MLB (Non-Phils) News and Notes 2016

[DurhamBull]

Kyle Schwarber is out for the year after a collision with Dexter Fowler in the OF last night. Torn ACL and LCL. Fate doesn't like the Cubbies.

Wow - this is what happens when you try to force a square peg in a round hole. Everyone watching last years playoffs could see that Schwarber is not an outfielder and probably never will be. It is very unfortunate that the injury happened as I am pulling for this year's Cubbies team to break the curse. Its very fortunate Fowler didn't appear to suffer any major injury - losing a CF would have been a bigger blow. I love Schwarber's bat and the team will miss it, but I think the Cubbies still have more than enough talent to win it without Schwarber.

I hadn't heard of Schwarber so I looked him up on bbref. They list him as "catcher and OF". There's a combination you don't see too often.

[baseballoldie]

I hadn't heard of Schwarber so I looked him up on bbref. They list him as "catcher and OF". There's a combination you don't see too often.

The bat is what plays with Schwarber - elite and Major league ready. The defensive skills as catcher are not there, which is why he hasn't played catcher in the majors, and he is not moving Rizzo off 1st base, thus the only position the Cubbies can play him is in LF. Schwarber really belongs in the American league as a DH and if I were the Cubbies, I would look at trading his elite bat to a team in the American league. Schwarber is an Edgar Martinez/David Ortiz caliber hitter. Unless the MLB enacts the DH to both leagues, Schwarber's value is not maximized in the NL.

[tom81]

Trevor Story sets the record for most home runs I the first week of the season.
milehighsports.com/trevor-story ... -home-run/

[tom81]

Trevor Story sets the record for most home runs in the first six games of the season.
milehighsports.com/trevor-story ... -home-run/

[mdougherty12]

Jake Arrieta threw another no-hitter for the Cubs against the Reds. Trading 3 months of Scott Feldman and Steve Clevenger for Arrieta and Pedro Strop has worked out pretty well for the Cubs.

Sent from my XT1053 using Tapatalk

[Lucky_Beagle]

Blue Jays first baseman/outfielder Chris Colabello has received an 80-game PED suspension, per a league announcement, which is the penalty for a first-time offender. He tested positive for the banned substance dehydrochlormethyltestosterone. The 32-year-old’s roster spot will go to southpaw Chad Girodo, as Ben Nicholson-Smith of Sportsnet.ca tweets.

The next section though is what I didn't know.....I assume this means there now a rule that stats if someone is suspended during the season the can not be on a postseason roster.

Colabello won’t be eligible to return until just before the trade deadline, and under the league rules will not be eligible for the postseason.

Are there conditions to this rule? suspended only for PED use? What if the first 70 games are in one season and the final 10 in the next season is the player ineligible?

[zambonir]

Blue Jays first baseman/outfielder Chris Colabello has received an 80-game PED suspension, per a league announcement, which is the penalty for a first-time offender. He tested positive for the banned substance dehydrochlormethyltestosterone. The 32-year-old’s roster spot will go to southpaw Chad Girodo, as Ben Nicholson-Smith of Sportsnet.ca tweets.

The next section though is what I didn't know.....I assume this means there now a rule that stats if someone is suspended during the season the can not be on a postseason roster.

[quote]Colabello won’t be eligible to return until just before the trade deadline, and under the league rules will not be eligible for the postseason.[/quote]

Are there conditions to this rule? suspended only for PED use? What if the first 70 games are in one season and the final 10 in the next season is the player ineligible?

espn.go.com/mlb/story/_/id/10690 ... provisions

[LoneStarPhan]

I just saw a very unusual triple play on my local news. The Rangers were the team batting and making the outs. It started with a fly ball to right with the bases loaded. The runner on first returned to first but somehow overran the bag and was tagged out. Fielder was off third and Beltre advanced toward third. After a throw home, Fielder was run down between third and home. The rare 9-3-2-6-2-5 triple play. Bad outcome for the offense for a bases loaded, no out situation. link to play

In case you haven't been following Cole Hamels progress here in Texas, he has ten wins in a row and the Rangers have won his last 14 starts. Needless to say, he is getting the job done.

[julio]

Blue Jays first baseman/outfielder Chris Colabello has received an 80-game PED suspension, per a league announcement, which is the penalty for a first-time offender. He tested positive for the banned substance dehydrochlormethyltestosterone. The 32-year-old’s roster spot will go to southpaw Chad Girodo, as Ben Nicholson-Smith of Sportsnet.ca tweets.

