ADD DESTROYING CRIMINAL EVIDENCE TO A-ROD’S RAP LIST?

On Friday afternoon, Michael Schmidt of the New York Times broke the story and identified Alex Rodriguez as the player who allegedly purchased documents from a former employee of Biogenesis of America in an attempt to destroy evidence linking him to the anti-aging clinic’s distribution of performance-enhancing drugs.

When the Miami New Times broke the story in January, I remember saying “this is the White Whale. This is the one that will blow the lid completely off the entire steroid and PED scandal.”

Since that day more than a dozen players have been implicated and tied to Biogensis including Rodriguez, Melky Cabrera, Gio Gonzalez, Bartolo Colon, Nelson Cruz and Yasmani Grandal and 2012 MVP Ryan Braun.

While they all continue denying everything and scrambling for and convenient excuse they can find, the plot keeps thickening and the sordid details are piling up by the hundreds. Real details and real documents that even MLB themselves are trying to illegally buy at any price to get to the bottom of this and protect what little integrity the game has left.

The person charged with the role of Super Spy is none other than Bud Selig himself who has been authorizing and signing off on huge sums of cash that is being used to secure whatever documents they can get their hands on from former employees of the lab who are now all seeking to pay off their significant mounting legal fees.

And while Alex Rodriguez is no less guilty of doing the same thing, there is a huge difference.

MLB wants those documents so they can go after every player that is implicated and try to clean up the game.

A-Rod on the other hand, was seeking to get those documents and destroy them before the FBI or MLB got a hold of them.

But wait, there’s more…

Of course, Rodriguez flatly denied the accusation through a spokesman, but then he dropped another bombshell alleging that it was the New York Yankees that were paying for and buying those documents from the rogue former employee. Wow…

Oh and one more thing… Let’s stop calling them documents and lets start referring to them instead as illegally obtained evidence to hinder an ongoing federal, state and MLB investigation.

These are all allegations at this time, but when this is all over, I think more than a few people, including players, will be looking at life from a different perspective…

Jeff Passan of Yahoo Sports posted on this today and I wanted to add some additional information that has surfaced that is relevant to my original post:

The government is in. Despite the failings of federal officials in past high-profile cases that married athletes and PEDs, the Florida Department of Health has started an investigation into Anthony Bosch, operator of the Biogenesis clinic that allegedly provided drugs to players, the New Times reported.

One notable figure is Marcelo Albir, whose name appears multiple times on a Biogenesis document obtained by Yahoo! Sports that initially linked Braun with the clinic.

Albir is a former teammate of Braun’s at Miami who investigators believe played an important role in Braun’s relationship with Biogenesis. Ryan Braun said he paid Biogenesis clinic operator Anthony Bosch a consulting fee during his appeal. (Yahoo)

The document lists Albir’s name next to Braun and Cesar Carrillo, a pitcher who was Braun’s road roommate at Miami. Underneath is a notation: “RB 20-30K,” with an arrow pointing to Chris Lyons, one of Braun’s attorneys in his appeal. Braun, the Milwaukee Brewers star playing for Team USA in the World Baseball Classic, said he paid Bosch a fee for consulting during his appeal for a positive testosterone test that was overturned in arbitration because of chain-of-custody issues.

He did not explain what comes next in the document: One line reads “[follow up with] Lyons, Marcelo, Carrillo, 3K, etc.” On the next line: “Total owed 23-33K + Marcelo Albir,” followed by Lyons’ name and cell phone number on the final line.

Original Post 8:00 AM

I was eating some gluten-free Rice Chex the other morning staring blankly at my milk carton and I saw the words “Homogenized, Pasteurized” and it got me thinking. Pasteurization, the practice whereby you heat and cool raw milk to kill dangerous microbes that might reproduce and create a gelatinous and explosive insurgency in your intestines, as discovered by Louis Pasteur. I remember one time I had some bad yogurt … it was “key lime” flavored and the thing about trying new yogurt flavors is you really want to be sure you know what it should taste like before you try it. I had no idea what “key lime” yogurt was supposed to taste like so it wasn’t until the 7th or 8th spoonful that I realized it probably isn’t supposed to taste like earthworms and bleach. It was a bad situation.

Anyway moving on, Pasteur also happens to be the progenitor of the theory of Biogenesis. Now when I see the word “Biogenesis” I automatically think the Genesis Project from Star Trek III, where they were able to convert a lifeless rock into a living breathing planet (kind of like the way they’re trying to convert Lucas Duda into an outfielder), but Pasteur defined it as generating life from other life forms. According to the theory you in fact cannot generate life from lifeless matter — which explains why Luis Castillo had such a hard time hitting balls out of the infield.

Biogenesis is also of course the name of the disgraced and shuttered PED distributor operating under the guise of an “anti-aging” clinic in southern Florida. Things didn’t work out that well for Biogenesis in Star Trek either as the planet imploded in a molten fireball within a matter of hours. Anthony Bosch, the owner of Biogenesis is currently the target of an MLB lawsuit. Makes you wonder what they were up to, whether they were on the verge of discovering the fountain of youth, or figuring out how to grow new oblique muscles from pork chops in Petri dishes, or clone body parts. I’d love to have a clone … I wouldn’t be very nice to him … probably keep him chained in the basement and feed him scraps and use him only when I need the garage cleaned or if my wife’s sisters are coming over.

