2013 MLB Thread

[Stommped]

They better get these fucking suspensions done on Monday, this is ridiculous. The longer they wait the more they risk adversely affecting the post season. Most notably I think that's Detroit with Peralta and Oakland with Colon (Am I missing anyone else?). Teams have roughly 51-53 games left on Monday so if it isn't done the suspension is guaranteed to bleed into the post season games. Now I'm not sure if those teams will even risk using those players in the playoffs after 2 months off or so, but I can't see having a Peralta on the bench or Colon in the bullpen as too harmful. Iglesias might even be better than Peralta right now, but still you never know when injury will strike or if you just want to use as a PH late in a game.

[draynay]

I'm sick of hearing crying about suspension timing being unfair, people cheat, they get suspended, teams are not entitled to get them back for the postseason, they're lucky if they do.

[koodledrum]

It won't affect Colon - he's already been suspended over PED's which it's assumed was stemming from the biogenesis investigation, similarly Melky Cabrera having already been busted last year atleast that's what the early reports have been saying for the past couple of months. I agree that it's been a joke though, might be a bit crude, but it's time to shit or get off the pot, it's been dragging on for 8+ months now and is nothing short of a media circus at this point with the league bargaining with the players etc, where I come from the authority figure put their authority across. In this case MLB seems to be going too softly softly over it, if the evidence is so overwhelming then go ahead, get on with it and let arbitration deal with it. The only good thing to come from it is that it seems to have given Alex Rodriguez more than enough rope to hang himself since his team went looking for talks with the league on Friday and they told him to get lost - no doubt in response to his "thinly veiled" criticism of MLB & the Yankees front office.

Speaking of him, he managed to get team mate Slade Heathcot beaned at Trenton following his blast, Rodriguez decided to admire his efforts before rounding the bases so the next player up got drilled - he just can't help being cunt of the century regardless of where he is!

[draynay]

I'll be honest, I haven't gotten caught up too much in the story, but a 30-7 run and no players implicated can do that for you.

It is possible that, after seeing every NFL player suspension related to bounties overturned on appeal, they are being extra careful to not find themselves similarly emasculated by an exceptionally powerful union.

[koodledrum]

I think any hope of that was shot down when Michael Weiner essentially said that they'll back borderline cases, but in cases where it was obvious they'd basically refuse to support them - that was the union basically saying "ok, we've had enough of this shit and if we continue to back users we're going to look as up to our eyes in this mess as it gets". (Although I suspect a lot of that is down to the MLBPA feeling like prize pricks over Braun!) Speaking as a fan of a club deeply implicated in it it's been kinda hard to avoid when the blogs are basically saturated with it & the resulting drama over Alex Rodriguez - hell we've got a second player implicated (Cervelli) and there's not been a damn word about him purely Arod.

Incidentally, what about the catch Shuck made the other night to rob Bautista of a homer, granted he didn't go over the highest wall in the game, but he still bundled over there & held on.

[belfpala]

Incidentally, what about the catch Shuck made the other night to rob Bautista of a homer, granted he didn't go over the highest wall in the game, but he still bundled over there & held on.

That was a very nice catch, in any situation. Bonus points for kicking the fan in the chest on his way out.

[conscript]

I'll be honest, I haven't gotten caught up too much in the story, but a 30-7 run and no players implicated can do that for you.

It is possible that, after seeing every NFL player suspension related to bounties overturned on appeal, they are being extra careful to not find themselves similarly emasculated by an exceptionally powerful union.

The union has actually been encouraging all of these guys to roll over and take the bargains. They will fight for some stuff like Aroids lifetime ban but for the most part the union and Selig have been on the same page with these suspensions. Pretty hilarious that A-Rod thinks he can fight this when even the union is saying he is screwed along with the rest of them. Love his comments about how every player including him wants drugs or of the game. Like anyone is delusional enough to believe a word from his mouth beside himself.

[VanillaO]

The look on Bautista's face was priceless... total disbelief. I like the Jays and all, but that guy's attitude pisses me off sometimes.

[Rennadrel]

I'd be surprised if Cabrera gets suspended again. Not only is he on the IR right now, he was already suspended once for steroid use.

