Author: The Baseball Zealot

Pay Attention! Stimulant exemptions up in MLB

There’s an interesting piece over at The Biz of Baseball on a report put out by the MLBPA and MLB.  The report contains among other things, the number of players who were granted Therapeutic Use Exemptions (TUEs) from baseball’s drug policy due to their particular conditions.  All told, 115 players were exempted in one way or another from MLB’s drug policy.  Of those 115, an overwhelming 108 were being treated for Attention Deficit Disorder. 

Here’s the breakdown:

  • Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD): 108
  • Hypertension: 2
  • Hypogonadism: 2
  • Narcolepsy: 1
  • Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD): 1
  • Post-Concussion Disorder: 1

During their mandatory testing in 2009, MLB found 11 instances of Adderall, a stimulant, which is an approved substance used in the treatment of ADD.

MLB players being treated for ADD is nothing new.  A few years back, relief pitcher Scott Eyre was very open about his ADD and treatment for it.  Apparently, he was bouncing all over the place before getting help.  Once treated, he could focus and started to pitch better.  Rumor has it, his bench-mates could tolerate him better, too.

Two things I’m taking away from this… One, I never knew the extent of those baseball players who have ADD (or, let’s face it, claim to have ADD).  Out of the relatively small number of players that play in the majors, 108 is a pretty high number. 

Two, it seems Adderall is the drug of choice to treat ADD among players.  I know for a fact there is a variety of drugs out there that treat ADD and they don’t all work the same.  It just seems odd that among the 3000+ drug tests that the MLB administered that another drug wasn’t found.

Finally, in case you are wondering (I was):

Hypogonadism is when the sex glands produce little or no hormones. In men, these glands (gonads) are the testes; in women, they are the ovaries.

I know… too much information..

TBS fires Chip Caray

With three years left on his contract, Chip Caray just got canned by TBS.

David Levy, president of Turner Sports, wrote in a memo to Turner employees: “Since the end of this year’s MLB playoffs, we’ve had several discussions with Chip Caray regarding 2010 and beyond. Both sides have agreed that now is the right time for Turner Sports and Chip to move ahead on different paths.”

  That’s putting it nicely.

 

Place your bets on who his replacement will be.

Topps, Minor Leagues reach exclusive deal

Three months ago, MLB signed Topps Company to a major contract to produce and market baseball cards with the MLB teams’ logo.  This was an exclusive contract to the detriment to other card making companies such as Upper Deck. 

Now, Topps has scored another coup.  They have reached agreement with Major League Baseball Properties in a multi-year licensing deal to produce certain nationally distributed Minor League cards. 

The agreement makes Topps the only trading card manufacturer licensed by MLBP to produce nationally-distributed trading cards of top draft picks and prospects within Minor League Baseball, and will give Topps the rights to names and logos of the 160 affiliated Minor League clubs and current Minor League players in uniform on baseball cards and stickers beginning on January 1, 2010. In addition, Topps will now have the exclusive use of the Pro Debut logo. Its first product will be its 2010 Topps Pro Debut Series 1 to be unveiled in early March 2010.

As it was three months ago, this deal is exclusive. 

Angels make a class move, vote Adenhart a playoff share

nickadenhart A nice touch by the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim players. 

The team, who made the playoffs this year, voted deceased pitcher Nick Adenhart a full share of the playoff winnings according to the LA Times Blog.  That comes out to roughly $138,000.  The cash goes to Adenhart’s family, of course. 

Nick Adenhart gave all he had for the Angels.  Unfortunately, it for just one game when he pitched six scoreless innings in his MLB debut in April.  That night, he was killed in an accident by a drunk driver. 

2009 MVP roundup: Joe Mauer’s power convinces the BBWAA

I was thinking about the 2009 MVP awards and getting all cynical about how the BBWAA only recognizes players when they finally start hitting the long ball.  After all, Joe Mauer’s 28 homeruns was twice his previous high three years ago.  Mauer had all (ok, most) of the tools necessary to garner the award already but the boost in power clinched it. 

250px-AAAA8040_Joe_Mauer But then I thought back to last year.  Oh yeah,  Dustin Pedroia.  As much as a surprise as it was to me, Pedroia came through with the 2008 MVP award with a measly 17 homeruns for the Boston Red Sox (yeah, yeah, go ahead… scream East Coast bias all you want.  Yankee writers vote on this too).

A little bit of related MVP trivia… who was the last National League player with less than 20 homers to win the MVP?  It’s been a few years.  Answer at the end.

It was more than the power in of itself though.  An intriguing statistic… Joe Mauer led the league in batting average, on-base percentage and slugging percentage.  No big deal?  Except it hasn’t been done since George Brett did it in 1980.

Cocky sports show host Sam Panayotovich, who guest posted the MVP predictions on TBZ in September, shot me an email.  Referring to his article, he wrote, “Man, this guy was right on the money. ;).” 

Sure enough, Sam correctly picked Joe Mauer and Albert Pujols to win the big one.  But let’s be fair.  Albert Pujols was a gimme.  :)  The entire BBWAA thought the same way. 

Seriously, it was a nice call, Sam.  Out of all of our analysts who predicted the awards, I think he was the only one to get them both right. 

Mauer wasn’t unanimous and that’s not too surprising.  What is strange is that the lone dissenting vote didn’t go to second place Mark Teixeira or even third place Derek Jeter.   Fourth place Miguel Cabrera was the recipient of the gratuitous #1 vote.

Oh back to the trivia question, who was the last NL MVP player with under 20 homers???

