Fastball Fans

Pitcher Oliver Perez won his salary arbitration case against the New York Mets on Friday and will be paid $6.5 million this year rather than the team’s offer of $4,725,000.

Read why the Mets wanted him to get less…

The young left-hander won his arbitration case Thursday in St. Petersburg when a three-judge panel decided his 15-10 record last season merited $6.5 million for this season, not the $4.725 million the Mets were offering.

The verdict produced a nearly 200 percent raise over Perez’s $2.325 million salary in 2007 and pushed the Mets’ payroll this season to around $145 million, but both sides were smiling afterward.

“I know it’s a business,” said Perez, who was excused to attend the four-hour hearing with his agent, Scott Boras. “That stuff is outside the game. Both sides have a job to do. There are no hard feelings.”

GM Omar Minaya agreed, saying he doesn’t consider the drastic step of an actual hearing will keep the Mets from re-signing the 26-year-old starter when he likely heads to free agency next winter.

“We’ll see what happens, but I don’t think it will impact his desire to stay with us,” said Minaya, who sought out Perez to shake his hand and offer congratulations yesterday in the clubhouse.

Assistant GM John Ricco said Boras used star young left-hander Erik Bedard - who recently landed a one-year, $7 million deal from the Mariners to avoid arbitration - as the heart of his case for Perez.

The whole Roger Clemens situation has gotten a bit out of control, and now there’s evidence that he might have indeed attended by a party by Jose Canseco, which was an issue in the Congressional hearings last week.

The 1998 party at Jose Canseco’s house in Miami may have started out as a gathering of friends and family. It has turned into an event worthy of congressional testimony and a source of “evidence.”

There is a photo of Roger Clemens at Canseco’s house during the June 1998 party, according to the New York Daily News — a photo that would contradict Clemens’ sworn testimony that he never attended the party.

Richard Emery, one of the lawyers for Clemens’ former trainer, Brian McNamee, said he was aware of the existence of the photo.

“We have reason to believe it’s reliable evidence,” Emery told the Daily News. “We believe there’s photographic evidence that shows Clemens was at a party he says he wasn’t at.”

Roger Clemens’ attorney, Rusty Hardin, issued a statement Friday declining detailed comment because he hadn’t seen the photo and said he’d been informed on Feb. 12 by a former Canseco neighbor of his possession of a “photograph of his son with Roger in a pool at a party at Canseco’s house.”

“I expressed no interest in buying it, but urged [the neighbor] to let our investigator visit with him, view the photograph and interview him. He said he wanted to talk to his son first and would call me back that day. I gave him all of my phone numbers and urged him to call. Unfortunately, I never heard back from him,” Hardin said.

Clemens’ alleged attendance at the party is a key point in the Clemens-McNamee probe. It is mentioned in the Mitchell report, and was a focal point during the Feb. 13 hearing before the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.

Lovely. Can’t this thing just end?

Francisco Rodriguez will still be a rich man; however, not as rich as he thought would he be. The Angels won their case against All-Star closer Francisco Rodriguez in salary arbitration Friday, as he’ll receive $10 million this season rather than his request for $12.5 million.

Manny Ramirez hired Scott Boras? Oh joy…
Something has to be in the works, I feel it.

This morning, I was Bugs and cranks for a perspective on the Orioles, and I also caught a post that had an interview with Nationals’ Team President, Stan Kasten.

I found what he said on blogs particuarly interesting. While he doesn’t show a real affinity towards them, he realizes their relevance and ability to keep fans engaged.

With the profile of Deadspin, With Leather, Were are the Postmen and many other blogs out there, they are changing the way sports is covered.

Stan on Blogs: … I can’t stay on top of them all because there are so many of them. You have to be really careful. It’s a double edged sword. It does keep your name out there, and people are talking about it, and that’s is a good thing in general. Community of fandom — that’s what the internet’s all about, and that’s a good thing.

