Hello there. My name is David Smithson Michaels, and welcome to DUCK SNORTS. During the season, I’ll go through all the news happening in baseball, pick out the best stories for you, and offer you my expert analysis and opinions on what these stories mean to you, the intelligent fans of baseball. Here are the DUCK SNORTS for Friday, February 15, 2008.
C.C. SABATHIA CALLS OFF CONTRACT NEGOTIATIONS, STARTS PREPARING FOR REGULAR SEASON: Cleveland Indians starting pitcher C.C. Sabathia has tabled contract talks in anticipation for the upcoming 2008 Major League Baseball season. I think this is bad news for the Indians, since C.C. Sabathia has been one of the better Indians pitchers for a long time. If a contract isn’t signed, then Sabathia becomes a free agent, meaning he can sign with any team that chooses to offer him a contract. That could come back to hurt the Indians, especially if Sabathia ends up on a team that the Indians have to play against.
On the other hand, it’s good that Sabathia wants to focus on the season instead of talking about however many millions of dollars he wants. As good as Sabathia was in the regular season last year, he was awful in the post-season, especially against the World Series Champion Red Sox. If the Indians want to go somewhere in the playoffs this year, they need Sabathia to show that he’s not a playoff choke artist like Alex Rodriguez.
RYAN DEMPSTER SAYS CUBS WILL WIN THE WORLD SERIES – IS HE RIGHT?: Chicago Cubs pitcher Ryan Dempster was quoted as saying that he thinks his team has a good shot to win the World Series in 2008. It’s necessary for players to have this sort of optimism going into every season. After all, doesn’t every baseball player want to win the World Series? I’m not so sure Depmster should be so bold as to predict a Cubs championship, however. The Cubs are an unlucky franchise with a long history of failing to even make it to the World Series, let alone win it. Some experts claim that the club could be “cursed”, which would explain why the Steve Bartman game of 2003 happened. it’s been 99 years since the Cubs last won a World Series, and people like Dempster are hoping this year’s the year. This is one of many stories that’s worth following this baseball season.
PS: Watch out, Ryan — someone on the reigning World Champions disagrees with you!
ANDY PETTITTE TOLD THE TRUTH, THEN LIED, THEN TOLD THE TRUTH AGAIN: Yankee great Andy Pettitte has been under lots of scrutiny of late, mostly due to his association with notable PED user Roger Clemens. First, it was revealed in the Mitchell Report that he was among many users of PEDs within the major leagues. However, he then came clean about his usage, claiming he used drugs only twice, and it was only to help him recouperate from an injury. Then, in an affidavit made public during the congressional hearings involving Clemens and trainer Brian McNamee, it was revealed that Pettitte used PEDs two more times than he previously admitted. However, it turns out that Pettitte received the drugs (used only to rehab from injuries) from his ailing father, and kept this information secret as long as he could to avoid bringing his father into the media circus. During the hearings, Congressman Henry Waxman commended Pettitte for coming clean.
I agree with Congressman Waxman’s assessment. Throughout his career, Andy Pettitte has been a exemplary role model, a man of religion in addition to being one of the clutchest pitchers in Major League history. His actions in protecting his father just go to show how true this is. Who would want their father, who so selflessly gave to his son so he could pitch again, to go through the same media circus that should be reserved for despicable liars like Roger Clemens? People trying to compare Pettitte’s modified stories to the same backtracking Brian McNamee has employed throughout this ordeal need to get some perspective on life.
Meanwhile, supposed baseball great Roger Clemens is more than happy to use his wife as a human shield against the allegations he’s trying so desperately to avoid, doesn’t even know what a ‘vegan’ is, and would probably stick himself with the blood of aborted fetuses if it meant he could bilk another team out of $30 million while failing to pitch more than 15 games and causing them to lose in the postseason, just like he did for last year’s World Series favorite, the New York Yankees. In my mind, the difference between how these two athletes treat their families and their teams shows me who the real Hall of Famer is. Here’s hoping both Pettitte and Clemens get exactly what they deserve – a shrine in Cooperstown for the former, and a stocking full of coal for the latter.
David Smithson Michaels has bought four of the past six editions of Baseball Prospectus, and is almost finished reading one of them.