Earlier, SoSG Sax brought us Bill Plaschke's opinion on Manny Ramirez rehabbing in the minor leagues during his suspension — namely, that he shouldn't be allowed to do it. Now it looks like Bud Selig agrees with Plaschke. From "Selig wants current rule changed" at ESPN.com:
Baseball commissioner Bud Selig wants to keep players on drug suspensions from going to the minor leagues before they return.Manny Ramirez drew sellout crowds last month in the minors when he played two games at Triple-A Albuquerque and three at Class-A Inland Empire on his rehabilitation assignment before his return to the Los Angeles Dodgers on July 3.
"I believe that should be changed," Selig said Tuesday during a one-hour question-and-answer session with the Baseball Writers' Association of America. "Their logic was OK -- look, guys get hurt, they can go out on rehab, and so on and so forth. But I think that's something we need to really change in the next labor negotiation."
The current rules are in place through December 2011. Rob Manfred, baseball's executive vice president of labor relations, said management will not ask for a rules change before then.
"I'll let them work that out. I don't want to do our negotiating here," Selig said. "But it's 50 games and then go do what you got to do to get back into [shape]."
I wonder if Selig felt this way when J.C. Romero did the same thing for the Phillies. If so, did the perfect storm of the proximity of Manny's minors stint to the All-Star break force Selig to take a public stance? One thing's for sure: The rule won't be changing any time soon, and the Dodgers planned Manny's rehab by the book. In other words, don't hate the player.
5 comments:
Not to toot my own horn, but this is what I was alluding to in the ASG PG Thread.
Selig is an idiot. Plain and simple (and I'm talking about his intelligence).
Randy Youngman in the OC Register suggested that any player suspended under MLB's drug policy should NEVER be allowed to play in the ASG.
http://www.ocregister.com/articles/star-game-team-2493101-year-series
Ryan Hamilton had no comment.
Glad that Selig is spending his time covering the most imoprtant facets of the steroid issue: the minor league rehab assignments.
Bud, your legacy will be remembered for steroid usage, as well as commisioner impotence (which as I write, I realize that there's an ironic link there).
I'm far from a Selig defender, but I doubt many people were asking him this question when Romero was rehabbing. Romero is hardly an A-list player, at least not the way Manny is, so Selig can hardly be blamed for the media's lack of interest.
I know the Dodgers did it the way the rules say they can, but I agree with Selig in that I think the rule needs to change. 50 games is 50 games, and as long as MLB is affiliated in any way with a team (like they are with minor league baseball), then the suspended player shouldn't be playing. If they want to rehab at a high school or rec league, go for it.
Bud Selig has a problem. He hates the Dodgers. He has a knack for pissing me off, as well.
Seriously, the only good thing he has done is to make a wildcard system and interleague play.
Thanks for cancelling the WS in 94, when the Dodgers had a good chance to get there.
Thanks for keeping Pete Rose out of baseball when he is the all time hits leader.
Thanks for making the All star game determine home team advantage, so every year the Yankees or Red Sox can get 4 home games in the WS.
Thanks for not putting an All Star game at Dodger Stadium. Hopefully by the time you really retire, the Dodger Renovation will be complete, you won't be commish anymore.
OK, Erin, I see your point. I feel the same way when a pitcher and a position player get into a fight and suspensions are levied.
Hypothetically, let's say the suspension is 10 games. The position player misses 10 games to which he can contribute. The pitcher might miss 2, depending on the rotation. In this scenario, which is exactly how it is played out all the time, the pitcher serves a lesser suspension. Not fair.
10 games should be 10 games. But don't wait around for this commish to grow some nads and actually do something that might affect the owners and get the players to just play the game.
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