Still Americas Pastime

Spring Training Games began Wednesday.  The exhibition season this year was extended about a week to accommodate the World Baseball Classic.

I’m doing some informal pollling to see just how much people care about their team’s Spring Training record. I created the poll at www.buzzdash.com, a really cool site that has thousands of these fun little polls. You can visit the poll here, and then peruse the site.  Just don’t get too sucked in and forget to come back later and see the results of the poll.  Or if you prefer, just vote below.

How much stock to you put in a team’s Spring Training record? | BuzzDash polls

Well, Jeter might not have any more comments on A-Rod’s use of Performance Enhancing Drugs, but I do.  Just one more post about it though, unless some other really big news comes out about him.

In an earlier post, I commented that I was unsure whether I thought that A-Rod should be automatically disqualified from the Hall of Fame.  Well, now I’m ready to say that I’m 100% sure that I don’t believe he should be automatically out of the Hall.  However, I do believe that his use of PEDs should be considered by the writers (as I’m sure it will be).  How much weight it should have depends on how much longer he plays, what type of numbers he puts up from now on, and what he does about his legacy as a user during the “Steroid Era”.

I am a big believer in having character considered when looking at Hall of Fame candidates.  It shouldn’t be everything, but it should be important.  If A-Rod continues to be a great ball player, and comes through with this anti-steroid campaign he hinted at in the press conference, he should be considered for the Hall.

With the first group of pitchers and catchers reporting today, I think it would be appropriate for me to outline my blogging goals for the new season.

1) Consistantly post at least 25 times a month.  I’d like to post at least once a day, but given my track record, this seemed like a pretty good number.

2) Keep up with my “I Call ‘Em as I See ‘Em” series.  I really enjoy this series, and would love to get more reader feedback on my ideas.

3) Post at least once a week on a non-MLB topic.  This is really important to me.  I enjoy Major League Baseball, but I love the game itself, and I think I’m doing my readers a disservice if I stick only to MLB posts.

There you go.  Let’s see how I’ve done at the end of the season.

With the A-Rod and Michael Phelps scandals making the most sporting noise, a lot of people are talking about these athletes being poor role models.  Today I want to discuss how fair these accusations are, and whether or not they should even be viewed as role models.

First off, I’m going to pin down the criteria for this discussion.  If you want to comment, you have to abide by this limitation: I am only discussing their value as a role model for young athletes. 

I’m not judging them on how good of a role model they are for young men, or young people, or people with really good hair, or people over 5′3″.  The ONLY criteria for this discussion is their value as a sports role model.

The rationale behind this is that I think this is the only level where we as a society can place these people as role models.  It isn’t fair to an Olympic swimmer to be considered a role model for young boys who want to paint, or even just as a good person, nor is it in A-Rod’s contract to provide an example of how to wear your jeans or follow the traffic laws.

So when measured against this criteria, I find that one is a good role model, and one has been given a chance to redeem his failure.

Michael Phelps did not fail as an athletic role model.  Yes, pot is illegal, and there is that issue to deal with.  But it did not give him an unfair edge when he won 8 Gold Medals in Beijing.  As an athlete, he is an inspiration to many, both swimmers and others.  He not only has great talent, but he works hard, which is exactly what young athletes need to do.

Alex Rodriguez, however, has proven to be a failure as an athletic role model.  He cheated by using banned substances to gain an unfair advantage over his opponents.  His enhanced stats got him the largest contract in baseball history.  Additionally, when first questioned about whether he used steroids, he denied it.

However, A-Rod has a chance at redemption, or at least partial redemption.  He came clean (after he was outed).  He acknowledged his mistakes, saying he was young, stupid, and naive.  Now, he can become a good role model again by doing three things. 

First, he can never use performance enhancing drugs ever again, nor can it come out that he used them longer than he admitted to. 

Second, he can never act like he is owed the benefit of the doubt about anything baseball related, be it a Hall of Fame ticket or just that he’s not juicing now. 

Finally, he has to accept that he made a mistake, and deal with the consequences without complaining.

If he can stay clean, accept the burden of proof for the rest of his career, and not whine about being singled out, he can still have a positive influence on the young athletes of the world.  As long as he makes it clear that cheating and then saying “Oh, my bad, I’m sorry” isn’t enough all there is to it.

What are your thoughts?  Phelps and Rodriguez good role models?  Unfairly considered role models?  Just tired of hearing about it?

That’s when MLB.com says pitchers and catchers will report to Spring Training (when I started typing this).  It’s almost here, and while these players are packing up their equipment, there is a lot of stuff going on around the bigs.

Alex Rodriguez

A-Rod became the first player that was likely a first-ballot Hall of Famer to publicly admit to using performance-enhancing drugs.  There are two interesting storylines here, both of which are equally compelling.

First, and probably most interesting to me, is can a player who has publicly admitted to using steroids (of the illicit variety) still make it into the Hall of Fame?  A-Rod, the youngest player to 500 home runs, the one expected to break Barry Bonds’ (who is having his own trouble) home run total, and 3-time MVP, was considered by many to be the best baseball player in the Major Leagues.  Now, the Hall of Fame voters will have to decide whether or not someone who has admitted to using performance enhancing drugs for three years merits a ticket to Cooperstown.

A-Rod most likely will play in the Major Leagues for a number of years before he finally retires.  If he continues to dominate in these years, will that make up for the ones he has tainted?  Or should the Hall of Fame voters immediately disqualify him? 

Personally, I’m not sure yet how I feel, but I’ll let you know when I make up my mind.

