

Carl Pavano on the other hand appeared to have accepted that the Yanks won't be moving on to the post-season this year and arrived at the game sporting Angels threads!

Just what was he thinking?! This man is employed by the Yankees! If you're not going to be classy like Jeter and show up in a suit, at least wear a Yankees T!

What exactly is a five tool player?

A player who excels at the following is considered to be in possession of the hallowed five tools:

1. Hitting for average
2. Hitting for power
3. Baserunning skills and speed
4. Throwing ability
5. Fielding abilities

Examples are a great way to provide further context for the term: Willie Mays, my childhood hero Andre "The Hawk" Dawson, Ken Griffey Jr., and the vilified Barry Bonds and Alex Rodriguez, have all been called five tool players at one point or another in their careers.

I agree that the term shouldn't be overused, and that it has its limitations as well (not every five tool player winds up becoming a super star), but who are some current players in the majors that have the characteristics of a five tool player?

• Hanley Ramirez
• Ryan Braun
• Evan Longoria
• Dustin Pedroia

Do you agree that these guys have are five tool players? Who would you add to the list?

For more about the five tools, check out this article series from the Sporting News.

Both Fox Sports and the CBC reported the story, but neither of the networks described Venditte's unique 6-fingered glove. For more about this, check out CBS' College Sports Network which produced this video profile of Venditte a year ago:

Click here to view the embedded video.

• Last-place Jays fire Gibbons, re-hire Gaston by Ken Rosenthal

• Blue Jays fire Gibbons, bring back Cito Gaston @ ESPN

• Blue Jays Fire John Gibbons @ MLB Trade Rumors (check out the discussion in the comments)

Will Gaston be suited up for this weekend's series in Pittsburgh?

Meanwhile, I quietly cherish my special baseball: an official game ball from the 1992 World Series!

Unfortunately, I have no information about the history of this ball, but I assume it was a foul ball and not a home run. I have no idea which team hit it, let alone which player, and these are questions that will simply never get answered. Part of the power of this baseball is its mystique!

A big thank you to Uncle Rick, my first reader on The Baseball Files, for passing this on to me!

Like Captain Sisko, I keep this ball on my desk, and pick it up and rub the leather and stitches when I'm trying to sort out a programming or design problem.

Does this mean that we'll see one Washington's infielders traded? Felipe Lopez, Ronnie Belliard or Cristian Guzman could be on their way of out town. Of the three, Guzman's got the most value as a trading chip. Lopez is consistently inconsistent, and Belliard is on the DL.

However, Jim Bowden insists that the move is all about helping out the Triple A team, who are short on infielders right now.

Where's Pokey been lately? He was last seen in the majors at spring training in '06 with the Marlins.

• Baseball Forums – This presents all my del.icio.us bookmarks tagged with "baseball" and "forums". The idea is to create a launch pad into the world of baseball communities. Want to chat about your favorite team? Maybe you're a web professional who needs to do some social media marketing for a baseball-related website? Baseball-Forums.com is where to start.
• Baseball Bookmarks – This presents all of the baseball-related bookmarks saved to my del.icio.us account. The goal is to create a dynamic directory of quality, human-edited baseball websites.

While these aren't exactly earth-shattering tools, they serve a personal need and hopefully some of you will also find them useful.

Oh, and don't forget baseblogs.net, my directory of baseball blogs!

Martin played 3B in the minors but had never manned the corner hot spot at the major league level until Torre made the move last night.

Gary Bennett replaced Martin behind the plate and promptly missed Saito's first pitch to the next batter, allowing the tying run to score. The look on Martin's face after the play was uncanny. Would he have caught that ball and preserved the Dodgers' lead?

In the end, Martin took matters into his own hands, capping a 4-hit game with a sacrifice fly in the 13th to win it for LA, 8-7.

There should be no more talk about him being an emerging star–Russell Martin is a true leader who carries the Dodgers with his passionate, balls out playing style, and in my view, will be the face of the organization for years to come.

(I scored the autographed photos shown above earlier this week. My sister is friends with Russell's sister, who graciously passed these on to this Martinhead. I plan to get them framed for the office.)

The biggest story of the day was the release of Frank Thomas by the Blue Jays. Thomas was informed yesterday of reduced playing time due to his recent slump. However, Thomas has started the past two years in a similar weak fashion, but managed to turn it around and put up great numbers in 2006 and 2007. Something else was up and Frank was not pleased…

A key to understanding what lies in Thomas' contract, which included plate incentives: 304 more plate appearances would have guaranteed him a $10 million option for 2009, money that the Jays are now free to spend elsewhere next season.

Thomas was vocal about his displeasure at being benched, saying "My career is not going to end this way." Wisely avoiding distraction that could derail the Jays right now, GM J.P. Ricciardi met with Thomas this morning and the result was an unconditional release.

Some feel this now paves the way for the Jays to sign Barry Bonds, but I'm hoping this isn't the case. I think Matt Stairs can do a fine job as the new DH and this makes room to bring back Adam Lind from the minors, who needs playing time to develop into an everyday major leaguer (and who's sporting a hot .360 BA right now!)

Back to the diamond, there were some awesome games played today, with at least three players hitting two home runs:

• Hanley Ramirez sparkled defensively and led the Marlins to victory over the Nationals with his two homers.
• The Reds' Edwin Encarnacion made up for a fielding error with two homers, and Ken Griffey Jr. was the game hero, driving in the winning run in a dramatic 10th inning victory over the Brewers. 
• Chase Utley led the Phillies past the Mets with his two homers in a fantastic game that closed out this great day of Sunday baseball.
  

I also really enjoyed the Padres/D-backs game, but I missed the last 3 innings. Did Byrnes keep that 14-game hitting streak going, or is he shaving that mustache tonight?

(By the way, I love those old baby blue Jays uniforms like the one Frank is sporting above, but the award for best retro uniform is a tie between the Padres and Astros!)