MLB Bullets Has Been Found Not Guilty

Now that the Biogenesis scandal suspensions are behind us, except in the case of Alex Rodriguez, I'd like to think we'll get back to discussing what's happening on the field. But of course, we won't.

• I'm going to assume that you've heard that Alex Rodriguez and 12 other players have been suspended in connection with the Biogenesis Clinic suspension. Twelve have accepted their suspensions and agreed not to appeal. Rodriguez, given a 211 game ban as compared to the 50 game suspension everyone else got, is appealing his suspension. John Culhane at Slate.com thinks ARod has a chance to win his appeal, not on the question of guilt or innocence, but rather on procedural issues, questions about the commissioner's authority and the disparity in Rodriguez's ban to those the other players received.
• Just in case you think that this suspension brings forward a new period of peace and love between ownership and management, MLBPA Director Michael Weiner called Rodriguez's suspension "inappropriate and almost ridiculous."
• David Schoenfield has a post linking to all the on-line freak outs about Rodriguez by members of the media. So I don't have to do it.
• Scott Miller thinks Rodriguez lies about everything, even down to his own name. You know who else lies about everything? Batman. Think about it.
• Doug Glanville takes his normal cerebral approach and says that we follow numbers in baseball to move the stories along. But now that Rodriguez's numbers are hollow, so is his story. Glanville seems melancholic about this.
• Michael Rosenberg thinks the Rodriguez suspension is messy, but it's necessary for the long-term health of the game.
• Joe Posnanski thinks baseball is making an example out of Rodriguez, fair or not. He also wonders why people are so upset about steroids in baseball whereas it passes without even a yawn in the NFL. His theory is that fans are in awe of the accomplishments of football players whereas Joe Fan thinks he could be a baseball player if he'd only been given the chance. (And maybe some steroids, I'm guessing.)
• Pure psychobabble, Joe. The reason why no one cares about the NFL is because everyone is making a mountain of money from the current system and they know that the NFL is more than willing to cut off anyone who rocks the boat. (See the controversy over ESPN's Playmakers TV series from a few years back) The teams are making a fortune and the media that televise it and write about it are making a fortune on that. Without a media asking questions, the public is more than willing to ignore the question. Any member of the media, paid media at least, who went on an anti-steroids complaint in the NFL, would get treated like Dr. Stockmann in Ibsen's An Enemy of the People. Yes, I know a lot of money is made in MLB, but the balance of power is just different in baseball. And any writer who got ostracized from MLB would just say "I'll just go write on the NFL then." (end rant)
• Grant Brisbee (whom I met over the weekend. Hi Grant!) of Baseball Nation wonders what would happen if Rodriguez led the Yankees to a World Series Championship this season while his case was still on appeal. Chaos, no doubt.
• Among the other players who accepted a suspension, Nelson Cruz said that he made an "error in judgement" after a gastrointestinal illness caused him to lose 40 pounds. He made a teary apology to his teammates, who universally said they stood with him and want him back for the playoffs. At least those who were talking.
• Ken Rosenthal says that Cruz's decision to accept suspension was a no-brainer.
• Tigers shortstop Jhonny Peralta, on the other hand, issued a full apology with no excuses and threw himself at the mercy of the fans. I've got no real evidence, but his full mea culpa seems to have gone over pretty well.
• Jim Leyland says the Tigers are going to miss Peralta, at least on the field.
• Chris Iott of MLive.com thinks Peralta is selfish for not appealing the suspension.
• Finally, the other big name suspended, Everth Cabrera, also made a teary apology and blamed a shoulder injury.
• In the only good news to come out of this, Gio Gonzalez and Danny Valencia were completely exonerated.
• The Braves won their 12th straight, but no one is paying attention because of a Bryce Harper home run and Julio Teheran's retaliation. You can see what happened at the link to Craig Calcaterra's story above. The Braves took exception to Harper not rounding the bases fast enough after a home run and it is true, he did take his own sweet time. But as Calcaterra points out, Justin Upton took even longer to round the bases the night before and no one seemed to have a problem with it.
• The official Twitter feeds of the Nationals and Braves got into it after the incident.
• Nationals manager Davey Johnson says that Ryan Zimmerman might have to move off of third base if he can't get over his throwing issues. He also says the issue is more mental than physical.
• The Angels have signed Dontrelle Willis to a minor-league contract. He had been pitching for the Long Island Ducks of the independent Atlantic League.
• The Giants were going to announce that they had signed Ted Lilly to a minor-league deal, but the negotiations broke down. Hey Sabean. You don't talk to Ted Lilly. He talks to you and you listen.
• The Angels also released Ryan Madson.
• They also got good news in that an MRI found no major structural damage to Howie Kendrick's knee.
• Former slugger Dave Parker is fighting Parkinson's Disease. Good luck, Cobra.
• The Dodgers commented on their recent 15 game road winning streak (which came to an end last night), with J.P. Howell saying "We were so pathetic. We had to do this."
• At least Don Mattingly had to do this, as he admitted that team president Stan Kasten told him back in May that he would have to fire him if things didn't turn around. Mattingly said it wasn't a threat, just Kasten explaining the facts of life.
• Following up the last episode's incident with Robby Thompson and the bullpen, MLB has issued a new directive that is supposed to clarify what qualifies as a manager bringing a pitcher into the game. Apparently there was a big debate in the MLB offices, with half the people thinking the umps got the call right and the other half thinking they had made a mistake.
• St. Petersburg mayor Bill Foster has given the Tampa Bay Rays his blessing to start considering sites in Hillsborough County (i.e. Tampa) for a new ballpark.
• The Orioles are happy with Bud Norris, so far.
• C. Trent Rosecrans is still against the DH, but is willing to have it in NL parks during interleague play(and not use it in AL parks) as an experiment to see if anyone's mind changes, including his.
• Dallas Braden, like Alanis Morrisette, doesn't understand irony.
• Former major league Gabe Kapler talks about what life is like for an intern in a major league front office.
• Finally, if you know anything about me, I like to read about two things. One is baseball. The other is True Crime. (I used to like to read history. Then I went to graduate school.) So Brandon Sneed's article on Billy Dillon was right up my alley. Dillon about to sign a contract with the Detroit Tigers after an open tryout when he was arrested for a murder he didn't commit. It's a tough read and there are things in there you may not want to read. But it also talks about how playing softball helped get him through 27 years of prison and the joy of playing baseball again after he was released. Oh, and Ted Bundy makes a cameo appearance. It's long, but everyone should read it.

And tomorrow will be a better day than today, Buster. You too, Billy.