Daily RoundUp- Thursday, February 19th

Even though the A-Rod fall out has been tremendous for A-Rod, apparently the New York media is not going to let Alex fall on his own sword. No, they are going to go after the captain, Derek Jeter as well. John Harper of the Daily News writes, if Jeter had spoken out sooner, then the steroid issue would’ve been a dead issue by now.

I have written this many times. There are no good guys in this steroid issue. Nobody is clean. It was either you were using or you saw someone using and you didn’t say anything. Either way, you’re in the wrong because now that this issue has exploded in everyone’s face, everyone that hasn’t had their name explicitly named in any report is playing hot potato with the burden of guilt.
I understand why Jeter is upset because if there was a report holding 103 other players as guilty parties in this report and those names have not been released by the Players Union, it puts a cloud over every player in baseball.
But it was Derek Jeter and every other player who was supposedly clean to voice their displeasure over it. In retrospect, sure we can stand the moral high ground and hold players accountable and that may be the excuse that these players give but it’s a simple thing between right and wrong. If only a small percentage of players were using these drugs, that means that the majority were unwilling to because there was this twinge of guilt they have felt using something that they really had no idea about.
Just like reporters who never talked about what was going on in that era, players who were in the clubhouses and shared shower stalls with these players who were using are also guilty by association. By trying to acquit yourself of this is just small.
Also, Jeter has a history of talking and not talking and while I admire his smarts in knowing when to and when not to, as captain of the team, one of its most well known individual players and a high ranking member of the world’s most celebrated and decorated sports franchise, Jeter bears the burden of answering these questions because as he goes, so do the Yankees and its been no secret. By Jeter remaining silent at times, while it was for the best in terms of his own sanity and not putting his foot in his mouth, he has a responsibility to answer those questions and stick up for teammates regardless of how shady their past is.

From Bronx’s left side of the infield to Queens’ own dynamic duo, Mike Vaccaro writes about heightened expectations from the Mets duo of David Wright and Jose Reyes.

The biggest challenge that Jose Reyes has gotten this winter is the news that he might be asked to bat 3rd in the line up which traditionally has gone to the power hitter of the line up and last year, to teammate David Wright. But while Jerry may be playing with Reyes’ psyche a bit to test him, I do believe change is in order. I think to get him some confidence, Jerry Manuel is going to tinker with the line up and have Luis Castillo bat leadoff, with Jose Reyes batting 2nd, Beltran 3rd, Wright 4th and Delgado 5th. That line up would not only give Luis Castillo the extra vote of confidence he needs to hopefully get his bat going, but put Reyes in a spot where he can get on base. Think about it, teams would rather pitch to Beltran who has a lower average than pitch to Reyes. But putting Reyes on the bases is just plain stupidity because he will cause damage on the bags. But if you pitch to Beltran third, then you don’t want to pitch to Wright which means you have to give Beltran a few fastballs. It will all depend on Carlos Beltran hitting some homers. You can switch Beltran and Delgado where you see fit but I think keeping Reyes and Wright at 2 and 4 create much better opportunities for the rest of the line up.

Bob Ryan of the Boston Globe actually makes a few interesting points about cap mismanagement by a few teams that have left them searching for answers more than finding them.

It’s a simple formula for success. The team with the highest payroll must have the best team. But as the Yankees have found out that is furthest from the truth. No one knows how those players will gel and how each player will be used and if that player will be used in the right way. Teams that have shown the best ability to succeed on a nightly basis are the ones that have been home grown with talent and infused with enough out of town players to add the right parts to a well oiled machine. The percentage of teams with large payrolls that get into contention on a yearly basis might be high but the ultimate prize is a championship and that is never promised. The fact is, its settled on the field where it always should be and with the threat of injuries sidelining big money free agents, you can never expect something to happen just because it sounds good. You have to make it happen and that can only happen on the field and that is always the best battle ground.
But for the Red Sox owners to want a salary zone or whatever they call it, is ridiculous. I do agree that its not how much money you have, its how you spend it. The Yankees over the years have spent it on players that might not actually fit within the team structure but the overall angst of fans to get that player make management more of a reactive and go with the mob kind of team while the Red Sox ability to manage the big money free agents and also groom their own successors and pad their minor leagues with enough talent to one day overtake the big money guys make them a far more dangerous threat because they have much smarter people running their ship.

Another problem that baseball has yet to tackle is the verification of prospects from Latin American countries and that’s exactly the kind of mess that the Washington Nationals got in with a player named Esmaylin Gonzalez or so they thought that was his real name says Chico Harlan of the Washington Post.

Dealing with players from poor countries is a double edged sword. They probably have more talent than players born here in the U.S. because they were born in an impoverished country so their work ethic is twice as hard to escape that poverty, but on the other side, they are much more desperate to accomplish their goals and they will only trust people from their neighborhood. Most of whom may not have their best intentions at heart. Its difficult to ask these kids to trust American agents who come to whisk them away without having that middleman who they grew up with.
Trusting documents from foreign countries and given by people who may want to falsify documents to make the prospect seem better make sense because they want to assure their client the highest possible signing bonus, which a percentage goes to the agent working on the player’s behalf of course.

We end on a good note. There is hope for all you fans of college football who despise the fact that there are too few qualified colored coaches in Division IA. Tony Dungy is here to the rescue and William C. Rhoden has more on Dungy’s new mission after football.

A lot of times we knock guys who just can’t retire and come back but we have no idea how much time, practice and years they dedicated to it. It didn’t start when they began in the pro leagues. It started in high school and before that when they developed the love of the game and continued to grow. That love will never go away because that kind of passion remains in us because we are human and forgetting the loves of our lives are as difficult as the sun forgetting to come up in the morning. No matter what, we know Tony Dungy will miss football. The book tours will slow down and he will have far too much time on his hands but the good thing about guys like Tony is that there is always a mission that they are dedicated to and will always keep in their hearts and thus will keep them busy.
Guys like Coach Dungy will find ways to remain close to the game while doing something positive and nothing is more of an uphill climb than getting colleges and institutions of higher learning to accept that the best candidate is not someone that boosters want, but someone that can get the victories to roll in, no matter the color. Too many outside interests play a role in decisions that colleges insist is the Athletic Director’s. Fact is, if anyone can do it, I’m glad its someone with the kind of honor and faith that Tony Dungy has and not too bad considering he’s the first African American Coach to win a Super Bowl.