Yet another major star - actually two in this case - were named as being on the infamous 2003 list of players testing positive for PEDs.  Manny Ramirez?  No surprise there; he tested positive for a hiding agent this year.  He's not quit.  Ortiz?  This should have surprised NO ONE.  Not a single person.  Nor should anyone actually think that other Red Sox players weren't on the juice in 2003.  To think that is to be incredibly naive, or merely dumb.  Take your pick - I don't care.  The honest person will look at that team, and look at the majors in general, and say: "They juiced."  Simple as that.

What does this do for Ortiz and Manny?  In Ortiz's case, it simply emphasizes his incredible jump in his slugging percentage.  In Minnesota, in the 4 years in which he played in over 1/2 of the games, he earned an average slugging percentage of .467.  That's not all that great.  But in Boston he suddenly has an average of .593?  That's nearly a 30% increase - and that basically started just in one year.  It wasn't like Ortiz had years in the mid .400s and then a couple in the mid .500s and then trending upwards like you'd expect to see as a young power hitter hit a stride.  Instead, Ortiz is like jumping off up a cliff - one year he averages .467; the next .593.  In professional sports - at the elite levels of professional athletics - that simply isn't possible.  No one does it.  By the way, in a year in which Ortiz can't juice he's back down to .409.  What's that tell you? 

Here's what is so frustrating.  No one wants to accept the truth, that virtually every major player in baseball used steriods or other PEDs at some time or another.  There was too much pressure, and far too much money.  What's a little dose of HGH going to hurt if it means you can come back sooner from an injury, win that extra game or two, posting a 20 win season instead of an 18 win one, and demand an extra $5 million in salary?  YOU ARE A TOTAL FOOL IF YOU THINK ALL BASEBALL PLAYERS DIDN'T SEE AND THINK THAT.  Or you're dumb.  Take your pick.  Their AGENTS certainly knew it.  Don't think they are without guilt here.  They knew it, and probably dripped just enough poison into their ears to make sure their message was received loud and clear. 

Baseball used to pride itself on being able to hold up over 100 years of stats and claim statistical validity for all of them.  Can't do that now, can they? 

Or maybe, given the news here in Pittsburgh, I'm just yelling sour grapes.  The last two remaining actually good players here were traded.  I'm not venting steam at the owners for this; I think that it's a good idea, frankly.  It's not like the Pirates were going to win games with the players that they had!  But how can one be a fan of a team when...well, it's like watching the movie Major League.  "This guy is dead!  Well, cross him off, then!" 

Long live the Pirates.

The Pirates are on the 3rd (I think) iteration of the proverbial '5 year plan' to return to winning.  All is going to plan, except for the part about returning to winning.  The Pirates are a laughingstock, an embarrassment to the city and to the sport.  So I tend to ignore every move they make, and treat them with utter disdain.  So it's a little surprising to me that I'm actually going to write something about them, and this in a semi-positive tone.

One of the Pirates past failures is that they would start down the path of a particular plan, and for reasons known only to those in power, would stop moving down that path and suddenly jump to another one.  This led to the Pirates trading top talent - some for prospects, some for cash - and putting the fanbase firmly in 'rebuilding' mode.  Then, the blasted idiots would turn around and sign some veterans (usually past their prime and for more money than they were really worth) and see if they could somehow cobble together *something*.  The only thing this did was destroy the franchise completely, and what's worse it was really done from within.  The Pirates facade of a major league team was bad enough, but the cupboards were so bare in the minors that there was utterly no hope.  None.  Even their drafts were panned.

So why is this year different?  Why are all of these trades - essentially, if my math is right, a full 1/2 of the starting fielders - providing some semblance of hope, however small that hope may be?  Because the Pirates seem to have a plan, and in the face of withering criticism from the still-loyal fanbase, they are sticking to it.  The Pirates have a starting team that has some nice players, but no cornerstones.  They don't have anyone around whom the team can build.  Look at St. Louis with Albert Pujols - that's a player that a team can build around.  Since the Pirates don't have that particular player, they have to take a slightly different tactic.  They have to get as much value from their starting players that they can.  The 2009 season is already lost, and they are now virtually assured of their 17th straight losing season.  So why bother to put on airs?  Why not blow up the whole stinking mess and start over?  That's exactly what they are doing, and while it'll take a few years to really know the value of these trades, they are at least sticking to a plan.  It might be flawed, it's certainly dangerous and filled with the possibility of a huge backfire, but it's a plan.  The Pirates have a PLAN!  We should all rejoice.  The point is that the Pirates are working to rebuild a bare minor league system.  They are working to get as much value as they can, and in return are working to build up a solid system.  This does not necessarily mean that in 2011 the Pirates will win the World Series.  No one is *that* delusional.  But a return to competitiveness?  That's not asking a whole lot.  And if the Pirates make a key draft pick, or get lucky somewhere, well, who knows. 

The point is that for the first time in some time, there is hope.  It's not for 2009, or not really even 2010.  The team sucks, and there's no sugar-coating that fact.  No one on that team is untouchable.  Not a single player.  Therefore, making these trades, getting younger players with higher upsides makes more sense than doing nothing at all.  After all, nothing at all brought us 17 losing seasons.  Doing SOMETHING might reverse that misfortune.

I hope.

Reports and rumors from various media outlets including the venerable Chicago Tribune suggest that Mark Cuban's bid to buy the Cubs is not only gaining ground, but that Cuban may do things that will force baseball and accept him.  And from my perspective, a billionaire owner who loves all things sports would be an absolutely wonderful owner for the Chicago Cubs, and would drive all the other MLB owners totally insane.  And to me, that's the best part of all!

Talk about high profile.  You can bet that Bud Selig wants *nothing* to do with Cuban - now, or ever.  It's usually once a year or so that Cuban flies off the handle about his Mavs, and accepts the giant fine levied by David Stern, and then just continues doing what he thinks is best.  A maverick is both the most dangerous and best thing that any group can have.  Dangerous - he's willing to stick his neck out, say things and destroy the status quo if he sees a reason to do so.  The best thing - again, all the same reasons.  A maverick is not in it to maintain the status quo - a maverick is out to do things, force change and maybe make significant differences.  Change is terrifying to many people, and I can imagine 29 other baseball owners horrified at the thought that a maverick like Cuban may one day enter their ranks.  Because you know it won't be long before he's doing something - calling out umpires publicly, calling out other owners, doing things to disrupt the "delicate" balance among owners.  He just doesn't care - and imagine the fun of a media war between Cuban and Steinbrenner.  Sports people will be eating it up! 

I also think that Cuban will inject the right kind of attitude in Chicago.  The loveable losers may no longer be able to have either title, because under Cuban they will be under the gun to win, and that may turn some people surly.  And the losers part?  You can forget it.  How bad were the Mavs until Cuban rescued that franchise?  Sure, he's not won it all, but the Mavs are important again.  They are relevant.  And the Cubs have been irrelevant for far too long. 

I hope that Mark Cuban wins the bidding for the Cubs, and becomes an owner of this historical baseball franchise.  I would enjoy that.  The other owners won't, and I'll bet the players won't like it in the long run, but if there's one thing that Cuban, as a maverick owner can do, is to create change.  And that might be the best thing of all for baseball.