Kansas City sports fans are angry. The Sprint Center is vacant. The Chiefs have yet to make their much anticipated splash in the free agent or trade market. And the Royals, well, the Royals just won't stop losing. It's quite a plight.
As it is whenever rock-bottom approaches, the fans are screaming for change. And it doesn't seem like a wild notion. The Royals have lost 5 of 6 and 12 of 16. They've dropped below .500 for the first time since opening week. They look, by all accounts, lost at the plate, totalling four runs in their last four games combined. It seems as if serious change is in order. But I say not so fast.
The Royals have already made some relatively major roster moves in the past couple of days that should eventually provide a spark for the team. First, they sent Luke Hochevar down to Omaha, a move that allows the team to transition to a four-man rotation for the next couple of weeks.
While I didn't feel Luke should have been given up on so quickly, all indications show that is not exactly the case. In fact, the demotion had more to do with the bullpen's horrendous showing in the past couple of weeks. Roman Colon takes Hochevar's spot on the roster, and figures to help patch up a bullpen with serious issues (especially after losing Robinson Tejeda). John Bale also returns to provide a solid lefty arm to a bullpen that is currently sending out the carcass of Horacio Ramirez to fill that lefty vacancy every couple of days. Mike Aviles has been demoted to the DL, a move which is becoming increasingly popular for teams looking to hide struggling regulars. So, all together we have two healthy new bullpen arms and another utilityman, the intriguing Tug Hulett. That constitutes a major shake-up in my book.
The arrival of Bale is the major addition. He will swiftly boot Ramirez from his role as a lefty specialist (finally), allowing the Royals to dismiss the faithful HoRam from the team once and for all. I'm not going to mince words here: Horacio Ramirez will be cut as soon as John Bale proves himself to be a far better option, a feat that should not be difficult to accomplish when compared with Ramirez's brutal efforts.
Once Ramirez is gone and stud closer Joakim Soria is back, the Royals will be freed up to add Hochevar to the big league squad once again. At this point, order will be restored to the universe and the Royals can once again resume winning ball games at their early-season rate.
OK, well it may not be as easy as 1-2-3, or A-B-C for that matter, but the point is that the Royals do not necessarily need to look for help outside of their own organization. People in Kansas City are overreacting to what is commonplace in a 162 game baseball season: a stretch of bad baseball. The team is currently just a game under .500 and 4 games back of division leading Detroit. Relax. If they're this close after a prolonged streak of incessant losing, then a mild winning streak will likely put them right near the division lead. Fans need to remember that this team is not as bad as they look right now, I guarantee it. The offense will eventually start scoring more than one run per game and Coco Crisp and David DeJeseus will get their batting averages up past .250. Billy Butler and Jose Guillen will hit for more power, and Alex Gordon will infuse this lineup with energy when he returns at the end of next month. All these things will happen, as long as Dayton Moore and Trey Hillman keep the faith and don't panic.
It may be difficult to see right now (as the Royals are getting one-hit by Detroit starter Edwin Jackson through 5 innings), but this team will turn it around. I just hope there are still fans piling into the new ballpark by the time it happens.
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
Saturday, May 9, 2009
Time For Blood Tests in All Major Sports
I know what I'm about to write is considered blasphemy to major American sports. I know that the unions in charge of the NBA, NFL, MLB, and NHL consider my upcoming suggestion to be a gross invasion of privacy . I know that these unions will fight to the death to protect their inalienable right to hide the supplements being injected into their athletes bodies. I know all these things, and yet I can't help myself in spite of them. Circumstances in professional sports today have left us with no other choice: we need blood testing.
Now, I know it seems radical to ask professional athletes making millions of dollars, who are in some cases tied directly to the marketing campaigns of their respective teams (Mannywood, anyone?), and are subject to huge fines and public relations suicide if connected to performance enhancing drugs, to allow teams the privilege of ensuring they're not pumping their bodies full of testosterone, human growth hormone, anabolic steroids, and fertility drugs before signing them to lucrative, guaranteed contract extensions, but...oh wait, that's not radical at all.
