Wang Losses Arbitration
Posted by Steve Lombardi on February 15th, 2008 · Comments (8)
Via the Mark Feinsand -
The Yankees just won their arbitration case against Chien-Ming Wang, meaning that Wang will earn $4 million this season instead of the $4.6 million he had requested.
Wanger probably should have requested for the hearing to be held in the Bronx instead of St. Petersburg. The odds are usually in his favor in the Bronx.
Sorry to hijack this for a sec, and to continue beating this dead horse, but has anyone actually read the depositions in the Clemens/McNamee case? It’s a pretty fascinating read, especially McNamee’s. Having read every word of the depositions now, I really don’t believe anyone in the media has done the same. McNamee doesn’t come off as a liar, but certainly someone who feels the need to embellish. There are some really interesting things here, though: He says Clemens didn’t like HGH and stopped using it almost immediately, yet 2-3 years later McNamee claims he asked him to shoot up Debbie Clemens. If Clemens didn’t like HGH, why would he want his wife to use it? McNamee stopped giving Clemens steroids in ‘01, so he has no idea what, if anything, Clemens was doing since then. Here’s my question: since everything Clemens was doing with McNamee would make him fail a test, and since Clemens didn’t like or use HGH, what was he doing post-2003? He couldn’t have been possibly still using those ‘roids because he would have failed a test. So when he was winning a Cy and pitching in Houston, and then coming back here to New York, what could he have been using? Did he go back to HGH? We don’t know, because McNamee wasn’t really close to him anymore.
McNamee also recounts a conversation he had with Clemens, Pettitte and C.J. Nitkowski that both C.J. and Pettitte say never happened (and both guys support McNamee). That’s another interesting note: while it always seemed like Mac was Clemens’ guy, he was much closer, in the end, to Pettitte, who seemed to generally like the guy — Clemens viewed him more as an employee.
Canseco gets mentioned as a total garbage head when it comes to steroids. He literally popped them into his mouth like candy. He would basically do anything at anytime — he just didn’t care. Whenever McNamee had some “extra” or unused steroids, he just gave them to Canseco.
Canseco and Clemens were apparently very close, and McNamee claims Canseco introduced Clemens to steroids and gave them to him. If Canseco was giving Clemens steroids, why didn’t he mention this in his book? Wouldn’t that have made a bigger impact than outing I-Rod and Raffy? He mentions in the book that Clemens “looks” like a ‘roid user — so why not out him and sell more books? Why lie for him today by swearing he never gave him steroids?
But here’s the biggest thing: McNamee makes it obvious that Clemens didn’t know anything about steroids prior to ‘98, when he talked to Canseco and started to use them. If this is true — and we have no reason to think it’s not — how do you explain Clemens’ performance in ‘97, which was probably the best of his career? He was actually BETTER in ‘97 than ‘98, when he did steroids. How do you explain this? Why would he even WANT to use ‘roids after having that season clean?
That’s the thing that just doesn’t make sense to me: Clemens, before the year he’s supposed to have started doing ‘roids, had the best year of his career. And then suddenly he becomes a ‘roid junkie and his numbers weaken?
Here’s the thing no news outlet has mentioned yet: McNamee also saved syringes from Chuck Knoblauch. I think this strengths the idea that he was planning to blackmail people, and calls into question this idea that he “didn’t trust” Clemens. It’s pretty obvious that McNamee was the one who couldn’t be trusted.
It wouldn’t surprise me if Clemens did do the ‘roids, but there’s a lot of interesting and also contradictory information here. I encourage everyone to read these depositions to get a real grasp of this whole thing. They are a great read. (One thing we learn: Knobby was worn down from trying to fix his throwing problem and McNamee sold him on using HGH; throughout the depositions, people say McNamee was a pusher, but he acts as though it was all the players’ idea.)
Thanks for that summary bailey, I’ve been meaning to read those but haven’t had the heart to do so yet. My understanding is that Pettitte didn’t throw Clemens under the bus nearly as much as reported by both the media and the congressional leaders and in fact admitted that he probably “misremembered” what Clemens said. Is that the way you read things as well?
