Window Dressing

The Mitchell-requested and Selig-promised background checks of clubhouse personnel have begun:

Employees subject to the examinations were asked to sign waivers authorizing MLB's new Department of Investigations or an outside contractor to obtain the required information. The screening begins with a consumer background check, meaning financial and criminal histories are being probed. Halem says if any irregularities are found, investigators would expand to a more thorough inquiry in which friends and associates would be interviewed.

This, of course, is all about closing the barn door after the Radomski and McNamee horses escaped. Query: Weren't both of those guys clean as whistles before being hired by teams? Is there any indication that either of them wouldn't have passed the background checks if they had been in place when they were brought on?

Stealing Thunder

Bobby Valentine isn't happy with the timing of the A's and Red Sox' trip to Japan:

"I hope the Red Sox and A's have a great time here and I'm sure everyone will enjoy it but it's ludicrous that our games will be going on at the same time," Valentine said. "The timing is a mistake and I guess that's something that slipped through the cracks when they were planning the schedules."

With all the fanfare surrounding the arrival in Japan of the World Series champions Boston and their Japanese pitcher Daisuke Matsuzaka, the opening of Japan's professional baseball season on March 20 seems like an afterthought.

I suppose he has something of a point, but when else could the visit take place? While I suppose there is some fat built in to the schedule, the A's and Red Sox feel they need five days' lead time before the first game that counts next week, and then four more days of fluff (including exhibitions in LA) on the backside. I presume this is to allow everyone to deal with the hoopla and travel. When else, other than at the beginning of the season, could such a trip take place?

That aside, anyone notice that whenever there is a story about the intersection of Japanese and American baseball, the only person quoted is Bobby Valentine? There are two other American managers in Japan and dozens of American players. It strikes me that stories like these would be helped by their opinion. I mean, for all of his virtues, Valentine is a bit of a crackpot, so maybe his opinion on the subject needs to be placed in some perspective.

Larry Bigbie

Jeff Passan catches up with Larry Bigbie, the man mentioned 93 times in the Mitchell Report. Anyone who believes that most players' refusal to cooperate with Mitchell's investigation was driven merely by arrogance, defiance, or a sense of entitlement would do well to read it.

1000 and Counting

I just realized that ShysterBall broke the 1000-post barrier this morning.

Nifty!

I started this blog exactly eleven months ago. If you would have told me last April that I'd have 1000 posts by now -- heck, if you would have told me that I'd still be doing it by now -- I would have told you that you were crazy.

Now I can't imagine doing anything else with whatever free time the law and the family permit me to have. I probably sleep a lot less now than I did a year ago, but sleep is overrated. Anyway, thanks to all of you for continuing to click in. I hope you stick around for at least another 1000.

Which at this rate, should be, oh, mid April . . . .

Interview with Voros

Dave at Brock for Broglio interviews Voros McCracken. You should read the whole thing, but Voros answers two questions -- one about park effects, one about post season roster construction -- by essentially saying "Factor X, which everyone talks about, is probably overblown."

I think Voros is right in both of those instances, and generally speaking, I think there are many things even the most right-thinkin' baseball fans among us overstate from time to time. League differences, for example, which, while very real, probably don't need to be brought up as often as people do when analyzing players (I mean, is Kyle Lohse really so much better off on the Cardinals than he would have been on the Twins?). There are others, I'm sure.

Anyway, click through for a nice little Q&A.

The Boston Sit-Down Strike

It's a quickly developing story, but everything I've read so far suggests to me that the Red Sox' (and now the Athletics') decision not to get on the plane to Tokyo is more than a little justified.

At issue is whether or not the teams understood the play-in-Japan deal -- which required the players' assent -- to include $40K bonus payments to coaches and staff making the trip. As of now, they aren't getting it, which the players believe is a raw deal. My first impression upon hearing about this was that some sort of miscommunication must have occurred, but the facts reported in the article imply that there is filmflammery afoot:

Both Red Sox manager Terry Francona and multiple Red Sox players who were in on the offseason phone calls regarding the logistics of the trip insist that part of the agreement to make the season-opening trip included the coaches being paid the same fee as the players . . .

. . . According to Francona, the coaching staffs of previous MLB trips to Japan all were paid the same stipend as the players. The Sox manager was scheduled to join the Oakland A’s coaching staff in its team’s trip to Japan in 2003 and said it was agreed on that the coaches were to be paid. The trip was ultimately cancelled.

Ultimately this will get resolved -- MLB has way too much riding on this trip from a public relations' perspective for it not to -- but it sure kicks off the season on a sour note, no?

Update: It's all over, nothing more to see here. Frankly, I feel deflated. It's a boring afternoon around these parts, and I hoped that the hostility would have lasted at least until dinner time.

Banning the Bloggers

You've probably heard by now that Mark Cuban decided to ban bloggers from the Dallas Mavericks locker room. I assume that doesn't include himself. Anyway, Last night True Hoop's Henry Abbot came face-to-face with the policy, with predictably absurd and pathetic results. For Abbot's comprehensive takedown of Cuban's policy go here.