Turns out this company had some pretty lucrative business clients, 90 of them were baseball players, many of them professionals. Some of the names have recently been leaked like green fluorescent goop dripping from a radioactive drum, A-Rod, Ryan Braun, Melky Cabrera. Like the spoiled yogurt, it’s a bad, potentially explosive, situation.

There was a quote, however, that struck me as peculiar as I was reading about all of this. It was by MLB Vice President Rob Manfred and appeared in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel on March 20th:

“Everyone whose name has surfaced surrounding the Miami New Times story and Biogenesis is being investigated with equal vigor,”

The quote appears to fire a preemptive shot across the Union’s bow perhaps to diffuse any Union accusations that MLB is about to embark on a witch-hunt. Now I love a good witch-hunt as much as the next towns-person, but if you’re going to pass out torches and pitchforks it would behoove you to establish that there are in fact witches in your town right? So, my guess is MLB has indeed uncovered another wheelbarrow full of dirt in Biogenesis’ basement, only they haven’t, the Miami New Times has.

Here’s the thing. I know how much we all love Bud Selig, I mean he’s right up there with puppies and Santa Clause and cinnamon cannoli, but he’s been known to be somewhat dictatorial. I’m not sure if he’s actually royalty but he’s even earned the moniker “King” in some circles. The thing about Kings is, you don’t want to upset them because the can have your head chopped off. Even worse, they can threaten to suspend a player you just drafted on your fantasy team without just cause … because the player’s lawyer talked to someone named Bosch who happens to run a company called Biogenesis … that word again.

I know, you know, we all know Ryan Braun was guilty and should have served a suspension, but he didn’t and that probably doesn’t sit well with Bud Selig to this day.

We would all do well to recall, however, that Selig was the same commissioner who presided over the steroid era — a time when baseball was recovering from a damaging player strike. The increased offensive output put fannies in the seats and made a lot of money for a lot of people. Balls were flying out of parks at unprecedented rates, everyone was happy. But like many drug fantasies that start off with euphoria and cash, ours crashed in a big way as our collective moral conscience ended up staring at itself in a mirror wondering how it ended up broke in a seedy hotel room with a girl named Velvet. Morality caught up with our favorite pastime in the form of congressional inquiries culminating in the Mitchel report, which eventually produced a formal and stringent drug testing policy.

Don’t get me wrong, the players shoulder a hefty portion of the blame for this PED mess, but what we sometimes fail to consider as fans is that for more than two decades a PED arms race has been going on not just in the majors, but at all levels of the minor leagues. For many players using was the only chance they had at breaking in, even if it meant bouncing back and forth as a utility guy or a bullpen arm. It was the only way they might make enough money to set themselves up somewhere having dropped out of college to pursue their dream. For others using was the only way to maintain a competitive edge against other users. For every major leaguer who dabbled in PED’s there were countless more in the minors who we never heard about, who went on to sell insurance in Topeka or run their Dad’s hardware store in Sioux Falls until they went to see their doctor about a headache that wouldn’t go away and got some bad news.

Selig is no longer the laissez-faire monarch presiding over a booming baseball economy fueled by home run derbies and PED’s. He has taken the high road, claiming it was always the Player’s Union that stood in the way of testing, that the Union bullied our good owners into unwittingly pocketing billions in profits. Yes, the owners were the good guys, making truck loads of money and trying to get drug testing into Collective Bargaining negotiations that probably went something like this:

MLB Rep: “So, we’d like to institute mandatory drug testing, how does counsel for the Player’s Association respond to item IIIb. page 72?”

Union Rep: “Sounds fair, why n… “ a creepy guy with dark sunglasses in a black suit who no one remembers inviting leans over and whispers something into the Union Rep’s ear.

Union Rep: “Er, on second thought no we are categorically opposed to drug testing, peeing in a cup is gross, no one wants that, ew.”

MLB Rep: “Duly noted, moving on.”

Ok, so it probably didn’t happen exactly like that, but how many readers here think MLB made a serious attempt to curb PED use prior to congress becoming involved? If there is one thing we know about Baseball Owners, they don’t usually turn down money, or things that make money, or things that look like money.

So there’s an element of profound hypocrisy here when you listen to Ownership and Bud Selig carrying on as if they are the pious guardians of all that is morally good and wholesome in the world.

Enter Ryan Braun, golden child, circa 2007. Braun is playing for the Brewers … hmm, now what is it about the Brewers and Bud Selig that I’m forgetting?? Oh yes, Selig’s family owns the Brewers. Selig loves Braun because Braun comes up and rockets to superstardom by means of his powerful bat and his ring-tailed lemur eyes. Braun, who bears some resemblance to a cleaned-up Tarzan, is making lots of money for the Brewers, and he’s a good guy, someone we can all like. He’s even friends with Aaron Rogers. He even looks like Aaron Rogers. The Brewers sign him to a lucrative long-term contract and Braun becomes the face of the franchise. Selig contemplates introducing Ryan to his niece Bethunia, everything is wonderful in the world. Then, just as the Brewers are gearing up for the playoffs in 2011, some urine from a cup that Braun peed into is found to have more testosterone than Bruce Banner with a stubbed toe. Bad situation.

