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Home > Jeff Schultz > Archives > 2009 > February > 10
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
MLB players, owners should come clean
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
And now for the Tuesday Countdown:
10 - Tom Hicks: What an absolute tool.
9 - The biggest problem with baseball’s steroid era is the complete lack of responsibility anybody wants to accept — starting with the owners. Have you read the comments from the Texas Rangers’ owner? He says he feels “personally betrayed” by Rodriguez and addresses the “hypocrisy” of the player, given conversations the two had about being a role model.
First of all, this is the same goofball who complained about baseball’s spiraling salaries and then gave A-Rod a record $252 million contract. Hicks is the captain of the Good Ship Hypocrite. Secondly, we already have at least one former Rangers’ official, conditioning coach Fernando Montes, who says he suspected Rodriguez of steroid use in 2003 and told that to Jon Daniels, then in the personnel department. Are we to believe that news didn’t travel up the Rangers’ office flow chart?
8 - Hicks says he wants A-Rod to personally apologize to him. Try again. Hicks and every other owner should apologize for turning a blind eye to steroid use because they were more interested in selling tickets, souvenir jerseys and corporate sponsorships. We all want the athletes to come clean. It’s about time the owners come clean.
7 - I’m assuming nobody at ESPN will go on a similar rant that criticizes baseball. The last time that happened, Scott Van Pelt got suspended. As first reported by Deadspin, Van Pelt was suspended from his radio show for criticizing commissioner Bud Selig about his $18.5 million salary. There’s nothing new about somebody taking a shot at Selig, except that ESPN and baseball are partners and, well, the network also knows something about hypocrisy. Stay tuned next week when Van Pelt returns with a glowing profile on Tom Hicks.
6 - So I’m watching Obama’s press conference last night when somebody asks the President what he thinks of A-Rod’s drug admission. Just wondering: Has anybody ever asked Selig what he thinks of the economy or Iraq, because I’m sure it would be great theater.
5 - Just for the record: If Jamal Anderson really had a cocaine problem, he’d be thinner.
4 - If the Hawks are trying to hide the news of a potential ticket price increase for next season, they could not have done it more awkwardly. They announced that anybody purchasing season tickets for next season by April 1 will not see a price increase from this season. But the team didn’t say what will happen after April 1. Probably depends on the Belkin trial.
3 - It wouldn’t surprise me if Tom Glavine views the reported less than $2 million guarantee offer from the Braves as low-balling by Frank Wren. And he might be right. But that said, Glavine might want to remember what’s most important to him at this stage of his career: 1) Pitching in Atlanta; 2) Coming back from injury in a relatively low-pressure situation as the fifth starter. He should take it.
2 - BetUS.com is running odds on the most likely players outed in the 2003 steroid report. There are no Braves listed - but there is an ex-Brave (then-Ranger): Mark Teixeira at 3-1. The rest of the list: Carlos Pena (3-1) Adam Dunn (4-1), Carlos Delgado (5-1), Lance Berkman (5-1), Manny Ramirez (5-1), Jim Edmonds (5-1), Albert Pujols (8-1), David Ortiz (8-1), Ryan Howard (8-1), Adrian Beltre (8-1), Jim Thome (8-1), Vladimir Guerrero (8-1) and Prince Fielder (10-1).
1 - So far none of the other 103 players who tested positive have stepped into the light for a public cleansing. Let’s give it a few more minutes.
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