Odds and Ends: Rowand, A-Rod, Calero, Clemens

Will A-Rod ever stop breaking news about his contract when baseball's biggest events are going on? First the World Series, now the Mitchell Report? How selfish!

You ever think that maybe the YANKS broke the news of the ARod deal to take away from the negative news their getting from Rodger and Andy being on the Mitchell Report? Thats my guesss, I'm pretty sure that ARod didn't break the news of his deal being finalized since the orginization are the ones that announce these deals.

It is not backloaded, he gets $8M in bonus spread over two years, making each year $12M. Not sure what the advantage to the Giants in doing that is, but there must be some sort of accounting rule in baseball that favors bonuses.

I would also note that Rowand has full no-trade protection in his first year.

I would like to never hear the name A-ROD again!

Well you're gonna be hearing A-ROD quite a lot soon as he starts closing in on many of the most well known records in baseball. Just cross your fingers he pulls a Griffey and his body falls apart on him. Though I don't recommend you hold your breath on that one

I realy don't understand the need for this post, it's not even a rumor.

Roger Clemens' wife is pretty hot. Is she a fitness model or something?

My thoughts on Clemens: Big-headed, selfish, arrogant, fat, and on steroids.

No, Clemens' wife is NOT hot.

Clemens is such a tool.. I've lost nearly all my respect for him. If you wanna talk about the genuinely great pitchers of this era, look to Randy Johnson, Pedro Martinez, Greg Maddux and Johan Santana. Roger Clemens, I would appreciate it if you pulled a McGwire and completely fell off the face of earth.

Clemens took steroids, Vick and there attorney said Vick wasn't guilty and were is Vick right now?So Clemens would sooner or later admit he juiced himself up with steroids.

LOL me too scribbletone.

Well if Clemens were so squeaky clean, why didn't he discuss anything with Mitchell's folks? You've got nothing to hide, why not have a chat with them? That's pretty much how it goes for any of those fellas. Really the only ones that played it smart and fessed up beforehand (Giambi and David Segui) saved at least a little face on this one.

@TheSchmaranz

He didn't talk because he was an active player and no active player talked. But it is obvious he is guilty

Besides Giambi but he didnt give names.

Debbie Clemens IS way hot.

As for Roger, unless he and his lawyer file a civil suit for libel and slander, then I have no choice but to believe the allegations are true.

Two active players DID talk to Mitchell. Frank Thomas was one of them, I forget the other but it was reported on ESPN today.

Clemens isn't just disputing the allegations, he's fighting back; he's just hired an attorney:

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/sports/5376995.html

I'm sure he won't be the only one, but I'm not so sure any of them will be too successful.

Clemens needs to just count his money, shut up and go away forever.

Clemens is a disgrace. More important news is that Canseco claims that AROD should have been on the list and wasn't. He couldn't believe they kept him off it. They didn't allow him into the MItchell press conference either because they know he would call him out on protecting all the cheaters.

Roger Clemens should just follow Rafael Palmeiro's lead. Just go away quietly.

I am surprised that there hasn't been double standard defense for Clemens. Seeing as how Barry was disliked well before steroids it's easy to understand no one coming to his defense. But I am shocked no one posting on here on how Clemens is totally innocent and these reports are unfounded.

"Clemens took steroids"

Based on what? The word of one convicted felon? Taht's all Mitchell has, but since Mitchell is a memberof the Borad of Directors of the Red Sox, that's good enough for him.

That may also be why there are no Red Sox in the report.

I hope Clemens sues the pants off Mitchell, Selig, McNamee, and anyone else involved.

"Well if Clemens were so squeaky clean, why didn't he discuss anything with Mitchell's folks?"

For the same reason that other players didn't. They were told not to by the Players Association and their agents, and tehy knew the direction Mitchell wanted to take it.

Besides, there is NO proof that he was offered the opportunity to talk to Mitchell.

"Well if Clemens were so squeaky clean, why didn't he discuss anything with Mitchell's folks?"

For the same reason that other players didn't. They were told not to by the Players Association and their agents, and tehy knew the direction Mitchell wanted to take it.

Besides, there is NO proof that he was offered the opportunity to talk to Mitchell.

Clemens used steroids plain and simple. Some of his best years came when he was in his 40s. That should have been the first red flag. 3 of the last 4 years his ERA was under 3, that doesn't suprise anyone? Blame the move to the NL but the move doesn't drop your ERA from a 3.91 to a 1.87. His legs got way bigger over the years, sure he worked out more but i'm sure some HGH helped in that department too. As guys age they don't get better they get worse. A players prime is from 27-31 not 40-45.