It was Barry Larkin in 1995. Larkin hit .319 with 15 homers with 98 runs and 66 rbis.  He also stole 51 bases and won the Gold Glove that year.

Scott Maine to the Cubs

Here’s the Baseball Cube report on Scott Maine who the Cubs just picked up in the Aaron Heilman trade. 

1127905 6’4” Maine (no relation to John) had a 10.0 strikeout/9 IP ratio over his minor league career but control might be an issue (55 walks in 120+ innings).  The good news is that he seems to have settled down in that area in 2009 allowing only 22 free passes in 62.  Not great but ok.

Maine hasn’t started a game since his college days at Miami.  Since then it’s been strictly been out of the pen for him.  He’s had his share of experience with pitching with the game on the line with 13 career minor league saves.

That said, the scouting reports on him show his prospects as a probable middle reliever.  Now that he’s with the Cubs, I don’t see that changing.

Reports also say that he may be up a soon as early next year.

Miller Park gets a touchup in the off-season

Some teams gain a good rapport with their fans by doing all the right things and then sit back, enjoying (not to mention pointing to) their successes.  Others look to fans to find more ways to improve their baseball experience even more. 

The Milwaukee Brewers and Miller Park are good examples of the latter.  The Brewers team has already gained acclaim by getting ranked 7th out of all 122 major league sports franchises for “Fan Satisfaction”.  They’ve also were ranked #3 in “Affordability” and “Stadium Experience”. 

Yeah, surveys whatever… what matters to me is that every friend of mine who’s been to Miller Park, (no matter what team they root for) tell me that ballpark is one of the best. 

Well, they’re not stopping there, it seems.  After soliciting feedback from the fans, the Brewers are making more improvements to Miller Park.

Work has already started on the Terrace Level where the team is renovating the existing merchandise store to create a new “Brewers Team Store on Terrace Level.”  The store, which is modeled (on a smaller scale) after the award-winning Team Store by Majestic on the Field Level, will be upgraded to improve customer flow and overall visibility.  The renovations will consist of an expansion of the current footprint as well as new lighting, signage, cash-wraps, store fixtures and floor design. The Brewers will also feature a variety of new merchandise in the store, which is scheduled to be accessible during home games when the Miller Park gates are open.

They are also making improvements to the clubhouse interior and parking lots will be renamed after “the city’s baseball legends” (I take that to mean they will include some of the Milwaukee Braves too). 

Kudos to the Brewers for catering to the baseball fan.  The rest of MLB can take a lesson from the Brewers and Miller Park here. 

C-U Kiwanis host Sports Trivia Championship on Jan 31

For those in the Champaign-Urbana area, the local Kiwanis chapter is putting on a “Sports Trivia Championship” on Sunday, January 31 at the Hilton Garden Inn. 

Some of the question topics:  Illini basketball and football, Cubs, Cardinals, White Sox, Chicago Bears.

If you’re interested, you can sign up at the Sports Trivia Championship website.  Entry fee is $25 and proceeds are going to the Don Moyer’s Boys and Girls Club, Little League Baseball, and Challenger Baseball League for Handicapped Youth.  Did I mention there was a $1,000 grand prize?

I’m thinking of entering but that means I have to study up on the White Sox.  Help Teddy! 

1961- Jim Gentile’s career year

60topps-448

A few posts I posted a trivia question of sorts.  Who came in third in the 1961 MVP voting after Roger Maris and Mickey Mantle.  My only hint was that this player had superior BA/OBP/SLG than Maris, the winner of the award. 

The answer, easily looked up of course, is Jim Gentile. 

Kudos to DonS who texted me the answer the next morning.  It took him two tries (his first was Norm Cash, a good guess).

In some ways, Gentile was a one-year wonder.  His 1961 season was phenomenal.  He had more runs, doubles, homers, rbis, walks than any other season in his career.  The same goes for his batting average, on-base percentage and slugging percentage.

Jim Gentile’s career stats

Year Tm G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB BB SO BA OBP SLG
1957 BRO 4 6 1 1 0 0 1 1 0 1 1 .167 .286 .667
1958 LAD 12 30 0 4 1 0 0 4 0 4 6 .133 .235 .167
1960 BAL 138 384 67 112 17 0 21 98 0 68 72 .292 .403 .500
1961 BAL 148 486 96 147 25 2 46 141 1 96 106 .302 .423 .646
1962 BAL 152 545 80 137 21 1 33 87 1 77 100 .251 .346 .475
1963 BAL 145 496 65 123 16 1 24 72 1 76 101 .248 .353 .429
1964 KCA 136 439 71 110 10 0 28 71 0 84 122 .251 .372 .465
1965 TOT 119 345 36 84 16 1 17 53 0 43 98 .243 .337 .443
1965 KCA 38 118 14 29 5 0 10 22 0 9 26 .246 .305 .542
1965 HOU 81 227 22 55 11 1 7 31 0 34 72 .242 .352 .392
1966 TOT 82 191 18 41 7 1 9 22 0 26 57 .215 .321 .403
1966 HOU 49 144 16 35 6 1 7 18 0 21 39 .243 .355 .444
1966 CLE 33 47 2 6 1 0 2 4 0 5 18 .128 .212 .277
9 Seasons 936 2922 434 759 113 6 179 549 3 475 663 .260 .368 .486
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 11/18/2009.

 

He certainly was no slouch in the couple seasons surrounding his 1961 campaign.  But anyone expecting the production they got out of him in that year was surely disappointed.