Interesting that this is the same substance that got Daniel Stumpf suspended. The stuff's been around - developed for East German Olympic athletes. I wonder if this may be one of the latest steroids ID'ed by ballplayers as "safe" - as in, you can use it and not get caught. Obviously, you can get caught - but that may be a function of carelessness in how/when it's used, rather than in avoidance. Makes one wonder if abuse is still widespread - just farther "underground," and not being generally caught by MLB's testing program.

[zambonir]

So, just to be clear, Daniel Stumpf can not pitch for the Phillies in the 2016 postseason?

[Slinging_Southpaw]

So, just to be clear, Daniel Stumpf can not pitch for the Phillies in the 2016 postseason?

That'll hurt.

[Slinging_Southpaw]

Jake Marisnick optioned to AAA. Off to a slow start in a crowded Houston outfield. It would be nice to know what he would cost in trade.

[andyb]

Fangraphs on local TV money for each team.
fangraphs.com/blogs/estimate ... mlb-teams/

I think this is a little conservative on the Phillies end and admittedly does not factor in ownership stakes. I think the ownership stake for the Phillies is immediately valuable compared to other systems that do not have the same distribution or ratings.

The other side of the coin is that the Phillies numbers could have been better given market size. Their package compared to Seattle for instance, looks weak. Should they have been more aggressive in their Comcast negotiations? Do the ownership pieces make up for that and effectively hide the revenue from MLB? Hard to tell.

[Three_up_Three_down]

Barry Bonds strikes again. See Gordon suspended 80 games

[tom81]

Barry Bonds strikes again. See Gordon suspended 80 games

Unfortunately for us he will be back for most of the games they play against us.

[andyb]

The Gordon suspension and some of the last few (like Stumpf) make me think that there must be some over-the-counter supplement that unknowingly included whatever drug is being seen. If that is true the 80 games does seem a little harsh. Can't imagine a player like Gordon did this knowingly. The whole process just seems a little unfair and arbitrary to me.

[xogfog]

I don't know why there can't be a system in place where the league provides a lab service to the players, and whenever a player wants to take a supplement, he can send it to the league for testing and the league can approve or deny the supplement. They can easily compile that info into a database of cleared supplements that players can use OTC, a list of supplements that can be used with a prescription and a list of all banned supplements.

That way, all clean players that want to start taking something can check the database and see if what they want to take is already approved or denied and if it is something that has not yet on the list, they can submit it to MLB for testing. The players should have every right to take supplements to improve their health and performance that are not banned by the league and the league should encourage them doing so and help them stay out of trouble.

Let's face it, the players are not chemists, there is no way with the amount of supplements that are out there that they can know everything that they are putting in their bodies.

[julio]

The Gordon suspension and some of the last few (like Stumpf) make me think that there must be some over-the-counter supplement that unknowingly included whatever drug is being seen. If that is true the 80 games does seem a little harsh. Can't imagine a player like Gordon did this knowingly. The whole process just seems a little unfair and arbitrary to me.

Ummm...

I have my doubts about that. I'm inclined to think that there's some particular "use regimen" that has the reputation of being undetectable - but that it's "not quite" undetectable, or that it's very vulnerable to carelessness, or some such.

If you can't imagine a player like Gordon doing this knowingly...that implies that you don't believe PED usage in baseball is fairly widespread...that you believe the "few" who use PEDs have generally been caught. I'm skeptical.

Back in the day (the 1970s), amphetamines were reported to be openly available in MLB's locker rooms. These drugs were illegal, but they were there - and they weren't being sneaked in by misbehaving players. They were believed to improve performance, so they were made available and they were used. I see no reason to believe that the underlying attitudes about drug laws, MLB rules, or long-term health that prevailed in locker rooms in the 1970s have somehow changed; I suspect that more players than we want to think about are in fact using whatever they think they can get away with that might improve their performance.

The difference between the minors and a berth at the end of a 25-man roster is a half-million dollars a year. Advancing beyond the end of the roster to something like everyday play is worth literally millions of dollars a year. Young men with a high-school education (or three years of college majoring in parks and rec) have few prospects outside of baseball, and none that can remotely compete in terms of financial return. It's perfectly rational to do whatever you can to improve your chances of moving onto or up that roster - even if there's a risk of a suspension. The potential return is so great that I might argue that it would be foolish not to use something (or at least seriously consider it).