[conscript]

I'd be surprised if Cabrera gets suspended again. Not only is he on the IR right now, he was already suspended once for steroid use.

Melky should still be suspended for pulling that website bullshit. Selig should have went after him for violating the CBA, not just the drug use policy.

[draynay]

I want Melky to play more, now that Toronto wasted $16 mil on him to revert to his 2010 sub-.700 OPS numbers, its amusing to see him make more money than he did while juicing to put up such a horrendous performance.

[conscript]

Looks like everyone has agreed to their suspensions and they should be announced soonish. Oh ya, everyone but A-Rod. A-Rod's suspension would be 214 games as of right now. Since he can play through it, I wonder if there is a chance that he will end up missing a significant portion of 2015 as well by delaying the remainder of this seasons suspension.

[draynay]

13 players, all 50 games I believe

they got Cruz, Everth Cabrera, Peralta, and more - basically all the people that were expected minus Rodriguez which I guess they're still working on

[Stommped]

Arod will be suspended through the 2014 season today at 3 ET per TJ Quinn. He will be allowed to play after appealing, so we'll get to see him tonight in Chicago

[draynay]

Yea the A-Rod ban is in now, I'm glad they didn't go nuts and try to lifetime ban him, lifetime bans are ridiculous

[Dabrix32]

Its more fun to say 211 games.

[Stommped]

Financially it makes total sense for A Rod to appeal. He makes 29M this season, 26M next season, and then 22, 22, 21. Even if he doesn't get any games chopped off the sentence, he makes more money the longer he can push it back.

[koodledrum]

I believe that's the hammer well and truly dropped, about fucking time! Arod can play and he is in Chicago tonight, but something tells me it'll be a cold day in hell before he suits up for the Yankees again, after his ill judged comments I doubt there's anyone in the Yankees organisation that wants anything to do with him now and if I were one of his team mates I'd be wanting his ass banned from the clubhouse. He'll hear a lot of the "right" noises from the clubhouse about his team mates having his back, but that's professionalism, you want to believe guys like Mo & Jeter simply want rid of the bum but they can't exactly say that in a public forum.

To be fair I think MLB & MLBPA have to make a more serious stand now and up the penalties for PED's, lets be blunt here, it's clear that 50/100/life is no longer a deterrent to players, it should be 162/324/life with clubs able to restructure contracts based on PED suspensions, lets be honest here, Arod's gonna bitch and moan about being out for 211 games. Problem is he'll bitch and moan knowing he's owed a basic salary of $65m when his suspension is done plus bonuses - hell for 18 months you're damn right I'll sit on my ass knowing that I'm going to still be guaranteed to be in line for $65m, know what, there's a fair chance I won't even be sorry cos well, who needs to be when you're getting that. (over and above the $200m+ he's already raked in - hell that'll buy a lot of distractions to drown out the vitriol)

He was already the most hated man in baseball by a long way - hell even Barry Bonds wasn't as close to being disliked that much - this just puts the cherry on top.

[draynay]

To be fair I think MLB & MLBPA have to make a more serious stand now and up the penalties for PED's, lets be blunt here, it's clear that 50/100/life is no longer a deterrent to players, it should be 162/324/life with clubs able to restructure contracts based on PED suspensions

The problem is less the suspension length than the team attitude, they absolutely SHOULD NOT be able to restructure contracts, that will only encourage them to overpay cheaters and be covered if they get caught, the clubs need to be held accountable as much as the players. When teams stop giving big contracts to suspension risks is when the drug program will be effective.

This is why I was complaining about Melky, he got busted and Toronto still gave him the biggest contract of his career. Now they get to pay $8 million a year to a replacement level player, this is the lesson teams need to learn, don't be idiots and give big contracts to obvious flash-in-the-pan PED abusers who are going to badly regress after they stop using to avoid bigger suspensions.

They could institute lengthier suspensions without pay or fines if they want to make an immediate impact on the player's checkbook. Buck Showalter was commenting on it too, how the Yankees would love to get that dead money to Rodriguez off the books and get under the luxury tax, they shouldn't get the chance, they foolishly paid, they get to live with it. Besides, if they tried to void or limit contracts the union would eat Selig alive.

[Masqerader]

Anyone who appeals just makes the game and its players look worse.