Orioles Hangout shoots itself in the foot

Someday someone is going to have to explain to me how Tony Pente and the Orioles Hangout crew gets press credentials from the O's front office every year.

Sure, it's great that they have Roy Firestone writing and posting in the forums, but if anyone needed more proof that the site's ONLY value is as a discussion board for O's fans and NOT as a reporting outlet, yesterday provided just that.

Wednesday morning I'm doing my usual Web surfing to get my sports updates, and I see some pretty surprising news: Brian Roberts has been traded to the Cubs!

Not, "We think Brian Roberts will be traded to the Cubs."

Not, "We're hearing that a deal has been finalized."

Not, "This deal is ALMOST done."

No. No disclaimers. It's done. Pack away your #1 jerseys.

Screeeeeeeeeeeeeeech. Not so fast. The same link that just a day ago said it was only a matter of time before the announcement now says "Roberts Trade Denied by Orioles" and has a lot of backpedaling to try and keep you from being outraged, because after all, Pente really really really thought it was true. And even that link is nowhere to be found on the homepage. Instead the lead story is "Trade Rumors heat up," including everyone's favorite already-been-traded second basemen.

And of course you go to the forum and everyone says COME ON NO ONE CAN BLAME TONY HE IS THE BESTEST THING EVER with a general sentiment of "Tony would not run with information he believed to be untrue." (That's a direct quote.)

Well here I go blaming Tony.

Because if you're going to cover a team and put on your journalist hat and claim you're doing real reporting and say that you're a legit news outlet, simply believing it to be true isn't good enough. You have to KNOW it's true.
 

Blogging the Mitchell Report: Part 4 ... I'm DONE.

I'm done reading the Mitchell Report. I didn't finish it and I never will, and I'm not going to post the rest of the info here. Why? Because it's all a huge waste of time.

For one, exactly what I said would happen ended up happening. ESPN ran a full list of "named names" on their ticker, with no explanations, grouping in Brian Roberts with guys like Paul Lo Duca and David Segui, which is absolutely ridiculous. Roberts is only in there because Larry Bigbie said that Roberts told him he did it. Not quite the same as having scans of signed checks or sworn testimony to federal investigators. Meanwhile, it seems Segui and Lo Duca were the "hook up" everywhere they went.

But more than anything, at some point while reading the report I stopped feeling angry or even disappointed in the players whose names I was seeing. I just felt bad for them.

At first I couldn't really figure out why, but then it hit me. Out of THOUSANDS upon THOUSANDS of players who played during the "steroid era," all of 62 names were listed.

What portion of one percent of the players who are or were actually juicing do you suppose that represents?

I used to really hate the thought that guys I liked and rooted for might be on performance enhancers. But if the report did anything, it was make me realize once and for all that this is not just a few players. It's not a couple guys, or a couple teams, or a couple guys on each team. And it sure as hell is not just 62 players over the last 15 to 20 years.

The biggest thing I took away from the report is that, as much as the media plays up the outrage, it's not like these guys were running around in their little steroid cliques, shooting up in dark alleys so no one would see. It was out in the open. It was joked about in the clubhouse.

If I were named in the report, I'd be the first one demanding the best testing available. I'd be screaming for the implementation of daily piss tests for everyone in the league, because there's no way I'd let people go on assuming that I'm part of some tiny portion of the baseball playing world that is so unscrupulous as to take steroids. I'd be saying, "You've got 60 names? Great. Now let's get 1,000 so you can really start to see."

I'm done being outraged about specific players. I'm done listening to other people's outrage about Mr. ABC and Mr. XYZ and how "now there's proof!" Because the names in the Mitchell Report are meaningless.

The fans will relish this opportunity to shun the players that have been named.

You'll say, "Miguel Tejada's a dirty cheater! I KNEW Roger Clemens was a jerk! Brian Roberts and his squeaky clean image are DONE FOR," and then boo them and make signs and yell "CHEATER" every time they visit your team's ballpark.

