Looking at the Game of Baseball from all ends of the Spectrum
One June 19, 1977 this White Sox firstbaseman sang the pre-game National Anthem then went out and went 4-7 with a pair of home runs, playing error-less ball in the field, in a doubleheader sweep versus Oakland. Who was this multi-talented Alabamian?
I remember this day 30+ years ago like it was yesterday, but don’t ask me what I had for breakfast.
FINALLY!!! A BIG FISH, AROD has been caught in baseball’s roid dragnet. I’ve been complaining about this for a long time, the only players being caught have been minor league Hispanics of marginal talent. Now it comes out Alex Rodriguez tested positive in 2003, but this story comes from a Sports Illustrated’s article, written by David Epstein & Selena Roberts, rather than MLB.
Four independent sources have told SI that Alex tested positive for two anabolic steroids. In 2003, when he won the American League home run title and the AL Most Valuable Player award as a shortstop for the Texas Rangers. Rodriguez’s name appears on a list of 104 players who tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs in Major League Baseball’s ’03 survey testing, SI’s sources say.
When approached by an SI reporter on Thursday at a gym in Miami, Rodriguez declined to discuss his 2003 test results. “You’ll have to talk to the union,” said Rodriguez, the Yankees’ third baseman since his trade to New York in February 2004. When asked if there was an explanation for his positive test, he said, “I’m not saying anything.”
Baseball’s drug policy prohibited the use of steroids without a valid prescription since 1991, but there were no penalties for a positive test in 2003.
As part of an agreement with the players’ union, the testing in 2003 was conducted to determine if it was necessary to impose mandatory random drug testing across the major leagues in 2004.
The results of the testing of 1,198 players were meant to be anonymous under the agreement between the commissioner’s office and the union. SI reported that Rodriguez’s testing information was found after federal agents, with search warrants, seized the 2003 results from Comprehensive Drug Testing, Inc., in Long Beach, Calif.
Now the question has got to be, does MLB FINALLY get it? This steroid problem needs to be taken seriously. It wasn’t just a few players then, it isn’t a few minor league Hispanic players today, this problem is rampant, it needs to be taken seriously, and it needs to be addressed now!
I was very excited when I saw the Caribbean World Series was being shown live on the MLB Network. I remember watching winter league baseball on a Spanish TV station, channel 44, way back in 1983. Tom Candiotti was matched up against Chris Codiroli. Milwaukee Brewers Candiotti was perfecting his knuckleball, while Codiroli was an up & coming pitcher with the Oakland A’s. It was interesting trying to figure out who was whom, what kind of numbers the players were putting up, and what the announcers were saying. I somehow figured out Candiotti was learning the knuckler, besides actually seeing his pitches float up to homeplate, it seemed like he was pitching on TV almost every night. Besides the language barrier, there was also the snowy picture, UHF still had some bugs back then.
So last night, watching the Caribbean World Series on the MLB Network in English, even if it was over Slingbox, the Ramada room TV doesn’t get the MLB Network, was an exciting prospect. Live baseball in February, can’t beat it, packed stadiums, fans chanting. Then I started watching the game between Puerto Rico & Mexico. Once shooting star lefty Bill Pulsipher was on the hill for Puerto Rico, he went six & one third innings, and allowed only one run, which was impressive until you stopped & realized that there was probably only one legitimate major leaguer in both lineups, Adrian Gonzalez a lefthand hitting star for Mexico, but he can’t hit lefties to save his life. The number three hitter for Puerto Rico was Andy Gonzalez. Andy was with the White Sox in 2007, batting .185 in 189 futile at bats, he was really bad. When this game was still knotted at one after nine innings it was time to say goodnight.
Can you name the only three players in baseball history to steal a base in four decades?
Here is another example of MLB catching a young Latino taking performance enhancers. There has to be a reason why all of these Hispanic players are being caught. Either they’re being targeted, which I doubt, or they don’t fully understand the rules, and what is okay to take, and what is not, which I suspect to be the case. Somehow MLB needs to get the word out to these young men, before they are forced to pay the price. It seems very strange to me that these marginally talented young men are caught, and established stars are very rarely nabbed.
Marlins Minor League pitcher Pascual Arias was handed a 50-game suspension on Tuesday. The 20-year-old was suspended for being in violation of the Minor League Drug Prevention and Treatment Program. The infielder tested positive for metabolites of Stanozolol. Arias had been playing Summer League ball in the Dominican Republic. A converted infielder, Arias was hitless in 20 at-bats with 11 strikeouts and a walk in 2007. This past season, Arias pitched in 14 games and was 0-1 with 4.50 ERA.
