2011-2012 MLB Off-Season Thread

[THE_REAL_MIBS]

I like how it already has a name while our ballpark that is almost complete is still nameless.

[Party]

I suspect our ballpark already has a name and we'll find out on 11.11.11.

Fritz, the A's are self financing this thing so they can't go all out on architecture.

[THE_REAL_MIBS]

A day after Jon Lester admitted he and other pitchers had an "occasional beer" in the Boston Red Sox clubhouse, WHDH-TV in Boston on Tuesday cited Red Sox employees as saying Lester and fellow pitchers Josh Beckett and John Lackey drank beer in the dugout during games.

Lester said the television report was "completely false" through team publicist Pam Ganley in response to an ESPNBoston.com request for comment later Tuesday.

The sources said that the trio would leave the dugout around the sixth inning, walk back to the clubhouse and fill cups with Bud Light. They would then return to the dugout and watch the game while drinking beer. One Red Sox employee told the station that the pitchers were "bored on nights they weren't pitching and this is how they entertained themselves."

According to the report, another Red Sox employee said: "Beckett would come down the stairs from the dugout, walking through the corridor to the clubhouse and say 'it's about that time.' Beckett was the instigator but Lester and Lackey were right behind him.

"It was blatant and hard not to notice what was going on with all three guys leaving at once."

A Red Sox employee who was contacted by ESPNBoston.com on Tuesday evening to react to the latest story said he had heard complaints about players drinking in the dugout during the 2010 season but did not personally witness it either that season or in 2011. He added, however, that it would not come as a surprise to him if it were true.

Another Red Sox staffer who was in the dugout during every game said he never saw Beckett, Lackey or Lester drinking in the dugout, nor had he heard anything about that happening.

The WHDH report is a far cry from what Lester told ESPNBoston.com on Monday while reacting to last week's Boston Globe report that said that he, Beckett and Lackey drank beer, ate fried chicken and played video games in the clubhouse during games.


"People are making us out to be a bunch of drunk, fried-chicken eating SOBs, playing video games. You can ask my wife, for the last 10 years I don't think I've played a single video game, and Josh and Lack are the same way," Lester told ESPNBoston.com on Monday. "But one person writes an article, and things have gotten blown way out of proportion, almost to another planet. We're getting crushed."

On Monday, Lester had said that once in a while the three enjoyed a "a ninth-inning rally beer."


"Did we drink an occasional beer? Yes," he said. "Did it affect our performance in September? No. This stuff has been going on long before September, and not only in this clubhouse, but 29 other clubhouses too. We ordered fried chicken maybe three times in six months. Other guys who were not playing that day would come in and have a bite to eat.


"But what people are trying to do is a witch hunt. They're looking for any reason to basically tear somebody's head off because we lost, and people right now are saying it's because we did this. I'm not shying away from saying I did it. I admit it, and I'm sure the other guys would say it too."

The Red Sox blew a nine-game lead in the wild-card chase in September. And the collapse continued after the season. Manager Terry Francona walked away and general manager Theo Epstein is reportedly heading to the Cubs.

The Globe report last week also said that the team lacked veteran leadership and called out longtime catcher Jason Varitek. Reached by the Globe on Tuesday, he refuted that characterization.

"We lost because we played poorly and we had some health issues and we probably taxed the bullpen too much. ... We didn't lose because of some issue in the clubhouse. That's a lot of crap," he said, according to the newspaper.

Varitek also said that the report of partying in the clubhouse was exaggerated.

"That's a miniscule issue," he said. "Guys are in the clubhouse all the time," he told the Globe. "I'm in there watching pitches because I can't see what I need to see from the bench. To me, that is not an issue at all."

Despite the collapse and the subsequent dissection of the team, Varitek said he still wants to return.

"I'm a free agent, that's out of my hands," he said, according to the Globe. "But I've bled in this uniform for a long time and I want to continue that. Hopefully that will be the case."

Beer in Red Sox dugout?

[DropkickAlex]

I find that funny.

[Fritz]

Beer makes baseball better.

[DColts]

Beer in Red Sox dugout?

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RFZrzg62Zj0[/ame]

[jOOj]

People are making us out to be a bunch of drunk, fried-chicken eating SOBs, playing video games. You can ask my wife, for the last 10 years I don't think I've played a single video game

He denied the video games. He did not comment on being a drunk, fried-chicken eating SOB.

[THE_REAL_MIBS]

U.S. senators and health officials are taking on a baseball tradition older than the World Series itself: chewing tobacco on the diamond.

