Showing posts with label New York Yankees. Show all posts
Showing posts with label New York Yankees. Show all posts

Thursday, December 13, 2007

Live Bloggin the Mitchell Report

The day has come, and we are only hours away from the release of the Mitchell Report. but already information and names have been leaked to the press.

[UPDATES ON TOP]

Fehr has been more timid than I expected, though he is certainly upset about not getting a preview of the report before it went public.
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MLBPA press conference has just begun with Executive Direction Donald Fehr
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There is another list of players over at ESPN that includes the pages that the players appear on.
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Roger Clemens attorney has spoken on Clemens behalf and denied any use of PEDs. Pettitte's agent says he will not comment until conferring with the players union
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Decisions regarding disciplining players and staff mentioned in the report will be made on a case by case situation.
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Selig: will immediately enact any of the Mitchell Reports recommendations that is in his control
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ESPN is streaming MLB Commissioner Bud Selig's Press Conference.
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The phrase of the moment is "circumstantial evidence". Legal minds are taking a detailed look, and in many cases it seems as if the evidence may not hold up against the union if any actions were taken.
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Considering that increased growth of the skull is a side-effect of steroids abuse, all these "Fat Head" commercials that are airing at each and every ESPN break seems oddly
poignant.
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The one good thing that steroids did to the world, it kept Disney from making a movie out of the feel good story that was Rick Ankiel.

I'm gonna get a little more into this report before the press conference at 4:30. Although I don't expect there to be much said by the leauge. Overall Selig has to feel alright about how the report shaped up. It is definitely critical of the league, but more so of the players union.

Mitchell does take Selig to task on ignoring the issue of steroids prior to 1998, referencing hundreds of articles that speculated at the use of steroids in baseball when Selig claimed the leauge did not know it was a probably.
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Bud Selig will have his press conference in less than 1 hour at 4:30 EST.
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My quick count looks to be a little high. It's looks to be just a couple players short of 80.
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I'm still getting over the absolute shock of the report, and trying to read in a little more detail. I've got to admit that coming in, while I was expecting big results (otherwise I wouldn't of had a live blog from early this morning), but I was not expecting this. This is huge.
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Deadspin is also in the process of breaking down this massive report. They have a list up, just in case I missed someone.
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Over 80 Players named in Mitchell Report
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It is very important to remember that these are just the players listed in the report as being linked to performance enhancing drugs. They in no way have been found guilty, there has only been evidence that links them, in most cases, to purchasing PEDs.