But it's stupid.

Because the names listed are nothing more than a few fish hooked in an ocean of performance enhancing drug users, and you're blind if you think there aren't at least four or five on your favorite team. Even if none of the names made it into the Report or onto ESPN's ticker. That's the real lesson from the Mitchell Report.

Blogging the Mitchell Report: Part 3 ... Including Brian Roberts and Miguel Tejada

You can get to a collection of all the posts in this series by clicking here.

Download a PDF of the full report here -- 6.5 MB, 409 pages.

I'm just now getting into the beefier part of the report, with some names you might not have heard (although you've probably read them on other sites by now). The report includes substantial evidence on these names provided by former Mets clubhouse attendant Kirk Radomski, including scans of signed checks from players.

Here's the list:

Lenny Dykstra:
Report page 149, PDF page 197

"After the Phillies lost the 1993 World Series, Dykstra called Radomski and asked whether Radomski could get Dykstra steroids. Although Radomski does not remember the exact time frame, he recalled providing Dykstra with Deca-Durabolin, Dianabol, and testosterone.
...
In order to provide Dykstra with information about these allegations and to give him an opportunity to respond, I asked him to meet with me; he never agreed to an interview."

David Segui again. With a scanned check.


Larry Bigbie (another former Oriole, and all incidents reported here are from his time with the O's):
Report page 152, PDF page 200:

"Radomski’s first contact with Bigbie was in 2003. Thereafter, Radomski sold a variety of performance enhancing substances to Bigbie on a number of occasions. Bigbie consistently paid by check. Because Bigbie was young and “not making that much money,” Radomski said he charged Bigbie no more than his cost for the substances.

Radomski retrieved from his banks three checks written by Bigbie.

...

Bigbie’s account of his use and interaction with Radomski was consistent with Radomski’s account."

I was fearing this one, and it's disappointing but not shocking. Also, in comparison to others listed in the Radomski section it's not too bad. There's no hard evidence, just Larry Bigbie's word, and even he wasn't very hard on B-Rob. Read on...

Brian Roberts (the first CURRENT Oriole to be named):
Report page 158, PDF page 206:

"Roberts and Larry Bigbie were both rookies in 2001. According to Bigbie, both he and Roberts lived in Segui’s house in the Baltimore area during the latter part of that season. When Bigbie and Segui used steroids in the house, Roberts did not participate.

According to Bigbie, however, in 2004 Roberts admitted to him that he had injected himself once or twice with steroids in 2003. Until this admission, Bigbie had never suspected Roberts of using steroids."

More from Radomski before I run out of time... These people are all included with pretty hard evidence in the report. I'll try to include more if I get the time later:

Jack Cust (former Oriole)
Tim Laker (former Oriole)
Josias Manzanillo
Todd Hundley
Mike Carreon
Hall Morris
Matt Franco
Rondell White
Roger Clemens
Andy Pettitte
Chuck Knoblauch
Jason Grimsley (again)
Gregg Zaun (former Oriole)
David Justice
F.P. Santangelo
Glenallen Hill
Mo Vaughn
Denny Neagle
Ron Villone
Ryan Franklin
Chris Donnels
Todd Williams (former Oriole)
Phil Hiatt
Todd Pratt
Kevin Young
Mike Lansing
Cody McKay
Kent Mercker (former Oriole)
Adam Piatt
MIGUEL TEJADA (for real this time ... with evidence)
Jason Christiansen
Mike Stanton (former National)
Stephen Randolph
Jerry Hairston Jr. (former Oriole)
Paul Lo Duca (brand new National)
Adam Riggs
Bart Miadich
Fernado Vina
Kevin Brown (former Oriole)
Eric Gagne
Mike Bell
Matt Herges
Gary Bennett Jr. (former National)
Jim Parque
Brendan Donnelly
Chad Allen
Jeff Williams
Howie Clark (former Oriole)
Nook Logan (current National)


 

Time To Put This Steroid Saga To Bed

OK maybe not the whole steroid saga, but at least the part that involves Jason Grimsley's identification of Brian Roberts, Jay Gibbons and Miguel Tejada as anabolic steroid users.

