You mean like Manny Alexander and Alex Cabrera? Those huge guys? We have over a hundred players who there is reason to believe likely took something extra and they came in all shapes and sizes. Some of hit a lot of home-runs, some barely hit any, and a great deal of them were pitchers. To believe that you can tell the likelihood of someone taking steroids from just looking at pictures of them is ridiculously naive, and to punish a player based on that belief is asinine. It is certainly possible Bagwell took steroids, but there isn’t really any evidence to say that it is more likely he did than say a Roberto Alomar or Barry Larkin,
At any rate the point wasn’t really about Bagwell, but rather how different the response has been to steroid suspicion depending on who the player was.. For some people like Barry Bonds, the consensus is that they are a the devil incarnate, while others like Andy Pettitte get a collective sigh. It is pretty clear that the level of guilt or evidence is not the main indicator of the national response.
How many 30+ home run hitters associated with p.e.d. use weren’t heavily muscled? That’s why Braun doesn’t fit in. Of course, maybe he’s doing it wrong.
Racism? I wouldn’t be so quick to toss around words like naive and asinine.
The Braun case reminds me of the cyclist Floyd Landis, obviously a guy without cartoonish muscles. He tested with a high ratio and the second sample tested positive for synthetic testosterone. That was right after he had an incredible day on the Tour de France.
Perhaps Braun had just been tested and thought he could get away with doping during the playoffs. So is synthetic testosterone that effective, that quickly. It sure seemed to be in the Landis case.
I agree that some suspected PED users have been treated differently than others, but just remember than Bonds was largely considered a serious jerk before the scandal hit. For him it was just compounded, and the way he handled it made it much worse.
The list of players with steroid suspensions looks to contain just as many skinny dudes like Guillermo Mota and Neifi Perez as muscular long-ball dudes. And just as many pitchers as hitters. The whole era should be under a dark cloud, not just guys who hit home runs.
Speaking of dark clouds: worry not, Mets fans, about losing Reyes, the team is talking to Jack Wilson and Ronny Cedeno! Excelsior!
Stories are starting to emerge that the Blue Jays won the bidding for Yu Darvish.
While this would be a thrill - Darvish is the real deal - I don’t understand how you could get a tip on this, so I think it’s just wishful thinking. The posting process is a sealed bid process, with no negotiation. There’s no source to get the inside scoop from.
I love Darvish, but if the Jays put up enough money to get him that’s a huge amount of money for them and would suggest the team is making an organization adjustment in budgeting and business planning. The Darvish deal would probably cost more than the contract they gave Jose Bautista.
Well, now they’re saying its a record post, blowing away the Matsuzaka deal. So it’s probably not Toronto. I’d guess it’s the Rangers, and that Texas’s plan was to not get CJ Wilson back at all, but use that money on Darvish.
I think you guys are underestimating just how much money Toronto has at its disposal. They have a rich owner, a top 5 market, and thanks to the white sox and angels no albatross contracts. There is enough incentive for Tor to become a contender that I wouldn’t be surprised if they signed Darvish and still went after Fielder.
Possibly, but by no means a sure thing. Farrell’s frustrating experience with Matsuzaka should make one question the truth of Toronto going all-in on Darvish.
The fact that the Fighters have not yet accepted a bid suggests to me that nobody in MLB was willing to take enough risk with him to give them what they hoped to get.
I don’t believe the Fighters can accept or decline the bid until the 20th (in Japan, which I think is the 19th to us, or something like that.) So at this point the only information we do have is what is leaked from MLB teams that might have bid. Once the bids are unsealed then Nippon Ham can decide yes or no, and by all accounts the franchise is so cash-strapped that there’s little chance they’d have much of an option.
Of course, Darvish could still elect not to come over.