What made it worse was that the courier’s delay transporting Braun’s urine violated standard industry protocol (not to mention raising chain of possession concerns) because he kept it in a little party fridge in his “den” over the weekend where he could have had his buddies come over and take turns staring at it for all we know.

“Dude, I’ve got RYAN BRAUN’S urine in my fridge.”

“SHUT UP!”

“No, I’m serious.”

“I’m coming over.”

Anyway, it was ruled that the integrity of the sample could have been compromised and the test’s positive results were invalided, even though it was virtually undeniable that the “triple sealed” sample did in fact test positive. MLB’s protocol for the handling of urine samples were not up to industry standards, as hard as that may be to believe. As Lupica said in the NY Daily News, Braun was acquitted, not exonerated. The penalty was overturned by an arbiter (who has since been banished to Bogeyland). Wonder if they had to draw straws deciding who had to break the news to Mr. Selig?

Now this kid (one of the 90 names) Cesar Carrillo, a minor leaguer, gets hammered with a 100 game suspension (50 for knowing Anthony Bosch and 50 more for “lying about it”) because he was not on his team’s 40 man roster and thus was not protected by the union. Also of interest is the fact that he knew Braun at the University of Miami and that the second 50 game suspension was really for “failing to cooperate.” Subsequent comments by MLB stress that those who fail to cooperate will be suspended (per the new CBA by-laws) and that those who do cooperate may be granted immunity. Meanwhile MLB continues questioning friends and family of Ryan Braun trying to build a case. In addition, MLB requested that the Miami New Times, the paper that broke this latest PED scandal, share their Biogenesis records with the Commissioner’s office.

Chuck Strouse responded on behalf of the New Times with the following:

Sorry, MLB Commissioner Bud Selig. We won’t hand over records that detail the inner workings of Biogenesis, the controversial Coral Gables anti-aging clinic that allegedly supplied prohibited drugs to six professional baseball players, including Yankees slugger Alex Rodriguez.

The reasons are manifold. History plays a role in our decision. So do journalistic ethics and the fact that we have already posted dozens of records on our website. Finally, there is a hitherto-unreported Florida Department of Health criminal probe into clinic director Anthony Bosch.

It gets even better:

One of our most significant motivations for denying baseball is right here in the tropics. His name is Jeffrey Loria, and he owns the Miami Marlins, who start regular-season play in just a few weeks. A March 1 story in the Atlantic called the pudgy art collector’s stewardship of our baseball team, which has twice won the World Series, “the biggest ongoing scam in professional sports.” The magazine’s article describes, as New Times has in the past, how Loria hornswoggled $515 million in public backing for the stadium and parking facilities, then delivered a losing season and sold off all his best players.

The magazine blamed Selig: “If Marlins fans want results, they should send a few representatives to Commissioner Bud Selig’s office in New York. There’s a clause in Selig’s contract mandating that he act in ‘the best interests of baseball.’ Right now that would mean stepping in to prevent owners like Loria from using a big-league team as a front for squeezing money from taxpayers.”

So this is the guy who wants our records?

MLB went on to issue a 1000 game suspension to Chuck Stouse before realizing he does not play for MLB.

Think the union might have something to say about all this? Think MLB would have thought twice about starting this little PED war were it not for the 5 years they have left on their current CBA? Think maybe Selig has overstepped his authority? Was Braun really dumb enough to dabble in illegal substances again after what he went through in 2012, or does this predate those results? Think this may stink a little of a personal vendetta against a Mr. Ryan Braun? If it smells like bad yogurt and it tastes like bad yogurt, well …

One thing I do know. This isn’t going to end any time soon, and like that funny feeling you get after eating too many chimichangas, it’s going to get worse before it gets better, especially when the union pushes back … and they will.

Very bad situation.

There is a conspiracy theory everywhere you look. I read one suggesting the Mets made David Wright captain to divert attention away from the field, where they are projected to be bad. Very bad.

Smokescreens like that never work. Besides, Mets fans are like children and dogs in a way, after awhile, they know when they’re getting duped.C’mon. Are you serious? How long do you think that will last? With virtually no hope given to the Mets this year, they’ll be coming out to see Wright and the young players such as Matt Harvey, Ike Davis, Travis d’Arnaud and Zack Wheeler. The last two you’ll probably see sometime in June.

Besides, if taking the fan’s attention away from the team is the goal, they should have done this three years ago as the attendance at Citi Field has consistently dwindled.

Wright is simply the best player the Mets have, and arguably the best player – outside of Tom Seaver – they ever produced. And best, I mean both on and off the field.

As Major League Baseball goes after Ryan Braun and others in a witch hunt over PED’s, Wright has publicly stood up against drug users. A long time ago, when I asked Derek Jeter about steroids, he said: “I don’t use them, so it’s none of my business.”

Guess again. It is every player’s business for their sport to be clean and Wright, whether or not it comes from his father who is in law enforcement, has always stood for that goal. He should be commended for that alone.

I know some don’t feel Wright is clutch enough, but that’s nonsense. Baseball is about failing three out every ten at-bats just to be good, and Wright is the best the Mets have in that regard. Who else would you rather see at the plate in the ninth inning of a close game?

Jeff Wilpon said the appointment was for all Wright has done, and will do, for the organization in the future. The Mets have been awful on the field since 2008, and even worse off it with the Ponzi scandal, numerous bad signings and public relations fiascos. With all those around him losing their heads, Wright kept his, to paraphrase Rudyard Kipling.

