Someone is not telling the truth here. Imagine that happening in our great game. Last week, free agent second baseman Orlando Hudson told reporters that his agent has been talking contract with four teams: the Nationals, the Dodgers, the Mets—and, of course, the Yankees. The very next day, in response to a question about the pursuit of Manny Ramirez, Brian Cashman told the media that the Yankees have finished signing high-profile free agents this winter. If any additions are to be made between now and the first day of spring training, it will involve non-roster invitees. Obviously, a high profile player like Hudson does not fit into the non-roster category.

Given Cashman’s history of oration, I’m inclined to believe Hudson, whose defensive, energy, and attitude have been highly regarded by the Yankee front office for years now. After all, it was Cashman who proclaimed in 2006 that Bubba Crosby would be the Opening Day center fielder, only weeks before Johnny Damon signed on the dotted line. Earlier this winter, Cashman said that the Yankees’ budget would not allow them to sign three big-ticket free agents like CC Sabathia, Mark Teixeira, and either A.J. Burnett or Derek Lowe. In not so uncertain terms, Cashman considered that possibility a pipe dream. Lo and behold, Sabathia, Tex, and Burnett have all been fitted for pinstripes.

So why would Cashman fib on the matter of Hudson? Two reasons, at least from where I’m standing. Cashman doesn’t want other teams thinking he’s involved in the bidding, just like he didn’t in the pursuit of Teixeira. Better to swoop in at the final minute and get the player at the price you want. And Cashman doesn’t want Robinson Cano thinking that he’s once again on the trade market. That way, if the Yankees explore the market for Cano and find nothing to their liking (like a frontline center fielder), then Cashman won’t have to admit to anyone—including Cano—that he was even considering a trade of his starting second baseman. Considering Cano’s fragile psyche and his tendency to mope when situations degrade around him, that might be smart thinking on Cashman’s part…

(more…)

Baseball Toaster alum Phil Bencomo has launched The Baseball Chronicle, an on-line magazine of baseball storytelling.

Man, am I ever looking forward to this.

Meanwhile, speaking of storytelling:

I’ve never been to Chicago but a few years ago, I had a Chicago-style hot dog.  It may have not been completely authentic but it was unlike anything I’d ever had before—hellacious an wunnerful. 

Of course, I grew up loving the Sabrett dirty water dogs that you get on the streets of New York–mustard, occasionally onions, and that nasty green relish when it was available.

When I was growing up, the old man would take my brother, sister and me out to Nathan’s in Brooklyn every so often to get what he claimed to be the best dog in New York. 

I don’t eat hot dogs too tough anymore–an unfortunate incident at Shea Stadium a few years ago saw to that–but every so often, I’ll get a craving.  So, here’s my question to you:  what’s the best hot dog you’ve ever had?  And where.

Powered by this timely video ….

Here’s the news:

• At the News, Mark Feinsand profiles 19-year-old Jesus Montero, the supposed heir apparent to Posada:

Though there’s been speculation that Montero, a burly, 6-3, 230-pound Venezuelan, might have to switch positions, the Yankees say they are committed to him as a receiver.

“That’s our intention and, more importantly, that’s his intention, too,” said Mark Newman, the Yankees’ vice president of baseball operations. “Right now, he hasn’t shown us anything that tells us he can’t do it. He improved his throw-out percentage last year. He’s a big boy, so he’s got to maintain lower body flexibility, but he’s got very good arm strength and he’s very bright, so he’ll run a game very well.”

“The conventional wisdom might be that he’s too big. But our attitude is that he can do it and we expect him to do it. He’s a catcher and he’s nothing beyond that, at this time.”

Montero, who played in the Futures Game at Yankee Stadium last summer, had a huge season at Charleston, the Yankees’ low-Class A affiliate in 2008, batting .326 with 17 homers and 87 RBI. It was his first full season. Montero likely will move up to high-A Tampa in 2009, Newman said.

• Joba Chamberlain is yet another teammate to support A-Rod:

Even though Rodriguez might have a long process to go through, from the possibility of scorn from his own teammates and fans and insulting chants in opposing ballparks, Chamberlain feels confident he will thrive, baseball-wise. “He’s still going to go out and play the game,” Chamberlain said. “He’s going to be the Alex that we’ve counted on and he’s going to be there for us…. He’s one of the greatest players to ever play, so he’s going to continue to do what he does.”

• Teixeira has thrown his support behind Rodriguez too:

“I know he’s going through a rough time right now, and I think his apology said it all,” Teixeira said. “He’s disappointed in himself, he made a mistake and we’re all going to move on … I’m just going to open up my arms, give him a big hug, tell him I love him and we’re going to get through this.” …

“I’ve never touched steroids or any of those kinds of things — it’s something I feel very strongly about — but at the same time I’ve made mistakes, I’m not perfect, no one’s perfect.”