Everyone talks about how cool it would be for Cuban to buy the Cubs, but examples like this remind us that he's capable of being just as petulant and arrogant as any other owner, so we shouldn't cry that much if and when his ownership bid is rejected.

Reader Question

I've been toying with the idea of starting the morning with some recaps of the previous night's games once the season starts. It wouldn't be comprehensive or anything. Rather, it would probably just be a score and a ShysterBallesque comment or two about something interesting that happened in a game, its implication, or what have you. Certainly not all of the games.

Any value to this, or do you get enough of that from other places already?

I Can Name That Tune In Five Notes

Emma Span at Bronx Banter raises a good time-killer of a question:

You know you’ve thought about it: if you were a baseball player, what would your at-bat song be?

My inner Gob Bluth suggests that Europe's "The Final Countdown" would be an excellent choice, but I've probably had a dozen others in mind over the years.

The comment thread following Span's post is loaded with gems. Emma herself suggests the Stones' "Rocks Off" at comment 3, and frankly I can't think of a better one. Whoever chose that would immediately become my favorite player. *

Update: It was early when I wrote this, and for some reason I mixed up "Rocks Off" -- still a great song -- with "Rip This Joint," which is an even better one. Anyway, walking up to home plate with anything from Exile on Main St. would be a good idea.

Keri Unkovers Kollusion Kontroversy?

Jonah Keri's third Cactus League interview is up, this one with Oakland A's Assistant GM David Forst. Like the previous two, it is extremely well done. Unlike the first two, this one is sprinkled with controversy:

Keri: Barry Bonds! Left field is probably the A’s weakest position right now, depending on which way you decide to go at the start of the season. He’s in the Bay Area already, the A’s are a team that prides itself on performance analysis, and Bonds still projects to be a productive hitter. Is there just an industry-wide philosophy that says, “Wink, wink, we’re not going to do this

Forst: You expect me to answer this on the record? [laughs]

Keri: On the record, off the record, whatever you want to do.

Forst: On the record, this team has committed to young players.

Keri: Such as Emil Brown.

Love that last shot (Emil Brown is 33 years old). Also love that this interview came out on the same day Don Fehr announced that the Players' Association is going to look into whether teams have colluded against signing Bonds.

Even if teams have colluded (which I kind of doubt despite Forst's curious comments) I'm guessing no one can prove it. For starters, there are plausible reasons why teams might not want Bonds on their team even if the man can still hit, and those reasons serve as plausible individual cover for anyone trying to freeze out Bonds pursuant to a central directive.

More to the point, a good number of the men in charge of baseball today are veterans of Collusions I, II, and III back in the 80s. While some optimistic lad may conclude that such experience has chastened them, I think it also means that, if they were going to collude today, they'd simply be better at it.

Copyright Shmopyright

I don't care if they're illegal. These shirts rock.

By the way, am I the only one who forgot how cool the old 80s White Sox logo was?

The PED Scourge Continues Unabated

I have no idea what I'm going to tell my kids when they look at me one day and ask me: "Daddy, the German billiards champ is a hero, right? Right. . . .?"

(link via ShysterBall reader Chris Heer)

Beat the Streak

I really don't play any fantasy sports, but this one on MLB.com sounds like it could be fun, even if they weren't offering a $1M prize:

"Beat the Streak presented by Mitchum" is a free fantasy game that gives contestants a chance to win $1 million if they can sustain a hitting streak of at least 57 games. Each day, contestants choose a Major League player they think will get a hit. If a selected player delivers a hit on that day, the streak continues and the contestant chooses either another player or the same player the following day. If a selected player ever goes hitless for that day, the streak ends. For example, Karatzia built his record-breaking streak last year using a variety of the top Major League hitters, including Vladimir Guerrero (9 times), Derek Jeter (8), Magglio Ordoñez (5) and Jose Reyes (4).

It strikes me that the best strategy would be to pick the best hitter on the team facing the pitcher with the worst K/IP ratio on any given night. Either that or pick whoever is playing whatever team Horacaio Ramirez ends up on.

"Excuse me, would you like peanuts?"

Baseball is different in China, even when the Padres and Dodgers are involved.

Brian Sabean: Alchemist

The law of conservation of matter states that in a closed system, matter cannot be created or destroyed, merely that it may be rearranged. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the San Francisco Giants:

The Giants remain in the trade market, still trying to upgrade their offense, but their thinking has changed given what's happening in the trainer's room.

With reliever Vinnie Chulk shelved with shoulder tendinitis and starter Noah Lowry rehabbing from surgery and unavailable until at least late April, the Giants are shying away from trade talk if it means giving up pitchers.

"We're going to try," general manager Brian Sabean said when asked if he expects trade activity before Opening Day, "but I don't see us trading pitching in any regard to try to solve what we want to do offensively."