When it was clear the Mets were about to sack Willie Randolph, Wright spoke out for his manager – and against management – because it was the right thing to do. He blamed himself and the players, not the manager whom management had spied on with Tony Bernazard.

A leader sometimes deals with uncomfortable things, and yes, Wright spoke against Lastings Milledge coming in late. He downplays it now, but it had to be done. Players often take their lead from other players, and when somebody doesn’t hustle, Wright lets him know it in a low-key, yet effective manner.

He doesn’t get in their faces, just their minds. And, that’s what leaders, and captains, do.

Isn’t it amazing what kind of a player David Wright can be when he’s actually surrounded by some legitimate major league talent?

Currently, Wright is enjoying some of the most spectacular baseball he’s ever played in his career, and why not? We’ve all seen what the Mets All Star third baseman could do before when he had great protection in the lineup.

It was no coincidence that Wright had his best two seasons as a Met when both Carlos Delgado and Carlos Beltran were lethal weapons for the Mets, before each of them got hurt and became less effective.

Back then, we saw what “Captain America” was capable of, and things haven’t been the same since Dos Carlos were last seen together in a Mets lineup with David Wright.

It’s been a grind for Wright since the 2009 season. Sure, he’s had his moments and even a couple of tremendous halves on two occasions. But not nearly the kind of consistent seasons we saw from Wright during the three year stretch spanning 2006-2008.

I believe that on Omar Minaya’s part, he understood that Wright needed that protection and while Jason Bay ended up being a complete and colossal bust, nobody could have predicted the AL’s leading home run and RBI man would collapse the way that he did once he joined the New York Mets. Then the money ran out.

Wright now enters the 2013 season with way too many question marks in the lineup. Lucas Duda is 27 and is still a project just as he was two years ago. Ike Davis has yet to put together two good halves and form one solid season. And it looks like Collin Cowgill and Marlon Byrd may log a lot of playing time this season if we are to believe the daily reports from the Mets’ beat writers and some of the things Sandy Alderson and Terry Collins have said.

That’s a far cry from the likes of Eric Hosmer, Ryan Braun, Joe Mauer and Giancarlo Stanton, who are some of the players that are sandwiching Wright on Team USA’s power-packed, star-studded lineup.

So while some of us look upon what Wright is doing with astonishment and excitement, lets understand what we are really seeing here. These amazing moments are most likely not a portent of things to come during the Mets 2013 regular season. I urge and caution all of my fellow Met fans to reign in any gaudy expectations your mind may have already conjured up and dial it back a few notches.

Go ahead and savor what David Wright is currently doing in the World Baseball Classic and relish every moment. Be proud of what Wright accomplishes with every mighty swing of his bat. But don’t forget that it’s only March 14, and that the real baseball season begins on April 1. That is when reality will sink in for most of us, but mostly for David Wright as well. He returns to a lineup devoid of the type of talent he surrounds himself with now.

So enjoy the spectacle we have before us while it lasts, and Go Team USA!

* * * * * * * *

This Fan Shot was contributed by MMO reader, KMaxx.

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I enjoy researching starting pitching for any reason whatsoever, so looking into them for fantasy purposes was more fun than anything else. Today brings about a top ten list for the starting pitchers out there – and unfortunately, will not feature many surprises. The best starting pitchers out there are fairly well defined at this point, but I still dove into ESPN and Yahoo! rankings just to make sure I was not off base here. I had to check in with Xtreem on this one, but the five fantasy categories for pitchers were Wins / ERA / K / WHIP / Saves …and obviously, saves don’t apply here.

I think ESPN and I were basically sharing a brain here – but Yahoo wasn’t far off since the only major difference was their pick of Wainwright over Jered Weaver, really. I’ve got the same top 10 down as ESPN, but I differ slightly in the order I chose.

10. Zack Greinke (16 / 3.44 / 220 / 1.14) – Greinke is definitely one of the top pitchers in the game right now, but his stats always come with a little bit of confusion and disappointment. Although some saber stats have shown that Greinke could be the victim of some severe bad luck, his ERA will likely always be a little higher than you hope from a fantasy ace. He might be on the back-end of the “fantasy ace” category, but Greinke moves back to the NL this year after getting a huge pay-day, which should help his numbers overall, especially his strikeouts. If all goes well, he could easily surpass the amount of wins projected, as everyone decided to go a little conservative here.

9. Cole Hamels (13 / 3.05 / 210 / 1.12 )  – I hate to admit it, but Cole Hamels has been consistent and he has been a pretty solid pitcher across all categories. I think Weaver is going to edge him out in wins and ERA so I have him ranked slightly above him here, but do not get down on Hamels. See, outside of the wins category, Hamels comes with less risk than those who are scared away by Weaver’s declining strikeout rate and as strong a track record as anybody here. Just be careful not to start him against the Mets…

8. Jered Weaver (19 / 3.02 / 175 / 1.12) – I like Jered Weaver, and I think you should too. The Angels are stacked this year and look like they could really win a lot of games – and Weaver has to be a huge part of that. People worry about his declining strikeout rate, and honestly, it is a perfectly valid criticism. You could very well be rolling the dice with Weaver, but even in a “down” year last year, he won 20 games to the tun of a 2.81 ERA.