The idea that Major League Baseball players are not already subject to blood tests after the swell of controversy in their sport is what's laughable. How many uber-stars need to be outted before the powers-that-be decide enough is enough? Do we need David Ortiz to Twitter that he just received his shipment of Stanozolol? Or a Youtube video of Mark McGwire injecting Jason Giambi in an Oakland A's bathroom stall? How about a thank you card from Brett Boone to Jose Canseco for the juicing tips he received?
I'm only half joking here. I mean, assume you are the owner of an MLB team. I'll offer you a purely hypothetical scenario here. You have a big-time star who is destined to become a free agent following the current season. He is having a great year and the team is in contention. You and your people meet with his agent to discuss a contract extension, and you get a lucrative ten-year contract hammered out. You are ponying up hundreds of millions of dollars to secure this one player, and are content that his drawing power and sheer numbers will be worth the investment. Several months after the ink dries on the contract, this player admits, at the coaxing of the national media, to having used steroids for several years of his career. Now, how exactly do you feel about that ten-year, guaranteed contract you've just handed out?
You're furious, right? This player has not only duped his loyal fan base, but also the fans of your team and yourself personally. He has cashed in on a guaranteed contract that will keep his family afloat for generations, while at the same time making sure to finish the deal before any allegations arose. Pretty nifty move, huh?
Well, we all know that this kind of thing would never be possible, not anymore, not after Congress and Canseco, The Rocket and The (Mitchell) Report, not after mandatory steroids testing. It's just not possible. There is too much scrutiny, and the system works. Well, tell that to Hal Steinbrenner and the New York Yankees front office, the suckers who signed Alex Rodriguez to an unprecedented 275 million dollar contract mere months before he admitted to a history of doping.
Looking back, weren't there some fishy aspects about that deal? Namely, remember back to the negotiations, when it looked like a deal would not happen due to Scott Boras' ridiculous demands. Alex Rodriguez pushed Boras out of the room and came to an agreement with the Yankees himself. That was a truly unprecedented move. Just when talks were beginning to stall, A-Rod ousted his mega-agent and brokered the deal himself? How anxious was he to get something done before the offseason? Why was he so anxious? Did Rodriguez realize his image as a "clean" player was about to go up in smoke?
Obviously, there is no certain way to answer those questions, at least not yet. But one thing we do know is that Alex Rodriguez was very aware of his juicing past during negotiations, even if others weren't. And Rodriguez seemed very eager to scrap his old contract and draw up a new one.
The truth is, it doesn't matter whether Alex Rodriguez knew of his impending demise or not. What matters is that a team is paying 275 million dollars to a tarnished star, and are on the hook for the length of the ten year deal regardless. Why shouldn't they have the right to give the man a blood test before embarking on that type of long-term investment? It makes good business sense, and any player who was clean should have no problem submitting to a simple test in order to earn that payday.
Now, the various sports' unions will have none of this. Blood testing is an invasion of privacy, or at least that is what they're sticking to. But answer me this: is blood testing any more an invasion of privacy than a tell-all book about someone's past transgressions? How about a congressional hearing in which a former trainer claims to inject you in the buttucks with a syringe-full of steroids? How's that for invasion of privacy?
In the world of Youtube, Facebook, and Twitter, there is no such thing as privacy for a professional athlete. Earning a living playing sports is a privilege, not a right of passage, and it's high time that point was hammered home. A simple drug test to help clean up American sports would be a great way for our professional sports leagues to lash out against performance enhancing drugs, and this time with some authority. Blood tests should be the least of any athlete's concerns. That is, unless they have something to hide.