Ya its preety obvious that clemens took steroids its funny how he got progessively better from 37-45 every year thats just a joke.. you cant compete at a high level that amazing at that age.. kenny rogers is the best 40 yr old that is clean and he still never had the 2.00 ERA like clemens.. petitte also did.. he got progessively better as he got older too

"Well if Clemens were so squeaky clean, why didn't he discuss anything with Mitchell's folks? You've got nothing to hide, why not have a chat with them? That's pretty much how it goes for any of those fellas. Really the only ones that played it smart and fessed up beforehand (Giambi and David Segui) saved at least a little face on this one."

You realize that Frank Thomas was the ONLY active player in the entire league to step up the the plate and talk to Mitchell right? Clemens wasn't the only one turning down Mitchell's requests.

i'm finally glad the truth comes out on clemens. he's been overrated througout his career, it's nice to see him come back down to earth with the likes of bonds and mcgwire

and i second johan's description on him. you forgot to mention that he's a choker too...that's why he was getting hgh during the 2000 world series or w/e he was on

Funny, A-rod already stole the back cover of the NY papers one time this year over other big news. Nice idea by the Yankees to try the same thing again, but somehow I think Andy and Rocketman wont be trumped by A-rod this time (by the way did you guys hear A-Rods sad story about hitting rock bottom one day after opting out?)

I wouldnt be surprised if Andy and Roger were injecting eachothers hineys personally, or rubbing steroid cream or on eachother, or whatever it is they like to do. You know that whatever Roger does, Andy will follow, or vice versa. These guys followed eachother to Texas and back to play together. If one used some kind of PED, I would place a nice bet saying the other used the same stuff.

if u didnt know clemens was jacked up on roids before this report, then ur a fool.

he has been the poster child for steroid symptoms and steroid fueled behavior.

seriously, ur a total idiot if u didnt know he was a roid head.

Clemens' wife is a leatherface who sells tacky sequined jackets and sponges off of her husbands fame in an attempt to be a minor celebrity. Not having to see her in 2007 was the reason I was happy Clemens signed with the Yankees.
That being said, I'm no Clemens hater, just annoyed by his wife.
Everybody needs to get off Clemens back, he proved he was innocent by stating he has never failed a drug test. Granted, the report says he took steroids before MLB started testing for them and MLB does not test for HGH, but still, he has never failed a test for either of those chemicals.

Clemens did take steoids, there is no doubt about that but what does he care he pitched 13 games and got 28 million dollars from the Yankees. I'm really mad that Pettite took it. It's not like he took it for performance enchancing he used it to heal faster.

Clemens is in a bad spot. I don't think he can attack McNamee's credibility-- the guy is an ex-cop. He even did undercover work (yea, that kind of cop). I doubt he'll take it well if Clemens turns on him. Roger needs to do some serious catching up if he doesn't want to get McGwire'd at the HoF. Now's not the time to be taking the 5th.

@Timmer:

No Red Sox in the report? I guess you've never heard of Brendan Donnelly. Jeremy Giambi ring any bells? I also guess that the 12 other ex-Sox mean nothing to you too (http://www.southcoasttoday.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071214/SPORTS/712140364/-1/SPORTS). My guess? You're one of those that things the Yankees are untouchable and can do no wrong.

Really, I don't think the players should take all the hits for this. Management, baseball, baseball docs ought to stand up and say "we knew about this and did nothing about it". Baseball benefited tremendously because players took steroids and other enhancers. It's not fair to put it all on the players.

In the Mitchell report, the Dodgers management *knew* Paul Lo Duca was on steroids. Lo Duca himself was ambivalent about taking it, which may be why he went off it. But when management found out, they discussed trading him:

"Steroids aren’t being used anymore on him. Big part of this.
Might have some value to trade . . . Florida might have interest.
. . . Got off the steroids . . . Took away a lot of hard line drives.
. . . Can get comparable value back would consider trading. . . . If
you do trade him, will get back on the stuff and try to show you hecan have a good year. That’s his makeup. Comes to play. Last
year of contract, playing for 05.419"

How messed up is that???

toshiro: Yeah that's pretty messed up. How about Fehr's statement/press conference about wanting to review the report ahead of time - basically so the union could edit it and take all the damage out of it. The whole union needs to be collectively slapped.

Protecting cheaters cannot be allowed. Roger Clemens should never be allowed in the HoF. Never failed a test? Never took one more like. Decliend to speak to Mitchell, and his records speaks for itself.

No, I'm pretty sure he's guilty, as I am everyone listed in the report.

Management need to be slammed to. I think the maximum penalty is $2mil for not reporting an incident, right? Well...in toshiro's example above, the Dodgers ought to be getting hit for 2mil right off. I think every team that ever had one of these guys on it that took the steroids while they were on the team should get the maximum fine right now, retroactively - just for failing to catch it, and if they KNEW about it and did nothing...it should be worse I think.