7. Cliff Lee (14 / 2.98 / 212 / 1.04) – Cliff Lee is an outstanding pitcher and the fact that he won only 6 games last year is enough to confuse the greatest minds. Of course, if you look deep, it becomes as simple as Lee not getting much run support – although he was superb across the board yet again. A year older, a year wiser for Lee…he might decline just a little, but his unique combination of stuff, poise, and experience position him to bounce back from an anomaly in the win column to post another excellent year.

6. Matt Cain (18 / 2.94 / 195 / 1.10 ) – Consistency is a common theme for the pitchers on this list, and Matt Cain is quite obviously no different. It is really hard to find a knock against Matt Cain…in fact, the only thing you can hold against him is perhaps his inability to break that 20-win plateau, and it really isn’t his fault. Cain may not seem flashy at times, but he is definitely a smart pick. He gets it done across the board in every category and can be counted on for a solid start almost every single time out there.

5. David Price (20 / 3.01 / 220 / 1.14) – Some people worry about David Price because of the division that he pitches in and they claim that he will be hard pressed to win games. My counter argument is simple – watch this man pitch. He is a monster on the mound, and his stats in the second half of last year back that up more than any colorful adjectives that I could pull out of thin air here. In 15 starts, he won 9 games and 14 of them were quality starts – all to the tune of a 2.20 ERA / 0.98 WHIP / 108 strikeouts. The craziest thing about all of it? David Price might actually not be done improving yet.

4. Stephen Strasburg (15 / 3.00 / 230 / 1.10) – This is a conservative projection for one reason only, and it has been discussed – Strasburg may be on another type of innings limit going into this year. As ESPN notes, if they follow the Zimmermann model, Strasburg would be scheduled for a little over 190 innings this year – which is great, but you have to temper your expectations. That being said, once he is off the leash, Strasburg may just lead the MLB in strikeouts for years to come so his potential in limited innings can still make a fantasy owner’s mouth water. Just tread carefully here and do your research.

3. Felix Hernandez (15 / 2.98 / 225 / 1.07) – Oh Felix, if only you played for a better team, you might have been one of the fantasy favorites for years. Do not get me wrong – Felix Hernandez is arguably one of the best pitchers in baseball today, but fantasy wise, it does not always translate over. A lack of run support, not so perfect defense behind him, bad luck…yeah, Hernandez has seen it all and still continues to offer a desirable stat line. Drafting King Felix puts you in an area where you join the rest of his owners and do the same thing each year…just hope that Seattle at least puts it together for his starts.

2. Clayton Kershaw (17 / 2.74 / 228 / 1.06) – Do I really need to convince you to go out and pick up Clayton Kershaw? I thought not. With RA Dickey gone and Strasburg still on a potential innings limit, the National League belongs to Kersh. He can just do what comes natural and perhaps waltz his way to a Cy Young. Mind you, what comes natural to Clayton Kershaw is a miniscule ERA and a ton of strikeouts, along with one of the best WHIPs in the game. There is no stat for dominance, but man, I am sure he leads the league in it.

1. Justin Verlander (21 / 2.70 / 241 / 1.09) – If you manage to snag Justin Verlander for your fantasy team, thank your lucky stars and whatever god you pray to, because you struck fantasy gold. Any format that isn’t NL-only will find Verlander at the top of their overall boards as most likely the first pitcher to go. ESPN said it best – “Workhorse, thy name is Verlander.” Outside of success in the standard categories for starting pitching, he will also rack up a considerable amount of innings pitched. I honestly do not think there is anything I could say here that you have not already heard about Justin Verlander.

So a few things to note:

• Yahoo is higher on Adam Wainwright than I am, and so is ESPN for that matter, where he was ranked #12. I do think he has a quality year ahead of him, but I think I’m going to pass on him for now.
• 75% of experts rank RA Dickey at his ADP or higher (63). All I can say is that there is a lot to think about when drafting RA Dickey for the 2013 season, and I do not think I am equipped to provide an unbiased opinion on him. Another player who’s ADP is worth watching is Aroldis Chapman…he could start or he could pitch the later innings out of the bullpen – and he has undeniably filthy stuff.
• Yu Darvish and Matt Moore are both being ranked outside of the top 10 for starting pitchers, but could provide top-5 strikeout potential without hurting you in any other stat significantly. Tim Hudson still rocks as a cheap source for wins.
• As for some sleepers, the Mets have two bonafide ones in Jon Niese and Matt Harvey. Jon Niese is getting some respect this year, but he could be in for an even better season than projected. Josh Johnson, Jon Lester, and Dan Haren could all be in line for excellent years as well.

I hear that Xtreem has prepared his piece on the closers for later this week, so you all can look forward to that.

Tepedino’s career spanned parts of eight seasons from 1967-1975. He played for the New York Yankees, Milwaukee Brewers and Atlanta Braves. Though he was never a Met, I felt like what he had to say was relevant for our site.

During that time, performance-enhancing drugs were not part of the game. Talent and hard work alone were the sole determinants of a player’s success on the field. However, as steroids became popular in the game around the mid-1990s, the level playing field changed greatly.

Super-human athletes were taking the game by storm, which certainly put fans in the seats, but also compromised the integrity of the game. Tepedino addressed the issue of whether he would have used steroids if they were available.

