NOT: Bengie Molina. What was he thinking, turning down $18 million over three years from the Mets?

Molina felt Omar Minaya only wanted him because he was a hot piece of Latin property, and Bengie was sick and tired of being objectified by pervs who had the hots for hanging out in the showers with chubby bronze skinned guys.

NOT: Theo Epstein. The Red Sox’ on-again, off-again GM appears to have won his power struggle with Larry Lucchino, but a three-month pout made Epstein seem even more indecisive than Alex Rodriguez.

Oh no, you didn't! You diiiiiin't! Theo can b!tchslap better than A-rod.

[This thread will turn ugly in a NYC minute...]

Bah. Theo's younger than Johnny and plays a way less demanding position.

I've got to admit, only a talented veteran sportswriter like Klapisch can take shots at the WBC and at Barry Bonds for not playing in the WBC in the same article.

This may be a critical observation:

HOT: Younger players and all capable backups. Remember, this is the first year that amphetamines will be outlawed by Major League Baseball. An army of older players will be dragging, especially during day games after night games. The action on Sunday afternoons will be notably slower, particularly for the visiting team finishing up a road trip. Fresh legs will be a priceless commodity in 2006.

Should we expect some spectacular collapses from veterans aged 32 and above? Will there be some second-half disasters of historic proportions? Will there be a record number of games spent on the DL?

Fantasy players, beware!

NOT: Manny Ramirez.

This is actually one of his "hotter" winters, I mean, he hasnt even been put on waivers yet.

Lots of illogic from Klapisch. Devin points out one obvious piece, but the Theo slam is pretty laughable, too. He "won his power struggle with Larry Lucchino," but while fighting it was merely in a "three-month pout." And apparently fighting Lucchiavelli and winning "has diminished Epstein's image as a man of principle." The sad thing is that since "image" is often a by-product of the witless coverage of people like Klapisch or Shaughnessy, that verdict might actually be correct.

Sam's also right that the greenie issue is potentially big. But can any experts out there tell me how long it takes for that stuff to clear your system? It's not like you're gonna have to pee in a cup after every game, AFAIK, so maybe this will be a smaller deal than advertised.

Nice of Cashman (no integrity loss after staying despite years of complaining of tyrannical boss) to go with a youth movement by signing Kelly Stinnnett instead of Mike Piazza.

But can any experts out there tell me how long it takes for that stuff to clear your system?

Not being a drug user or expert, just relying on my sixth-grade DARE classes, amphetamines are fat soluble, which means they stay in the system for 30 days, as opposed to booze which is water soluble which leaves the body in like a day or so.

I'm no expert on greenies but I must imagine there is a wider variety of useful iupper sthan just the traditional methamaphetamine. How many viable alternatives are tehre and how many of them will be tested?

Nice of Cashman (no integrity loss after staying despite years of complaining of tyrannical boss) to go with a youth movement by signing Kelly Stinnnett instead of Mike Piazza.

If you're going to have a backup catcher, better to pay him $600K or whatever Stinnett is getting instead of the $2 million Piazza's getting and better for him to be a more traditional "catch and throw" guy instead of a slugger with shinpads.

I'm no expert on greenies but I must imagine there is a wider variety of useful iupper sthan just the traditional methamaphetamine. How many viable alternatives are tehre and how many of them will be tested?

As I remember, there's no viable test for Mountain Dew, coffee, Coke, Pepsi, Red Bull, or any number of things that I and other former athletes guzzled on game days.

"But can any experts out there tell me how long it takes for that stuff to clear your system?"

If Sean's right (I don't know, I don't use Amphetamines, I'll ask my housemate when he wakes up) and it's fat soluble, it depends on how often you take them.

Not being a drug user or expert, just relying on my sixth-grade DARE classes, amphetamines are fat soluble, which means they stay in the system for 30 days, as opposed to booze which is water soluble which leaves the body in like a day or so.