The White Sox used the minor league rule five draft to pluck Cole Armstrong out of the Atlanta Braves system. Armstrong was a catcher and a goaltender growing up in British Columbia, Canada. I first saw the big lefthanded hitting catcher in Fall Ball a few months ago in Arizona.
Growing up in Canada, Armstrong, like most of his baseball-playing compatriots, saw some national team action, playing for the Junior squad from 1999-2001. In fact, he caught while Martin manned third base. But this year’s selection to the provisional roster is the first time since ’01 that Armstrong has been tabbed for Team Canada.
“It’s a huge honor anytime you get asked to play for your country, but especially now with Canada having so many big-name guys,” he said. “It would be a really neat opportunity to get to play with some of them. And I haven’t had the chance to play in front of 50,000 people, so that would be a nice experience too.
Talking to some of the guys who were on the Olympic team or the qualifying team, they say it’s definitely like you come back together. Everyone knows each other. Even if you never actually played together, you know the same people. That was something I really wasn’t expecting. From day one since the White Sox picked me up in the Rule 5 Draft, they have been such an incredible organization and have given me so many opportunities that I probably wouldn’t have gotten with other organizations.”
The White Sox plan to send him to the recent Rookie Career Development Program, an honor saved for an organization’s top “big league-ready” prospects. Chicago decided not to re-sign Toby Hall, so there is an open spot on the big league roster as a backup catcher.
A fan at SoxFest asked GM Kenny Williams about the possibility of the White Sox signing two Cuban defectors, Yasser Gomez & Yadel Marti. Jaime Torres represents both players, he also represents current White Sox Cubans, Jose Contreras, Alexei Ramirez, & Dayan Viciedo. Reportedly Alexei took less money to sign on the Southside of Chicago, because Manager Ozzie Guillen speaks Spanish. Also both defectors would feel right at home, with three other Cubans already on the team.
Both Gomez & Marti played for Industriales, Cuba’s top team, they want to play for a winner, they mentioned the Yankees, but they also mentioned the White Sox. Gomez, 28, is a lefthanded hitting centerfielder, and has a career .331 batting average. Marti, 29, has a career 3.23 ERA, with 67 victories. The righty Yadel was the best of Cuba’s pitchers in the 2006 WBC, 1-0, 2 saves, and led the tournament with a 0.00 ERA over 12 2/3 innings pitched.
A scout who has seen both pitch internationally, believes they are both major league ready. In true Kenny Williams fashion, he did not tip his hand, when asked about picking up these talented Cuban stars, but you have to know, he’s salivating at the thought.
Baseball’s drug policy is ridiculous. J.C. Romero is the latest victim, suspended for the first 50 games of the 2009 season and he’ll lose $1.25 million dollars. Romero was the winning pitcher in game three & game five (the clincher) for the Philadelphia Phillies in the World Series.
Now the lefty relief specialist has been found guilty of negligence, even though the over the counter supplement he purchased at GNC in Cherry Hill, NJ contained no warning label. He had it checked by his personal nutritionist, who said there was nothing in the supplement that was illegal. Phillies strength and conditioning coach Dong Lien told him to get a second opinion; Romero took the supplement to a second nutritionist, who cleared it. In the hearing, Lien testified to that fact, but at another time he said he suggested Romero not take it.
On Aug. 26 and Sept. 19, Romero was tested, as all players are, randomly. On Sept. 23, players’ association counsel Bob Lenaghan informed Romero he had tested positive. He immediately stopped taking all supplements, even though he had no idea it was the cause of the positive test. He spoke to Michael Weiner at the MLBPA and told him he did not know the cause of the positive test. On Oct. 1, Weiner told Romero that the specific supplement was indeed the cause of the failed test and that because it was purchased over the counter in the U.S., he believed the case would be dropped. That same day, Oct. 1, Romero was tested again. The results were negative. So for the NLDS, NLCS and World Series, Romero says the supplement was no longer in his system.