I realize Clemens is an arrogant guy, but I just can’t fathom why he would contest this to this degree if he had used. I know it’s possible that he could think he could bluster his way through this and I don’t rule that idea out. If that is the case, it’s a huge mistake.
As far as Clemens using after 1997, it doesn’t make sense to me, but Bonds was putting up HOF numbers as well before he started using. I don’t get it, but the more I think about it, the less significant his 1997 numbers are as far as him using something to help future performance.
I think Clemens’ Houston numbers can be explained by his going from the AL East to the weak NL Central and also as somewhat of an outlier. I know people deny that he ever lost velocity until 2007, but I watched him pitch from time to time and he was slowly losing ticks on his fastball. I believe I read a study that he had an uncanny ability to pitch out of trouble as well, which could partly be explained by luck and partly by the fact that he was probably pitching around guys.
McNamee is a joke. He’s told the truth in some instances, obviously, but he’s lied his ass off even while mixing in the truth. Remember all that stuff about how the players are the ones that “made” him supply steroids and how he feels terrible? But as bad as he is, it’s still not enough for me to feel certain that he didn’t shoot up Clemens, which sucks.
hey baileywalk can you provide a link to the dispositions please? thanks
If you thought Papelbon’s statements (which I had no problem with since everything he said was correct) lacked class what do you think of Randy Levine’s “victory dance” about the Yanks beating CMW at arbitration as reported by Pete Abe?
I wonder why he decided to come out with a public statement, he’s a real sweetheart. I look forward to his public statement congratulating Hal about the budget overruns for the stadium.
You can find the documents at
http://oversight.house.gov/story.asp?ID=1743
“My understanding is that Pettitte didn’t throw Clemens under the bus nearly as much as reported by both the media and the congressional leaders and in fact admitted that he probably “misremembered” what Clemens said. Is that the way you read things as well?”
Well, I have to admit that the day of the hearing, prior to reading the deposition, I called Andy a rat… which was maybe a bit harsh.
Anyway, Andy’s statement went something like this: He says Clemens told him that he did HGH somewhere around ‘99 or 2000 and that McNamee was upset that he told him. Pettitte says he took this information as not a big deal — that he “blew it off.” Later on, when everyone in the media was talking about steroids, Andy asked Roger what he would say if someone asked if he used HGH. Roger said he would tell them the truth. Andy, who was thinking at the time of just confessing to his limited use, told Roger that he had mentioned using it years before. Roger’s reaction was “I never told you that.” He said he must have been talking about his wife’s use. Andy says he accepted it, but that he didn’t really believe it. Andy made it seem that he accepted the “misunderstanding” only because Roger was his friend — not that he believed he did actually misunderstand or mishear him.
Another interesting note from McNamee’s depo is that Andy suggested Roger told Giambi about his steroid use, and that Giambi told Sheffield, who Andy said was “tight” with Giambi. Sheffield then said something to the media about how Clemens should be scrutinized like him and Bonds. I find it interesting that Andy thought Sheff and Giambi were tight, since Sheff killed Giambi in the media, and that people seemed to believe Clemens blabbed to Giambi about his ‘roid use. For what it’s worth, Giambi and Clemens hung out quite a big when Roger was back with the team in ‘07 and it certainly didn’t look like they were hostile.
Here’s the key paragraph in Pettitte’s affidavit:
6. I said, “Oh, okay,” or words to that effect, not because I agreed, but because I wasn’t going to argue with him.
__
This isn’t about Andy. It’s about how a selfish person like Clemens put a so called friend in such an untenable position.
Actually, Rich, we really have no idea what’s going on here. But Pettitte isn’t coming off well in this deal either, whether it be using HGH, then saying he only did it twice, then admitting to doing it again (despite it “not working” before), and then getting his father mixed up in it. I’m still a Pettitte fan and I’m moving on, but he’s taken a hit here too.
As far as the Sheffield deal, something tells me he would share that with the world. If not, it’d be the first time he ever shut his mouth as far as I can tell!
Good call on Levine, Basura, what a freaking joke. Talk about tacky. I’m sorry but does anyone want to hear the Yankees (or any team for that matter) celebrating saving $600,000? Next thing you know, Bush and Cheney will announce that they are awarding themselves two of those $600 refund checks….