What to make of the Ron Washington affair, scandal, bizarre development? Label it as you wish. Just please explain it to me.
A 57-year-old man decides to try cocaine for – he says – the first time – and days later his number comes up in the random testing program of Major League Baseball, in time for the cocaine to still be in his system. Oops, positive test.
“Horrible luck,” a baseball official, as skeptical as I am about the first-time business, chortled facetiously.
Most of the names that are listed here are most likely unfamiliar to most readers. Without an explanation for their being listed, most would probably wonder why I even include them in this column.
There is a good reason. These are the players the Pirates acquired in the controversial trades they made in the last couple of seasons. Well, it’s not accurate to characterize all of the trades as controversial in and of themselves. What is controversial is the plan the Pirates have for returning to Major League Baseball.
The next time you see John Smoltz he may be standing on a mound with a baseball in his right hand or he may be on a golf course with a club in his hands or he may be in a high school gym with a whistle hanging from his neck or he may be in a television studio with a microphone in front of him. You just don’t know because Smoltz doesn’t know.
“I haven’t pursued anything; I’m in that wait and see mode,” Smoltz said last week. “We’re getting closer to whatever that time frame is for me.”
