BDD OFFERS...
Cracker Jack Field at Disney Wide World of Sports (Bill Richardson/BDD)
New Article: Beyond the Diamond: February 26th, 2008, by Pete Toms
New Series: The Baseball Research Project - Baseball Historians and HRs, by Dave Rouleau
The Cliches of Spring Training, by Eric SanInocencio
Facts: Not So Fast Seattle, by Craig Brown
Now Leading Off for the Chicago Cubs!, by Rob McQuown
Throwing Smoke (and Mirrors), by Jonathan Hale
Beyond the Diamond: February 17, 2008, by Pete Toms
Under the Radar: Morgan Ensberg and the Yankees First Base Situation, by Brandon Heikoop
What Did We Learn Today? Not a Whole Lot..., by Eric SanInocencio
"Harry Frazee, Ban Johnson and the Feud That Nearly Destroyed the American League" - Excerpt #2, by Michael Lynch
Family Trees, by Geoff Young
Out of the Spolight, by Dave Rouleau
The Bloggers Roundtable - Cincinnati Reds (the Cleveland Indians are the next in line)
- Baseball Digest Daily is about to announce improvements and additions in the coming days and weeks, so stay tuned for major upgrades on our platform.
- John Brattain
has done the unthinkable: he has moved his blog to BDD permanently!
Come back often to witness his daily struggles with reality.
- BDD is now associated with Heater Magazine. You can check out their offerings with the link in the menu at the top of this page.
- Be sure not to miss top prospect Matt Laporta's player journals this season!
- You can hear the latest edition of the BDD Radio Show with
All Baseball Transactions Monday
- It seems the congressional committee charged with investigating steroids in baseball thinks Roger Clemens lied to the government. The New York Times reported yesterday that a letter had been drafted for the Justice Department and referred only to the former All-Star pitcher, not Brian Mcnamee, although he could still be included. The letter lookd for an investigation into whether Clemens lied in his testimony to the committee.
It was unclear Monday whether any Clemens referral would be similarly bipartisan. Although sending the entire matter to the Justice Department could be seen as a compromise between Democrats and Republicans, referring only Clemens's testimony could be read as an endorsement of the work of George J. Mitchell, the former Democratic senator who identified Clemens as a steroids user in his report on the use of performance-enhancing drugs in baseball.
Any referral from the committee is primarily a symbolic gesture. The Justice Department can decide on its own to investigate a Congressional perjury case, and indeed, several federal agents were present during the hearing Feb. 13. One of those in attendance was Jeff Novitzky, the I.R.S. agent who has spent the past several years investigating steroid use among professional athletes.
McNamee is cooperating with federal authorities and, under a proffer agreement, he will not be charged with any crimes if he tells the truth. In January, he gave federal authorities syringes, vials and gauze pads that he said contained proof that he injected Clemens with performance-enhancing drugs.
A referral by Congress is like an extra push to the Justice Department, said Todd D. Peterson, a law professor at the George Washington University School of Law who worked in the department's Office of Legal Counsel during the 1980s and 1990s.
"It simply puts informal public pressure on the Department of Justice to take a look at it and respond in some way to Congress's action," he said.
- Talk about a 'non-story', as Rays GM Andrew Friedman put it. The media was excited like a little girl in front of a Barbie house when manager Joe Maddon said the following:
Manager Joe Maddon said Monday he knew "little" about what was going on, but acknowledged some thought has been given to the career home-run leader.
"A minor discussion was thrown out there a little bit, and it's really not gone any further than that," Maddon said after Monday's workout at the team's spring training facility. "That's all it is right now."
Yep, that's ALL it is right now.
- Not only geeks and freaks (don't panic, I'm one of them...) have their baseball blogs, players too. RHP Phil Hughes has had 340,000 visits to his site since January 16th. You can consult all player blogs and sites here.
- Boston manager Terry Francona signed a three-year extension (with club options for 2012-13) with his club Sunday and RHP Bartolo Colon signed a minor league deal with the Red Sox.