Unfortunately we can't fix what has been done. We can't fix the stats. But we won't need asterisks, we all know that the stats are tainted. We'll do our own 'adjustments' when regarding the greatness of the players of the era.

To try to sort blame would be too much anyways and would turn into a legal nightmare.

I think a better thing to do than fine people/teams is for each group/person to admit what they did or didn't do to create the situation. A public mea culpa by all parties. By Clemens, by those management guys in the Dodgers clubs house. By others. That would be a two-fold benefit: it would help bring out the complete truth in the affair (surely there are many players not named who were taking the stuff) and it would create a culture of shame around steriods for future potential users. Guys who are not taking it would have more leverage to slam guys who deem to take stuff in the locker rooms (sneaky guys like Tejeda et al)

i don't understand all of this Roger trash talking. A day ago, half of you probably thought highly of him. Is there any physical proof of him taking steroids? I think the only evidence there was was word of mouth, one by a no-name player Grimsley) who probably gave names in order to reduse his punishment and McNamee. Someone said that you can't question the guy's credibilty because he's an ex-cop. A drug-dealing cop? hmmmm...

toshiro: I hear what you're saying about it being a legal nightmare, but I'm afraid that a simple mea culpa just won't appear strong enough. Now maybe if Selig actually manages to take on board all of Mitchell's recommendations and the Union actually cooperates for once, then yeah, a mea culpa/creating a culture of shame to fight it would be enough, but sadly I don't think we're about to see the union cooperate. Of course that's just my opinion based on what I read from Fehr's news conference.

At that same time, I concede that you're 100% right on one point: this is going to get ugly.

cubbyblue28: Yep, I sure did think highly of him, and my disappointment in him is the cause for my bashing him. After all, if Pete Rose can be removed from the HoF for gambling on his own team, then why shouldn't use of steroids keep someone out of the hall forever too?

I give Rose the benefit of the doubt...I know what you're thinking, why shouldn't Celemens get the same, right? In this instance, with the strong testimony made against him, I find myself disinclined to at the moment. that could always change though as evidence is unfolded. I doubt Mitchell would have made a completely baseless accusation however, and so I highly doubt Clemen's innocence.

So in Clemens case we are supposed to believe the user over the dealer? In regards to sharing the blame Mitchell points out several instances in the beginning of the overall report where both MLB and the Players Union had clear cut instances and either failed to act or did not act accordingly. While he blames the players for taking them he also blames MLB for allowing it for profit and the Union for protecting them.

grimace: Absolutely, the leadership has to be held responsible - I would say more so than the players.

I can understand how a player could feel that he had to do them to stay in the leagues (not condone them, but I can at least understand where they're coming from)...but the owners and the union? What's in it for them? Sadly, money. And that's it. So that's why I was saying they should be hit where it hurts for their collective failures to act in the past - so that they learn that it's really not OK and that they try to fix it going forward.

well, all i'm trying to say is that everyone is innocent until proven guilty, not just accused. Drugs have always been a part of baseball and to say that records should be taken away are have an asterisk next to them is worse for baseball than what this terrible report did. If you hold these guys accountable (which they should be, not because it's cheating, but for the fact that it is an illegal drug) for this by taking away records or with asterisks, then what about all the hall of famers who used greenies. HGH and steroids were legal in baseball up until 2002. Bud Selig should take alot of blame for this disaster, he allowed it to happen, look at all the players who took advantage of this who were mentioned in the report. the sad thing is, this list would have been longer if mitchell had subpeonea power.

Very true, and it's a sad fact that they weren't banned until 2002. Not only is it cheating, it's bad for the player's health...I have no idea what greenies are (what are they? who took them? what did they do?).

A lot of these players took them AFTER 2002 though - Lo Duca and Logan being two examples that spring to my mind - meaning that they not only broke the law with an illegal drug, but they also broke MLB's rules, which by that time had been agreed to by the Player's Association. I don't think any of those players should be allowed into the HoF. Not saying their records should be erased...just that they should never be inducted. Can't erase what's been done - I agree with that.

Cubbyblue -- agree with you that Selig should take a good amount of the blame. But he have complete authority to run the show. Don Fehr effectively has veto rights as the head of the players union. So if the ball was dropped both the center and the QB botched it together. Over on SI, John Heyman writes:

Mitchell accomplished a lot here. He even got one big concession out of players union chief Don Fehr, who rarely concedes a thing. And that was this: "In retrospect, perhaps we should have done something sooner.''

That admission alone was worth the price of the report.

So true toshiro, so true.

bignatsfan: greenies are ampphetamines, which became illegal in baseball i think 2 years ago( not sure, but it was recently). read this article, it's a couple years old but you can get the idea of how common it was used.

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/print?id=2289509&type=story

cool, thanks!