My Morning in Exile

by
June 18, 2009

Things I wrote while wondering how on Earth a basketball arena could cost nearly half a billion dollars. Titanium floors instead of parquet? Title banners woven from saffron?

  • Jose Canseco says he’s going to sue Major League Baseball. Good luck with that.
  • The Dodgers and Sox to soon get Manny and Smoltz back. Respectively, that is. It’s not like they have some weird player-sharing thing going on.
  • The Cubs have a pathetic offense and its getting worse by the day. They also happen to have the best starting pitching in baseball. You’d think, then, that they’d be out scouting hitters. They’re not.
  • Congress is investigating Sammy Sosa for perjury. As we touched on here yesterday, I really don’t think that’s going to go anywhere.
  • How do rumors get started? They’re started by the jealous people and they get mad about somthin’theyhad, and sombody else is holdin’.

    • Omar Vizquel: King of Venezuela.

    (thanks to Lar for the Orlando Arena link)


    4 Comments
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    Jack Marshall
    14 years ago

    Craig, do you have any idea why Manny Ramirez is allowed to play in the minors before he’s eligible to come off his suspension? That makes no sense at all to me. I would think he would be eligible to play ANYWHERE on July 3, and not before—-otherwise, why wasn’t he in the minors keeping in shape the whole time? So a drug-banned minor league player can’t play in the minors during his 50 games, but a drug-banned majorleague player can?
    So Manny will be playing A ball without being paid?
    Wha? Or did I miss the fine print, as usual…

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    Craig Calcaterra
    14 years ago

    I don’t know the specific fine print, Jack, but I believe eligibility for minor league rehab assignments are part of the terms of suspensions as negotiated in the CBA and/or the MLB drug policy.  If I had to guess, I’d say that such a scenario benefits both the team and the player, inasmuch as a player coming straight into a big league game without having worked himself into game shape would pose an injury risk.  If Manny got hurt on July 3rd in Los Angeles, that would harm the Dodgers, and I’d argue that the Dodgers aren’t deserving of losing their best player any more than they already have.

    What the deal is with pay, I have no idea. I’d hope and expect that his Major League salary is still held up until he’s eligible to play in Major League games, and that for purposes of not breaking the 13th Amendment, he is given the pro-rated version of whatever the class A salary is. (which in turn I hope would be given to charity by Manny, or at least repurposed for some nice post-game meals for his minor league teammates).

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    Jack Marshall
    14 years ago

    I’m sure that’s correct, Craig, but why should a suspension include a way to make it easier for the team or the player? So Manny is eligible to play on July 3, and just as with an injury coming off the DL, the team has to decide whether to rehab him or activate him…on July 3. To me, this is just one more example of how the union and MLB send mixed messages about drug use: “Poor baby; you got caught! Well, we have to suspend you, but don’t worry, we’ll set it up so you will come back just as good as new!” A lawyer suspended from his corporate practice for six months isn’t allowed to do traffic court cases for his last couple weeks. A student suspended from school can’t audit class the last couple weeks so he’s not so far behind. If Manny’s playing pro-ball anywhere after 40 days, then it wasn’t really a 50 game suspension.

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    Jacob
    14 years ago

    Maybe I’m mistaken, but I think teams can start players on rehab assignments before they are eligible to come off the DL.  That being said, it does seem that a suspension would be a different matter.

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