Get Over It

I was reading a baseball rumor website today and saw a post that said the Boston Red Sox were looking into acquiring Felix Hernandez from the Seattle Mariners in the off-season. As a Red Sox fan I was pumped to read this because King Felix is a solid young pitcher who would be an excellent addition to the Red Sox rotation.

As I continued to read the post I saw there was a section where people could leave comments. I started to read the comments and became instantly frustrated as every comment seemed to be along the lines of 'Red Sox and Yankees ruining baseball' and 'small market teams can't compete anymore.'

To everyone who feels this way I have only one response...shove it.

I have so many problems with these people that I don't even know where to being but I guess there is no better place to start than the payroll.

People constantly try and lump the Red Sox in with the Yankees when it comes to spending money. Yes the Red Sox have a high payroll but so do a lot of other teams. Here is the top 10:

Yankees - $201 million

Mets -$149 million

Cubs - $134 million

Red Sox - $121 million

Tigers - $115 million

Angels - $113 million

Phillies - $113 million

Astros - $102 million

Dodgers - $100 million

Mariners - $98 million

The Red Sox are 4th. Not 2nd and they aren't anywhere close to the Yankees so anyone who lumps the two teams together is a moron. The Sox do spend a lot of money on their team but that is because the team generates so much revenue from ticket sales and merchandise.

So basically that means the fans spend money which means the team has more money to spend which in turn leads to success. Therefore if fans want their team do spend more money try GOING TO THE FUCKING GAMES!

I love hearing Jays fans bitch about the Jays need to spend more money yet they don't help their team out at all. They only go to Jays games when it is a Toonie Tuesday game and they don't buy merchandise. The jays have the SkyDome which can hold like 50,000 people yet it is only sold out on opening day and that's it. So stop you're bitching.

I also love to hear Jays fans whine about how they are a small market team and can't compete financially with the Red Sox and Yankees. Are you kidding me? Do you know which company owns your team? The Toronto Blue Jays are owned by the Rogers Corporation which is Canada's largest telecommunications company. The annual net income of Rogers is $1.26 billion. Your team is owned and operated by the richest company in Canada. Just because they choose not to spend the money on the team, probably because no one goes to the games, doesn't make you a small market team. It makes you cheap.

It really boggles my mind when people try and condemn the Sox and Yankees for spending a tonne of money. As if they should approach baseball like the majority of other teams and penny pinch only to wind up 15 games out of the Wild Card every year (Pirates, Nationals, Reds, Royals, and Orioles). The team has money and chooses to spend it. End of story.

Forget about the whole idea of money for a second and just look at the original subject of the post, that being Felix Hernandez. Why wouldn't the Sox go after this kid? He is 16-5 this year with a 2.45 ERA and 196 Ks and he is only 23 years old. Every team in the league should be pursuing him if he is available.

The condemnation of teams that have money and choose to spend it needs to stop. Is the economic system in MLB perfect? Obviously not. Is the system going to change anytime soon? Of course not so teams and fans need to either accept this fact or quit. All I know is fans crying because their team is cheap is not acceptable and needs to stop.

Get over it.

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The List

In February it was revealed that Alex Rodriguez's name had been on a list of major league baseball players that had tested positive for steroids in 2003. The media had a field day with the information and A-rod was faced with a media circus. The list was supposed to be anonymous but someone had leaked his name to the press allowing everyone to find out what most had assumed.

Today 2 more names from that same list were revealed to the public: David Ortiz and Manny Ramirez.

Now I am of course a Red Sox fan and this revelation means that during the 2004 season in which the Sox won the World Series, led by Ortiz and Manny, key members of the team were on steroids.

Am I upset about this? No. Am I surprised by this? Not really. Does this taint their World Series victory? Not really.

Let's start with whether or not I am upset. The short answer is no. Does it bother me that players on my favorite team took drugs in order to be better? No. Then again I have never really had a problem with steroids. I have a problem with the lack of punishment for using steroids but not with idea of taking steroids.

For instance I have written in the past that I think Manny and A-rod should have gotten greater punishments for their crimes. I still stand by that. If you get caught cheating you should be suspended in a meaningful way. That means you sit out either the last 50 games of the season or the playoffs. You don't sit out the first 50 which often times can be meaningless and in reality only give players needed rest allowing them to return for the stretch run healthy and fresh.

So what I am trying to say is punish Ortiz. Hell for the first 50 games he was a corpse anyways and more of a burden. Now he is hitting again but still he deserves to be punished if he did in fact break the rules.

Now on to whether or not I am surprised. Of course not. The past 10-15 years of baseball have been called the "steroid era" so obviously I am not surprised when two big time home run hitters, in the case of Ortiz a true out of nowhere story, test positive for steroids. I wasn't surprised when A-rod got caught and I am especially not surprised now.

I mean if you look at Ortiz's career it would be a bigger surprise if he was clean. Before he came to Boston his career high in home runs was 20. In his first 4 years with the Red Sox he hit 31, 41, 47, and 54 home runs.

It seems that no one in baseball is clean anymore and everyone is guilty until proven innocent. I include Ortiz in the column and as of right now he is guilty. I still love him though and he is still one of my favorite players.

Lastly do I think this taints the 2004 World Series victory? Once again I am going to say no. On the list that revealed Ortiz and Manny as cheaters there are over 100 other names. Now this more than likely means there is at least 1 player from each team on that list. I can only assume then that every team had some steroid users.