With the Series set to begin Wednesday between the St. Louis Cardinals and Texas Rangers — a team that started life as the Washington Senators 50 years ago — the senators, along with health officials from the teams' cities, want the players union to agree to a ban on chewing tobacco at games and on camera. They made the pleas in separate letters, obtained Tuesday by The Associated Press.

"When players use smokeless tobacco, they endanger not only their own health, but also the health of millions of children who follow their example," the senators wrote to union head Michael Weiner. The letter was signed by Dick Durbin of Illinois, the No. 2 Democrat in the Senate, and fellow Democrats Frank Lautenberg of New Jersey, Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut and Senate Health Committee Chairman Tom Harkin of Iowa.

The senators noted that millions of people will tune in to watch the World Series, including children.

"Unfortunately, as these young fans root for their favorite team and players, they also will watch their on-field heroes use smokeless tobacco products," they wrote. Smokeless tobacco includes chewing tobacco and dip.

"It's going to be kind of hard to ban that," Texas Rangers pitcher Matt Harrison said. "They probably would have a big fight on their hands for that. ... They can hide it a little bit better, I guess — not be doing it in the dugout and showing it where kids can watch and stuff. But I think it's kind of like your own freedom. If that's what you want to do, then you do it. "

With baseball's current collective bargaining agreement expiring in December, the senators, some government officials and public health groups want the players to agree to a tobacco ban in the next contract. A coalition including the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Cancer Society and the American Medical Association has been pushing for one since last year.

"Such an agreement would protect the health of players and be a great gift to your young fans," the senators wrote. Durbin also sent copies of the letter to the player representatives for his home state teams, the Chicago White Sox and Chicago Cubs, as well as the representative for the Cardinals, a team that draws Illinois fans from across the river in Missouri.

Commissioner Bud Selig endorsed the ban in March, but the players union hasn't committed to one.

Weiner said in June that a "sincere effort" will be made to address the issue. Union spokesman Greg Bouris said Tuesday that since the issue is subject to collective bargaining which is currently taking place, it would be inappropriate to comment.

In Senate speech Tuesday, Durbin said, "Let's not let the health and safety of young baseball fans across America be a bargaining chip between the major league players and the owners. Let's win one for the kids across America."

The first World Series took place in 1903, but chewing tobacco in the sport dates well back into the previous century, when the habit was a popular pastime in American culture, not just on baseball diamonds. Players used tobacco juice to soften gloves, keep their mouths wet on dusty fields and doctor baseballs (the juice was part of the spitballer's arsenal until baseball banned the spitter in 1920).

Some baseball players interviewed by The Associated Press last month were receptive to the idea, but others viewed a ban as an infringement on their freedom. Baseball banned smokeless tobacco in the non-unionized minor leagues in the 1990s, and recent call-ups from the minors spoke of "Dip Police" who would come through clubhouses and cite players if they saw tobacco at their lockers, subjecting violators to fines.

The health officials from St. Louis and Arlington, Texas, asked that players in the World Series voluntarily abstain from using tobacco, in addition to calling for a permanent ban.

"The use of tobacco by big league ballplayers at a single World Series game provides millions of dollars worth of free television advertising for an addictive and deadly product," wrote Dr. Cynthia Simmons, the public health authority for Arlington, Texas, and Pamela Walker, the St. Louis interim health director. They said that with tobacco companies banned from advertising on TV, they "literally could not buy the ads that are effectively created by celebrity ballplayers using tobacco at games."

The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says smokeless tobacco can cause cancer, oral health problems and nicotine addiction, and stresses it is not a safe alternative to smoking. Despite the risks, the CDC's most recent survey found that in 2009, 15 percent of high school boys used smokeless tobacco — a more than one-third increase over 2003, when 11 percent did.

Prior to last year's World Series between the Rangers and San Francisco Giants, Rep. Frank Pallone, D-N.J., called on the teams to tell their players not to use tobacco on the field or in the dugout.

Sens. urge baseball to ban tobacco

[AdamRavs]

Sens. urge baseball to ban tobacco

Pretty sure our country is going bankrupt and they are worried about this?

[Bobbob1313]

It's not like they're crafting legislation about it.

[jOOj]

Is an admin going to make a WS thread for me to spam? Thanks.

[Chewford]

Is an admin going to make a WS thread for me to spam? Thanks.

The final round hasn't even started yet, Kaydge. SK still have to beat Lotte one more time to advance to play Samsung in the final.

[jOOj]

Is your !PANIC! button to the SK Wyverns homepage?

[Chewford]

I don't go to work for another hour, but I don't care if anyone sees my screen at work and it's SoFla, they ain't gonna know what the fuck this place is.

[Miamarlin21]

Tell them it's a dating site. You're trying to meet hot singles.




/horribleidea