PLAYERS NAMED IN REPORT
  • PAUL LO DUCA
  • BOBBY ESTALALLA
  • ADAM RIGGS
  • BART MIADICH
  • FERNADO VINA
  • KEVIN BROWN
  • ERIC GANGE
  • MIKE BELL
  • MATT HERGES
  • GARY BENNETT JR
  • JIM PARQUE
  • RENDAN NONNELLY
  • CHAN ALLEN
  • JEFF WILLIAMS
  • HOWIE CLARK
  • XAVIER LOGAN
  • DAVID JUSTICE
  • FP SANTANGELO
  • GLEN ALLEN HILL
  • MO VAUGHN
  • RON VILLONE
  • RYAN FRANKLIN
  • CHRIS DONNELS
  • TODD WILLIAMS
  • PHIL HIATT
  • TODD PRATT
  • KEVIN YOUNG
  • MIKE LANSING
  • CODY MCKAY
  • KENT NERCKER
  • ADAM PIATT
  • MIGUEL TEJADA
  • JASON CHRISTIANSEN
  • MIKE STANTON
  • STEPHEN PANDOLPH
  • MARVIN BENARD
  • BARRY BONDS
  • JASON GIAMBI
  • JEREMY GIAMBI
  • BENITIO SANTIAGO
  • GARRY SHEFFIELD
  • RANDY VELARDE
  • LENNY DYKSTRA
  • DAVID SEGUI
  • LARRY BIGBIE
  • BRIAN REOBERTS
  • CHUCK KNOBLAUCH
  • JACK CUST
  • TIME LAKER
  • JASIAS MANZANILLO
  • TODD HUNDLEY
  • HAL MORRIS
  • MATT FRANCO
  • RONDELL WHITE
  • ROGER CLEMENS
  • RICK ANKIEL
  • DAVID BELL
  • PAUL BYRD
  • JOSE CANSECO
  • JAY GIBBONS
  • TROY GLAUS
  • JASON GRIMSLEY
  • JOSE GUILLEN
  • JERRY HAIRSTON JR
  • DARREN HOLMES
  • GARRY MATTHEWS JR
  • JOHN ROCKER
  • SCOTT SCHOENEWEIS
  • ISMAEL VALDEZ
  • MATT WILLIAMS
  • STEVE WOODARD
BARRY BONDS NAMED IN MITCHELL REPORT
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MITCHELL: 1/2 players named in report no longer in baseball
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VERIFIED NAMES: RICKEY BONES, MANNY ALEXANDER, ALEX CABRERA, JUAN GONZALEZ,LUIZ PEREZ, KEN CAMINITI
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MITCHELL: Asks Commissioner to forgo punishing players listed in the report
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MITCHELL: Players tipped off to unannounced drug testing
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MITCHELL: Each club has at least one player involved in taking illegal substances
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VERIFIED - FORMER RED SOX MANNY ALEXANDER NAMED IN REPORT
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Between 5-7% tested positive for steroids
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SI has the full report available online in PDF format, it's 409 pages long.
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MLB had 3 days to review the Mitchell Report and made NO CHANGES to the report.
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ESPN is streaming Mitchell's press conference, as is MLB.com
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VERIFIED - PAUL LO DUCA IS NAMED IN THE MITCHELL REPORT
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VERIFIED - ROGER CLEMENS IS NAMED IN THE MITCHELL REPORT
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Reports are being handed out right now, and they should hopefully openly be available any minute.
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SI.com's Jon Heyman is now reporting that, as EFotG speculated earlier, Miguel Tejada is infact named in the Mitchell Report.
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We are now sitting about 1/2 an hour away from the release. It is expected to be over 300 pages and available online, so get out those reading glasses.
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Through this whole ordeal with Kirk Radomski, the Mets Clubhouse boy, many have brought up the fact that just because he's cashed a check from a player does not mean it was for steroids, players tip the clubhouse boys often. ESPN analyst and former player John Kruk says he gave a clubhouse boy $14,000. Man, I'm in the wrong business.
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Things have seemed to settle down as we approach the 2pm release. ESPN will officially begin it's coverage of the Mitchell Report in 15 minutes, although really it's been the story all morning.

Also lately it seems like more at more analysts are referring to the amount of players as "several dozen", which is significantly down from the 60-80 earlier reported.
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ESPNews just stated that they will not report on the list that is out there, presumably the Deadspin list, which is turning up all around now. According to ESPNews MLB is denying the authenticity of this list.
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According to George Mitchell most of the information from this report comes from former Met's clubhouse boy Kirk Radomski who acted as a steroid supplier. From this can we assume that many of those named in this list will be from the National League. Well, so far, that does not look to be the case, but it's something to keep in mind.
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A memo from the players union to all players suggests that they should not respond to any questions regarding the Mitchell Report today. Probably a good call with a report of this magnitude. It's going to take days before this report can be adequately assimilated.
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Deadspin has received a list of players that are supposedly in the Mitchell Report. There's really nothing to substantiate this list, but it's certainly interesting.
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ESPN.com will be streaming both press-conferences at 2pm and 4:30pm EST. When those become active, EFotG will have the link.
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Alex Rodriguez has finalized his agreement with the New York Yankees. There is absolutely nothing to tie this to the investigation, but it's certainly interesting timing. And don't forget that early speculation has at least several prominent Yankee's being named.
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Clemens is obviously the big name that was leaked early, but another prominent Yankee's pitcher, Andy Pettitte was also provided to the investigation by personal trainer Brian McNamee. Unlike Clemens, I have never heard Pettitte's name brought up in steroids speculation.
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The biggest news so far broke only minutes ago, with ESPN reporting that Yankee's star pitcher Roger Clemens will be named in the report. This may very well be the biggest name in the report, because really, how much bigger can you get than Clemens?