And here's why. (The Baltimore Sun)

Grimsley's lawyer sez:

"As to all five players named, Jason did not attribute steroid use to any of them."

And the clincher:

"There was no mention of Roberts or Gibbons at all ... The agents didn't even mention Roberts or Gibbons."

You can take that to mean Tejada was mentioned by someone at some point, I guess, but I'll assume that's the lingering effect of Rafael Palmeiro's now-infamous vitamin B-12 defense.

The L.A. Times isn't looking so hot right about now.

U.S. Attorney's Office Refutes L.A. Times Report

The newest twist in the Jason Grimsley affidavit saga has been provided by the U.S. Attorney's office in San Francisco, which issued a statement saying that the Los Angeles Times' report claiming that the names supplied by Grimsley to investigators included Orioles Miguel Tejada, Jay Gibbons and Brian Roberts.

Here's a link to the article in The Baltimore Sun.

U.S. Attorney and lead investigator Kevin V. Ryan said in a statement, "please be advised that these reports contain significant inaccuracies."

So now instead of questioning Grimsley's motives or knowledge of the situation, supporters of the supposedly accused can now question the accuracy of The Times' report as well.

Gibbons had the best reaction to the situation upon hearing the statement:

"What a shocker. This is all inaccurate? ... Like I said before, this is a complete joke."

Gotta love sarcasm.

Roch Kubako has some interesting takes, including a conversation with David Segui, who admitted to being named in the affidavit.

Segui says he doesn't even know how or why Grimsley would have known whether or not Roberts, Gibbons and Tejada were using performance enhancing drugs. Segui also said Roberts was "about as milk and cookies as you can get."

Kubatko also points out that Gibbons has always been one of the most outspoken players in the Majors about the need for steroid testing.

Here are the links to Roch:
Initial reaction
On Gibbons and Roberts (bottom few paragraphs)
Speaking with Segui

The Possible Fallout

By now it's all over the place.

The original story in The L.A. Times.

ESPN.

The Baltimore Sun ... x2.

SI.com

All of them say basically the same thing. Jason Grimsley, who was caught in June receiving a shipment of Human Growth Hormone, said in an affidavit that three Orioles were using anabolic steroids when he was on the team in 2004 and 2005.

Miguel Tejada, Jay Gibbons and Brian Roberts.

Tejada has been through this suspicion before. Jose Canseco speculated in his book that Tejada was on the juice because he bulked up and got a big payday when he put up power numbers. Then Rafael Palmeiro said he thought he might have tested positive because of some vitamin shots that Tejada gave him. However, the league went out of their way to say that Tejada had never tested positive.

Gibbons and Roberts have never been subject to any real documented suspicion, but I'm sure people have wondered.

The problem is, they test for anabolic steroids. This isn't human growth hormone, which the league does not test for. Wouldn't these things have shown up?

I guess that's the Orioles optimist in me coming out. I even wanted to believe Rafael Palmeiro until it became impossible.

But all this has me wondering what Peter Angelos' reaction will be.

The team will wrap up its ninth straight losing season this afternoon and Angelos was the subject of a fan protest a couple weeks ago. He's got to be feeling some heat to make things happen. Will the second team steroid scandal in as many years be what leads him to blow the team up?

Many thought Tejada should have been traded in the middle of the season and some still think he will be traded this offseason. Gibbons' injuries have had many questioning the contract extension he received last year, and he's a man without a position now that he's said he doesn't want to be a fulltime designated hitter and Nick Markakis has stolen his spot in right field.

But the big question mark is Brian Roberts. He's arbitration eligible and it seemed his extension was going to be a high priority for the team this offseason. If Angelos decides to blow up the team, can you really just deny arbitration to one of the game's most valuable second basemen with no replacement and only an implication and no proof of guilt?

