Memo to New York Mets fans: When the Mets say they will promote Zack Wheeler to the major leagues when he is major-league ready, do not believe them. They will summon Wheeler to New York when they are satisfied that they have cheated him out of enough major league service time to delay his eligibility for salary arbitration and free agency by a year.

Given that Yasiel Puig has a seven-year contract, the Los Angeles Dodgers shouldn’t have to mess with Puig’s service time, but his contract permits him to opt out of it and declare for salary arbitration when he is eligible so service time could be a factor.

Despite what the Dodgers may say to the contrary, that contract clause is very likely why …

Keep reading...

If major league baseball players didn’t learn a vitally valuable lesson from the Kirk Radomski episode of the steroids wars, they should finally learn from the Tony Bosch chapter.

If they’re going to cheat, beware of the guys who make it possible for them to cheat. Know that in the end those enablers will turn on them to save their skin and sell out the players who paid them to play the illegal steroids game.

No honor among thieves, as the old saying goes? No honor either among steroids salesmen and their buyers. Who ratted on Roger Clemens? His former trainer and supplier, not to mention injector, Brian McNamee.

Where would Major League Baseball’s steroids initiative be without …

Keep reading...

Baseball simply isn’t fun in Miami and Houston this season. Not that Jeffrey Loria, the Marlins’ owner, cares about the fans’ fun; he has often demonstrated his disdain for the fans the way he operates the team. But Jim Crane, the Astros’ principal owner, does seem to care, and if the Astros are to generate some fun for their fans, they need a co-participant.

Hence a proposal. These two teams are destined to lose 100 games each. Before you get the idea that it is unusual for two teams to lose 100 games in the same season, know that the Astros (107) and the Chicago Cubs (101) did it last year, in the same division, no less.

If the Astros lose 100 this season, it will mark their third successive season in accomplishing that feat. The Astros would also become the first team to say farewell to one league and hello to another with 100 losses. Teams, of course, don’t change leagues too often. The Astros, however, would do it with a flourish.

But they don’t have to lose 100 to play my game. In fact, they would have a better chance of winning if they didn’t lose 100.

Keep reading...