RINGOLSBY: Fans prefer to focus on diamond

By Tracy Ringolsby, Rocky Mountain News

Published February 15, 2008 at 12:45 a.m.

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Photo by Getty Images / 1998

Roger Clemens, left, and Jose Canseco joke around as teammates in 1998. Both have denied the Mitchell Report's assertion they discussed steroids during a party.

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Didn't Shakespeare write a play about the Mitchell Report?

Think he called it Much Ado About Nothing.

Irony is, the assumption was that in ordering the Mitchell Report, baseball thought it would provide closure for the ugliness that was the game's steroids age. Instead, it has created a lot of loud and very public rhetoric.

Thank goodness spring training camps opened this week.

Thank goodness baseball fans can now get a daily diet of information about the players and teams that are dear to them.

Baseball fans, the polls have shown, don't give two cents about the Mitchell Report. A weekend publication said 85 percent of the fans it polled couldn't care less what the Mitchell Report revealed.

The Mitchell Report, after all, did not have the benefit of any official clout and is a rehash of what happened, not a revelation of what is happening.

The Mitchell Report goes back before baseball had any drug testing, back when there might have been state or federal laws against certain performance-enhancing drugs. But there were no penalties in baseball because, despite more than two decades of commissioner Bud Selig lobbying for drug testing, the players association had refused.

In 2005, however, that changed. Congress conducted a hearing on the drug concerns in baseball and created such a public concern the players finally ordered their hired guns in the players association to accept drug testing.

Now, baseball has the strongest drug-testing program of any team sport in the United States, which has been quickly glossed over in the effort of attention seekers railing about Mitchell's findings.

And one thing that seemed glossed over during Roger Clemens' appearance before a House committee on Wednesday was the revelation about the lax effort by Mitchell and his staff to verify the information in the report.

Asked about the fact that Jose Canseco has submitted signed documentation denying he and Clemens discussed steroids during a party at Canseco's house - Canseco and Clemens both have sworn Clemens wasn't even there - Mitchell's aide said Canseco was never asked by Mitchell's investigators about the party. He said the party was brought up after Canseco was interviewed and no effort was made to recontact Canseco to discuss the incident.

Seems a little lazy, sloppy or both on the part of the investigators and makes an outsider wonder just how thorough Mitchell's crew was in verifying other incidents, or if the Mitchell Report even cared about its credibility.

Overheard

* Cincinnati has shown consistent interest in Oakland right-hander Joe Blanton, but the Athletics aren't going to give up Blanton unless they get what they want in return, and what they want is outfielder Jay Bruce, whom the Reds consider untouchable.

* San Diego is looking at Pittsburgh's Xavier Nady and Jason Bay and the Cubs' Matt Murton to fill a need for a right-handed-hitting outfielder.

* The White Sox figure they should try to move shortstop Juan Uribe. The expectation is Uribe isn't going to be happy as a backup. Especially considering that, the week after the White Sox got Uribe to negotiate his 2008 salary down from $5 million to $4.5 million with the idea the White Sox could afford to keep him, Chicago acquired Orlando Cabrera to be its regular shortstop.

Readers' turn

Ric Spencer writes, "Do you see an inconsistency with Barry Bonds being charged with perjury and Roger Clemens' situation."

Ric, I don't. Bonds was a grand jury witness in an investigation into BALCO, a firm from which he is believed to have purchased performance-enhancing drugs. The grand jury was asking Bonds questions that dealt more with collecting evidence on BALCO than it dealt with Bonds, and Bonds was considered an obstruction to that investigation. Over time, my guess is that prosecutors are much more interested in finding the dealers than the users and, in general, find that pursuing a user is not cost effective in terms of finances and time. The challenge with Clemens is whether he or his personal trainer lied about Clemens receiving performance-enhancing injections but it is not tied to a bigger investigation of distribution.

For responses to other questions or to ask your own, go to the Rockies blog at Rocky MountainNews.com/sports.

Two cents' worth

John Rocker can't help himself. He needs attention. And since he quit playing baseball, nobody gives him the time of day. So now Rocker is trying to get on the stage in the latest steroids mess.

He announced the other day that he tested positive for steroids in 2000 and Selig should have known about it. He also says team doctors in Texas talked to him.

Worth considering is that, in 2000, baseball had no policy against using performance-enhancing drugs because the players association had not yet agreed to drug testing. The test in which Rocker apparently tested positive was then turned over to the Employee Assistance Program, where a player's privacy is protected, so his identity is not provided to his employer, much less to the commissioner. And the doctors worked in conjunction with the EAP, attempting to help counsel him about the dangers of the steroids he was using.

ringolsbyt@RockyMountainNews.com

NUMBERS GAME

100 years since the Chicago Cubs' most recent championship. The Cubs won successive titles in 1907 and 1908 but haven't even played in the World Series since 1945.

ON TO MINNESOTA

Turns out right-hander Livan Hernandez's future was tied to Johan Santana.

Hernandez, a free agent, was put on hold by the New York Mets, with whom he wanted to pitch so he could be reunited with half-brother Orlando Hernandez. But when the Mets acquired Santana, they told Hernandez he no longer was on their wish list.

After two weeks of wondering what was going to happen, Hernandez wound up signing with the Twins, who needed a veteran to fill Santana's void. Hernandez will make $5 million with a chance to reach the $7 million he earned in Arizona last season if he pitches 230 innings.

HE SAID IT

"The hardware doesn't really mean as much as being recognized. . . . It's the fact that everywhere you go, walking around, people are saying 'MVP' rather than calling your name. I prefer that people just call my name, but it's nice just knowing that you've been (recognized) for something like that."

Jimmy Rollins, Phillies shortstop, the 2007 National League MVP.

MILE HIGH WATCH

* Fowler native Luke Hochevar, signed by the Royals after they took him No. 1 overall in the 2006 draft, ostensibly is a candidate for Kansas City's fifth starter spot. But pitching coach Bob McClure is honest in the evaluation process and has made it clear he prefers Hochevar get his introduction to the majors initially by working out of the bullpen, where he can be protected. "I want to break him in out in the 'pen, but he'll pitch longer than a short reliever," McClure said.

* Greeley resident and former Rockies All-Star pitcher Shawn Chacon has been offered a contract by the Houston Astros. Chacon has indicated a desire to return to Pittsburgh, where he pitched last season, and also has been mentioned as a possibility in Baltimore because he can be used as a starter or reliever.

* One-time Rockies right-hander Julian Tavarez's name keeps popping up. Most of the winter, word out of Boston was the Red Sox wanted to unload Tavarez and his $3.85 million salary. Then, last week, Curt Schilling admitted to having shoulder problems that most likely will keep him out half the season, if not end his career. While the expectation was Clay Buchholz would be given the open rotation spot, team officials say it will be a battle between Buchholz and Tavarez.

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