Month: November 2004

Who Will Stay? Who Will Go?

Next Tuesday, 07 December, marks the final day that the former Major League Baseball club of a free agent will be allowed to resign said player or, at a minimum, offer salary arbitration. Otherwise, a player may not resign with his former club until 01 May. That means that, in seven days, Boston Red Sox fans will have a better idea of what face the club will have on Opening Day in 2005 as the organization prepares to defend its World Series crown. Of the 16 free agents that played last season for Boston, one has fled to Japan, utility outfielder Gabe Kapler, and one has resigned with Boston, Doug Mirabelli. Of those remaining players, four big names top the list of players that may or may not return in a Red Sox uniform next season; what chance will they be back?

Jason Varitek – C
Chances: Better than 75%

Varitek’s agent, the infamous Scott Boras, has told all interested parties that his client is looking for a five-year deal around $50 million with a no-trade clause; Boston has countered with a four-year deal in the neighborhood of $36-$39 million. In Varitek’s words, what he wants is stability so that he won’t have to worry about moving his family for a number of years to come. Having spent his entire career in Boston since his trade from Seattle in 1997, staying put would be the ideal situation. Varitek is a fan favorite because he always plays at full speed and probably reached an elite status alongside Sox legend Carlton Fisk when he shoved his mitt in Yankee third baseman Alex Rodriguez’s face in July.

There are very few free agents on the market that play to the caliber of Varitek; however, having said that, he is also not among the top players at that position. Varitek will turn 33 on 11 April and, historically, catchers do not play well into their late thirties. Reports last week arose that Boston will likely offer Varitek salary arbitration by the deadline and he would have 12 days to decide whether to accept. If he declines, the club would then have until 08 January to try and negotiate a new deal. Boston wants him here and Varitek wants to stay here, especially if he is serious about doing what’s best for his family. A final deal will probably pay him $10 million per season, and some of that will be paid out up front as a signing bonus, but the maximum number of years that Boston would be willing to commit would be four years.

Pedro Martinez – P
Chances: Fifty-fifty

Before the start of the 2003 season, the Dominican dominator began to squawk about a contract extension and told the media that, every day, his price would continue to climb. Instead of going into a panic about the Boston ace bolting to the Yankees when his contract expired, the organization simply kept its mouth shut and instead picked up the club option on a seventh year a week after the season began. Fans began to wonder if the Red Sox would eventually watch another big-name player walk as they had with former studs Roger Clemens and Mo Vaughn but, two seasons later, no one is in a panic and Boston looks like they played those cards right.

Boston has offered a two-year deal at $25.5 million with an option for a third year if he remained healthy that would bring the final value of the contract to around $38 million. Interest from the Yankees has been lukewarm at best; Pedro and his agent called a meeting with Steinbrenner early this month, but the Yankees have not verbalized an offer and it appears to have been more of a ploy to try and force the Red Sox to up their offer. The New York Mets are now willing to offer Martinez a guaranteed three-year contract at the same $38 million level, but it’s not the four years that the ace wanted and New York isn’t exactly on track to win another World Series in the next few seasons. Right now, the Red Sox are holding firm and they are willing to let Pedro walk, something that perhaps no Boston fan would have fathomed even before the 2004 season began. Pedro may get his best all-around deal from Boston, but it will be up to him whether his ego will allow his supposed loyalty to Red Sox fan to keep him in a Boston uniform for another few seasons.

Orlando Cabrera – SS
Chances: One-in-three

Cabrera was a nice pick-up for the Sox and made everyone forget that he was traded for perhaps the most popular Boston player in recent memory, especially in helping his new club win a World Series. Now the 30-year-old Columbian is looking to cash in on the national exposure that you just didn’t get playing for Montreal and is looking for a nice long-term deal. While Boston has some interest in retaining his services, they are not interested in signing him for more than a year or two, especially if Pawtucket prospect Hanley Ramirez is ready for the big leagues by 2006. Boston might try to offer him arbitration, but it’s a better bet that he will try to sign elsewhere because he may not get a better opportunity for more money as a player.