“You can’t answer that question until you’re in that situation and you look at right and wrong,” he said. “Where is the wrong of it? Is it because it gives you an advantage over another athlete? But what if that other athlete is doing it, and nothing is being done about it?”

Tepedino gave an example for this year’s MLB B.A.T. Dinner in New York City. Former Minnesota Twins outfielder asked former Yankees third baseman Mike Pagliarulo is the latter would have ever used steroids? But Gladden told Pagliarulo not to answer the question immediately, but instead deeply think about it before giving an answer.

Pagliarulo thought hard, but he couldn’t come up with a firm answer. Tepedino agreed that it is such a tough decision based on all the extra factors.

“Here you are not using them,” Tepedino said. “But the guy on the mound is using them. The catcher is using. The guys in the minors are using. The guy in the minors is going to take your job. The guy on the mound has an advantage over you.”

When weighing these factors, it’s a lot easier to see why many players turned to steroids, especially veterans later in their careers. Put yourself in their shoes for an instant: You have to support a family and kids, but your talent is diminishing. In order to continue playing and earning a paycheck, you need that extra edge so you take steroids. It’s really a tough call.

“Realistically by not doing it, you’re basically saying that’s the end of my career, because someone is going to take my job,” Tepedino said. “And that guy that has an advantage over me is going to get me out. You can’t just say, ‘No I’m not going to use them or yes I’m going to use them.’ You don’t know until you’re in that situation. That’s human nature.”

Many former players, like Tepedino, claim that based on their morals, they would not use steroids if given the choice. He said players like Mickey Mantle, Hank Aaron and Babe Ruth were all clean and still excelled at the game.

The thing with those players is that nobody else was using steroids at that time, so a player’s own ability determined performance. Without steroids, only the top-tier of players shined. But once steroids were introduced, normally average players began putting up monster numbers and performed better than players with more talent but who chose not to use.

And then of course there’s the money factor. The players who perform the best get the most money. Simple right? But not when steroids are involved.

“They’re making two million [dollars] a year, and you’re home carrying a lunch bucket working in a factory in the offseason because of your morals,” said Tepedino.

Tepedino said that though he may have struggled with the decision he ultimately would have chosen not to use steroids.

“You might not have a good as career as someone else, but you can go to sleep at night and say ‘I did the right thing,’” he concluded.

So before we chastise a player for using steroids because they are illegal in the game, put yourself firmly in their shoes. Hopefully, many of you would choose not to use, but based on the extra factors, it’s a tougher decision when you’re actually faced with it.

So would you use steroids if everyone else was using and your job and family livelihood depended on it?

I’m sure we’ve all been following along with what every baseball analyst and player thinks of Jose Reyes’ decision to remove himself from the game in the first inning of yesterday’s Mets season finale.

While I personally wasn’t too thrilled about this, I am super excited that Reyes became the first New York Met in their 50-year history to win an NL batting title. Now we just need a no-hitter, but that’s a different story.

A move like this though just goes to show that the game of baseball has changed from the past. Does the name Ted Williams ring a bell? Williams could have sat out the final day of the season in 1941 to preserve his .400 average. However, he played both games of a double-header and finished 6-for-8 on the day, raising his average to .406.

Still, 50 years from now, we will remember that Reyes won the 2011 NL batting title, not that he removed himself on the final day to accomplish this task.

In order to even be in a position to take himself out yesterday, Reyes was on fire over the last week, hitting at a 9-for-16 clip, as Joe D. pointed out.

The batting title is a marathon, not a sprint. Though Ryan Braun had 26 more official at-bats than Reyes this season (remember Reyes spent significant time on the disabled list), by rule a player needs 3.1 plate appearances per game to qualify for a batting title. Reyes averaged 3.3 at-bats per game based on a 162-game schedule, though he only played in 126.

Let’s all take a step back from the criticism for a minute. Put yourself in Reyes’ shoes.

No Met has ever won the batting title, though the franchise has had great hitters like Cleon Jones, Keith Hernandez, John Olerud and Mike Piazza—all of whom have hit at least .340 in a season in their careers.

Also, Reyes needed that little something extra as a bargaining chip heading into his free agency. Some teams may be weary of his injury history, and frankly a batting title shouldn’t downplay those concerns. But it still solidifies the point that when Reyes is on the field, he’s an extremely productive player.

If we could go back in time, I would have liked to see Reyes play maybe five innings yesterday. That could have been three at-bats at most. Even if he finished 1-for-3, he likely still would have won since Braun went 0-for-4 in last night’s game.

The fans could have given him a proper standing ovation in the fifth inning to thank him for a great season, and there wouldn’t have been all this hoopla surrounding the situation.

In the end, Braun will be the one playing in October, and that is—or at least should be—the ultimate goal of every player. Batting titles, MVP awards and Cy Youngs are nice, but winning the World Series is much more important.

If we have seen the last of Jose Reyes in a Met uniform, it was a nice ride. But was it really?

Though of course it’s more than a one-man game, Reyes never brought the Mets a World Series title, though they should have won it in 2006. He was also part of two teams that collapsed down the stretch.

In his Mets career, Reyes missed 315 games. While some of these were obviously off days, which are perfectly acceptable, the majority of these games were spent on the disabled list. That number amounts to nearly two full seasons of time missed.

