Baseball. Blogging. Whenever.

Saturday, February 28, 2009

Great Moments in Self Promotion

Friday, February 27, 2009

A Contrary View

Their chances are good. Many legal experts were surprised at Illston's rulings. The prosecutors offered clever and creative arguments for the use of their evidence. The major obstacle, of course, was personal trainer Greg Anderson's refusal to testify against Bonds. If he had agreed to testify, the use of the evidence would have been simple and routine. But without Anderson's testimony, the prosecution had problems in meeting the requirements of the rules that govern evidence in federal courts. Relying on a series of rules that allow evidence to be presented even though it is hearsay, the prosecutors seemed to have met the legal requirement for use of the evidence. Illston, however, disagreed. Was she correct? The higher court will decide, but it looks good for the prosecutors.

Is this a significant development in the BALCO saga?

Yes. The decision to appeal shows that the administration of President Barack Obama will continue with the steroids enforcement policy that began under President George W. Bush. The prosecutors in San Francisco could not have filed this appeal without the approval of Eric Holder, the new attorney general, and Elena Kagan, the new solicitor general; so the decision to file the appeal was made at the highest level. Although many progressives have criticized the BALCO probe, it is now clear that the Obama administration will pursue steroids issues. The decision to appeal is a clear signal that federal steroids investigations are far from over.

U.S. v. Bonds:  Ppd.

And so the Barry Bonds saga rages on. With little end in sight.

What once seemed like closure on the horizon -- a perjury trial for baseball's home run king set to begin Monday, nearly six years after the BALCO scandal first erupted -- now has been put on indefinite hold.

The government announced Friday its intention to appeal pretrial rulings that would keep out significant pieces of evidence, bringing the case to a screeching halt despite Judge Susan Illston's chastising prosecutors for even considering an appeal at the 11th hour.

The start to the trial, legal experts say, likely will be delayed several months, if not considerably longer.

Anderson to stay mum

Greg Anderson, Barry Bonds' former personal trainer and the government's most coveted witness in the perjury case against baseball's home run king, still refuses to testify under oath.

As expected, Anderson, through his lawyer, today told U.S. District Judge Susan Illston he will not testify at Bonds' trial, scheduled to begin next week. The judge told Anderson that he will have to appear in court Wednesday, the first day of scheduled testimony. If he does not testify, Illston said he would be found in civil contempt and sent to jail for the duration of the trial. The judge also warned Anderson that he could face further punishment if he is later charged with criminal contempt for refusing to testify.

Anderson's move immediately triggered the possibility of a delay in the trial. Federal prosecutors told the judge that they will let her know by 3 p.m. if they will appeal her recent order excluding a host of key evidence from the trial, including what they say are three positive steroid tests by Bonds; Illston based that decision largely on the fact that the evidence is hearsay without Anderson's supporting testimony.

A lazy, mid-morning fisk

Out of the roughly 1,000 major leaguers in spring training camps, a couple of dozen appear to have lost significant weight in the off-season, all in the name of health and agility.

Some of them did it by eating grilled fish. Others played active video games with their children. Some went on diet programs or took up yoga. Others cut back on alcohol. Whatever they did, clubhouse attendants are coming up with smaller uniforms all over Florida and Arizona.

Among the biggest losers are Brett Myers and Ryan Howard of the championship Phillies, who lost 30 and 20 pounds.

“You have to be a little skeptical, given the context of watching bodies change,” Dr. Gary Wadler, an internist and member of the World Anti-Doping Agency, said Thursday. “The explanation then was that they were eating more and working out more. Now if you hear players say, ‘We changed our ways,’ all you can do is be suspicious.”

The model for clean living and technique over brute size is Derek Jeter of the Yankees, whose physique and hitting style have never fluctuated since he came up in 1995. Jeter seemed to be quietly seething last week when having to discuss revelations of steroid use by Alex Rodriguez. Not all of us did it, Jeter veritably hissed. That is an important fact to remember as players assert their inner athlete.

“A lot of baseball is about something called weight transfer,” Dr. Joyner added. “In this context, there have been many superb javelin throwers who are pretty small and at least some shot-putters and discus throwers have been relatively small. “Think about the rotation in Tiger Woods’s hips, or the classic shot of Koufax with his arm essentially being used like a sling shot and trailing his body.”

“Remember Mickey Lolich?” he said, referring to the chubby lefty who helped Detroit win the 1968 World Series. “The more weight he gained, the better he pitched."

Of course, players have always been trying to lose weight. I can remember Mickey Mantle, Roger Maris, Elston Howard and Johnny Blanchard running laps — well, maybe one lap — early in spring training, all of them wearing rubber shirts and calling one another Whale Belly as they staggered from foul pole to foul pole.

Nowadays, players can afford trainers and nutritionists, and they do not have to supplement their income as bartenders or by selling cars. But it’s hard to forget the first vague impressions of the mid- to-late ’90s, when some players showed up for spring training with enlarged teeth, larger cap sizes, acne on their backs and shoulders rising to meet their ears.

Newsday to make you pay for it

Cablevision Systems Corp plans to charge online readers of its Newsday newspaper, a move that would make it one of the first large U.S. papers to reverse a trend toward free Web readership.

The paper said in a statement late on Thursday that it is in the process of transforming the site into a locally focused cable service.

Newsday, which covers the New York suburb of Long Island, was bought by Cablevision in a $650 million deal last May that was widely criticized on Wall Street as a puzzling move into a troubled newspaper market.

Cablevision had to write down Newsday's value by $402 million on Thursday, pushing its fourth-quarter results to a loss, as U.S. print advertising sales and circulation have dropped with more readers seeking free news on the Web.

BOA bails on the Yankees

The New York Yankees and Bank of America ended months of negotiations on a long-term, high-profile sponsorship agreement, fallout from the financial industry's decision to accept aid from the federal government.

While the sides never discussed naming rights to the team's new $1.5 billion stadium, they had talked about the possibility of a 20-year deal that would have included signage, special events and tickets.

"With the downturn in the economy and the effect on financial institutions including government support of those institutions, we have determined that it is better to enter into a traditional business arrangement with a financial institution," Yankees spokeswoman Alice McGillion said.

"We recognize that our decision not to pursue a long-term partnership with the Yankees reflects a lost revenue opportunity for our company, however these are unprecedented times that perhaps call for some very difficult decisions," Goode said.

He estimated that each dollar spent by BOA with the Yankees and similar sponsorships generates a return of 10 times in revenue and threefold in income. Goode said spending sponsorship money with the Yankees had boosted BOA's consumer banking, commercial lending and wealth management businesses.

Bluff called

At 8:30 p.m. tonight, the Dodgers made the rather unusual move of issuing a statement that shows their exasperation with Manny Ramirez's agent, Scott Boras:

BORAS REJECTS DODGERS
OFFER TO MANNY RAMIREZ

LOS ANGELES -- The Dodgers today received a letter from Scott Boras, the agent for Manny Ramirez, rejecting the offer that the club made yesterday. This rejection is the fourth by the agent in the club’s attempts to sign Manny.

“We love Manny Ramirez,” said Dodgers Owner Frank McCourt, “And we want Manny back, but we feel we are negotiating against ourselves. When his agent finds those ‘serious offers’ from other clubs, we’ll be happy to re-start the negotiations.

“Even with an economy that has substantially eroded since last November, out of respect for Manny and his talents, we actually improved our offer.

“So now, we start from scratch.”

Today at THT

Thursday, February 26, 2009

The Rocky Mountain News is Dead