1. I wrote a column in today’s Post recommending, among other things, that if Alex Rodriguez truly did fail a drug test in 2003 that he come clean, but not just about himself, but about the culture of the era. I recognize that a lot of folks are going to have a zero tolerance in accepting that players ever took illegal performance enhancers. Fine. But I truly believe many fans if given a true picture of the era would have a greater tolerance for what occurred.
In short I believe that this magic potion came along. Some guys started to take it and three things happened: 1) Their performances improved. 2) Their durability improved. Suddenly a reliever was not hurting quite as much pitching on a third straight day or players were not dragging quite as much at the end of long road trips. 3) Players were performing at a high level into their thirties.
Suddenly word began to spread and pressure began to build: If you weren’t using you risked falling way behind or – worse – out of the game. Greed and vanity push people to make a lot of dubious decisions, or do you think our current financial nightmare is because a few rogues on Wall Street invested a couple of nickels in the wrong place?
And that point should be remembered here: People look for shortcuts to success in all lines of work. Or – again – do you believe those chiseled bodies on the screen in movies (especially of actors well beyond their prime) are totally about hours in the weightroom?
Alex Rodriguez is both greedy and vain, and I could see how he would be seduced into this kind of shortcut. I am sure he figured he was the best player in baseball naturally and did not want to lose that edge because others were cheating. So he decided to cheat to keep up with the Joneses, or more likely the Bondses and Sosas.
If this is the story, it would be up to each individual to decide if this is forgivable. But I think we could all agree that it would be understandable.
2. The Phillies signed Ryan Howard to a three-year, $54 million deal over the weekend, buying out the remainder of his arbitration years. That seems like a good deal for Philadelphia because 1) It allows the Phillies to avoid the expensive/contentious arbitration phase for Howard. He will make $18 million on average and that is already what he was asking for this season in the arbitration process. Had he continued to stay as productive as he has been, Howard easily could have pursued salaries well in excess of $20 million. 2) Howard did not become a full-time player until he was 26, thus this gives the Phillies cost certainty with the bulky first baseman through the rest of his prime years: his age-29, 30 and 31 seasons. The fear had to be that to get cost certainty the Phillies would have had to give a much longer contract. Now if the Phillies let Howard walk as a free agent after the 2011 season they can feel confident they have enjoyed his best seasons. 3) The cost certainty also makes him more attractive should Philadelphia decide to trade him. Now a new team would know that they don’t have to arbitrate with him.
And why would Philadelphia consider trading him? Well, they could face budgetary concerns in the near future. Consider that the Phillies already have $94.5 million committed to 11 players for the 2010 season: Howard, Chase Utley, Raul Ibanez, Brad Lidge, Jimmy Rollins, Jayson Werth, Cole Hamels, Jamie Moyer, Ryan Madson, J.C. Romero and Greg Dobbs. They have $21.5 million worth of options for Adam Eaton, Geoff Jenkins and Pedro Feliz, and only Feliz has any chance of being retained. In addition, Brett Myers is a free agent, so Philadelphia might have to replace a No. 2 starter, and Joe Blanton, Carlos Ruiz and Shane Victorino will be key players with arbitration rights.
3. I like the Rangers’ signing of Andruw Jones, as well. Texas got him on a minor league contract, so if Jones really is finished and shows that in spring training, the Rangers owe him no money. And Jones’ base contract is just $500,000 so if the Rangers do put him on the roster and it turns out Jones is finished then it is not a big financial loss.
For that low-risk financial gamble, they will see if they can revive a once talented player who has gone stale. I heard that Jones badly wanted to go to Texas to specifically work with hitting coach Rudy Jaramillo in an attempt to regenerate a successful swing.
If Jones does revive and can play center then Texas could move Josh Hamilton to a corner outfield slot. At which pointing the Rangers would be teeming with candidates for left field in David Murphy, Nelson Cruz, Frank Catalanotto and Marlon Byrd. They would love to trade Catalanotto, a fading veteran who makes $4 million this year and has an option for 2010 for $5 million with a $2 million buyout. But it would be difficult to find a market for him.
But I could see the Yankees being among teams very interested in Byrd, whose $3.06 million contract could be too expensive for Texas to have as a role player. Byrd, a year from free agency, could be viewed as a stopgap in center for the Yanks should the Brett Gardner vs. Melky Cabrera center field battle become unappetizing. The Yanks could have an extra reliever or two to make such a deal.
