Baseball Digest Daily :: Roundup - California Doctor Under Investigation for Illegal PEDs Prescription

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All Baseball Transactions Tuesday

- The New York Times reveals this morning that a California doctor is under investigation for illegal prescription given to major league baseball players.

The doctor, Ramon Scruggs, was linked last year to prescribing steroids to two major league players, Troy Glaus and Scott Schoeneweis, in 2003 and 2004. The information about Scruggs resulted from an investigation into an Internet ring of pharmacies and antiaging clinics conducted by the Albany County district attorney's office in New York and by the authorities in Florida and Alabama.

The federal prosecutors from California, who have led most of the major steroids investigations in recent years, were not involved in the Internet case, but they are now looking closely at Scruggs, according to the three lawyers. One of the lawyers is a law enforcement official based outside of California. None of them were authorized to speak publicly about the investigation.

One of the lawyers said the current investigation had uncovered the names of other major league players who had received prescriptions from Scruggs. Those names are unlikely to be disclosed immediately if legal action is taken, as expected, against Scruggs in the coming months.

- Tommy Lasorda is back as a manager for the Los Angeles Dodgers while half the roster is in China to play the San Diego Padres on March 15-16, but the old man hasn't changed much.

Slowly, the baseball dribbled down the first-base line -- same as it always has in Dodgertown. Slowly, Marlins pitcher Andrew Miller saw it, plucked it off the dirt, stood up, and tagged a half-jogging, half-confused James Loney.

Fair ball, ruled home plate umpire Damien Beal. Batter's out. Inning's over.

Then slowly, manager Tommy Lasorda ambled out of the third base dugout -- same as he always has in Dodgertown. Slowly, he waddled over to Beal, ranted a bit, raved some more, and finally shuffled back with a hint of a smile and a hint of a scowl.

Then the Dodgertown faithful, standing in unison, hollered and whooped -- same as they always have.

"They like that," Lasorda grinned after the game. "They've always liked that, when I go out and start arguing about it. I put on a little show, you know."

- Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig took home a $14.5 M salary last year, a 4% increase over the previous year. That was more than all other sport executives. Baseball's Chief Financial Officer, Bob Dupuy, earned $4,875,000.

From Cubby-Blue (reproduced with permission)

For those that have no idea what this drawing is referring to, it is in response to the news that CF Feliz Pie underwent a surgical procedure to correct testicular torsion. From wiki:

In testicular torsion the spermatic cord that provides the blood supply to a testicle is twisted, cutting off the blood supply, often causing orchalgia. Prolonged testicular torsion will result in the death of the testicle and surrounding tissues.

Hey, don't say you don't learn anything on this site!

- RH starter Josh Beckett likely won't be ready for Opening Day, according to ESPN.com.

Manager Terry Francona told ESPN.com on Tuesday that the Red Sox haven't made any decisions yet on Beckett, but he sounded like a man who understands that two weeks until Opening Day don't leave much time for the pitcher's back to heal.

"I don't think we know [for sure] yet," Francona said. "But we're certainly not going to rush him back to pitch a game March 24 if he's not ready."

Beckett reported Tuesday that he was "feeling better" than the day before, when his back was bothering him so much that he actually got "worried," he said. And Francona said late Tuesday afternoon that Beckett had had "a good day" of treatment.

- The Blue Jays added depth to an already deep bullpen by signing Armando Benitez to a minor league deal.

The 35-year-old right-handed pitcher has 289 saves and a 3.11 ERA in 14 major league seasons. In 2004, with the Florida Marlins, he saved 47 games and allowed only 36 hits in 69.2 IP, while striking out 62 and walking 21 batters. His career splits are impressive considering he can get both righties and lefties out, but 2007 saw these numbers lie in a big way, putting lefties on base more than 40% of the time. Righties were easier for him to retire, but really did some damage when they found a way to put the ball into play: 25 hits in 103 AB (13 extra-base hits).

He throws a fastball that can still reach the mid-90s and a slider in the mid-80s.

The signing comes as LH Gustavo Chacin is no longer considered an option for the fifth starter spot and RHP Casey Janssen is out for the season with a torn labrum.

Blue Jays pitcher Casey Janssen is finished for the season. An MRI exam revealed that the discomfort Janssen felt in his right shoulder during a bullpen session on Tuesday morning was caused by a torn labrum.

Janssen is scheduled to undergo season-ending surgery to repair his frayed shoulder on either Tuesday or Wednesday of next week in California, and the pitcher said the operation will likely be performed by Los Angeles-based surgeon Dr. Lewis Yocum.

- Gary Thorne has an interesting piece in the USA Today about baseball and its expansion in China.

That leaves baseball to make its mark after Chairman Mao excised the game from China back in the 1960s. Basketball did better under Mao because he liked the game.

Baseball goes back to 1863 in China, according to a history of the game there researched by the Bleacher Report. That was when Shanghai formed a baseball club.

The game was flourishing at the term of the 20th century with China placing second to the Philippines in a Greater Asia tournament in Shanghai.

By 1959 there were teams in 30 regions of the nation competing for a national title. All that ended when Mao said "out."

- Global warming is also an issue for baseball. MLB and Natural Ressources Defense Council have joined forces in Team Greening Program. This first coordinated effort by baseball will help every club achieve environmentally sensitive practices. Here are the topics the Team will work on with each club:

• Adopting an official environmental policy

• Incorporating environmental language into contracts, purchasing policies and requests for proposals that specify preferences for environmentally sound products and services

• Encouraging the use of renewable energy

• Providing information about how to credibly offset the carbon emissions related to team and fan transportation

• Using post-consumer recycled content paper for all paper products

• Implementing paper reduction strategies in offices

• Offsetting the environmental impact of up to half of team and employee travel

• Establishing club eco-committees

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Dave Rouleau

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