I might also use the defense that Ortiz and Manny didn't win every game on their own. Someone still had to pitch and play the other positions on the field. I know Ortiz had some clutch hits that kept the Sox alive against the Yankees but in the end there are 20 guys on that team that are probably clean that all helped to win that title. It would be wrong to take away the work others did because of the poor decisions of two members of the team.

One thing I did want to touch on was this list. This list of players that is coming back to haunt Bud Selig and MLB. For some reason Selig has decided that instead of releasing every name on the list and dealing with the situation in one sitting he would rather just let names be leaked out gradually bringing negative attention to baseball intermittently.

Maybe Selig doesn't have the list or doesn't know who is on it but I think he does. I mean he must right? The main thing to know is that the testing was supposed to be anonymous. The Players Association is already taking legal action as they are suing those who have broken the confidence of the testing.

The most interesting perspective on the whole situation came from Nomar Garciapara who played with Ortiz and Ramirez and was in Boston today as the Red Sox were playing the A's. Nomar said that he knows of many players who refused to be tested which would result in an automatic admission of guilt. He claims players did this because they wanted testing in baseball and they assumed the tests would remain anonymous. This is interesting because over 5% of players tested positive during this test period and MLB officials said that if over 5% tested positive they would implement mandatory random testing.

So Nomar is claiming that players wanted testing and felt that not subjecting themselves to this test, which would as stated above result in them being deemed guilty, would be the best way to go about getting testing.

Maybe Nomar is saying this because his name was on the list as well or maybe it is the truth. In either case this was not the route Manny or Ortiz took. In a statement he released today Ortiz said, "Based on the way I have lived my life, I am surprised to learn I tested positive." This obviously means that he didn't just refuse testing but allowed himself to be tested and was caught.

Either way this whole story is one that will allow the steroids and baseball talk to continue. As for the Red Sox or as Baby J has now dubbed them the "Roid Sox" they will go about business as usual. I'd come up for a clever steroid related nickname for the Blue Jays but they are so irrelevant it wouldn't be worth my time. The Sox will continue to win games and continue to be a threat in the AL. Whether they do it clean or on the juice I really don't care. I don't watch sports to learn about values and morals.

One last thing. If there is a God then Derek Jeter will be the next name revealed on this list.

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Big Popout

Today I wore my David Ortiz jersey for the first time in months.  There was no particular reason, well other than the fact I haven't done laundry in a few days and it was one of the only clean pieces of clothing I had, but still no special reason.  I put it on and went outside to meet up with my buddy so we could see the new Star Trek movie (actually not bad) and then it happened.

He sees the jersey and asks if there is anyone on the back or if it's just a blank.  With a big prideful smile I turn around to show him the #34 and the Ortiz.  However instead of getting the usual response "nice" I heard "oh wow that's embarrassing."  He actually made fun of my David Ortiz jersey.

I then spent the rest of the ride to the movie theatre explaining how Ortiz is a Red Sox hero and although he may be struggling now every time he is up at bat all I remember is the 2004 playoffs and all the clutch hits and big home runs.  He would have none of it and chose to dog out Ortiz for his weak average (.220) and his lack of home runs (0 so far this season).

I defended Big Papi as best I could but in the end there wasn't really much to say as these days he isn't known as Big Papi but is instead referred to as Big Popout.  Sadly the new nickname is more fitting as Ortiz has lost all of his power and is now just an overweight 33 year old who can't hit a baseball.

To understand how bad it really is look no further than last nights action.  Ortiz took his 100th at bat and still didn't have a home run.  Meanwhile in his first at bat of the season Alex Rodriuguez hit a dinger.  So A-rod did in one at bat what Ortiz hasn't been able to do in 100+ at bats.

The list of players that have more home runs than David Ortiz contains some of the worst hitters of the past decades and even contains a few pitchers from the NL.  Ortiz has gone from serious home run threat to the laughing stock of the league and as a Red Sox fan it is truly hard to watch.

Ortiz's power numbers have been dropping since the 2006 season.  Over the past four seasons he has hit 54, 35, 23, and 0 (that's the 2009 season).  Many tried to attribute the lack of power to a wrist injury that Ortiz suffered last year and has been struggling with but coming into the season he said he was 100%.

The most troubling part of Ortiz's season so far as that he is still batting 3rd in the lineup.  His numbers are pathetic and yet he continues to bat in his same slot.  But what can you do?  He has earned that spot by time and time coming through when the Red Sox needed a hit.  Over the past 3 seasons there wasn't one other guy you would want up there when your team needed a hit and I am not just talking about the Red Sox.  He was considered to be the best clutch hitter in the game league wide.

But he is hurting the team with his lack of production and it is only a matter of time before he gets moved down in the order.  By the end of the season we could see Big Papi hitting 8th or 9th after such scrubs as Jed Lowrie and Julio Lugo.

I remember when I went to the store in Boston across the street from Fenway and my dad told me to pick any jersey I wanted.  I didn't even think.  I went right for Ortiz and knew that this would be a jersey I could always wear with pride.  Hell I almost got in a fight with some poof at the Jays game because he was making fun of my jersey a few years ago.  If that happened today I don't think there is anything I could say in return.  "Oh yeah well he was good 5 years ago" just isn't an effective argument.

For now the faith in me remains strong that he will be able to turn it around but having to watch guys like Jeff Niemann and Dana Eveland blow it by him it doesn't look good.

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