(more…)

Joe Pos weighs in on Alex Rodriguez in this week’s SI:

A lot of people are tearing at Rodriguez now, raw meat in the lion’s cage, but I don’t feel anger toward him. I don’t feel sorry for him either. I just feel that he’s the emblem of his age. Players can give reasons, but I suspect that there is a two-word explanation for the steroid era: human nature. There was no testing. Authority figures winked. Money was flowing, home runs were flying. Many fans were enthralled; media, too.

More names will come out, of course. In a bizarre irony, the players’ union—Don Fehr and Gene Orza and the lot—which had fought ferociously against drug testing, failed to ensure that the results from a 2003 survey test remained anonymous. So now there are 103 more names from ’03 that, no doubt, will leak out over time. Those players might as well admit they used. Rodriguez has given them cover. There won’t be a bigger name on the list than A-Rod.

Now, there’s one guy I’d love to find: the clean player of the steroid era. I don’t just mean a player who didn’t use—I’m sure there were plenty of those. No, I’d love to find the player who was offered chances to use, the player who understood how much more money and playing time and fame he was giving up. And he still said no.

But Pos wasn’t buying Rodriguez’s taped apology a few days ago:

I thought Alex Rodriguez’s ”apology“ was one of the most absurd shams of recent memory. I thought it was so pathetic that, for the first time, that ”A-Fraud“ moniker finally made some sense to me. As a baseball fan, I wasn’t mad at A-Rod when the steroid story broke. As a baseball fan, I was furious at A-Rod when he and his handlers put together this infomercial apology.* I hope the children weren’t watching THAT.

*And I say this with all respect to interviewer Peter Gammons, who I actually thought handled the interview about as well as he could. Sure, like everyone, you want him to follow up here or question there, and I’m sure Peter has his regrets. But let’s not kid anybody: A-Rod came into this thing as prepped as a presidential candidate, and he was going to say precisely what he was going to say, and I don’t think follow ups would have made much of a difference.

…Look, I never blame anyone for doing what they have to do to minimize damage. But that doesn’t mean anyone should buy it. Do I think Alex Rodriguez is lying? You bet I do. The guy talks about being completely honest and he cannot remember what drugs he used? He doesn’t really know where he got them? He stopped because of some St. Paul like conversion he had with a neck injury in an Arizona bed? That story is so prepackaged it should come with your pack of Ho Hos. And look: I’m a sucker for prepackaged stories, melodramatic movies, sad songs and diamond commercials. I bought the TurboCooker. But I didn’t buy one word of it.

Hey A-Rod … George Hamilton saw you on ESPN, and called to say he wants his suntan back!

Today’s news …

• Torre on A-Rod’s admission:

“I had never really heard anything in connection to him. When you watch his work ethic, the time he puts in at batting practice and in the weight room, I had no reason to question him. He has the most ability of any player I’ve seen,” Torre said through Dodgers spokesman Josh Rawitch. “It’s going to be tough for him but I’m happy that he came out, faced the music and took responsibility for it.”

• Will A-Rod be going to see (Rep. Elijah) Cummings?  Newsday reports that Rodriguez would get an invite to talk to the same folks who grilled McGwire, Palmeiro, et. al, if Rep. Cummings had his way.
• However, SI.com is reporting the head of that Congressional committee doesn’t foresee a need to have Alex in for a chat.
• The Post quotes Joe Girardi saying the Yanks will rally around Alex:

“I think we will rally around him. I think teammates have already started to rally around him,” Girardi said on WFAN this afternoon.

“I kind of look at it as a relationship you kind of have with your kids. Sometimes kids do things you wish they didn’t do, but you don’t stop loving them, you don’t stop caring for them, you don’t stop being their friend or their teammate. And that’s the thing.”

[My take: Every season … the Yanks get to rally around someone who decided to stick a needle in themselves …. Giambi, Pettitte, now A-Rod.  That’s at least one more rally than they had during the 2008 regular season (ba-dum-bum).  And Joe … A-Rod is not a kid … he’s an adult … he absolutely knew what he was doing … the consequences and risks involved … and now the rest of the team has to “suffer the fool” for another nine years.  That’s a heavy burden to carry … I wouldn’t be surprised if some Bombers have already grown resentful of the continuing adventures of A-Rod.]

• PeteAbe of LoHud reports that Chien-Ming Wang feels good and is ready for the season:

Wang said his foot has totally healed and he is ready to go. I asked him about the Yankees adding CC Sabathia and A.J. Burnett.

“Great for us,” he said. “We have a good rotation. I was glad.”

Wang has long resisted the idea of being considered the ace of the staff. Part of it is his personality, part of it is cultural. He defers to older players and always has. The guy is a competitor on the mound but quiet off it. Look for him to have a big year as he tries to make up for missing so much time. He also was relieved not to face another arbitration hearing.