But there are downsides. Last year, for the first time in my career, I had a chat on the first day of spring training to talk about bloggers. Last year we gave a blogger — as an experiment — a one-day press credential to be treated just like all the press, to interview everyone. It was fine and everything was OK.

But there are other incidents in spring training. One blogger was out there having fun, talking to people, meeting people. Later that night he was in a restaurant where some of our players were, and he’s writing all these experiences down on the web, and having a great time. And then one of our players walks in with what this blogger described as “two hot babes� on his arm, and it was just great… But it wasn’t so great for the player’s wife back home reading this. So I tell the players that those are some of the pitfalls, because when you’re talking to fans, especially in spring training right across the fence… I promise you guys, if you say something bad about Manny or about me, it’s gonna be on a blog or a chat board somewhere within an hour. And you just have to be aware of that, because once it’s there, it gets picked up by the mainstream media.

It’s interesting that Stan says this, as the growth of the internet has pretty much led to a 24-hour blog industry online, capped off by TMZ, Perez Hilton, EOnline and various other sites.

I don’t know if sports exactly fits the mantra of a TMZ, but now anyone with a cell phone camera can snap pictures and post them instanteously online, which is something that could not be done ten years ago or so.

Mr. Kasten is right, as athletes are celebrities, they have to be careful as to not only how they represent themselves, but their organizations.

But, where does the line get drawn between bloggers and the traditional media? Obviously, blogs do not have an editorial process like newspapers, but their insight and subjectivity do make them now a part of news reporting & commentary.

It’s nice to see that the Washington Nationals have been so liberal with bloggers, and it’s shown by the amount of blogs currently focusing on that one particular team.

In Manny’s time with the Red Sox, he’s wanted to stay, leave, go, and shack in Beantown all in one swoop. However, after winning and becoming part of Boston-lore, the sometimes aloof-weird-savant baseball player wants to stay with the Sox.

Considering what he’s done, Ryan Howard pretty much deserves every cent of money based on how salaries are. You go em’, Ryan…

One of our favorite Orioles and Hall of Famer, Cal Ripken, talks about the state of the game and drug use — a great view and listen to an icon of the game…

Video From ESPN.

Roger Clemens has pulled out of an ESPN sports personality weekend at Disney Hollywood Studios — geez, I wonder why…

Clemens says in a statement Wednesday, “I believe my current participation could be a distraction.”

ESPN spokesman Josh Krulewitz says ESPN “made the point that him being involved would be a newsworthy event,” and his decision to withdraw was made in the past 24 hours.

I’m sure if Clemens had showed up, ESPN would enjoy every minute of it and the ratings it would bring.

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Sometimes, as much as Alex Rodriguez tries to have the perfect persona, he tries too hard and sometimes winds up having “foot-in-mouth” syndrome.

Well, Alex Rodriguez expects to be questioned repeatedly about drug use as he approaches Barry Bonds’ career home-run record and he sure didn’t quell rumors yesterday as started chatting about the topic and seemingly didn’t know when to stop.

Alex Rodriguez sat in the first-base dugout at Legends Field, surrounded by the usual circle of cameras, microphones and reporters. He knows the scrutiny will only increase as he approaches Barry Bonds’ career home-run record, especially in an era when all top athletes must prove they haven’t juiced up on performance-enhancing drugs.

In his first session with reporters during spring training, Rodriguez talked about baseball’s drug-testing program and made a curious statement.

“Last year, I got tested 9-to-10 times,” Rodriguez said. “We have a very, very strict policy, and I think the game is making tremendous strides.”

If Rodriguez had been tested that many times, either he was selected for an unusually high number of random checks or he might have been subjected to additional tests — which would happen, for instance, if a player tests positive for a banned stimulant for the first time.

Later in the day, A-Rod said it was just hyperbole.

“My quote from earlier today was taken literally. I was not tested nine or 10 times last year. I was just using exaggeration to make a point,” Rodriguez said in a statement through Yankees spokesman Jason Zillo.