See, here's the thing, Brian. When you seek to upgrade your pathetic offense through trades, but limit your trading chits to parts of that same pathetic offense, you are creating the sort of closed system that Lavoisier described. One which, by virtue of the law, is immune to enhancement (really, what are you going to get for Daniel Ortmeier?). On the bright side, given how crappy the Giants' hitters are, it is one that is probably immune to degradation as well (really, how much worse can you do than Daniel Ortmeier?).

Of course, this is the same guy who made totally separate rules for his superstar hitter for a decade, so we can't exactly expect him to understand much about chemistry.

More News From The Center of the Universe

You'd think that people in the country's largest, most cosmopolitan city wouldn't need to filter the world through their own experiences so damn much, but you can always count on the New York press to pitch a New York angle, no matter how tenuous.

Witness WNBC's profile of Billy Werber, centenarian former ballplayer, who played all of seven games with the Yankees in his eleven season major league career. The story eventually notes briefly that Werber won a World Series as the Reds' everyday third baseman, but not after four paragraphs about a single game of bridge he once played with Gehrig and Ruth.

The HGH Myth

Because they allegedly lied about it, the question of whether Roger Clemens and Barry Bonds took HGH will continue to have legal salience, but it's looking more and more irrelevant as it relates to their baseball legacy:

Human growth hormone may build muscles - but will it make you a faster, stronger and better athlete? Don't count on it, says a new Stanford University study. An analysis of more than two dozen studies of human growth hormone concludes that drug-induced muscles may look impressive - but they don't perform better. In fact, treatment may even cause impairment.

"What we found suggested that it didn't help - and at some point, it might hurt," said lead investigator Hau Liu, formerly of Stanford and now at San Jose's Valley Medical Center. The study was published in Monday's issue of the Annals of Internal Medicine.

One interesting thing about the study is the finding that the increased mass doesn't lead to increase strength because so much of it is fluid retention instead of actual tissue growth. Oops.

There are tons of caveats in the study so it's not like this is definitive or anything, but the evidence here is nowhere near as thin the evidence that has been used by the ill-informed to suggest that baseball has been ruined or disgraced by PEDs, let alone the evidence used to link many players to their use in the first place.

Alex Being Alex

You sort of got the sense after the whole opt-out drama that Alex Rodriguez finally got it. That he realized that he was putting perhaps a bit too much trust in his handlers. That his overly-studied and defensive dealings with the press were perhaps counter-productive, and that coming back to Earth a little bit and just being himself would be a better idea. Then you read this bit from his big interview with Men's Vogue magazine, and all of that is put to rest:

Even Rodriguez seems unsure of how best to present himself to the world. After sitting for a photo shoot for this magazine and agreeing to let a reporter visit him at his house in Miami, Rodriguez decided he'd be more comfortable answering questions e-mailed to his new handler, Guy Oseary, a man better known for managing the affairs of Madonna and Lenny Kravitz. Still, Rodriguez refused to respond to a handful of queries on such subjects as his reputation among his peers and his well-documented insecurity.

While I can understand not wanting to answer questions on certain subjects, a perusal of the Men's Vogue back catalogue isn't going to reveal a pile of ambush interviews. I mean, if they let you pose on your yacht for the photo shoot as they do here, they're going to let you fend off a couple of questions that hit too close to home and generally treat you nicely.

Why hide behind handlers? Why make life so complicated? You can read this interview with interest based on the reporter's strong research and a subject that, despite his fame, fortune, and renown, remains surprisingly intriguing and enigmatic.

But you still feel distanced from the guy that we may one day be calling the greatest ever, and it's that distance that will, ironically, keep Rodriguez from achieving a level of acceptance and adulation that his deliberate public relations initiatives seem calculated to achieve.

Great Moments in Cognitive Dissonance

Pettite brushes Ortiz back a bit. Ortiz reportedly gets miffed. Pettitte defends himself by saying that's just the sort of thing you need to do to keep a hitter like him honest.

I wish those Yankees would realize that you're not supposed to play hard like that in spring training. Someone could get hurt.

News From the Center of the Universe

I fail to understand what New York sportswriters hope to accomplish by asking players who are a full season away from free agency if they'd like to play for the Yankees.

Wait, I know exactly what they wish to accomplish. Thankfully C.C. Sabathia is savvy enough not to get pulled into the contrived drama of it all:

Some Yankee fans view Indians' ace C.C. Sabathia, last year's AL Cy Young award winner, as the perfect target for the team when the lefty becomes a free agent next year.

Sabathia, though, says he's not thinking about the future, unless it applies to this season with the Indians. He wouldn't bite on questions about the possibility of one day becoming a Yankee, saying only, "I'm focused on playing this season in Cleveland."

Would he like to re-sign with the Indians? "In a perfect world, of course," he said yesterday. "I've been pitching here since I was 17. We'll just see what happens."

Asked about New York, he said, "New York is fine. We only go a couple times a year."