Thursday, June 6, 2013

Biogenesis: Bust Or Busted?

So this Biogenesis story keeps getting weirder huh? At first, and I mean at first as in this week, it sounded like Ryan Braun, ARod, and the rest of the players who are connected to the now-defunct Miami clinic were up the proverbial creek without a paddle. Turns out, that may not be the case.

It has now been revealed that Tony Bosch, founder of Biogenesis, struck a deal with MLB in order for his testimony against the players. Originally Bosch was facing a lawsuit from MLB. apparently he went to Alex Rodriguez and asked for money to aid in his legal defense. ARod, in his infinite wisdom (and I'm not really sure if I'm being sarcastic there or not), denied his request. Bosch then went to MLB and said that if they drop their lawsuit against him, he'll testify against the players. Not exactly what you'd call a credible witness. The player's union is going to have  field day with this guy.

This whole thing brings up 3 big questions in my mind. One, do I care about these players who allegedly used performance enhancing drugs supplied by Bosch's clinic? Well, kinda. I'm fully convinced Ryan Braun took PEDs in his MVP year, we already know ARod has taken them in the past as he's admitted to it, and there are a handful of other guys that it's not really hard to believe did as well. But do I care? I guess I do. If they broke the rules they should be punished. But it doesn't really change my opinion of them. There is no one on the list that I really root for or follow. Like I said, if they did the crime they need to do the time, but it's not really shocking that there are MLB players using PEDs. There was a whole damn era named after it. We know that professional athletes in all sports, don't kid yourselves NBA and NFL fans (especially NFL), are going to do whatever they can to gain an edge. I'm not suggesting all or even the majority of them are, but it's blatantly clear that PED use isn't going to stop any time soon.

Secondly, will these suspensions actually happen? I'd like to think so, but I'm starting to seriously second guess it. If Bosch is the only witness MLB has and his only evidence is some notebooks and receipts, you have to like the player's chances. Guess what, I can write a bunch of stuff down that says Mariano Rivera has been on juice since 1994. That doesn't make it true. For the record, I'm not suggesting Rivera has ever taken anything illegal, it's just an example. Chill. What I'm getting at is without any positive tests it's going to incredibly difficult to make any suspensions stick. The player's union will fight that every step of the way and I'd have to believe they'd win. Hell, they got Braun's positive test from 2011 overturned because some FedEx guy left in the fridge too long. I'm still pissed about that if you couldn't tell. There's a reason the MLBPA is considered one of the strongest unions in the country, they're not going to take this lying down.

Lastly, where do we go from here? It's widely reported that the vast majority of players want PEDs out of the game. Fine, prove it. Tell the union reps that you want drug testing done several times a week, including blood, and I'll believe that. I guarantee every single team has a player either currently using something or seriously exploring the idea. Why not use HGH? They didn't start testing for it until this year. Not only that, is this list of 20 guys clearly didn't come up dirty and they're some of the biggest names in the game. So assuming they did use PEDs from Bosch's clinic, they obviously got away with it on the tests. And therein is MLB's problem in this case. None of these guys ever tested positive. How can you suspend someone for violating the drug policy when they didn't test positive for the drugs? Last time I checked it's not illegal to talk to a drug dealer.

The case that MLB had against these players took a major blow when the news broke about Bosch's attempted deal with ARod. There is no way that's the last leg of this story either. Instead of jumping to conclusions about who is going to be suspended and for how long, like I did initially, let's wait and see how this thing plays out. It's going to be a long summer.

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Monday, June 3, 2013

10 Things I Think I Think So Far About The MLB Season

Sorry Peter King (yeah, like he'll ever see this) but I'm stealing your 10 things I think I think idea. Anyways, below you'll find 10 things that I think we can tell about the MLB season through 2 months. And away we go...

1-I think the Dodgers are in major trouble. Forget all the injuries, this just isn't a team built to win. The bullpen is nothing short of atrocious, they don't have a closer, and their offensive production outside of Adrian Gonzalez is simply not good. Unless it's Kershaw or Ryu on the mound going at least 8 innings, it's tough to have faith in the Dodgers winning.

2-I think the AL East is going to be a lot more fun than we expected. The Red Sox are currently in first place by 2.5 games over Baltimore. The Yankees and Rays are both 3 games back. Remember when everyone picked the Blue Jays to run away with the division? Yeah, I told you that wasn't going to happen. They're 10.5 games back and it doesn't look like things are going to turn around any time soon. The other 3 teams however have all been better than I expected. I didn't think the Red Sox pitching would be as good as it has been, I never expected the Yankees to compete this early on with so many injuries and a thin rotation, and while I did pick the Orioles to win the division I didn't think they'd be 7 games over .500 at this point in the season. The AL East is definitely going to be a lot of fun to watch this summer.

