Game 106, Mariners at Tigers
RHP Gil Meche v LHP Mike Maroth. 4:05, FSNW.
I submit tonight’s questions:
Will Gil Meche’s shoulder hold up, or will we see his arm actually come off, mid-delivery, and fly thirty, forty feet towards home?
Would Dmitri Young still swing?
What wacky lineup will Mike Hargrove run out against this lefthander?
Please, everybody be cool today. Thanks.
The Franklin drug story timeline
A brief summary of events. Because baseball and the Mariners aren’t commenting much, a lot of this is still RFU: Ryan Frankling Uncorroborated, some of which we probably will never be able to prove one way or another. That doesn’t mean they’re false (for instance, no one else has publically verified that Franklin sent the supplements to the MLBPA and tests came up negative, but that’s almost certainly true).
I’d welcome relevant additions (particularly with citations) — email us.
2000
Franklin competes on the U.S. Olympic team, which has super-rigorous drug testing, and is not tossed out of the Olympics.
2003
Sometime: Franklin begins taking a protein supplement and a multivitamin from GNC (RFU).
2004
Passed a steroid test (RFU)*.
May 2005
Franklin tested**
Franklin notified that he tested positive for steroids.
Franklin turns over the two supplements to MLBPA. Supplements test negative. (RFU)
test date + 3 weeks: Franklin re-tested, re-test negative (RFU)
?: Franklin appeals. At least one member of the four-person Advisory Committee decides the case is worth sending to the arbitrator***
?: Franklin gets an arbitration hearing.
August
The arbitrator rules against Franklin.
8/2: Franklin suspended 10 days for violating MLB drug policy.
Still unknown: what he tested positive for
The asterisk section:
* in 2004, they were still doing survey testing, and athletes were not supposed to be individually identified or punished — whether they would be notified about a positive test is unclear in reading accounts of the testing
** under the drug testing procedures in the CBA, it appears that Franklin would give two samples, the second 5-7 days afterward. If this is the case, it would mean his positive result came up on both samples, taken days apart.
*** we don’t know who agreed with Franklin that it was appeal-worthy. On the panel is MLB labor guy Rob Manfred, MLBPA cheif Gene Orza, and two doctors
Comment tweaks
Made some minor fixes and tweaks to comments following today’s insanity. Drop us a line if you see anything strange.
Also, in general, if everyone could ease up on the swearing, that’d be nice. Some threads lately have really been foul without reason. If you’re going to swear, make it count, please.
Read more
Mariners clearly less likely to be using steroids compared to Ryan Franklin
A brief response to pre-game comments by Dave Niehaus and Ron Fairly, who said that Ryan Franklin was the person on the team you’d least expect to test positive under MLB’s drug policy.
Ichiro.
Jamie Moyer.
You can see where Moyer might benefit from some of the anti-inflammatory/recovery effects, but no, he’s clearly far less likely than anyone else on the pitching staff.
Everyone else I’d pretty much toss into a bucket and shrug. Pretending that we can guess at a player’s use of (or abstinence from) steroids based on how gritty they are, or what a nice guy they seem like, is as worthless as trying to base it by any other subjective measure.
Here’s the thing about this year’s testing — everyone seemed to have thought that it was the superstars who were using drugs, particularly the home run hitters. That may be true in some cases, but I would bet that if everyone turned over their cards at once and we could have a full and complete accounting, we would see that the vast majority of players who used performance enhancers fell into two categories:
- Players who suffered a serious injury and were trying to come back before their time was up
- Players on the margins of a major league job, where the difference between playing in Tacoma and even a short, modest major league career would be at least a million dollars
That doesn’t mean that there weren’t stars who did. But for every Jason Giambi, where use might be the difference between an MVP or a really good year, there are a dozen versions of his brother, guys scrapping for a job as a platoon left-fielder or first-baseman, and players who broke their shoulder or their leg and don’t have a roster spot waiting for them — for those guys, it could be the difference between a career and a decent pension and going home to see if the tire shop’s hiring.
Game 105, Mariners at Tigers
It’s coming. Page Bruce Willis, but nobody tell Ben Affleck. At the very least, be sure you express affection for loved ones before 2029 — you know, just in case this really is the asteroid with our number.
The Mariners have already taken a deep impact of their own, wiping several mainstay players off the map. It’s a totally different team that takes on the Motor City Kitties this afternoon. This is not all bad: Don’t always knock the doom rock.
Jorge Campillo, fresh from the minors, takes on Jason Johnson. When watching Campillo, just imagine how much faster Felix’s deliveries will look on Thursday — or would look, if the game were televised.
Tonight, root for the Mariners, root for the Mexican Maddux, and root for a tiny asteroid to land squarely on the home of whoever made the decision not to televise The King’s debut.
Evil Rick Rizzs on housecleaning
A half-dozen teams are dead in the water, and the M’s are one of them. Brutal housecleaning ensues. Who better to comment on these matters than the paragon of all things vicious, Evil Rick Rizzs?
As you may remember, I met Evil Rick — bizarro version of the Mariners’ affable broadcaster — a few months back. He did a guest post for the site then, so when I found him setting copies of “Real Change” on fire in an alley yesterday, I asked if he’d do another.
“Sure, Jerry,” he said, inhaling the smoke and letting it flow from his nostrils. “But what’s in it for me?”
I had to slow-play my hand. Telling him it would make readers happy would only discourage this denizen of the nether regions from complying. Oh, but I was prepared. I whispered into his ear, cringing at the brimstone warmth.
His eyes began to glow a faint red. It was on. Read more
Kida, Harris up, Nelson on bereavement list
Masao Kida, folks. Masao Kida. Yup.
Franklin fails drug test, suspended
ESPN, elsewhere.
As hashed out in the comments, it appears that players suspended under the drug policy don’t count against the roster limit… so the M’s won’t be a man down, if they decide to keep Franklin around. Which they may not. On the other hand, being a starter down may change their plans for shaking up the roster further.
“We are very disappointed to learn this news,” Mariners spokesman Tim Hevly said. “But at the direction of Major League Baseball, and, following its rules, we are not able to comment further.”
Franklin’s also expected to talk later this afternoon. Pick one or more:
- Must have been tainted supplements
- Or a strange combination of unbanned supplements
- Never knowingly took a banned substance
- Blames lack of run support
The Mariners have had more players suspended for drug violations than any other team, by my count.
Many more moves, from TNT
Corey Brock of the Tacoma News Tribune’s got the scoop on more moves on the way, most of which we’ve* mentioned here:
- Jeff Harris up
- Dave Hansen out
- Chris Snelling up
- Scott Spiezio out
- Greg Dobbs up
- Pineiro down
- Hasegawa out
- Masao Kida (!)(?) up
The News Tribune and the Post-Intelligencer have both absolutely eaten the Times’ lunch over the last month for Mariner coverage.
Masao Kida? Really?
* and when I say “we” I mean “Dave”
Campillo up, Sele gone
Transaction’s been posted:
“Recalled RHP Jorge Campillo from Triple-A Tacoma and released RHP Aaron Sele.”
Released, dear readers. Not designated for assignment or waived — released, so they can bring up Tacoma’s favorite Mexican junkballer, Jorge Campillo. Folks, if you liked the vintage Chris Bosio, you’re going to like Jorge Campillo.
Sele’s a local boy, too. So it begins…