(more…)

Thirty five years ago, baseball fans bided much of their time by obsessing over Hank Aaron’s pursuit of a record once deemed unbreakable—the all-time home run mark owned by Babe Ruth. Although many fans expressed support of Aaron’s continuing run at Ruth’s record, there were also those who clearly did not want him to succeed. As a black man who had started his career with the Indianapolis Clowns of the Negro Leagues, Aaron received numerous pieces of mail from people who resented him because of his race. Some of the letters were downright vicious; others implied or dictated threats on his life.

When people found out about the angry and hateful notes, Aaron started receiving a greater number of positive letters. In 1974, Aaron noted that he had received over 900,000 the previous year; “the overwhelming majority” of the mail supported his quest to overtake Ruth’s record. Still, the negative notes bore watching because of their menacing tone and direct threats of bodily harm.

The FBI began reading and confiscating the negative letters, which could best be characterized as “hate mail.” The bureau began investigating some of the letters, as a way of determining whether real dangers to Aaron’s life existed. The Braves, gravely concerned about Aaron’s safety, hired two off-duty Atlanta police offers to serve as personal bodyguards. Lamar Harris and Calvin Wardlaw would attend each of Aaron’s game from the stands, observing the stands and the playing field area for potential perpetrators. Wardlaw equipped himself with a .38 Smith-Wesson detective special in the event that Aaron faced an immediate threat of violence during the game.

(more…)

Powered by one of my all-time favorite “ESPN Radio” commercials …

Here’s the news (hopefully not “All About Alex”)

• Bill Madden suggests the Yanks just eat the remaining $270+ million left on A-Rod’s contract:

Now that A-Rod’s pursuit looks as counterfeit as Bonds’, they should do what’s best for the organization:

Cut him loose – no matter the cost.

As difficult as it is to imagine eating $270 million, the Bombers will be making a statement, not just for the Yankee brand but for baseball as a whole.

They will be applauded for it.

The Yankees operate under two basic tenets: The relentless pursuit of championships and the fierce protection of their brand. If they are going to remain true to both, then they have no choice but to sever ties with Rodriguez.

[My take: Pass the TUMS …..]

• Mike Lupica has a couple of juicy comments regarding the awkward marriage of Alex and the Yankees:

“The amazing thing about Alex,” an American League manager said Sunday, “isn’t that the Yankees traded for him in the first place. It’s that they re-signed the guy after he walked away from them the way he did.

“Because that means they drank the Kool-Aid twice.”

The same guy then said: “I hear people saying Jeter is probably down in Tampa laughing his a– off because of this drug story about Alex. Are you kidding? Jeter’s crying his a– off, because he knows he’s got to spend the rest of his career playing alongside [Rodriguez].”

• Over at LoHud, PeteAbe thanks Alex for driving a lot of traffic to the site.
• Pete also has actual non-Alex baseball news! (from Brian Cashman):

The Yankees will use Joba Chamberlain as their No. 5 starter from the start of the season. There are no plans to pitch him out of the bullpen. “That is why bringing Andy (Pettitte) back was so important,” Cashman said. …

Cashman said he “absolutely” likes the idea of keeping Xavier Nady and Nick Swisher on the roster. While a trade is possible, there is value in roster flexibility. “Nady can cover us in left and right. Swisher can play first, left, right and center in an emergency. It gives our manager a lot of choices,” Cashman said. …

· There are high hopes for Melky Cabera to reclaim center field. “Melky played well in winter ball and he has to show the competitiveness to put last season behind him,” Cashman said. “The good ones always find a way.”…

(more…)

I bought it. Okay, I wanted to buy it, fair enough, but I thought Alex Rodriguez came off well in his sit down with Peter Gammons. He’s hard to take your eyes off. The guy who always gets it wrong. You want to see how he’ll screw it up this time, whether you are rooting for or against him. The golden boy as New York neurotic.

At first I thought he was wearing too much make up, but then saw that he just had a sunburn on his cheek bones, outlining the shape of where his sunglasses sit. With the camera locked in tight, Rodriguez gave Gammons a lot of direct eye contact, pursed his lips, furrowed his brow as he listened to a question, and was as self-aware as ever. He said the right things, and came across as being sincere more often than not.

Some people might still think he’s being phony. I can relate with that too. There were instances when he didn’t fully cop to what he did, where he side-stepped being direct and detailed. He started taking PEDS because he felt pressure in Texas; what about the pressure he faced when he came to New York?

Rob Neyer nails it over at ESPN:

He’s sorry he got caught. Everyone’s sorry when he’s caught. But you’re really sorry only if you think that what you did was wrong, and I don’t believe that any of these guys really believe they did anything wrong. A different culture five years ago? The culture today is exactly the same as it was five years ago. The only thing that has changed is the penalty for failing a drug test. If you want to know the culture, look no further than the ridiculous percentage of players who have a doctor’s note that allows them to take stimulants (under the guise of controlling their ADHD or whatever).

The culture is exactly what it’s always been: If you ain’t cheating, you’re not trying. And it ain’t cheating if you don’t get caught. Rodriguez tried, and now he’s been caught. The next step is damage control, full of apologies and admissions of youth and stupidity. (And, of course, it’s obvious that he’s now a mature and thoughtful adult.)