Derek Lowe – P
Chances: Less than zero

The unsung hero of the 2004 playoffs blew his chance to sign a contract extension with Boston in each of the last two off-seasons and that may come around to bite him in the end. Although numbers haven’t been mentioned lately, Boras reportedly was looking to secure Lowe with a contract worth $11 million per season. Lowe did win 52 games over the last three seasons and was a runner-up in the Cy Young voting in 2002, but he was inconsistent over the 2004 season, finishing with a 14-12 record and an ERA of 5.42, and the offensive juggernaut in the Boston clubhouse helped him record a few of those wins. It should be noted that he become the first pitcher in post-season history to record the decisive win in every one of his team’s playoff series, providing an inning of relief in Game Three of the Division Series and pitching gems in Game Seven of the ALCS and Game Four of the World Series. However, Babe Ruth has a better chance of being in a Red Sox uniform next season. Lowe is obviously a disgruntled employee in the organization and also wants to escape the scrutiny of the Boston media. With the younger Carl Pavano on the market for equal value and less money, Lowe will be dishing his sinker on another club next season.

Nothing Valuable Learned

Ken Caminiti tore through the 1996 regular season with the San Diego Padres in a matter that surprised and delight fans, batting .326 with 40 home runs and 130 RBI; his reward was the National League Most Valuable Player award. After his playing career ended in 2001, perhaps to clear his own conscious, he came clean and admitted to Sports Illustrated that his MVP season was not what it seemed; the use of steroids had been the answer to why the ball had flown off his bat that season as well as the latter half of his career. The desire to become a better ballplayer through illicit means developed into a lifelong struggle with drugs and alcohol, a fight that he finally lost in early October at just 41 years young.

Caminiti had a rather amazing stretch run that began in 1995, amassing a good percentage of his career highs during his MVP season. Having averaged 12 home runs each season in the first six full seasons of his career, Caminiti went deep 26 times in 1995, then shattered that mark the next season. His slugging percentage in 1996 was .621, better than 100 points higher than his career high. He also drove in an eye-popping 130 runs and stepped on home 109 times, again well above his career averages. He also showcased himself at third base, winning Gold Gloves in three straight seasons from 1995 through 1997.

Perhaps there were whispers outside the clubhouse and around the league that there was something not right about his development, but his all-out style earned him praise and hushed those rumors. As baseball looked to try to heal the wounds of a strike that was still fresh in the minds of fans, it served no purpose to chase after the star players that were the reason that people came back to the ballparks of Major League Baseball. In Caminiti’s own words, a good percentage, perhaps as many as half, of the players were using medicinal means to boost their performance on the field and to compete for that coveted spot in the everyday lineup; were it true, baseball seemed in no hurry to check into this matter.

Sadly, the use of performance drugs, while seemingly innocent to young ballplayer, almost always leads to the use of casual street drugs like cocaine, a fuel that gave Caminiti that high he no longer experienced outside the lines of the playing field. With no guidance except from probation officers, his battle was fought alone and he did not have the strength to win that fight, no matter how large his muscles had been or how acrobatic he was with his glove; in the end, he paid the ultimate price.

There are many examples of sports figures past and present that have battled drug addictions. Who can forget Darryl Strawberry, who for years has battled drug problems; no matter how many times he has been given a chance to reform, he cannot shake the habit and has been jailed numerous times for violating probation. How about Ricky Williams, who turned his back on Miami and the NFL because of his love for marijuana, or Bill Romanowski, who has touted the use of performance enhancers for years and was indicted on charges of obtaining a prescription diet drug?

What about 19-year-old Florida Marlins prospect Jeff Allison, picked in the first round in 2003 and given a nearly $2 million signing bonus, only to leave training camp this past spring and nearly die of a heroin overdose mid-summer? Last but not least, who can forget Steve Belcher, the 23-year-old Orioles pitching prospect that collapse during a spring training practice in February of 2004 and tragically died the next day, his death linked to a dietary supplement that contained ephedera?

To no one’s surprise, San Francisco slugger Barry Bonds, dogged by rumors and accusations all year of his connection in the investigation of the Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative (BALCO), was honored with his fourth straight MVP award this week and the seventh of his career. His numbers this season were impressive, but perhaps what was more impressive, ironically, was that baseball continued to skirt the issue of drug use among its ranks. It’s the fault of not just the owners but the players as well, who clamor about right-to-privacy matters in labor negotiations. Baseball’s drug policy, only recently agreed upon during the last contract negotiations, has fewer teeth than a sock puppet and players continue to play the fans for fools. While it’s true that the home run may be the play that brings the paying customer through the gates, the physical health of baseball players continues to be endangered; at what point will someone finally scream enough?