Potentially, Angelos could feel the need to cleanse himself of this whole mess by creating a team almost entirely of players acquired or promoted after testing started. There's still no way to know that they're definitely clean, but at least there would be no Grimsley accusations and it would be hard to prove anything if they haven't been caught.

Markakis, Ramon Hernandez, Corey Patterson, Kevin Millar... It's a start, but not a very good one.

Of course this is purely specualation, and given Angelos history of an "ohhhh things will get better in time" attitude, it's hard to believe he'd actually feel the need to start over from scratch, but who knows what his reaction to this news will be?

One thing is for sure, this can't help in the efforts to lure big name free agents like Alfonso Soriano, Carlos Lee or Jason Schmidt. All of which means ... yes ... more years of sucking!

Your Worst Case Scenario

It's 3 a.m. on Sunday, October 1, and for some reason I'm awake and seeing this article from ESPN.com.

Basically, the names that Jason Grimsley implicated when he was taken in by police after a raid of his home have now been leaked, and they include three major players on the Baltimore Orioles.

Miguel Tejada, Brian Roberts and Jay Gibbons were all said by Grimsley to have taken anabolic steroids.

I guess the question is, do you trust a guy who was trying to save his own ass when he names three of the biggest names from his former team? I'd argue you do not, but it makes you wonder.

At the moment I'm skeptical. When I wake up on Sunday and have a clearer mind, that mood may turn to devastated.

I hate this.

Quick Hits: Promoting the promotions

UPDATE 7/13/06:
The Brian Roberts bobblehead promotion has been botched. There will be no bobbleheads on Saturday, but everyone in attendance will receive a voucher for the bobblehead that can be redeemed in September. The Orioles Web site says it's due to a "manufacturing error." To make up for it, ALL fans in attendance will receive the voucher, not just the first 20,000 fans 21 and over as the promotion was originally slated.

A couple quick plugs for things that I actually get no benefit from promoting all over my highly reputable and well-read site:

I was over at my new timewasting spot, Orioles Hangout, where a bunch of know-it-all O's fans dump on other know-it-all O's fans for overrating Brandon Fahey's .280 batting average by not recognizing that his VORP isn't very good or for overly praising Kris Benson when, in fact (duh!), the O's would have won half-a-game more with a "league average" pitcher instead of Benson based on his RSAA.

That's right. The O's could be a half-game better with a merely average pitcher. That's the difference between fourth place and ... fourth place but leading the Devil Rays by another half-game. Nevermind how you get "half a win."

But that's all beside the point. And it's part of the fun.

I don't know if someone at Orioles Hangout came up with it or if they're just pimping it hard, but a couple of dedicated O's fans have created Section336.com, which has set out to fill section 336 (upper deck directly behind homeplate) with a big orange and black cursive O, to prove to the doubters that the O's do have dedicated and die-hard supporters.

The Java section map on the home page is pretty sweet, and you can see who has already committed. They're asking people to buy tickets for the section, contact them with where they're sitting, then come to this Saturday's game in their designated white, orange or black regalia to create the O. Also, they're bringing colored posterboard to bring out the full effect in case some people can't sport the right colors for whatever reason.

I thought it was a pretty sweet idea, so if you have Saturday afternoon free you should definitely get in on it. Also, if just "being awesome" isn't enough incentive for you to go, if you're one of the first 20,000 fans in the gates, you get the Brian Roberts half of the "Roberts/Mora Celebration Bobbleheads," which is pretty much the most incredible giveaway the Orioles have ever done, unless you count the Curt Schilling, Steve Finley and Pete Harnisch for Glenn Davis trade in 1991.

---

The Nats new owners are doing some promoting of their own. Sure, they've committed to retaining Jim Bowden, the worst GM in the Majors, and they've already said they're not going to raise payroll, but hey, the hot dogs should get better (and before you ask, no, I'm never letting that go).