Are you sure Sean? Obviously "greenies" are fairly wide-ranging, but I thought amphetamines cleared out of your system like coke, within 5 days at the outside

NOT: Manny Ramirez.

I wonder if he'll be saying this when Manny puts up a ~.295/.390/.600 this year?

But, writing this stuff must be easy, and I doubt there's much left to dissect for a guy like Klapisch (who seems to put out a relatively high volume of articles) at this point in offseason.

Epstein’s peers were initially impressed by his willingness to walk away from a fractured front office and expected him to hold out for the Nationals job.

Hmm, is that job even open? And is it a job worth "holding out for"? I guess it depends on the new owner. But given the pace of things so far, would Theo want to sit out another year or two hoping that the new owner was worth working for?

Nice of Cashman (no integrity loss after staying despite years of complaining of tyrannical boss) to go with a youth movement by signing Kelly Stinnnett instead of Mike Piazza.

Unless you have evidence that Cashman was behind the Dioneer Navarro trade a year ago, Cashman's integrity remains intact.

Stinnett was likely signed to be Randy Johnson's personal catcher, possibly at his request.

Obviously "greenies" are fairly wide-ranging, but I thought amphetamines cleared out of your system like coke, within 5 days at the outside.

This answer comes from a website called collegegrad.com:

There is no simple answer as to how long drugs will remain in your system, since the answer is influenced by the specific drug halflife, intensity of the usage, method of usage, length of usage, tolerance, fluid intake, body size, body fat, metabolism and (most important) the specific range which the drug testing lab uses to signify a "positive" for drug use. But the following table provides some general guidelines for the amount of time a drug can be detected by most standard drug tests:


Drug Detection Time
Alcohol 6-24 hours
Amphetamines 2-3 days
Barbituates 1 day to 3 weeks
Benzodiazepines 3-7 days
Cocaine 2-5 days
Codeine 3-5 days
Euphorics (MDMA, Ecstasy) 1-3 days
LSD 1-4 days
Marijuana (THC) 7-30 days
Methadone 3-5 days
Methaqualone 14 days
Opiates 1-4 days
Phencyclidine (PCP) 2-4 days
Steroids (anabolic) 14-30 days

I suppose since LSD washes out in at most four days, that explains why Doc Ellis stayed away from marijuana when he pitched.

For those not familiar with Doc Ellis's story, here is a nice link that recounts his no-hitter, pitched while wasted on acid:

"The ball was small sometimes, the ball was large sometimes, sometimes I saw the catcher, sometimes I didn't. Sometimes I tried to stare the hitter down and throw while I was looking at him."

He should turn the Yankees into a 900-run machine this summer

Wow, he thinks Damon will help the Yanks score 14 more runs, way to go out on a limb.

NOT: Anyone who actually counts (and is bothered by) the number of Spanish-speaking players in the Mets' clubhouse. Should Omar Minaya correct this imbalance by releasing Pedro Martinez, Carlos Delgado and Carlos Beltran?

Are there people who actually do or believe this or is this just a media creation put out by reporters by reporters who are too lazy to come up with real articles? This is the second time in a week I've seen something along the lines of this but I have no idea where it is coming from.

LSD 1-4 days

Cool...just in time for Dock Ellis' next start!

Are there people who actually do or believe this or is this just a media creation put out by reporters by reporters who are too lazy to come up with real articles? This is the second time in a week I've seen something along the lines of this but I have no idea where it is coming from.

I don't know if anyone here is bothered by it, but there are certainly a goodly number of people who were counting.

Pot should be legalized.

Or at least decriminalized.

They should stop ####### testing for it in job applications, that's all I care about. Stupid ####### drug tests ruining the end of my senior year.

yeah, speed and the like drop out of your system pretty durn quick, iirc. they're similar to MDMA in that way. not that i'd know personally. *innocent face*

yeah, speed and the like drop out of your system pretty durn quick, iirc. they're similar to MDMA in that way. not that i'd know personally. *innocent face*

What's always been funny to me is that with a few exceptions, the harder the drug, the quicker it goes out of your system.