February 19, 2009

Henry, Lucchino Wrong On Need For Cap

Both John Henry and Larry Lucchino think MLB should consider implementing a salary cap (or "salary zone").

I disagree. There is no need for a cap on players' salaries. When management starts banging the drum for a cap on their earnings or an absolute limit on ticket prices, let me know.

The Red Sox held their first full-squad workout on Wednesday. ... Jonathan Papelbon says he was "starting to kind of break down" during last year's ALCS and hopes that the team's improved bullpen will lighten his work load a bit.

***

ESPN has identified Yuri Sucart, who lives in Miami, as Alex Rodriguez's drug-smuggling "cousin". ... MLB investigators will soon ask Slappy to "further explain his admitted use of performance-enhancing drugs".

Daily News reporter Christian Red needed only two minutes and $19 to purchase "one 100 mg ampule of testosterone enanthate, a 2.5 ml. syringe and a package of 10 Methandrostenolone pills, the powerful oral anabolic steroid known as Dianabol" at a nonnondescript pharmacy in downtown Santo Domingo. No word on whether he also picked up some Tic Tacs.

John Harper of the Daily News thinks it's good that Derek Jeter ("the master of the vanilla sound bite") is now speaking out against steroids, but he wonders
where was he seven or eight years ago? ... If he felt this strongly, why wasn't he out front when the players' union was stonewalling for years on drug-testing? Why wasn't Jeter leading a fight for his union to adopt a policy that would protect the clean players, not the dirty ones?

When asked whether he regrets not speaking out as strongly in the past, Jeter actually used A-Rod's "young and naive" excuse.
I think when you're younger, in terms of young players coming up, a lot of times when you're around the (union) meetings and things, you're really learning. It's a learning process.
Harper points out that by the time A-Rod says he began using banned substances, Jeter was one of the game's most famous players and had been a part of four World Series champions. But, to hear him tell it, Jeter was still learning his way around the game, too shy to speak up around the veterans.

Jorge Posada believes Rodriguez was genuinely choked up when he paused for more than 30 seconds at the end of his press conference statement. Of course, A-Rod had no trouble thanking his teammates and continuing to speak at the very beginning of his statement. ... Well, Pedro didn't call him Dumbo for nothing.

16 comments:

San Francisco Red Sox Fan said...

Maybe Jeter hasn't spoken out because he was also juicing...I know, it's blasphemy!

nutballgazette said...

First I am a Yankee fan
I hope Jeter was not juicing. I really do not think he was, nor do I think Big Papi was either, But Jeter seems to be in denial on the scope of the problem of Steroids and HGH use in Baseball. At least Big Papi has spoken out about what should be done now. Jeter still will not speak out on that issue.

Unknown said...

I'd be in favor of a salary cap if

a) front offices were totally transparent w/r/t their finances

b) the salary cap was accompanied by a salary floor

c) the cap number was variable, and tied to the overall income of baseball.

That's not going to happen, though.

Benjamin said...

Daily News reporters must get all the fun. Maybe next week they'll do a series on buying pot in Amsterdam and hookers in Rhode Island.

Dr. Jeff said...

After the Torre book A-Rod was worried he would be followed by taunts of "A-Fraud" but I can see Fenway park filled with fans shaking boxes of Tic Tacs... I'll bet that would make Sports Center!

tim said...

Got a wicked non-sequitur here for you L-girl, you lover of the palindromes! Dunno if you've seen this before or if its new, but i thought it was pretty awesome:
"Dammit, I'm Mad" - a 224-word palindrome by Demetri Martin

Jere said...

Hey, any time a Yankee fan uses the "everybody did it" excuse and *assumes* Papi is guilty, I just say, "yeah, you're right, Papi, Jeter, everybody...."

allan said...

If Jeter is on anything, he's buying real shitty stuff, considering all is can do with the bat now is flick little singles to right-center.

But considering that MLB doesn't test for HGH, and there are dozens of other new drugs that will not come up in any test, any player smart enough to use the right stuff can say with pretty much absolute confidence "I'm clean" and not worry about the truth coming out.

That includes Jeter and Ortiz.

Zenslinger said...

pretty much absolute confidence

Don't they keep blood samples to test later on when the ability to detect HGH and other substances is developed?

allan said...

Don't they keep blood samples to test later on when the ability to detect HGH and other substances is developed?

I'm pretty sure they do not.

tim said...

Maybe there's some sort of MFY testicle injecting operation going on where players inject steroids, then take samples of other teammates testicles and inject it into themselves. Giambi's gold thong was to indicate who the samples were coming from?

tim said...

And the photo of the pharmacist in the NYDN article makes her look like she has a 5 o'clock shadow.

Unknown said...

I don't think they do blood samples.

But they do keep urine samples after testing.

nick said...

ah...the golden thong. logical explanation as any, tim. I also saw that palindrome, thanks for spreading it around.

mmm... spreading it around and the golden thong.

laura k said...

Ack, just saw Tim's palindrome now! (I'm still in off-season mode.)

Thanks!!!

laura k said...

Maybe there's some sort of MFY testicle injecting operation going on

I can't believe you guys can type things like that without vomiting.