MLB

[Malcolm]

FBI investigating Cardinals for hacking Astros.

Holy shit. This could turn into one of the bigger sports cheating scandals of all time.

Funny that it happened to the perpetually good St. Louis Cardinals who I've heard compared to the New England Patriots...

The proverbial other shoe drops.

So, basically, Correa was allegedly trying to get into the accounts various Astros staff members — even the coaches and players, which is an interesting new wrinkle in the case.

The original defense by Correa and Cardinals sympathizers was that he was looking to make sure Luhnow didn’t steal any of their proprietary information when he bolted for Houston. That wasn’t exactly the case, considering this went on for two and a half years and ramped up around key dates for scouting departments: the winter meetings, the amateur draft, the trade deadline.

[Malcolm]

MLB handed down a slap on the wrist penalty. Lose 2 draft picks plus pay Houston $2M.

[Leisher]

Frank Thomas pretty pissed to be in the hall with cheaters.

This is probably my biggest gripe with MLB. They pretend to care about steroids and PEDs, but they translate to ratings (See: Sosa v. McGuire).

Also, with known cheaters being enshrined, they look like even bigger hypocrites with Pete Rose and Shoeless Joe Jackson still not in.

[Malcolm]

If the two dudes he slammed had failed so much as a single drug test during their entire career, I might say Frank has something on them. But he doesn't. They never flagged positive once nor were they names on any major juicer report that surfaced. I also find it hilarious that the Big Hurt has a problem with PED users, but crackheads are fine.

[Leisher]

Several other people have passed tests too.

Barry Bonds (who admitted using in court)
Mark McGuire (who has admitted using)
Sammy Sosa
Russia
Lance Armstrong
Etc.

Just because they didn't get caught with a test doesn't mean they weren't cheating and it wasn't obvious...right Bagwell?

Those tests are the spam firewall of the drug world. Great for catching known shit, but always playing catch up.

Oh, and crack isn't a PED.

[Malcolm]

Bagwell didn't gain 10 pounds in his neck over the course of two years. His power numbers don't seem like they took a sudden inexplicable leap.

[Leisher]

I think Thomas was referring to Bagwell's boost in power from the minors to the bigs.

When Bonds gets in, it will confirm that MLB doesn't give a fuck about cheating.

[Malcolm]

I think Thomas was referring to Bagwell's boost in power from the minors to the bigs.

Change in hitting style and a new batting coach.

[Leisher]

I think Thomas was referring to Bagwell's boost in power from the minors to the bigs.

Change in hitting style and a new batting coach.

In the Roids era? Thanks to MLB's looking the other way approach to them, I think most people would tend to say that's wishful thinking.

[Malcolm]

I'd put more probability on the juicing except:

1) His body didn't undergo sizable, significant noticeable changes. You can't hide that shit. If you look at Bonds, McGwire, Canseco or any of the other usual suspects, their bodies either went through a second puberty or they had outside chemical help. Bags stayed in about the same shape virtually his entire career.

2) The home field for his AA Red Sox team was larger than average by quite a bit. Dude could've hit another 10 per year if he was playing somewhere more friendly.

3) His hitting coach was really fucking good, like hitting coach Jesus good.

Prior to the 1995 season, Jaramillo was named as the Texas Rangers' major league hitting coach. From 1996 through the end of the 2004 season, the Texas Rangers ranked in the top five in the American League in team batting average, runs scored, slugging percentage, home runs, and hits. In 1999, the Texas Rangers led all of Major League Baseball in hits, slugging percentage, and team batting average(.293 for the season). In 2005, the Rangers hit 260 home runs: the second-highest total in Major League history. In 2008, the Rangers were first in both runs scored (901), hits (1619), and home runs (194). During his time with Texas, his hitters have won 17 Silver Slugger Awards, four MVP Awards, three home run titles, two RBI championships and a batting title. Jaramillo also guided the Rangers to 13-consecutive seasons in which the offense recorded more than 800 runs scored, the longest streak by any major league team since the New York Yankees accomplished the feat in 17-straight seasons from 1926-42.

Is there a chance he's a 'roider? Sure. I simply find that scenario less likely than a mechanical adjustment and natural hitting discipline.

[Leisher]

Are you talking about Bagwell?

I don't really care about a player, it's about MLB allowing cheating.

[Malcolm]

Yes, Bagwell. As for the others, I assume it'll just be a matter of time before one of two things happens:

1) a dyed in the wool juicer gets elected ... my bet is on Bonds.
2) Pete Rose has a massive heart attack and gets a deathbed reprieve on his ban, thus opening the door to the juicers.

[Leisher]

MLB might be changing how extra innings work.

[Malcolm]

Extra innings are not why baseball moves slow.

[Leisher]

MLB finally doing something I approve.

Jeff Loria was a nightmare for MLB and pro sports in general.

[Leisher]

Derek Jeter's wife is the best thing about baseball...

[Malcolm]

I remember watching that game.

Ankiel, 37, suffered a historic meltdown in the 2000 postseason. In the Division Series, he became the first major league pitcher since 1890 to throw five wild pitches in one inning. In an NLCS start against the Mets, he threw two wild pitches and issued three walks and failed to escape the first inning.

Turns out he simply had no idea how to handle his nerves and the pressure eroded any pitching talent he may have had.

“Before that game … I’m scared to death. I know I have no chance,” he said Monday on 590 The Fan, according to ESPN. “Feeling the pressure of all that, right before the game I get a bottle of vodka. I just started drinking vodka. Lo and behold, it kind of tamed the monster, and I was able to do what I wanted.

I'd love to see a study that seriously checks out short but steady schedules of hallucinogenic therapy and if it can un-yippify someone that's afflicted.

[Malcolm]

Pitching clocks and fewer mound trips. A good start, but I think a better one is limiting the amount of time outs a batter gets while in the box.

Major League Baseball intends to give the players’ association the required one-year advance notice that would allow management to unilaterally change the strike zone, install pitch clocks and limit trips to the pitcher’s mound starting in 2018.

20-second pitch clock. I cannot say a-fucking-men quickly enough.

[Malcolm]

Fuck Sammy Sosa.

On the day local PED cheat Alex Rodriguez was welcomed back as a special instructor at Yankees camp and hailed again for his work with the organization's young players, Sosa spoke about still being on the outs with the Cubs and MLB over his alleged steroids usage, taking martyrdom in his supposed pariah situation to an all-time high.

"It's like Jesus Christ when he came to Jerusalem. Everybody thought Jesus Christ was a witch, and he was our savior," Sosa told Chuck Wasserstrom, a former Cubs media-relations employee, in a blog interview earlier this week. "So if they talk s--t about Jesus Christ, what about me? Are you kidding me?"

Sosa's dumb quotes this week extended past the Jesus comparison, too, including the gem that "when nobody knew who Chicago was, I put Chicago on the map."

Sosa, who once was suspended for using a corked bat, later was outed by the New York Times as being part of baseball's 2003 anonymous survey testing list on PEDs. He added that he would "never say no" if the drought-busting World Series champions agreed to welcome him back, but stubbornly maintains he has "too much pride" to make the first move, or apparently to admit any guilt.

[TheCatt]

Tebow gets home run

Tebow sucks in debut

Tebow going Single A, gets made fun of