Asked whether the steroid use took place only from 2001 through 2003, Rodriguez responded, “That’s pretty accurate, yes.”

Pretty accurate? So maybe there was a little bit in 2000? What about 2004, and maybe just a dabbling in 2007?

Rodriguez also called Selena Roberts a “stalker” several times–a claim that SI has already refuted–and made some accusations about her that he’ll have to account for. He’s really going to be in the soup if he is lying her, that’s for sure.

Who knows if he’s being completely straight? It’s not like he turned into Henry Fonda or anything, but he was better than I expected. Then again, I wanted to like him, so I looked for the good stuff. Like always, there was plenty for everyone.

But as a fan, I won’t have a hard time rooting for him again.

Here is the entire transcript.

(You don’t say…)

When I first heard the news about Alex Rodriguez on Saturday, I sat down to write a blog post to express my initial reaction. I was emotional when I wrote the following:

I’m turned-off by how this story was reported–we’re talking about leaks from confidential documents. Why not release all of the names on the list? Why just Rodriguez? Color me cynical, I respect Selena Roberts as a veteran journalist, but I also know she’s got a book on Rodriguez coming out this summer. You can’t tell me that didn’t play at least a small part in all of this. Has she been sitting on the information waiting for the right moment to drop this bomb? I wish I knew. I don’t mean to discredit the story, but it’s hard to come away from it not feeling dirty.

Looking back, I was too hot to write soberly, and I was wrong to attack Roberts’ professionalism even if I was turned off by the fact that she has a book on Rodriguez coming out later this year. I know enough about the magazine business to know that she doesn’t decide what goes in the magazine and when. Moreover, I suggested that she sacrificed the truth for the sake of her book. If I was writing for a publication an editor would have called me to the mat: prove it. I can’t.

I could have written, “In wake of the fact that she has a book on Rodriguez that will appear in May, I will be interested to learn precisely how long she has had this information and why the story is being released at this time, because when a writer of a story stands to benefit financially through its release, such questions can speak of the veracity of the report.” Or something that that effect which would have been less accusatory, while making the same point.

So I want to apologize to Ms. Roberts for my half-baked critique. In the final analysis, I only made myself look like a fool. I also want to apologize to you, the reader. Because although this is a blog, where we often give a quick, emotional take on things, I am not in the business of character assination. And even when I’m worked-up I go to great lengths to be fair-minded and even-handed.

This whole mess brought out the worst in me too. And I owe to you and to myself to do a better job. I’m far from perfect but not too proud to admit to an error in judgement when I make one.

In an interview today with Peter Gammons of ESPN, Alex Rodriguez fessed up:

“When I arrived in Texas in 2001, I felt an enormous amount of pressure. I needed to perform, and perform at a high level every day,” Rodriguez told ESPN’s Peter Gammons in an interview in Miami Beach, Fla. “Back then, [baseball] was a different culture. It was very loose. I was young, I was stupid, I was naïve. I wanted to prove to everyone I was worth being one of the greatest players of all time.

“I did take a banned substance. For that, I’m very sorry and deeply regretful.”

…”Overall, I felt a tremendous pressure to play, and play really well” in Texas, the New York Yankees third baseman said. “I had just signed this enormous contract I felt like I needed something, a push, without over-investigating what I was taking, to get me to the next level.

“I am sorry for my Texas years. I apologize to the fans of Texas.”

…Rodriguez also said of his 2007 interview with Katie Couric on “60 Minutes,” when he denied ever using steroids, that “at the time, I wasn’t being truthful with myself. How could I be truthful with Katie Couric or CBS?”

Rodriguez is damned if he does and damned if he doesn’t but this is a good first step.

I’ve posted some version of this chart twice before, but now that the Yankees have wrapped up their arbitration cases, I thought I’d update it one last time, adding Andy Pettitte’s new deal and the 2008 dollars spent on LaTroy Hawkins, which I erroneously left out of my previous two bits of accounting.

Note that I’m assuming that Pettitte will achieve all of his bonuses (which he will if he stays off the DL and throws 210 innings). As for Hawkins, the Yankees traded him to the Astros at the trading deadline last year and picked up a “significant portion” of his remaining salary of the deal. In the absence of the specific numbers, I’m assuming they paid all of his $3.75 million salary last year. Most likely the bonuses Pettitte fails to reach (2009 dollars) will be balanced out by the portion of Hawkins’ 2008 salary paid by the Astros (2008  dollars). The chart doesn’t include service-time increases to pre-arbitration players such as Joba Chamberlain and the middle relievers, but those will likely total less than a million dollars.

all costs in millions of dollars; *estimated prorated portion of 2008 salary

So the end result of all of the Yankees’ offseason spending is a roughly $19 million increase in payroll. Of course, the Yankees have hidden that increase by shifting 14 million of the dollars owed to CC Sabathia and Mark Teixeira this year into their signing bonuses, which the club doesn’t count as payroll, but I do (all figures above include any relevant portions of signing bonuses).