Now, I know it seems radical to ask professional athletes making millions of dollars, who are in some cases tied directly to the marketing campaigns of their respective teams (Mannywood, anyone?), and are subject to huge fines and public relations suicide if connected to performance enhancing drugs, to allow teams the privilege of ensuring they're not pumping their bodies full of testosterone, human growth hormone, anabolic steroids, and fertility drugs before signing them to lucrative, guaranteed contract extensions, but...oh wait, that's not radical at all.
The idea that Major League Baseball players are not already subject to blood tests after the swell of controversy in their sport is what's laughable. How many uber-stars need to be outted before the powers-that-be decide enough is enough? Do we need David Ortiz to Twitter that he just received his shipment of Stanozolol? Or a Youtube video of Mark McGwire injecting Jason Giambi in an Oakland A's bathroom stall? How about a thank you card from Brett Boone to Jose Canseco for the juicing tips he received?
I'm only half joking here. I mean, assume you are the owner of an MLB team. I'll offer you a purely hypothetical scenario here. You have a big-time star who is destined to become a free agent following the current season. He is having a great year and the team is in contention. You and your people meet with his agent to discuss a contract extension, and you get a lucrative ten-year contract hammered out. You are ponying up hundreds of millions of dollars to secure this one player, and are content that his drawing power and sheer numbers will be worth the investment. Several months after the ink dries on the contract, this player admits, at the coaxing of the national media, to having used steroids for several years of his career. Now, how exactly do you feel about that ten-year, guaranteed contract you've just handed out?
You're furious, right? This player has not only duped his loyal fan base, but also the fans of your team and yourself personally. He has cashed in on a guaranteed contract that will keep his family afloat for generations, while at the same time making sure to finish the deal before any allegations arose. Pretty nifty move, huh?
Well, we all know that this kind of thing would never be possible, not anymore, not after Congress and Canseco, The Rocket and The (Mitchell) Report, not after mandatory steroids testing. It's just not possible. There is too much scrutiny, and the system works. Well, tell that to Hal Steinbrenner and the New York Yankees front office, the suckers who signed Alex Rodriguez to an unprecedented 275 million dollar contract mere months before he admitted to a history of doping.
Looking back, weren't there some fishy aspects about that deal? Namely, remember back to the negotiations, when it looked like a deal would not happen due to Scott Boras' ridiculous demands. Alex Rodriguez pushed Boras out of the room and came to an agreement with the Yankees himself. That was a truly unprecedented move. Just when talks were beginning to stall, A-Rod ousted his mega-agent and brokered the deal himself? How anxious was he to get something done before the offseason? Why was he so anxious? Did Rodriguez realize his image as a "clean" player was about to go up in smoke?
Obviously, there is no certain way to answer those questions, at least not yet. But one thing we do know is that Alex Rodriguez was very aware of his juicing past during negotiations, even if others weren't. And Rodriguez seemed very eager to scrap his old contract and draw up a new one.
The truth is, it doesn't matter whether Alex Rodriguez knew of his impending demise or not. What matters is that a team is paying 275 million dollars to a tarnished star, and are on the hook for the length of the ten year deal regardless. Why shouldn't they have the right to give the man a blood test before embarking on that type of long-term investment? It makes good business sense, and any player who was clean should have no problem submitting to a simple test in order to earn that payday.
Now, the various sports' unions will have none of this. Blood testing is an invasion of privacy, or at least that is what they're sticking to. But answer me this: is blood testing any more an invasion of privacy than a tell-all book about someone's past transgressions? How about a congressional hearing in which a former trainer claims to inject you in the buttucks with a syringe-full of steroids? How's that for invasion of privacy?
In the world of Youtube, Facebook, and Twitter, there is no such thing as privacy for a professional athlete. Earning a living playing sports is a privilege, not a right of passage, and it's high time that point was hammered home. A simple drug test to help clean up American sports would be a great way for our professional sports leagues to lash out against performance enhancing drugs, and this time with some authority. Blood tests should be the least of any athlete's concerns. That is, unless they have something to hide.
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