In a weird way, this actually lends some credibility to Jose Canseco and his book Juiced. Many wrote off Juiced as an attempt to cash in on the controversy. But with Canseco conjecturing Clemens as a user and this early report tying him to report, maybe Juiced is worth a little more than we originally thought.

Tuesday, December 4, 2007

Tuesday Morning Headlines: 12/04/07

- Yankees self imposed deadline on Johan Santana deal passes. Something tells me Hank Steinbrenner is a pain to play fantasy sports with.

- It came down to the wire, but the Patriots remain perfect, defeating the Ravens on a last minute touchdown drive.

- Baseball Hall of Fame announced this years inductees from the executives/pioneers category. Barney Dreyfuss Pittsburgh Pirates owner from 1900-1932 and creator of the World Series finally got in.

- You have to respect the good people of Brooklyn that can hold a grudge for over 50 years.

- Pittsburgh Penguins beat the Phoenix Coyotes 3-1

- 76ers are firing GM Billy King and pillaging NJ Nets GM Ed Stefanski.

- Riley Cote becomes the 5th Philadelphia Flyers player suspended this season. Gary Bettman sits them down and explains that they can't act like this, Santa is watching after all.

- The Dolphins lost again. Sure it's yesterday's news, but the Sun Sentinel has the greatest headline of the day "Dolphins Start to Question Team's Effort". And in the World News section "Pakistanis Begin To Suspect Perez Musharraf Is Not Really All That Nice".

Thursday, November 15, 2007

A-Rod and Yankees agree on 10 year $275 deal

Alex Rodriguez and the New York Yankees have agreed on the outline of a 10 year $275 million contract.

After three weeks of intrigue and mystery, well, it kind of looks like we are right back at where we started. A-Rod sat with 3 years left on his contract at $27 million a year. Of course Rodriguez and agent Scott Boras announced during the deciding game of the World Series that he would opt out of the deal. It was widely viewed as an attempt to one-up the Series, something both Rodriguez and Boras denied. And I sort of believe them, timing has always been a problem for A-Rod, you only need to see him in a playoff game to see that.

The Yankees promised that if he opted out of the deal, a contract that was still being paid for in part by the Texas Rangers, that they wouldn't negotiate. Boras speculated that Rodriguez would be worth as much as a billion dollars to whichever franchise put up the money for a 10-year $350 million deal. But in the end, there wasn't really anywhere else for A-Rod to go. The Yankees and Alex Rodriguez were made for each other. Without the deep pockets of the Yankees in the bidding it didn't look possible for A-Rod and Boras to get what they wanted from another franchise. And when it comes down to it, love them or hate them, the New York Yankees will do whatever it takes to put the most talented players on the field.

In the end, it's a little unclear who came out on top of the new deal. The Yankees cracked after vowing to not negoiate with A-Rod if he opted out, and in turn Rodriguez's deal looks to be about $80 million less than what he and Boras were looking for. More than anything, it just looks like both sides realized they were stuck with each other, and attempted to save face. So A-Rod will continue to cash colossal checks and the Yankees will have perhaps the greatest player in the game on the field.

Tuesday, October 9, 2007

An Era Is Over In New York, And I'm Supposed To Feel Sorry About It?

In all likelihood an era died last night in New York. Torre is probably out, Clemens is probably done, A-Rod may opt out of his contract in search of bigger bucks, Pettitte may be gone, and so may Rivera and Posada. The Yankees are imploding, and somehow, I'm supposed to feel sorry about it.

Worst of all, a little piece of me does.

It doesn't make any sense. The Yankees are evil, this I know. They throw millions and millions of dollars around, luring in talented free agents. They've won 26 World Series, with 4 of those coming from the Torre dynasty. They have an army of out-of-town "fans" that don't know a slider from a curve ball.

I'm probably just feeling nostalgic about the drama they create. Love them or hate them, the Yankees make sports interesting. Something I suppose is a lot easier to admit when they haven't preformed in the playoffs for the past 6 years.

But even if Torre's shown the door and the all-star line up is torn apart this offseason, George Steinbrenner is still George Steinbrenner. I'm sure it won't take long. They'll hire, or most likely promote, a manager. They'll sign a new class of superstars. They'll create more outrageous storylines.

And then I can go back to despising them with every fiber of my being.