Here’s the result of that $19 million increase (ages as of April 15 in parentheses):

• Mark Teixeira (29) replaces Jason Giambi (38)
• CC Sabathia (28) replaces Mike Mussina (40)
• A.J. Burnett (32) replaces Carl Pavano (33)
• Xavier Nady (30) replaces Bobby Abreu (35)
• Nick Swisher (28) replaces Wilson Betemit (27)
• Damaso Marte (34)  replaces Kyle Farnsworth (33)

Not bad at all.

Since this off-season has been such a piece of science fiction, today’s news is brought to you by this:

So it seems this fellow named Alex Rodriguez put something in his body he wasn’t supposed to, and now folks think his performance at his job is tainted … let’s just list every relevant article:

• Jayson Stark thinks this is a huge blow to the legacy of the game:

Who knows what other names are lurking on that list of seized urine samples? Who knows whose career and reputation will be fed through the shredder in the next big scoop? And the next? And the next? …

How could baseball have allowed this to happen to itself? How? Can anyone recall any other sport that has ever committed such an insane act of self-destruction?

What compares to it? The Black Sox? This is worse. Game-fixing in college basketball? This is worse. Nominate any scandal in the history of sports. My vote is that this is worse. It’s not worse because it will cause massive numbers of people to stop watching or caring about baseball. Check the attendance. Check the revenue charts. People will come back. They’ve already come back. The sport, as a business, is doing great. But the sport, as a unique paragon of American culture, is devastated. And that’s forever.

• Howard Bryant writes about the legacy of the would-have-been HOFers, and also about the “leak” of A-Rod’s name:

The debate over the next few days undoubtedly will shift to the leak, to who spoke to Sports Illustrated and why. And why, if the anonymous source had access to the entire list, was Rodriguez the only person named? The legality of the leak should not be underestimated. Someone has compromised the confidentiality of an agreement. But these questions are important, although they aren’t as important as this fact: The full scope of the steroids era is coming into even clearer focus.

Don’t forget that the most important informant in American history — W. Mark Felt, aka Deep Throat — took down a president in part because he didn’t receive the promotion he wanted. Nobody complained then, because the information he leaked was legitimate.

For the same reasons, nobody should complain now.

• Buster Olney laments the opportunity lost through A-Rod’s actions:

Alex Rodriguez was supposed to be the guy who saved baseball, the way that Mark McGwire did in 1998. He was supposed to ride in and save the home run record from the clutches of suspected steroid user Barry Bonds. He was supposed to be the guy who would show that clean players could be just as prolific as the cheaters.

• Olney also wonders how A-Rod will respond publicly to inquiries about this matter:

But there’s one other destination for A-Rod, one more route: Honest and Open. He could talk about everything: what he did, when he did it, why he did, his regrets, his concerns, side effects, the benefits, the costs. This would be something very rarely seen in the steroid era — a time filled with thousands of mistakes by users, by union leaders, by the baseball commissioner and by baseball owners. And yet it’s a time of embarrassingly few specific, sincere admissions. Doing so would be the right thing. That could be part of A-Rod’s legacy as well.

(more…)

Life goes on.

It is uncommonly warm in New York this weekend. Today, it is in the mid-Fifties and people are out on the streets. The snow is melting. And though the cold is sure to return, you can feel the buzz of the springtime in the air.

The Alex Rodriguez news is depressing, though not altogether shocking. It’s another chapter in a continuing saga.  More stars are sure to be exposed, sooner or later.

As I’ve mentioned already, I think the whole thing stinks, and there is plenty of blame to go around.

But it’s not the end of the world. Most of us will continue to watch baseball and follow the game with enthusiasm.  Some of us will turn away and find something else for distraction and entertainment. 

But for what it is worth, it is a beautiful day in New York.  And I intend to enjoy it.

I was on the subway early yesterday afternoon, headed downtown for a late lunch with one of my dad’s old friends. I took out the Daily News from my napsack and gazed at the back cover. Celts beat Knicks; a smaller column on Joba (I’m starting dammit). It was 1:00 pm and the newspaper was already irrelevant, scooped by the 11:00 am SI.com story on Alex Rodriguez and steroids.

Before today’s papers came out, most of the major pundits had filed their two-cents on-line. The news cycle is just too fast for print.

Anyhow, powered by a great, big Oy Veh…

“His legacy, now, is gone,” one Yankees official said of Rodriguez, speaking on condition of anonymity because the organization had no public comment. “He’ll just play it out. Now he’s a worker. Do your job, collect your paycheck and when you’re finished playing, go away. That’s what it is.”