The second storyline is how all of this came out.  The testing in 2003 was supposed to be an anonymous pilot system so that baseball could work out the kinks and set up their current testing system.  How then did a SI writer get this information and go public with it?  And should this have happened?

Let me make it clear that in no way am I condoning the use of steroids and other banned substances.  But baseball did not have a program in place to test players in 2003.  They worked it out with the Player’s Association to have this anonymous pilot system, so they could set up a program and clear up the stigma around baseball.  There is no reason why the results of this test should be sitting around in 2009.

Also, the results were two lists, so the writer had to find both and figure out the coded entries.  Alex Rodriguez was unfairly targeted.  Why release only his name?  Why not release all 104 names?  I am glad that when confronted with this information, A-Rod came forward and admitted to using something.  But I wish instead that he had not been forced too.

These 103 other players now have a choice.  They can come forward and admit it before it becomes public knowledge, or they can wait and see if they too, will have their privacy violated.  Because that’s what it comes down to.  Yes they cheated, but violating anonynimity is not the way to clear up the game.

Manny Ramirez

It has been some time since Manny Ramirez wasn’t the first baseball story in the news.  With only a few days to go before Spring Training, I keep waiting for this amazing deal that he says is waiting in the wings to be finalized.  I think I’ll keep waiting for some time.

Here is a guy that a team payed to leave, gets hit by the economic downturn that affected so many other Free Agents, and when the Dodgers say (after being rebuffed twice), here’s $25 million, play for us for one year and try again next offseason, he says “No Thanks.”  I really don’t know if he’s going to get a better offer than that.

Congress

First off, if you’re still reading down here, good for you.  I could use another couple thousand readers like you. 

There is at least one Congressman that wants A-Rod to come testify before the same body that Clemons, McGwire, and those other guys did years ago.  Let baseball worry about baseball right now.  When you convince Congress to stop trying to spend all this money we don’t have, and give it to the banks and businesses that need to learn they aren’t too big to fail, then you can get involved again.

If you clear it with me first.

Well, there are the three big news items I’m thinking about today.  And this was going to be a short post on some goals I had for my blog.  Perhaps later.

Okay, yes, I do hate the New York Yankees, as any good baseball fan outside the Bronx should.  Part of this is because of their reputation as a very good team.  Though they’ve hit a dry spell recently, they were dominant in the 90s and have won more World Series Titles than any other franchise in history.  And since they aren’t my team, I obviously dislike the fact they’ve been so successful.  Can you really blame me?

Another part of the equation is that the Yankees are a huge market team.  I’m not arguing for a salary cap here, just pointing out that the Yankees can and do outspend almost every team, every year.  That’s what being a successful team in a huge media market like New York can do for you.

The main reason that I hate they Yankees though is that for the most part, they seem to be a team that buys talent, rather than develops it, and I think that is bad for baseball.  It’s also bad for them, in the long run.  Let me explain what I mean.

The Yankees often decide that the best way for them to win World Series Titles (which in New York’s win-now atmosphere is a must-do every year) is to buy up all the talent in the Free Agent market; such as this offseason, where they’ve grabbed Sabbathia, Burnett, and Teixeira.

This definitely improves the team on paper, and the Yankees will definitely have a better starting rotation next year, which will translate into more wins.  So this is great right?  Well, not really in the long term.

Why?  Because baseball is a team sport.  There are things that make a team more than just a sum of their parts.  Team chemistry, leadership, and just time spent playing together are invaluable to helping a team get an edge on their opponents.  And just buying up a bunch of talent doesn’t help these things.

Instead teams are much better off developing their own talent.  Derek Jeter is a great example of Yankee home-grown talent, and was a big part of their successful run in the 90s.

How does buying up numerous free agents prevent a team from developing home-grown talent?  First, if you sign one of the best free agents (labeled as Class-A, free agents rated in the top 20% of players in the past two years), you lose your highest draft pick (though the first round, picks 1-15, are protected).  If you sign, say three, you lose your top three draft picks. 

Losing draft picks prevents you from picking the really good players in the draft.  So that hurts your team.  Also, if you are planning on spending lots of money on free agents, you will probably send your better scouts to see the Major league players, so when you finally get your selection in the amateur draft, the chances of you finding someone who cruised under everyone else’s radar is reduced.

The lack of a strong farm system is the first problem with this philosophy.  But I already mentioned chemistry, time played together, and leadership.  These all glue a team together and help give that team that extra step over a team lacking in these areas.  A strong farm system, not only gives you players ready to step up and fill in if a starter gets injured, but there is a good chance they’ve played some games with other players who might have been up for a year or two.  Knowing the capabilities and tendencies of teammates makes playing baseball much easier.

There is no better illustration for this than of pitchers and catchers.  If a pitcher and catcher have spent a long time together, they develop a trust for each other, and the catcher knows what type of pitch the pitcher likes to use in a certain situation.  How much better for a team would it be if the pitcher and catcher had already developed this relationship in minor league games?

Another good example is a middle infielder pairing.  Turing a double play is an art, and when a shortstop and second-baseman haven’t spent much time together, it shows.

Leadership is another thing that can get messy when a big-name free agent comes aboard.  For example, when Ken Griffey Jr. came to the Reds from the Mariners, the city of Cincinnati expected him to come in and lead the team on to greatness.  But Cincinnati already had a captain in Barry Larkin, a talented and much loved shortstop.  Had the two players had bigger egos and battled for leadership, it could have really hurt the team.

So, because of my distaste of the policy of buying talent instead of developing it, I hate the New York Yankees, and what they do to baseball.