So despite this mini-Reyes rant about yesterday, I definitely want to see him at shortstop for the Mets for the next decade. But will an organization with no money commit to a lucrative long-term deal with an injury prone player even though he’s the face of the franchise and just won the NL batting title?

Stay tuned this offseason to find out.

Legend has it that the Mets were never quite the same after Dr. Evil himself, M. Donald Grant, traded away the Franchise, literally and figuratively, for some spare parts. It was true, in a way, but then again, so was the dynamic changing in baseball. Indirectly relating to the trade of Tom Seaver was the underlying notion that he wanted to be paid up, suckas.  Grant didn’t think Seaver was above the Mets name, and subsequently got rid of him by planting some unfavorable quotes in the NYC sports “tabloids,” if you will.

But the dynamic was also changing because of the era of free agency. And to that, I ask, is the “franchise player” still relevant?

You know who that is: the guy who is known for playing for one team; who made his mark with one team; who may have played for another team, but was never quite the player he was with that synonymous team. I think the closest we might have today is Albert Pujols. That, however, may change this offseason due to his contentious situation with being the best player in baseball (well, maybe Alex Rodriguez takes umbrage with that) and being a free agent. I think his brand with the Cardinals is significant, but as my friend Bill Ivie has said, the Cardinals were a great franchise before Pujols, they’ll still be a great franchise without him. Time will tell.

But then look at Carlos Beltran. Perhaps one of the most divisive Mets in recent memory, his injuries may prevent him from ever making the Hall of Fame. Yet, I had a Twitversation the other day with some other Mets fans about him playing a few more years, uninjured. I think if it walks and quacks like a duck, it’s a duck, and Beltran cannot stay healthy. I said, the harsh reality is he could be another Moises Alou, a great player whose injury-marred seasons keep him from getting his call to the Hall. However, someone said, if he DID come around with great numbers and played into his 40s without as many injuries, it would be hard pressed to have him go in as a Met, even though he did play seven years with them.

I guess I am raising these questions because of the Mets’ own “Franchise Players” and “Faces of the Franchise,” David Wright and Jose Reyes.

The Mets and those of us who live, breathe and eat any information surrounding the team have a contentious situation on their hands, especially regarding Reyes’ status as a free agent after the 2011 season. Couple that with David Wright, which is another contentious situation in and of itself. While not a free agent, he has an option that he can decline if he gets traded (which makes him a less attractive trading candidate), but then he’s had a noticeable drop off, but on the flip side he’s had one of his first injury-plagued seasons in recent memory (he’s been relatively healthy, considering all the injuries this stupid team has had in the last three years).

It gives me pause because they are still young and productive, yet I wonder if perhaps we all need a change of scenery. Meaning we, as fans, with the same “cornerstone” players, and the players themselves. M. Donald Grant may have been a clueless idiot, but perhaps he was prophetic in trying to set with us, that a player isn’t above the Franchise. Well, he was wrong in the case of Seaver, but the dynamic of the game has changed since then.

Look at the Dodgers. Their two franchise players, Matt Kemp and Andre Ethier, are essentially the equivalent of our Reyes and Wright. They even have an A+ starter in Clayton Kershaw. And they STILL can’t provide a winning season (or make money)!  I would say that Ryan Braun is probably the closest to a “Franchise Player,” since the Brewers see him as part of their long-term plans (and also since it appears Prince Fielder is going to go to the highest bidder in the offseason).

Look, the Mets situation is precarious, and perhaps I am too close to it. I was discussing on Twitter the other day with my friends over at the Daily Stache about the Reyes situation. Basically, I feel like the issue is now that the Mets are mailing it in (something that Terry Collins is NOT happy about), we are going on our third straight losing season, our legs and asses are cramped up from wanting to jump for joy but we can’t because there is nothing making us do that, and now the prospect of losing guys we feel should be in Mets uniforms forever is something we are nonchalant about. “Whatever” has been my philosophy at this point.

I know things will change once the postseason is over, and who knows, maybe the Mets and Reyes will come to an agreement and we’ll all be happy. But I think what will make us happier is WINNING. Reyes and Wright certainly have not been enough. The onus is on the personnel to seriously evaluate the team and not attend to what the fans want. Yes, I know Reyes makes us a lot of us happy. And his injuries are a cause for concern, especially since they basically have said his running game (what makes Jose Jose) has been halted because of his hamstring issues this year.

I know I would hold onto Reyes simply for emotional reasons because I love him and want him to be a Met forever. The other more rational side of me says that the time is not now. This team is a few years away from winning, and would it make a huge difference to lose with him or without him.

But I’m not here to discuss why David Wright should or should not be dealt.  I’d rather talk about what David Wright should have become.  When Citi Field opened its doors for the first time in 2009, David Wright was coming off one of the best three-year stretches in franchise history.  His 2006 (.311, 26 HR, 116 RBI, 20 SB),  2007 (.325, 30 HR, 107 RBI, 34 SB) and 2008 (.302, 33 HR, 124 RBI, 15 SB) seasons were eye-popping, to say the least.  But since 2009, Wright has been no more than an ordinary player, only occasionally showing flashes of his former self.