…“If he did it, he’s got to flat-out admit it, like Giambi,” the Yankees official said. “Just come out and say, ‘I did it. I’m sorry. I lied.’”
(Tyler Kepner, New York Times)

I always go back to the numbers.  They are comforting, a self-contained pleasure.  I used to flip through the encyclopedia and now I skip through baseball-reference.com.  I liked to look at Alex Rodriguez’s career numbers.  Talk about stacked!  They left little room for question–this is greatness.  Now, like the numbers for an entire generation, they’ve lost their magic.

I’ve enjoyed rooting for Rodriguez and will most likely continue rooting for the guy. But if these reports are true, I also think he’s a schmuck. What’s the old saying? Don’t do the crime…well, if he did cheat, it’s on him to handle himself like a grown up.

Here are some the reactions from the Bronx Banter comments section yesterday:

Ken Arneson: “And what victories arise are always magical, mysterious, haunting and untrustworthy.”

rbj: “What’s shocking to me is that I’m not shocked, just disappointed. The thing is, it was part of baseball culture at the time, which doesn’t excuse anyone for breaking the law but does spread the blame around, from Selig on down. And while baseball seems to be in the spotlight, I’d like to see some investigative journalism on steroids in football. You can’t tell me all those huge linebackers are 100% natural.

I am bothered that something that was supposed to be anonymous, in order to help clean up the game, has been seized by the federal government and is now getting leaked out. Anyone think the players are ever going to agree to anything like that again?

And Henry Aaron is back to being the all time home run king, natural division.”

Mr OK Jazz TOYKO: “Frankly, people who feel “morally shaken” about the whole issue make me question their priorities..baseball is truly the “beautiful game”, let them all roid up if they want. Mariano is still going to strike you out, A-Rod will still be a great hitter, Ichiro will still be a wizard with the bat…”

Zack: “The notion of the purity of the game is all kind of hogwash int he first place. Greenies,which have a real, documented affect on performance, have been around since pre-Aaron. I would put money on him having used them in fact. Mantle of course did too. That moral ambiguity has long been a major tenet of the game, whether its the spit ball, throwing games, betting on games, greenies, roids, segregation, or whatever.”

Matt Pat11: “I think it almost goes without saying that he’ll handle the situation in the worst possible way imaginable, because he always does.”

Monkeypants: “I love baseball deeply. it is indeed a beautiful game, as noted above. But I really despise this era of the sport more and more, and with each passing year, for a variety of reasons, I find MLB less enjoyable.”

Yankee23: “This doesn’t bother me nearly as much as it should. I was happy with A-Rod’s new contract, excited to see him finish his career in pinstripes. I don’t truly care about 2003 drug tests. Color me cynical, whatever, but there are 104 known positive tests during that season. Sure we only know one name, but these were positive tests from a sample size during that season. The “steroid years” are forever tainted, I’ll agree to that. But now it’s 2009, it’s time to move on. We have stricter tests in place and we’ll still have people testing positive. When will we be satisfied? Will this require daily testing and the outing of the other 103 names?”

joejoejoe: “Baseball aside, it’s very much wrong that grand jury testimony leaks and that test samples that are collectively bargained to be private leak. The health of our judicial process and privacy of records are both far greater issues than who takes steroids but it never seems to come out that way in the sporting press.

You don’t have a right to know what goes on in grand juries or what is in somebody elses confidential medical tests. It’s just voyeurism masked as a crusade for truth.”

williamnyy23: “The irony in this story is that the seizure and leaking of these confidential tests as well as the constant flow of what is supposed to be grand jury testimony is much more harmful to our society than professional athletes experimenting with chemicals.

Instead of leading the lynch mob to string up Alex and find out the other 102 names, I would rather see Selena Roberts and Mr. Epstein arrested and placed in prison until they reveal who illegally leaked to them this information. It’s shameful that our lust to oust baseball players who took steroids is blinding so many to the greater transgressions being perpetrated against our justice system. The bottom line is Roberts and Epstein cheated when they used illegal means to procure a scoop. Condemning Arod and applauding these “journalists” would be hypocrisy to the nth degree.

Aside from their criminal actions, Roberts’ and Epstein’s motives can only be seen as motivated by an agenda because the only name revealed was Arod’s. If the two authors were really interested in performing an investigative piece, why would they only seek information about Arod? I guess when you have a book to sell, all else become irrelevant.”

Rich: “Selena Roberts has a history of writing agenda-ridden stories, but I have little doubt that she and David Epstein have bona fide sources. The person with the primary agenda is the leaker, not the recipient of the leak, although they clearly are a primary beneficiary of it.”

Simone: “Why is the messenger is always attacked? Selena Roberts.has every right to make buck and write her books and articles. This is on Alex. He is the liar and cheat.”

Shaun P: “I, for one, am done with the idea of athletes being “natural”. There is no such thing. They ALL use drugs to manage pain, heal faster, get bigger, do more – whether its steroids or Advil or uppers or insulin or HGH or espresso (caffeine, after all, is a drug) or something we’ve never heard of, there is no such thing as an athlete that doesn’t use SOMETHING “unnatural”. I don’t think there ever was, or if there was, it was an awfully long time ago.