When the Cubs come to town for a weekend series July 21-23, the Nats will host a "Grand Re-Opening" of RFK stadium. The festivities will include giveaways, pre-game entertainment, some appearance changes to the beat up old football stadium and, yes, improved concessions (PRIORITY NUMBER 1!).

If you've been in any D.C. Metro stations recently, you've seen the banners that say stupid things like "GET YOUR RED ON" and "PAINT THE TOWN RED," to try and get you to come to the ballpark that weekend, but the real draw will be permanently lowered ticket prices for the cheap seats. Similar to the Capitals' "Eagle's Nest" seats, 1,000 of the $11 seats in RFK will become $5 seats, and 1,000 of the $5 seats will now be just $3, which means now parking at the Metro Station costs 50 cents more than the game tickets. Sweet.

In case you were wondering, your $3 ticket on Friday will also get you a red Washington Nationals baseball cap, on Saturday it will get you a red Nats T-shirt, and on Sunday it will get you a red rally towel. (Sensing a theme? Yeah... But there's not going to be a scattered quarter of sweet Curly W in the stands is there!?)

So now your next two weekends are booked. Just don't tell your girlfriend she's going to baseball games to hold up colored posterboard. Oh, and if your the jealous type, watch out for longing stares at the Brian Roberts bobblehead...

That's YOUR bobblehead and you loved Brian Roberts before she even knew he existed!

For You Orioles Stat Geeks

With the Orioles having some marginal success (15-14 from May 28 to June 28), I decided to look at some numbers. With everyone focusing on the improved pitching, I noticed that a lot of the hitters have stepped it up in June as well.


As I jinx everyone on the Orioles...

PLAYER		SEASON				JUNE
		AVG	OBP	SLG		AB	AVG	OBP	SLG
Jeff Conine		.254	.333	.424		59	.305	.379	.492
Brandon Fahey		.264	.315	.347		46	.261	.333	.413
Jay Gibbons		.274	.312	.495		7	.429	.429	.429
Razor Ramon		.287	.351	.524		93	.290	.356	.613
Javy Lopez		.276	.323	.429		90	.289	.319	.467
Nick Markakis		.250	.326	.337		59	.322	.385	.390
Luis Matos		.205	.282	.339		47	.255	.352	.383
Kevin Millar		.242	.349	.376		71	.254	.357	.408
Melvin Mora		.290	.355	.427		93	.247	.311	.301
Scorey Patterson		.282	.324	.429		100	.270	.305	.330
Brian Roberts		.314	.383	.415		109	.303	.374	.394
Ed Rogers		.211	.200	.211		9	.111	.100	.111
Miguel Tejada		.314	.367	.517		99	.293	.343	.404

An interesting thing that this table displays is that the guys who are having better-than-their-season OPS months (with more than 10 ABs... sorry Gibby... and Kris Benson) are Conine, Fahey, Hernandez, Javy, Markakis, Matos and Millar. Surprisingly absent from that list are Mora, Tejada and Roberts.

So ranking OPS for June, you get:

1) Ramon Hernandez .969 (and that was including an 0-for-23 skid)
2) Jeff Conine .870
3) Miguel Tejada .802 (even on a "down" month, Tejada's one of our best players)
4) Javy Lopez .786
5) Nick Markakis .774
6) Brian Roberts .768
7) Kevin Millar .766
8) Brandon Fahey .746
9) Luis Matos .735
10) Corey Patterson .635
11) Melvin Mora .612 (Melvin what are you doing down here?)

Granted, from June 1 to June 28 the team is two games under .500, and that's when these stats were accrued, but with Tejada and Roberts not on their normal pace and Mora scuffling, it's good that the O's have some other guys stepping it up, because every team is going to have stretches when their top guys aren't red hot and typically over the last 8 or 9 years the Orioles have been the kind of team to let those stretches crush them.