The 2009 season marked the first time David Wright spent time on the disabled list, having been felled by Matt Cain’s head-seeking missile in August.  However, his bat and approach at the plate seemed to have been on the disabled list long before August.  For the season, Wright finished with a career-low 10 HR.  His 72 RBI (also a career-low for a full season) might have been a result of the lack of healthy hitters on the team for him to drive in.  But it wasn’t all due to the injuries to Reyes, Delgado and Beltran.  For the season, Wright hit .206 with a runner on third base and two outs, a situation where the batter can’t depend on a sacrifice fly to drive in the run.  Wright also hit .200 with the bases loaded (his OBP in those spots was also .200, meaning he couldn’t even draw a walk with the bases loaded all year) and .200 with runners on second and third.

The most alarming stat concerning the above situations was his propensity to strike out in those scenarios.  With a runner on third base and two outs, Wright struck out almost half of the time (16 Ks in 34 at-bats).  It got even worse when Wright batted with runners on second and third (8 Ks in 15 at-bats).  Although he made contact more often with the bases loaded (6 Ks in 15 at-bats), it’s still a 40% strikeout rate and it gave Wright 30 strikeouts in 64 at-bats in those three big RBI situations.  Even with his power outage in 2009, Wright could still have easily driven in 100 runs if his batting average in the three aforementioned situations was more in line with his batting average for the season (Wright hit .307 for the year).

Although Wright’s power returned in 2010 (29 HR, 103 RBI), he did not improve in the key RBI situations mentioned above.  Wright batted a combined .250 (10-for-40) in those spots, again striking out almost half the time (19 Ks in 40 at-bats).  In addition, Wright batted .260 anytime he came up with at least one runner in scoring position.  For the year, Wright batted a career-low .283, while striking out a career-high 161 times.

We don’t really have much of a sample for David Wright in 2011 because he’s spent just as much time off the field than on it, playing in only 71 of the team’s 130 games.  But even when he’s played, he hasn’t shown much improvement in the strikeout category (67 Ks in 71 games) and his batting average has gone down to .256.

That brings us to one of David Wright’s contemporaries, a man who also played some third base early in his career, but has since shifted to the outfield and has shown improvement every season he’s been in the major leagues.  That man is Ryan Braun.

After coming out of nowhere to win the National League Rookie of the Year Award in 2007, Braun didn’t suffer a sophomore slump.  His batting average dropped to .285 after the .324 mark he registered during his rookie season, but his power production didn’t suffer the same fate, as Braun hit a career-high 37 HR in 2008 while picking up 106 RBI.  More importantly, the second-year player didn’t wilt under the pressure of his first playoff race, hitting the decisive two-run homer in the Brewers’ final regular season game, a game in which the Brewers clinched the NL wild card berth over David Wright and the Mets.

Since getting his first taste of playoff experience in 2008, Braun has continued his progression into the upper echelon of National League players.  In 2009, he led the Senior Circuit in hits with 203.  He also recovered from his only sub-.300 season to hit .320 while not skimping on the power (32 HR, 114 RBI).  Of course, Braun didn’t just stop there, adding another dimension to his offensive game by stealing 20 bases.  It was more of the same in 2010 for Braun, as the Brewers’ leftfielder hit .304 with 45 doubles (which is more than any Met has ever registered in a single season), 25 HR and 103 RBI.  His contact rate also got better, as he struck out 105 times in 2010 after whiffing 121 times in 2009 and a career-high 129 times in 2008.

In 2011, Braun has become the leading candidate to win the National League MVP Award.  His .333 batting average is second to the Mets’ Jose Reyes and his contact rate has improved dramatically, striking out only 75 times in 507 plate appearances.  Braun is also leading the league in runs scored (91), slugging percentage (.592) and OPS (.996), and is currently in the league’s top ten in a plethora of categories such as hits (160), extra-base hits (62), on-base percentage (.404), total bases (265), doubles (33), home runs (25), RBIs (86) and stolen bases (30).  And of course, he’s helping the Brewers open up a commanding lead in the NL Central.

So how does Ryan Braun do in key RBI spots, especially since I made such a big deal out of how David Wright has performed poorly in those situations?  Actually, Braun’s career numbers are quite good whenever an RBI is there for the taking.  In five years in the major leagues, Braun has hit .265 with a runner on third base and two outs, striking out 25 times in 117 at-bats.  His numbers are even better in the other two scenarios.  With runners on second and third, Braun is a .286 career hitter with 11 strikeouts in 49 at-bats.  Finally, with the bases loaded, Braun’s eyes light up.  In 63 career at-bats with the bags full, Braun is hitting .317 and has only struck out 10 times.  Overall, the Hebrew Hammer is hitting .306 over his major league career with runners in scoring position, which is right in line with his career numbers.

David Wright has been one of the best players the Mets have had in recent years, but he could have been so much better.  If he is not traded at some point, he could still turn his career around, but nothing in recent years has suggested that a renaissance is about to occur.  Just the fact that his name is being mentioned around the blogosphere in potential trades suggest that the fans don’t think of him as “the savior” he was supposed to be.  He may not be that savior of the franchise, but at the very least, he could have been like Ryan Braun, a player who has continued to improve every aspect of his game from season to season.

It’s too bad David Wright hasn’t been able to continue his forward progress past the 2008 season.  Until he does, the word “trade” will never be too far behind in discussions of the Mets’ third baseman.