I'm surprised he signed with this team. With the White Sox reportedly very interested in bringing him back, I thought he would profit from the lack of depth to their rotation, but something must really be wrong with him if he chose to play with a team with no need whatsoever in the starting rotation, although a case could be made that Curt Schilling's injury could potentially affect the depth of it, when they even talked of trying a 6-man rotation during the offseason.
The 34-year-old has not pitched effectively since 2005, when he was with the LAA Anaheim and threw 222.2 innings, walked 43 and struck out 157. He has been victim of shoulder and elbow injury the past two seasons and was giving up a lot of hits and runs with a less effective repertoire (fastball, sinker, slider and change).
- Ken Rosenthal argues that Barry Bonds playing baseball in 2008 would be bad for the game.
Bonds represents a cancer in the industry. He is not the only player alleged to have used performance-enhancing drugs during baseball's steroid epidemic. But he is not just another name in the Mitchell report, either.
The signing of Bonds would put the sport's problem with PEDs back in the headlines at a time when the fallout from the Mitchell report is fading, a time when Roger Clemens is more of a question for the government than a question for baseball.
Bonds' personality quirks and salary demands, while certainly not inconsequential, are secondary issues. Any owner who would prostitute himself by signing Bonds would face a storm of negative publicity boiling down to three words: Shame on you.
Bonds isn't like the other players cited in the Mitchell report. He can't pull an Andy Pettitte, admit to using PEDs and apologize. Such a reversal would confirm that he is guilty of perjury and possibly land him in jail.
Even if Bonds led his new team to a World Series title, many would consider the victory hollow. Bonds, like any player, could pass every steroid test while using human growth hormone and other undetectable substances. And he would remain under greater suspicion than most.
- An interesting Q&A with Stephen Goldberg, who was an arbitrator in five out of eight arbitrations this year. You can also read about the process and results at The Biz of Baseball.
Q:Are the hearings contentious?
A:The hearings have become less contentious over the years. One of the things clubs have learned over the years is that you can't beat up on a player in salary arbitration. There's a risk that player will not be so enthusiastic.
Q:Why did the owners win the majority of the cases this year?
A:That's a little more lopsided than it usually is. But what the owners would tell you is that the existence of salary arbitration has the effect of increasing their offers. What looks like a win isn't necessarily a win.
- John Donovan wrote a piece on LHP Mike Hampton and his millionth comeback from injuries.
Which brings us to the eternal hope of another spring training in Florida and another comeback by the indomitable Hampton. Fifteen years after breaking into the big leagues as a 20-year-old with the Mariners, and more than two full seasons after he threw his last pitch as a major leaguer with the Braves, Hampton's at it again.
He looks awfully good this spring. He feels good. His stuff, electrifying when he was healthy, is diving around like it did in 1999. His curve is curving the way it never did in Denver. He has his velocity. His location is coming along.
Everyone with the Braves is cautiously, nervously, don't-want-to-say-it, knock-on-wood optimistic. Again.
"We are hopeful of Mike being able to make our starting rotation," says John Schuerholz, the Braves' president, picking his words carefully. And when he says this he leans forward to tap his knuckles on the desk in his office at Disney's Wide World of Sports complex, the Braves' spring training home.
"But," Schuerholz adds -- and this, he points out, isn't being pessimistic, merely realistic -- "we can't plan on it."
- Joe Frisaro writes about OF Cameron Maybin and his first steps (and future) with the Florida Marlins.
As an organization, the Marlins note that Maybin was obtained to be their starting center fielder. It's just a matter of when he convinces the club that he is ready.
What he showed on Monday is he has terrific all-around skills. He can run, hit for power, and play solid defense.
"The main thing is the athleticism and the bat speed," hitting coach Jim Presley said when asked what jumped out at him about Maybin. "He's a baseball player. He really is. I don't get too excited about intrasquad games, but those were two balls that were hit pretty good."
The fact that Maybin was batting in the second spot also is interesting. Leading off was Alex Gomez and Lee Mitchell batted third in the scrimmage.
With his speed and strength, Maybin has the capability of leading off or batting third.
- MiLB continues its great series on each minor league teams, with this time the Indianapolis Indians as the center of attention.