3-I think the Angels have once again dug themselves a hole they won't be able to get out of. They're 10.5 games out of the division lead, and only 1 game better than the Mariners and 5 games better than the pitiful Astros. Speaking of the Astros, the Angels can't beat them!! They have trouble scoring runs, they're bullpen is shaky at best, and other than Weaver and Wilson their starting rotation is ugly.

4-I think Miguel Cabrera is better than we thought. Seriously, can anything stop this guy? He's hitting .367 right now, best in the league, has 17 home runs which is the 2nd most in baseball, and he has 65 RBIs already which again is best in the league. He's absolutely tearing the cover off the ball. If he can keep up this torrid pace, and we saw last season that he's capable of doing just that, we might be talking about a 2nd Triple Crown. No one has ever done that. I know it's early to bring up such a thing, but it's hard not to right now.

5-I think we need some form of instant replay in baseball. Too many dumb mistakes have been made so far this season. Missed calls on home runs, plays at first base, and most recently a pickoff at 2nd that ended a game. I realize human error is a part of the game, and I like that. But it seems to me that umpires are getting lazy. Too many calls have been missed simply because the umpire has been out of position. My simple replay suggestion/solution. Have the crew chief wear a pager and another umpire in the booth or clubhouse or whatever watching on TV. If there is a questionable call, the umpire in the booth pages the crew chief to let him know he's looking at the play. Once he does he then pages the umpire to let him know if the call was correct or incorrect. I don't want strikes and balls to be a part of this, only safe or out, home runs, and fair or foul calls.

6-This one probably isn't going to be popular, but oh well. I think I'm sick of the Mariano Rivera farewell tour already. Yeah it was cool when he threw out the first pitch against the Mets and was honored in a pre-game ceremony. The only problem was this was a road game for the Yankees! What are the Mets thinking? Mo is by far the greatest closer of all time. They should just induct him into the Hall of Fame right now. He's a great pitcher and an even better person. But I'm tired of all the tributes. Let the man go out and do his job and celebrate him once he's actually retired. If you know me, you know I hate the Yankees. This has nothing to do with that. They should be honoring him every chance they get. I'm sick of all the other teams doing it. Plus it has be worried what's going to happen if Derek Jeter announces that he's going to play one more season and then retire.

7-I think the Nationals have no idea what they're doing. I'm not going to sit here and speculate on what might have been if Strasburg hadn't been shut down last year. But I am going to say that this latest injury scare should show them they need to just let him pitch. Careers can end in the blink of an eye. You don't play for next season or two seasons from now, you play for this year. They -26 in terms of run differential and are watching the Braves take the NL East with relative ease. There is no reason that they should be losing as much as they are and not scoring more runs than they are. Also, they have to learn how to play without Bryce Harper. Having a 20-year-old kid as the centerpiece of your team isn't going to work in any professional sport, but especially in baseball.

8-I think the NL Cy Young race is going to be as good this year as it ever has been, at least in recent memory. Patrick Corbin is 9-0 with a 2.06 ERA. Clayton Kershaw is 5-3 with a 1.85 ERA, and both of those stats would be better if the Dodgers aforementioned bullpen didn't allow a ridiculous number of inherited runners to score. Shelby Miller currently leads the NL in ERA at 1.82, and Matt Harvey is having a breakout season and is 5-0 right now with a 2.17 ERA. If all this keeps up, the NL Cy Young award could be just as big of a debate that the AL MVP was last year.

9-I think MLB has to do something about Jeffery Loria and the Marlins. If I was Giancarlo Stanton I'd do everything in my power to not play this year. That team is 16-41 so far this year, by far the worst in baseball, and they're not going to get any better. Loria clearly doesn't care about winning and built a brand new stadium under the guise of he was going to bring talent to Miami. Well he did, and when they didn't perform he sent them all away. I don't what, if anything, MLB can do. But something has to be done to get the Marlins a new owner.

10-I think I'm not drinking the Evan Gattis Kool-Aid just yet. The guys is clearly good and is going to hit a lot of home runs. He's currently on pace for 35 home runs, 93 RBIs, and a .922 OPS. If he does that, then yes, fill up my glass. But he's hitting .269 right now and his last 16 games have been against the Dodgers, Nationals, Blue Jays, Twins, and Mets. Those aren't exactly teams that strike fear in the hearts of opposing hitters except for Kershaw and Harvey. He did hit .317 for the month of May, and if he does that in June I'll definitely be a believer. But for right now, I'm just not convinced he's a guy who didn't just have a great month.

So there it is. 10 things I think I think about the MLB season so far. Depending on the reaction this gets I'll keep doing these. Hopefully the legal department at Sports Illustrated doesn't come hunt me down because I totally stole Peter King's idea. Then again, they're probably busy with something NFL-related. I'm not too worried.

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