Tag: jason mcleod

Curt Schilling: ‘Members of the [Red Sox] organization’ encouraged me to use PEDs

schillingThis might become a big deal.

Curt Schilling, in a Wednesday interview on ESPN Radio, said toward the end of his tenure with the Red Sox he was encouraged to use performance-enhancing drugs by “members of the organization.”

“At the end of my career, in 2008 when I had gotten hurt, there was a conversation that I was involved in in which it was brought to my attention that this is a potential path I might want to pursue,” Schilling told Colin Cowherd.

Asked for more details, Schilling said the conversation occurred in the clubhouse and involved “former members of the organization — they’re no longer there. It was an incredibly uncomfortable conversation. Because it came up in the midst of a group of people. The other people weren’t in the conversation but they could clearly hear the conversation. And it was suggested to me that at my age and in my situation, why not? What did I have to lose? Because if I wasn’t going to get healthy, it didn’t matter. And if I did get healthy, great.

“It caught me off guard, to say the least. That was an awkward situation.”

"Former members of the organization" obviously included Theo Epstein, Jed Hoyer and Jason McCleod. However, since no one involved hit home runs, this probably won't be much of a big deal. That, and because nobody gives a shit about the involvement of the front office and ownership in the PED era.

h/t to Mish

all FOs encourage their players to “ehance” their “performance” in anyway possible. if it happens to be PEDs, then so be it. it’s not explicit instructions to go out and take ‘roids,, then it’s implicitly stated just by signing the player (unless you have personally tested the guy and know for a fact that he’s clean). maybe this attitude is just a function of me assuming that all players take PEDs though.

either way, i have absolutely no problem with theo endorsing past or present PED use as long as he is/was smart about it. — EnricoPallazzo

Daily, er, Monthly Facepalm – 5.31.12

Cubs slip from last place

The Cubs sweep of the Padres puts them one game behind in the race for the #1 pick. The Cubs are tied with the Twins for the second pick.

Buried in this Hobbitton Times article about the sweep was a nugget about Ryan Dempster putting a hole in the wall next to his locker after his poor start. ZOMG, he's so emotional and out of control. Time to start concern trolling him about needing a psychologist, right Paul?

Sveum ♥ Mather

Dale Sveum continues to bat Joe Mather third in the order. Joe Mather. 

"I thought I'd put somebody in there that might juice the team with a home run, or a three-run homer or two-run double, something like that. Just going to see if he can spark the team now and do some things," Sveum said. "Since I've put him in there, he's pretty much had a quality at-bats, hit some balls really hard right at people."

Mather has the second highest SLG on the team. Arranging a Cubs lineup this season is pretty much just deckchair rearranging, but Joe Mather's hot tear to start the season has only managed to drag up his wOBA projection to .300, just a hair behind Darwin Barney. I think he should definitely be in the lineup against LHP, but ugh. (via Muskat + Kruth)

Tweets from the other day

Is that like saying cause/effect?

So many levels. That a guy who was DFA'd in spring training is our MVP, that the offense sucks, and that Dale Sveum thinks a middle reliever is the most valuable pitcher on the team.

Phil Rogers suggests a Soriano landing spot

Apparently Travis Hafner is injured again. It's probably only news at this point if Hafner is *not* injured. Cleveland is playing well in a division that was supposed to be dominated by the Tigers and could be interested in a "suddenly" power hitting DH. This isn't that much of a surprise though, aside from his defensive resurgance pretty much all that's left of Soriano's game is his power. Offensively he's the reverse of the empty batting average hitter – instead of a zillion singles with no walks and xbh, most of his (small) offensive value is just hitting HRs. I do wonder how much DHing could help him at the plate though – he's clearly been hurting for weeks now in the OF without getting any relief.

Is there a Cubs game today?

No.

Cubs work out possible first round pick

Carlos Correa worked out at Wrigley yesterday. He's a 17 year old SS from Puerto Rico. I bet he and Geovany Soto know each other, since it's just a small island and everyone knows each other /GROTA Rob. Sveum himself threw BP to Correa. He might not drop to the Cubs – Klaw thinks the O's will grab him at 4.

Anthony Rizzo back soon

According to Brett at Bleacher Nation, Rizzo is expected to return from his sore wrist today.

Jason McLeod spoke to the media yesterday

Brett was all over it. Summary of his summary: the Cubs are looking for pitching, Rizzo is in "finishing stages".

 

 

Hoyer and McLeod to Cubs officially official?

Jed Hoyer is expected to be named the new GM of the Cubs sometime next week. Jason McLeod will presumably become the Assistant GM. I won’t tell you about the post I had ready to publish before the Theo news broke this evening other than I didn’t really believe the Hoyer to Cubs speculation. The twitters even say that the Padres have a short of agreed upon prospects for the Padres to choose from as compensation for Hoyer and McLeod. Theo won’t be named President of Baseball Ops until Tuesday so we get another press conference that same day or it may wait until after the World Series.

In mid-August the Cubs front office consisted of a traditional baseball guy in Jim Hendry who reported to the owner. In mid-October the Cubs front office consists of the best GM in the game running the baseball operations with two additional trusted and bright executives in the GM and assistant GM roles. That’s a tremendous difference. It’s the kind of difference I’ve wanted to see from this organization for a very long time. This is the equivalent of a front office fire sale.

Well done, Mr. Ricketts. Very well done.

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