Freddy Galvis. If he hadn't used PEDs, and never developed any power, he'd likely be in the minors - or else out of organized ball by now...back in Venezuela, age 26, no particular skills. Given the turmoil in Venezuela, he'd likely be wondering how he was going to feed his family. Instead...he's earning $2 million this summer. This is a no-brainer.

The public comments? The "I can't believe he'd do that; he's such a good kid, such a hard worker," yadda yadda yadda? Spin.

[andyb]

The Gordon suspension and some of the last few (like Stumpf) make me think that there must be some over-the-counter supplement that unknowingly included whatever drug is being seen

. If that is true the 80 games does seem a little harsh. Can't imagine a player like Gordon did this knowingly. The whole process just seems a little unfair and arbitrary to me.
Ummm...

I have my doubts about that. I'm inclined to think that there's some particular "use regimen" that has the reputation of being undetectable - but that it's "not quite" undetectable, or that it's very vulnerable to carelessness, or some such.

If you can't imagine a player like Gordon doing this knowingly...that implies that you don't believe PED usage in baseball is fairly widespread...that you believe the "few" who use PEDs have generally been caught. I'm skeptical.

Back in the day (the 1970s), amphetamines were reported to be openly available in MLB's locker rooms. These drugs were illegal, but they were there - and they weren't being sneaked in by misbehaving players. They were believed to improve performance, so they were made available and they were used. I see no reason to believe that the underlying attitudes about drug laws, MLB rules, or long-term health that prevailed in locker rooms in the 1970s have somehow changed; I suspect that more players than we want to think about are in fact using whatever they think they can get away with that might improve their performance.

The difference between the minors and a berth at the end of a 25-man roster is a half-million dollars a year. Advancing beyond the end of the roster to something like everyday play is worth literally millions of dollars a year. Young men with a high-school education (or three years of college majoring in parks and rec) have few prospects outside of baseball, and none that can remotely compete in terms of financial return. It's perfectly rational to do whatever you can to improve your chances of moving onto or up that roster - even if there's a risk of a suspension. The potential return is so great that I might argue that it would be foolish not to use something (or at least seriously consider it).

Freddy Galvis. If he hadn't used PEDs, and never developed any power, he'd likely be in the minors - or else out of organized ball by now...back in Venezuela, age 26, no particular skills. Given the turmoil in Venezuela, he'd likely be wondering how he was going to feed his family. Instead...he's earning $2 million this summer. This is a no-brainer.

The public comments? The "I can't believe he'd do that; he's such a good kid, such a hard worker," yadda yadda yadda? Spin.

I just don't think it is as cut and dry as you lay it out. I believe that very few players purposely use PEDs. Maybe that is naive, but I think the nuance is that I also think that virtually every player uses supplements of some sort that are similar in many ways to the banned substances chemically. It is very hard to draw the line between what is legal and what is not, especially with designer drugs.

Which makes me think Gordon was taking dietary supplements to gain weight and get stronger. He probably thought those substances were legal even if they were pretty similar to some explicitly banned substances. And he found out that they were not. I think the business of having players cycle on and off substances to avoid testing is largely gone and it is now about finding legal substances that do many of the same things that the illegal substances do.

[bkeich]

I don't know why there can't be a system in place where the league provides a lab service to the players, and whenever a player wants to take a supplement, he can send it to the league for testing and the league can approve or deny the supplement. They can easily compile that info into a database of cleared supplements that players can use OTC, a list of supplements that can be used with a prescription and a list of all banned supplements.

That way, all clean players that want to start taking something can check the database and see if what they want to take is already approved or denied and if it is something that has not yet on the list, they can submit it to MLB for testing. The players should have every right to take supplements to improve their health and performance that are not banned by the league and the league should encourage them doing so and help them stay out of trouble.

Let's face it, the players are not chemists, there is no way with the amount of supplements that are out there that they can know everything that they are putting in their bodies.

Actually, I would rather say that the players union should do it. The league is not really responsible for something like that to me.

Other than that, it seems like a great idea. Just keep the list for all union members and have the league agree that the list can be used as a get out trouble free list.

Honestly, I mostly doubt the "I didn't know that supplement was going to cause a positive test" as it seems more like an excuse of guys that were doing something and got caught.