And disappointed is the right word, rbj. That’s exactly how I feel.”

Hungover too. And I didn’t have anything to drink last night.

Bonds. Clemens. Now Rodriguez. These are the names of some of the greatest players of our era. In some ways, it’s just been a matter of time with Rodriguez, hasn’t it? He’s another top dog, a historically great player with an enormous competitive drive to go with his ego. My question is: How long will we have to wait for the others? The other great stars. Historian Glenn Stout hit the nail on the head a few years ago when he wrote:

One has to be not only blind but considerably and willingly dumb to look at the last two decades of major league baseball and not raise an eyebrow at each and every number and achievement, not only of every single player, but of every single team, a point the Mitchell Report underscored. Apart from pushing the use of PEDs on the young, that is the worst aspect of this entire scandal, for just as the one player trying to throw one game calls into question everything that happens in that game, so too does the use of steroids and other PEDs by even a small number of major league players ripple through the game and undercut everything that happens after the umpire calls “Play ball!” The effects of steroids and PEDs on the game are not isolated events, but a like a disease, a long-term condition that affects every second of the patient’s life.

…When historians look back at this era there will be one irrefutable conclusion; it all stinks. Every number, every stat and every place in the game is suspect and tainted, artificial and enhanced. Since we cannot now and never will be able to state with any certainty who used what and who didn’t, how much and for how long, no player and no team comes out of this era pure. The implications of that are no more pleasant locally than they are in Oakland, New York or anywhere else, for just as the Canseco’s MVP award and McGwire’s and then Bond’s home run records are suspect, so too are the performances of those teams with those players in their lineups. And as the Mitchell Report told us, no team during this era was unaffected. There was a Jose Canseco on the field for every team in every inning of every game for most of two decades. Therefore the A’s 1988 pennant with Canseco in the lineup is as spurious as the Yankees four world championships in five seasons from 1996-2000, and – it pains me for m y Boston friends – as Boston’s two long-awaited championships in 2004 and 2007.

It is also personal. As an occasional writer of baseball history I do not look forward to a time in the future when I have to write about this era. And I am somewhat embarrassed by the way I have written about it in the past. Although I wrote about steroids in the pages of this magazine in 1998, my books barely mention PEDs and hardly consider their impact. Were I to re-write them today, armed with what we now know of the era, my recounting of the last twenty years would be radically different.

There’s so much to be disppointed in here, and it starts at the top with Bud Selig and the union and the owners and the players for allowing thier collective avarice and self-absorbtion to get out of control. I’m turned-off by how this story was reported–we’re talking about leaks from confidential documents. Why not release all of the names on the list? Why just Rodriguez? Color me cynical, I respect Selena Roberts as a veteran journalist, but I also know she’s got a book on Rodriguez coming out this summer. You can’t tell me that didn’t play at least a small part in all of this. Has she been sitting on the information waiting for the right moment to drop this bomb? I wish I knew. I don’t mean to discredit the story, but it’s hard to come away from it not feeling dirty.

It will be fascinating to see how Rodriguez handles himself in the coming days and weeks. The Torre flap is now meaningless, trivial. So will Rodriguez take the fight to these accusations or will be come clean, if in fact he’s guilty? I suspect he’ll deny everything. For a guy who seems to have two left feet when it comes to public relations, Rodriguez could potentially come out of this looking good if he copped to using PEDS in a way that satisfies our lust. The public craves blood but we are suckers for forgiveness. We love illusion but demand authenticity.

I’m left feeling that this is all one big, fat, ugly mess. On one hand it has ruined the game for many fans. It spoils the precious numbers that we use to evaluate our heroes. It reveals the players to be human, frail and weak, far from the kind of guys you’d want to have lunch with nevermind worshipping as role models.

At the same time, the game is thriving; attendance is up, and the game is viewed as a success–big time entertainment, ethics be damned. Baseball’s drug years forces us to either quit the game, to reject the culture of enhancement and cheating and find something else to enjoy, or accept the moral ambiguity that is part and parcel of the show and still root-root-root for the home team.

Never a dull moment, eh?

According to a report in SI.com, Alex Rodriguez tested positive for steroids in 2003.

Well, this takes care of Rodriguez having to worry about answering questions about the Torre book.

Since its Saturday morning … this post is powered by a cartoon.  Not just any cartoon mind you … but perhaps the cleverest, “works on multiple levels” cartoon of the past 15 years (excepting “The Simpsons”, of course).

(And yes, its part 2 of 2 … I can’t find part 1 … but its still worth it).

Ladies and gentlemen …. I give you “The Powerpuff Girls” in “Meet The Beat Alls”

• Leading off …. here is a Boston-based book review of our favorite new tome:

Torre and Verducci spend much of the book chronicling the rise of the Red Sox and fall of the Yankees, and note that “Athens would prevail over Sparta at last.” The authors rightly contend that the shift in the balance of power between the teams was the result of bad decisions by Cashman and extraordinarily sound ones by Red Sox GM Theo Epstein. …

Those not deterred by its length will find “The Yankee Years” an insightful and non-hagiographic look at a legendary manager and team during one of baseball’s most transformational eras.

