Good gosh

Just took Strasburg opposite field

Beast.

At least watching the 'Old Rangers' is .... well it's depressing

At 34, if there was any doubt he is still juicing... his numbers are pretty evident.

He ended up taking about $6M less than the Rangers offered.

He needs one season to sign a long-term deal and ca$h is... Any team signing him will pay handsomely and get left with a shell of the player.

He needs to juice this season and then lay off the juice and just watch the money roll in .

6 million less than the qualifying offer, anyway, which everyone knew he would decline but is requisite for pick comp.

Rangers were ready to move on and he was had on the cheap after they paid quite a bit for Choo and Fielder. Very well played by Duke and the O's given the circumstances.

It may be worth remembering we got Luis Ortiz as Compensation.

Currently in Rookie ball... 18 years old.

Whole lot of teams passed on Nellie's asking price, not just Texas.

Almost a career high in home runs at the all star break. I'd definitely guess he's still juicing.

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Almost a career high in home runs at the all star break. I'd definitely guess he's still juicing.

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John Lackey agrees.

...somebody check his locker

Not directly related, but I did not know that braces for teeth and HGH were related. Makes sense, but I always viewed some of these guys with braces at age 30 just as poor souls that couldn't get them when they were younger.

BTW... there was an article about permission MLB gave to players for testosterone.

If true... this book will be quite the read:

http://espn.go.com/new-york/mlb/story/_/id/11168102/alex-rodriguez-given-permission-mlb-use-testosterone-book-says

David Segui had to hang up his cleats, from what he confessed on ESPN.

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"In 2007, of the 1,354 players subjected to testing, 111 were granted a TUE," according to the book. "Only two, apparently including Rodriguez, received an exemption for 'androgen deficiency medications,' the category that would include testosterone."

Rodriguez went on to win his third MVP award in 2007 after hitting 54 home runs and driving in 156 runs (both MLB highs) with a .314 average. In the offseason, Rodriguez signed a new 10-year deal with the Yankees that would pay him a guaranteed $275 million.

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If I'm the Yankees and I was unaware... I'd hold MLB accountable for that contract. If the Yankees WERE aware of that... then shame on them. It also makes sense why A-Rod was so adamant about getting a new contract.

With a 25 player roster... 30 teams... you are looking at 750 players in MLB. The rest of the 1,354 were likely on the 40 (1,000 total on 40).... add DL, players retiring, etc...

111 were granted a TUE... that's almost 4 players per team.

Look at the 8 position players... a DH in the AL... 5 SPs and a Closer. That is 14 players in the NL... 15 players in the AL.

Essentially 25% of the players were given exemptions.

mhayden - Are you suggesting players were prescribed HGH or might be given exemptions based on having braces?

I think he's just saying it's one of several red flags signaling a possible HGH/juice user.

Add thick jaw to this list:
-enlarged forehead
-cawk shrinkage
-anger issues

I looked this up on wiki:

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"Prolonged GH excess thickens the bones of the jaw, fingers and toes. Resulting heaviness of the jaw and increased size of digits is referred to as acromegaly."

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Interesting.

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At 34, if there was any doubt he is still juicing... his numbers are pretty evident.

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but adrian beltre isn't

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I think he's just saying it's one of several red flags signaling a possible HGH/juice user.

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While it certainly didn't shock me that Nellie was juicing, I never connected his goofy braces with it until someone mentioned it.

Before the season, I think I said something like Cruz wouldnt hit 10 HR's this year

Massive FAIL

Token

You know me better than that...

If you didn't think Beltre was\is juicing... The Dodgers are my NL team. I was left convinced in 2004 that 25 year old Beltre who hit .334\48 HRs was all kinds of juicing.

Up to that point, Piazza and Sheffiled are other Dodger HR hitters of note. We know about 50th Rd draft picks being ASs and MVPs. Others on the 2004 team of note... Paul Lo Duca (32 - .301\10HRs) had the next highest BA... Shawn Green (31 - .266 \ 28 HRs) has the next highest HRs.

So... yes I have expectations around Beltre.

Piag

In all fairness... I doubt you or anyone else expected Cruz to risk using PEDs again.

ultimately though all Cruz and his agent have to do is convince one dumb GM that what he's done this year is legit and repeatable (a la Ed Wade & Miguel Tejada)

W - And that is why players do it.

Yep. Cruz is getting older, his suspension hugely diminished his value last offseason, so if you were already okay with doping previously, why not take the risk to put up a huge season to rebuild his value and get that last big payday. The testing policy seems to be garbage as very few are being caught with it, and a scandal like Biogenesis demonstrates a lot of guys were doping while testing clean.

[This message has been edited by DannyDuberstein (edited 7/8/2014 4:25p).]

We wouldn't you dope? The reward far, far, far outweighs the punishment for getting caught.

What would be his punishment now if caught? 100 games?

Yes, 100 games. So he's basically risking losing $5 million to put up production that could bring him $50-60 million (just guessing that at his age he could land a 3 year deal for $15MM-ish or more per).

And if he loses 100Games... he'll just roll the dice again after his 100 Game suspension. Just like Bartolo Colon and Manny Ramirez.

On Nelson's next deal, it would surprise me to see him get 3 for 45ish.


That's what Beltran got in December from the Yanks and he was a 5.3 win player over his last two seasons in STL.

Cruz is currently a 2.7 win player but his previous two years in Texas? 2.6 win player over those two years.

I think we're seeing Cruz extra motivated with a strong regression to the mean right around the corner and possibly this year.

Again, well done Duke. Well done.

[This message has been edited by corleoneAg99 (edited 7/9/2014 12:15p).]

He will be 2-3 years younger than Beltran was though, with a similar career OPS and a killer OPS this season. I'll bet he still lands in the ballpark of that deal, especially if he avoids a big slump in the second half.

[This message has been edited by DannyDuberstein (edited 7/9/2014 1:54p).]

Career OPS doesn't matter tho when you're a juicer who doubled your production the year after you got far less in FA than you expected. He's having a career year right now and the probability of that happenning again is essentially zero.

There could always be one really stupid team but I think he's more in the 1 or 2 year deal for at most 10 per. I'd be really scared to give him more than one guaranteed year.

He'll get more than that. That's basically what he got for being a guy that missed a pennant race and post-seaseon.

It's not really the same. 12 million dollars and a second guaranteed year is fairly substantial.

I doubt he gets yet another year and 45 mill total.

Guess we'll see.

I was comparing 1 year and 9 that he'll make this year to the "1 or 2 years for at most 10 per" that you posted, not the 2 and 12 that you didn't post.

[This message has been edited by DannyDuberstein (edited 7/9/2014 3:47p).]

8 + 12 = 20.

But yeah we just disagree. It's ok.