All teams make mistakes in talent judgement and bad contracts. Tribe has been better of late indentifing players that perform and those that don't . Now they don't wait forever to make a change. Tribe will never be a perennial contender until they realize they have to eat some big contracts and move on.

Swisher would be a good start.

Did we just finish one of the most boring tribe seasons in history?

No not at all, if you like good pitching. Boring season with a leading candidate for the Cy Young? And a leading candidate for MVP? Both on the same team.

rusty2 wrote:I had not got around to studying that bar graph.

Still working on the bar graph of Joe Z's increasing love for Cuba and steroids. Cuba is red and steroids is green like money !

Do they even drug test in the Latin American leagues?

Do they even drug test in the Latin American leagues?

SCOUTING

SCOUTING; Drug Testing In Winter Ball

By Thomas Rogers

Published: January 9, 1986

In September, Peter Ueberroth struck an agreement with the Caribbean Confederation, an umbrella group of winter baseball leagues, that called for random mandatory drug testing of players in Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic and Mexico, with the commissioner's office providing guidance and supervision. Spurred in part by this accord, a fourth member of the confederation, Venezuela, began two months ago to conduct urinalyses on its own, under the supervision of the nation's Ministry of Sport.

The Mexican winter leagues have a negligible smattering of players from the majors, but Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic and Venezuela have about 80, some 12 percent of the big-league total. And any or all of them were to be subject to the winter testing, notwithstanding the fact that the Major League Baseball Players Association had blocked the same kind of Ueberroth-proposed program back in the States. While in the Caribbean, the big-leaguers are members of local player unions, which decided to go along with the tests.

But the results of the commissioner's winter-league efforts have apparently been very mixed.

In Puerto Rico, where the Professional Ballplayers Association voted in early December to accept testing, the membership was startled to see Miguel Rodriguez, who's on the commissioner's staff, showing up in locker rooms unannounced to supervise. The players had agreed to urinalysis on the understanding that they would be given advance notice, and more than half of them - and all the major-leaguers - subsequently refused to be tested.

In the Dominican Republic, meanwhile, there's confusion. Ueberroth's program has a firm ally in Rico Carty, the former National League batting champion who now heads the Dominican Federation of Professional Ballplayers. The problem, Carty says, is that the testing supervisor whom the commissioner promised to send from New York has not shown up, and time is running out, since the Dominican season closes at the end of this month. Rich Levin, a Ueberroth spokesman, disputes this account, saying that tests have been carried out, though ''not necessarily with all teams or with all players.'' The results, he says, are confidential. Testing has apparently gone most smoothly in Venezuela, but even there hurdles have not been lacking. For instance, Joe Orsulak, the Pittsburgh outfielder, recently refused to submit to urinalysis because of the haphazard way in which it was being conducted. ''Frankly, I couldn't blame him,'' says Tom Kayser, a Pirate official who visited Venezuela in November. ''They didn't supervise the tests very well. They just said, 'Give us a sample,' then threw it in a box without marking names on it. Joe's feeling was, 'If they do it wrong, I'll get branded.' ''

After officials had threatened to suspend anyone who balked at testing, a compromise was worked out whereby Orsulak and three other players were flown to Caracas and allowed to meet with Venezuelan Government aides before delivering their samples to the lab, personally.

As the article indicated, drug testing for the winter leagues began in 1986. The policies have changed with the times, but, to answer your question, yes, they do drug testing in the winter leagues supported by major league baseball.

Steroids not an issue in image-conscious Japan

July 08, 2007|By David Haugh, Tribune staff reporter

FUKUOKA, Japan —

Sadaharu Oh stood 5 feet 11 inches and weighed 180 pounds when he played for the Tokyo Yomiuri Giants and hit more home runs than anyone in baseball history -- 868.

His size never gave rise to the steroid rumors and speculation that hound Barry Bonds in America, and generally Japanese sluggers have been immune to such skepticism.

Why?

"For one, guys here are smaller overall, so if they put on, like, 20 or 30 pounds in the off-season, it would be more noticeable and easier to catch," Fukuoka Hawks pitcher Rick Guttormson said. "I'm not saying there aren't guys who might have tried it at some point, but I don't think it's a problem here like [in America]."

Slugger Kazuhiro Kiyohara, among the top five Japanese career home-run hitters, and perhaps a handful of other power hitters have heard occasional whispers, but nothing close to the scrutiny Bonds, Jason Giambi and other major-league sluggers have received.

"Drugs just aren't as big a part of the culture here," said Bobby Valentine, manager of the Chiba Lotte Marines and a former major-league player and skipper. "Guys don't even do cortisone shots. It's a little different mentality."

As noted writer and Japanese baseball expert Michael Westbay pointed out, Japanese players, because of their physical realities, typically concentrate more on lower-body strength than the upper-body strength more commonly associated with steroid use.

Valentine and members of the Hawks also cited a new testing policy instituted this year. It's consistent with Japan's tougher anti-doping laws adopted in 2006 and more in line with international standards.

Japanese players also have participated in the last several Olympics, which requires more thorough drug-testing than Major League Baseball. Given the risk of national embarrassment in a country that fears humiliation, it is unlikely any players would take the chance.

"It's just not something really on the radar much," Guttormson said.

Do they catch anybody?

Oh crap I just turned this into a frickin winterball folder.....

WoW! Just answering your question Baron. Let's not become another Rusty.

I think most posters feel the same way about the winter league folder. Some will tell you the truth and the others will lie. Sort of like the Winter League drug and hooker policy !

joez, finally getting some love from someone besides me! Francona said defense, stolen bases and small ball can make up for not having an HR guy in the middle of the lineup.

Let's face it with no roids the power game is way down and will be forever! Pitching and defense is the way to win now and the Indians have the pitching, FINALLY! We should be all in on defense and speed this off season. Keep Swisher and DH him. Bourne is the guy I would try real hard to trade along with Murphy!

To me Holt is a perfect example of a guy in the non roid era of baseball who can actually help you win games!

Wait what hookers?

I think most posters feel the same way about the winter league folder. Some will tell you the truth and the others will lie. Sort of like the Winter League drug and hooker policy !

?!?!?!?!

Simple......Don't like it! Don't read it!

Hey! I didn't start this discussion

99% of the time, I stick to the proper folders unless I forget which folder I'm in. When these topics spill over into other folders, most likely, I am not the initiator.

Beltre's on my wish list this winter, Frank. Kill two birds with one stone. We improve the defense at third base and we get an above average hitter for the middle of the lineup.

Just to remind everyone how clueless I am, at the start of the season my biggest worry was the starting pitching.