As for this talent, certainly NO pitcher is a guarantee. Roy Halladay is as sure as bet as baseball has in pitchers, but he could twinge something and be hopelessly ineffective starting tomorrow, for all anyone knows. Darvish is, visibly, an awesome pitcher; he’s much bigger and stronger than Matsuzaka and I generally like his mechanics; there’s some elbow whip but he’s very smooth, follows through nicely, and uses his legs well. Gives that he’s only 25, I’d just as soon pony up big bucks to get him as I would… well, pretty much any other pitcher in the world. It’s also worth noting that Darvish’s level of dominance in Japan has been absolutely stupid. Matsuzaka was great in Japan; Darvish has been historically dominant.
And in fairness to Dice-K, has was a hell of a pitcher. He just got hurt. You take that risk with anyone.
Where do you draw that line? Matsuzaka ws “historically dominant” there as well. Yes, pitching only once a week may have helped him there, but it helps Darvish the same way. There may someday be a Japanese starter who can dominate MLB like he dominated JPB, but that hasn’t happened yet, and it’s an article of faith to believe anybody in particular will be The One who does.
You* don’t* “just get hurt” as a pitcher, for one thing, and not usually at *any *position in a noncontact sport. You blow out your elbow with overwork or bad mechanics or bad conditioning, not bad luck. As for his performance, if you’re happy with him always nibbling, loading the bases half the time (maybe just for fun), then depending on a GIDP, almost never getting into the sixth so the bullpen gets used up, refusing coaching in how to play to win in MLB, especially in conditioning, then yes, he’s a hell of a pitcher. If you’re impressed by that 18 win season, well, wins are bogus, right?
Maybe you should ask Farrell if he’d like him back. :dubious:
I’m just looking at the straight up numbers. Darvish is way past Matsuzaka or any other NPB pitcher in recent memory, by any measure you want to use. He needs to move to MLB just to get some competition.
Of course, we just don’t know for sure; translating performance for Japan to here is weird, because sometimes players seem to perform more or less the same and sometimes it’s like they jumped from or back to single-A. Their statistical standards really jump up and down, too; last year the entire league’s ERA suddenly dropped by an entire run. But I’d put as much faith in Darvish as I would in anyone who’s ever come over. He’s mechanically sound, he’s got five pitches, he has excellent control, he’s young, and he’s a physical specimen, to say the least. He’s as good a bet as most.
Not sure my faith means as much as the titanic sum of money it’ll cost, though. When you throw in the allegedly humongous posting fee we’re talking Sabathia money. Whoever gets him is making a bet they can’t afford to lose.
Well, sadly, I was correct in guessing a record high bid ment Texas.
I think Darvish is awesome but I’m still surprised that it went as high as it did given that the previous two big posts for Japanese pitchers were busts. This will cost Texas $120 million, minimum, for five years of Darvish’s service.
Interestingly, ESPN points out (see sidebar here) that, according to ZiPS projections, Darvish can be expected to average 13 wins a year over the 5 years, with a mid-3s ERA. This of course is simply a projection, but that seems like a hefty price for that kind of production if it bears out.
I think lots of teams want Prince Fielder, but I suspect many have called him, heard his agent say “Give us 10 years and $225 million” or some such thing, and then they hung up the phone.
Every report is that Fielder wants $200 million over a long term. That’s simply too much. He is a very impressive power hitter but he isn’t Stan Musial, and he is really, really fat. He’s not built funny like Kirby Puckett was or just really massive like Frank Thomas. He’s a blimp, and he’s going to blow his body out around age 31-32 and anyone can see it. How many legitimately fat hitters last long? I cant come up with a lot of names. He has little, if any, defensive value. So if the reports are correct on what he wants, you’d be paying $200 million plus for what would likely be five or six very good, but not historically great, years.
And I think that’s the right strategy. Even with those concerns, though, I’m surprised a deal hasn’t gotten done and that none seems to be imminent. Pujols signed with the Angels two weeks ago, and maybe Fielder’s just going to twist in the wind until his demands come down. He doesn’t deserve Pujols money and even if I were running a team that needed a first baseman, I wouldn’t pay that. Not over seven or eight years, either.