• The Post’s Joel Sherman gazes into the future of Derek Jeter’s next contract … and shudders:

But know this – Yankee officials already talk privately about dreading D(erek)-Day.

After all, what team official wants to tell Jeter he has to take a pay cut or has to move positions or – gulp – just has to move on? How would you like that on your baseball epitaph: You were the Yankee executive who told Derek Jeter thanks for the memories? Derek Jeter

Of course, the alternative is not too appetizing either. Because kowtowing to Jeter’s legacy by paying him lavishly and keeping him at short means tying yourself to a late-30s icon well beyond his expiration date.

As if the matter needs complications, Jeter will conclude his current 10-year, $189 million contract on the doorstep of 3,000 hits, a total never reached by a Yankee.

And, really, do we need complications? He is Derek Freaking Jeter. He is the very definition of Yankee. How do you explain being tied to Alex Rodriguez for 10 years, but cutting relationships with Jeter?

[My take: Has any reporter even approached Jeter with the question of whether he’d be willing to switch positions, try CF, if the team asked him to/needed him to?  Maybe Jeter’s performance in ’09 and ’10 will be poor enough that the public outcry over letting him go will be softened a bit?  (Admittedly, that would probably mean the Yanks miss the playoffs those years.) Perhaps he’d like to rejoin Torre with the Dodgers in 2011?]

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I’ve been reading Charles Pierce’s collection of sports stories, Sports Guy. I think Pierce is a terrific writer, with a fierce, half-crazed intelligence, that sets him apart from his peers. He’s especially good on basketball, but here’s a story that might be of some interest around these parts…direct from the SI Vault, a piece about two sports moms, including Brien Taylor’s ma:

Brien grew up long and lean, and the neighbors were amazed by how he could throw a stone and knock a bat out of midair. Soon, he was pitching for East Carteret, the school his mother had helped integrate, and his fastball was being clocked at 97 miles per hour. Scouts began to come to North River. By his senior year, Brien Taylor was 9-2 with an ERA of 0.92, and the feeling was that he would be picked first in the major league draft by the Yankees. The Taylors were all Yankee fans, as were many others in Beaufort, a fluke of fan demography caused first by an atmospheric glitch that allowed the old-timers to hear radio broadcasts of ball games from New York and second by the fact that Babe Ruth used to come down to Beaufort to hunt birds. His picture hangs in a number of the old hunting shacks that are still occupied deep in the scrub woods up behind the town. It was a very big thing to have Brien Taylor drafted by the Yankees last June.

The Taylors knew that Brien was going to need advice in dealing with his new employers, so they enlisted the aid of a Los Angeles-based attorney named Scott Boras. It was Boras who had wrung the Van Poppel contract out of Oakland, largely by threatening to have the pitcher go to college, which would have cost the A’s their rights to him. Boras instructed Bettie about the intricacies of the sports business, and he found a bright and apt student. “By the time the Yankees came down here,” Boras says, “she was ready with all the questions.”

New York first offered Brien $300,000, then $650,000. The family thought it over, consulted with Boras and turned the deals down flat. Baseball, which was once again trying to rein in salaries, was agog. Bettie was adamant. She knew what Van Poppel had gotten, and she knew what was fair. If the Yankees didn’t want to give Brien what was fair, then he would go pitch at Louisburg College, near Raleigh. The Yankees fumed. Newsday’s Tom Verducci, expressing an attitude widely held in baseball, ridiculed the notion of Brien as a student. This got Bettie even angrier. People seemed to assume that the threat of college was less credible coming from a poor black kid like Brien than from a suburban white kid like Van Poppel. She called on those same reserves that had gotten her through the doors at East Carteret on that first day of school.

“When somebody tells me I can’t do something,” she says, “it makes me want to do it all the more. Push me against the wall, and you’ve got a battle on your hands. O.K., so I looked like the bad guy, but I wasn’t going to do what they wanted just so I wouldn’t look like the bad guy.”

“Flowers” was the first cassette I owned as a kid. The first two tapes my mom ever bought for me were “Let it Bleed” and “Are You Experienced?” A good start, eh?

Powered by quite possibly the greatest three minutes in WKRP (and perhaps all of sitcom) history …

WKRP in Cincinnati: Thanksgiving Turkey Bomb! @ Yahoo! Video

• OK … I’m guilty of having been …. ummm …. overly optimistic … regarding the able-bodied viability of Ben Sheets as an answer to the Yanks need for a fifth starter. He’s probably gonna have elbow surgery.

[My take: And he was pushing for a two-year deal during the off-season?]

• The Bombers offered Andruw Jones an NRI to Spring Training, and he turned them down, reports SI.
• Derek Jeter will be facing his Yankee teammates, as a member of the US WBC team, in a March 3rd exhibition.

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