David Ortiz is Still Talking About the Yankees

Boston Red Sox legend David Ortiz spent much of his career talking and hitting baseballs, unfortunately sometimes more the former than the latter. Since his retirement Ortiz has been relatively quiet although this weekend the Red Sox former DH broke his silence in an interview on the radio with Boston’s WEEI. In the interview Ortiz claimed that the New York Yankees may have played a role in his name getting leaked after failing a PED/steroid test to the New York Times back in 2009. Let the salt flow through your body’s ladies and gentleman.

Ortiz in the interview was quoted as saying the following when asked about his failed steroid test back in 2003:

"What was the reason for them to come out with something like that?" he said. "The only thing that I can think of, to be honest with you, a lot of big guys from the Yankees were being caught. And no one from Boston. This was just something that leaked out of New York, and they had zero explanation about it."

Ortiz added:

"Everybody who got caught...all of them were told what they bought, what they used, everything," he said. "But David Ortiz. Nobody came to me after; nobody came to me before. Nobody came to me ever, to tell me that I tested positive for any kind of steroids."

I’m just going to leave this here and let you guys hash it out in the comments section and on Twitter. Give us a follow by following @GreedyStripes. This just seems like a thing of the past and unnecessary to spend too much time on here, although I did feel the need to bring it to everyone’s attention just because. Enjoy the rest of your day. 

So What’s Changed in the New CBA?

Major League Baseball, the owners, the players and the MLB Players Association have reached a tentative five-year labor contract before the deadline on Thursday and quite a bit changed from the new collective bargaining agreement to the old. This should be expected, especially when 26 years old labor peace is on the line, but in the end the deal got done. Here is what changed in the new CBA and here are some of the changes you should expect to see in 2017 and beyond.

The All Star Game will no longer determine which league and team gets home-field advantage in the World Series after 14 seasons. Thank goodness. The team with the better regular season record will be at home for Game One and potentially Game Seven starting in the 2017 World Series.

The 15-Day DL is no more. It is now known as the 10-Day DL. Minor change but I like it, especially for a team like the Yankees who like to give their players “a day.”

The luxury tax will rise from $189 million to $195 million in 2017, $197 million in 2018, $206 million in 2019, $209 million in 2020 and $210 million in 2021. Tax penalties increase from 17.5 % to 20% for first time offenders who go over the luxury tax while second offenders continue to pay 30%. Teams like the Yankees who have gone over the luxury tax at least three consecutive years will see their penalties rise from 40% to 50%. There is also a surtax of 12% for teams who are $20 - $40 million above the threshold while teams with more than $40 million in salary over the threshold will pay 42.5%.

No longer will teams who sign qualifying offer attached players have to give up a first round draft pick or their highest pick in the draft. Under the new rules a player can only be offered a qualifying offer once in his career and the team signing the player lose their third highest pick, not their highest if they are a revenue sharing team, it’s second and fifth highest picks if the team paid luxury tax in the prior season and it’s second highest pick if it doesn’t fit any of the prior criteria. More complications but all you need to know is your first round pick is now safe.  

If the player signs a deal worth more than $50 million his old team will receive a pick at the end of the first round while the team would receive a Competitive Balance Round B pick if the contract signed is under $50 million. If that team pays luxury tax the draft pick would drop to after the fourth round regardless of the contract their previous player signed. THAT HURTS.

If you are more than $40 million over the luxury tax threshold your highest selection in the next draft immediately drops 10 places. THAT ALSO HURTS.

25 and 40 man rosters are still a thing. No 26 man rosters like previously reported. September call ups are also still a thing, and I like that.

Smokeless tobacco is now banned for all new players, or players who has less than one day of major league service. Older players are grandfathered in.

The regular season got four days longer but those are scheduled off days for teams and players.

MORE STEROID TESTING.

ARod Could Seek Injunction & Accept 65 Game Ban

According to the New York Daily News Yankees slugger Alex Rodriguez could seek an injunction from a judge if he feels that arbitrator Frederic Horowitz's ruling is unfair, which is very likely. He is obviously very unlikely to get one from a judge but it is right to ask for one and with him suing the world lately why not right? The NYDN also reported that Alex would accept a 65 game or less suspension without a fight which I think is absolutely fair and what he should receive anyway. This would obviously match the suspension that Ryan Braun accepted last summer in the same Biogenesis fallout. Just waiting on you Horowitz.

MLB And MLBPA Release 2013 Report On PED Testing

Major League Baseball and the Major League Baseball Players Association released their report on Performance Enhancing Drug testing from the 2012-2013 seasons today and the results look encouraging. This report was done by independent Dr. Jeffrey M. Anderson and went from the offseason of the 2012 season through the 2013 postseason.

A total of 5,391 drugs tests were conducted including 4,022 urine samples for PED's and stimulants and the remainind 1,369 were blood tests testing for Human Growth Hormone, or HGH. Of all the samples only eight tests were failed tests for stimulants, all Adderall or Morthylhexaneamine, and thirteen "non-analytic positives" were also reported. All told 122 therapeutic use exemptions were handed out, mainly for those players with Attention Deficit Disorder or ADD. Zero positive PED tests were identified which is down seven from the 2012 season but we still saw thirteen suspensions in the Biogenesis scandal and fallout which tells you that something is not right here with this testing.

Just as a reminder all players are subject to a urine test before attending Spring Training and one random test at some point during the season before the offseason begins. Every player must also provide a blood sample for HGH at a random point in Spring Training. This is on top of all the other random testing that the Joint Drug Association does including extra testing for those with reasonable cause and formerly disciplined players under the JDA. Doing the math and considering that most of the testing is done in Spring Training the projected number of players actually being tested in all levels of MLB is a bit less than 1%.

It's not a perfect system, and I cannot say with full confidence with the Biogenesis thing that the system is actually working, but it is what it is. Well it is what it is until after the 2016 season when the new system and the new Collective Bargaining Agreement expires.