Two days later, Romero was informed that MLB would be willing to reduce his suspension to 25 games, starting at the beginning of the 2009 season, on the condition that he admitted guilt. Romero said he couldn’t because he did not believe he did anything wrong. On Oct. 12, the second set of test results came back — from the Sept. 19 test conducted four days before Romero learned he had tested positive the first time — and was positive. MLB then changed its offer: The suspension would still be reduced to 25 games, but it had to start immediately and he had to admit guilt. Again, Romero declined, because he did not believe he was in the wrong and because he did not want to miss his first World Series. The arbitration hearing was held Oct. 22 in Tampa, the first day of the World Series. Curiously, the bottle of the supplement MLB had purchased contained the label warning: “Use of this product may be banned by some athletic or government associations.” However, the bottle Romero had purchased and brought to the hearing contained no warning. In December, the players’ association informed Romero that the arbitrator had had a change of heart and was ruling against him. On Sunday, that was confirmed, and Tuesday afternoon, MLB will announce the suspension. There seems to be little question that the players’ association unwittingly misled Romero — and other players — about over-the-counter supplements purchased in the United States. Somehow, after MLB was warned in early July, those concerns about three supplements available at every GNC store did not reach the players’ association.
If you were like me, you might have skimmed the story of J.C. and thought, oh well another druggie caught with his hand in the cookie jar, but this seems far from the case in Romero’s case. He had it checked by his personal nutritionist, the Phillies strength coach, a second nutritionist, nothing was on the label, it was purchased over the counter in the United States, and the union had misled its members into believing supplements purchased over the counter in America were not banned. It seems like Romero did everything he could to find out if the supplement was banned. Now he’s paying the price, it’s a raw deal.
Today following a positive test under MLB’s minor league drug testing program, NY Mets organization secondbaseman, Kyle Suire, will be suspended fifty games. Suire tested positive for metabolites of Stanozolol, a performance-enhancing substance, the commissioner’s office said. His penalty will take effect at the start of this season. He batted .297 with nine home runs and 36 RBIs last season for Kingsport of the rookie-level Appalachian League. Kyle was the fourth minor leaguer suspended this year under the program, the third for performance-enhancing drugs. One was banned after a positive test for a drug of abuse.
This also seems insane, is this what everybody was getting worked up about when talking about getting drugs out of baseball? Somehow Hispanic minor leaguers seem to get caught in this dragnet, more often than not, seems to me the message is not getting out to the players. It hardly seems worth the risk, getting caught means 50 games, Delmon Young was suspended fifty games for hitting a minor league umpire with a bat, that’s a big fine for somebody taking a banned substance, maybe the supplements outside of this country aren’t labeled properly. The players union needs to get the word out, maybe even test supplements in question, and either give a yes or no, before the player takes the substance in question.
I received a White Sox tear-off calendar for a Christmas gift, I’ll share some interesting baseball factoids with you as I come across them.
Only two pitchers since 1970 have notched 10 complete games in a single season: Jim Palmer with the Orioles in 1975 (10) and John Tudor with the Cardinals in 1985 (10).
Who was the first player to be elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame by the Negro Leagues Committee in 1971? Satchel Paige
The 1906 White Sox, dubbed the “hitless wonders”, won the American League pennant with a .230 team batting average. The entire club smacked a total of seven home runs through 154 games.
Reliever Jon Link & firstbaseman/outfielder Seth Loman are a couple of longshots to make the White Sox, but baseball is a funny game, so you never know.
The White Sox acquired Jon Link from the San Diego Padres in exchange for Rob Mackowiak, a half eaten bag of potato chips would’ve been a fair exchange, in my opinion, so Link’s got anything, it’s a great deal. In 2003 Link was drafted by the Montreal Expos with the 45th pick, after a year of college ball where he walked 14 in 81 innings with a 2.13 ERA, the Pads signed him after taking him in the 26th round of the 2005 draft. The 6’1″ 175 pounder (slimmed down from 200) out of Columbus, OH, did pretty well at Class A in 2008. Jon had a 2.91 ERA with 64 strikeouts in 58″ innings pitched, 48 hits, 16 saves. He was particularly effective after coming to Winston-Salem, where his strikeout to walk ratio was an impressive 19/4, allowing only one homer over 17″ innings of work. It’s always tough finding quality middle relief, never know what’s inside a guy’s heart.
Seth Logan was drafted by the Los Angels of Anaheim in the 47th round of the 2005 draft out of Lamar Community College in Texas. The 6’4″ 225 pound switch hitter spent his two years with the Angels in Rookie Ball, where he batted .206 with 4 HRs in 2006 & .323 with 9 HRs in 2007, then LAA released him. The 22 year old turned to the independent Golden Baseball League where he put up some pretty good numbers. In 2008 Loman batted .350 with 19 HRs & 60 RBIs in just 60 games, slugging .709. Seth was selected by Baseball America as a Top Independent league prospect. Here’s hoping Seth Loman finds as much success with the White Sox as another Angels castoff, Bobby Jenks.