“My intent was simply to shed light on the fact that the current program being implemented is working, and a reason for that is through frequent testing. I apologize for any confusion I may have caused.”

Rodriguez stated categorically that he had never taken steroids or human growth hormone. He said he isn’t worried about Jose Canseco, who has hinted without going into detail that he will make allegations of some sort against Rodriguez in an upcoming book.

“Right now, the game is in a very not-trusting situation with our public, with our fans,” A-Rod said. “Some of the things that I’ve accomplished and potentially some of the things that people think I can accomplish, my name has come up and will probably come up again in the future.”

A-Rod, welcome to your future…

Right now, Jacoby Ellsbury is the next big thing in Boston, and fans live him — um, Coco Crisp, not so much. Despite having a stellar glove and being a veteran, Crisp might find himself in another home if he’s not the starter in center in a few weeks. After losing his job to the rookie upstart in the post season, he quipped today:

“He was hot and I was struggling at that time,” Crisp said, “so you got to put who’s hot and who’s doing the best out there offensively. So I understood it.”

In the offseason, Crisp said, he heard trade rumors involving Minnesota, Texas and the Chicago Cubs. He and Ellsbury were mentioned in reports about talks with the Twins involving pitcher Johan Santana, who went to the New York Mets.

“I would honestly rather be somewhere else and play than be on the bench,” he said. “But I’ll take whatever comes and deal with it and no knock against Boston. I love the fans. They treated me well.”

Whatever happens, let’s wish Coco the best of luck. He was expected to be the next coming of something special considering his numbers in Cleveland, but he’s been sort of a disappointment aside from his solid play.

Ah, there’s nothing like a nice little smack off before the season. Well, earlier in the week, Carlos Beltran, the formerly quiet-center fielder of the Mets proclaimed that the Mets would win the division.

Now, it’s Jimmy Rollins’ turn.

The small-in-stature, but superstar shortstop quipped:

“Has anyone ever heard of plagiarism?” Rollins said, breaking into a laugh.

The NL MVP treated Beltran’s in-your-face message that the New York Mets are the team to beat in the NL East like a take-out slide at second base.

He eluded it nicely, but mixed in a jab the way some middle infielders purposely land on a hard-charging runner at second base.

“Sequels are never good,” Rollins said, crediting teammate Brett Myers with that statement first.

I like J-Roll, he’s an natural comedian; moreover, he adds:

When a reporter read Beltran’s quote straight from a newspaper clip, Rollins smiled and shrugged it off.

“Pretty good, especially coming from him,” he said. “Because he’s a quiet guy, it was probably shocking when he said it. Not shocking in a bad way, like, ‘Wow, I can’t believe he said that.’ More like, ‘Wow, he finally said something because he’s a leader on that team and you definitely need to be a vocal leader.”‘

So who really is the team to beat in a tough division that includes the suddenly overlooked Atlanta Braves?

“There isn’t a team in this division or the National League that’s better than us,” Rollins said. “After 162 games, we’ll be looking to win the next 11.”

How many games can the Phillies win, Mr. Prognosticator?

“We can win 100 games,” Rollins said. “Look at what happened to us last year with all the injuries and all the different pitchers and the uncertainties and we wound up winning 89 games.”

Pressed for an outright guarantee, Rollins said: “I guess after 162 games we’ll know that answer.”

J-Roll certainly hasn’t lost his swagger. He’s confident as ever, and he’s still stylin’ like usual. Rollins carried a fresh pair of sneakers, featuring his nickname on the side, MVP printed on the bottom shoelace and a Liberty Bell on the tongue.

“As you can see, my style is still immaculate,” Rollins said.

Dang, you go J-Roll; thus, let the games begin…

Topics

* National League East Division Preview
* Andy Pettitte Faces The Media in Tampa; Holds Press Conference