Baseball Musings: Stuck in the Middle

March 06, 2007

Stuck in the Middle

Gary Matthews finds himself stuck between a lawyer and an unhappy owner. Arte Moreno wants a statement from Matthews about the drug allegations against him:

"He needs to make a statement to the fans," Moreno said, clearly still unhappy 48 hours after Shapiro's statement. "Our feelings were the best way was to be pro-active and talk to the fans immediately."
Moreno issued his own statement Saturday night.

"Both the Angels and I have strongly encouraged Gary to cooperate with any authority investigating this matter," Moreno said. "Specifically, the Angels have asked him to come forward and fully answer all questions surrounding the recent allegations against him. The organization continues to expect that this matter will come to a quick conclusion."

Of course, Matthews' new lawyer is going to prevent Gary from saying anything incriminating:

Shapiro issued a four-paragraph statement Saturday from his offense in Los Angeles claiming he was "firmly convinced (Matthews) has not violated any laws or any rules established by Major League Baseball."
The attorney said Matthews would not comment further.

"Gary wishes to cooperate with Major League Baseball, the Los Angeles Angels and any other investigative agency that may look into this matter," Shapiro said. "He is eager to tell his side of the story and looks forward to providing a statement once all investigations into the matter have been completed."

Which is of course the right thing to do. The truth is, Matthews would be hurting himself legally before he finds out exactly what investigators know. And as much as Arte might bluster, there's little they or major league baseball can do about this unless they find Matthews receiving drugs now. Any suspension or punishment over this issue would be fought by the union and most likely won by the union.

From a fans point of view, however, the statement, "(Matthews) has not violated any laws or any rules established by Major League Baseball," is a pretty weak denial. I'd much rather hear, "I've never used performance enhancing drugs."

Baseball Musings is holding a pledge drive in March.

Posted by David Pinto at 07:52 AM | Cheating | TrackBack (0)

Comments

Would you want to hear it it even if he did it? MLB needs to get rid of all this stuff no matter what the cost. They should take all the proceedes from the foolish DirectTV deal and put it towards researching a HGH test. All these situation of players "not violating any laws or any rules established by Major League Baseball"

Posted by: JB at March 6, 2007 08:17 AM

Yes, I'd like to hear the truth. If you're going to issue a denial, don't weasel. I'd even prefer a "no comment" to "I didn't break any rules."

Posted by: David Pinto at March 6, 2007 08:28 AM

am i the only fan that doesn't care about steroids just play ball and entertain me

Posted by: david at March 6, 2007 08:51 AM

no, you're not

Posted by: gordon at March 6, 2007 10:30 AM

HGH wouldn't really help Matthews the way that his numbers would suggest.

Posted by: Jon at March 6, 2007 10:51 AM

I couldn't care less. If Carlos Zambrano wants to drink jet fuel to throw better help the to Cubs win - I'm all for it.

I think the majority of the people to are up-in-arms about the steriod "issue" aren't actual fans, but people with an issue they'd like to further

Posted by: Santos Sorrow at March 6, 2007 11:52 AM

Are the Angels perhaps having buyer's remorse about his contract?

Posted by: Crank at March 6, 2007 02:19 PM

Moreno better hope he juicing because that's the only way he's going to keep his production up. What's upsetting to him is word got out into the street. I really don't think Moreno is so stupid that he would sign a journeyman outfielder past thirty having a career year in a hitter's park to long-term contract unless he knew something was up. Or maybe he is.

I think somebody should make GM's look at baseball reference's player comps, so they can get an idea of what they have to look forward to if they sign somebody like Matthews to a long-term contract. If they want to sign whoever, go ahead, but please quit pretending the signee is going to be productive for the life of the contract.

Posted by: geb4000 at March 6, 2007 03:41 PM

...quit pretending the signee is going to be productive for the life of the contract.
In defense of ownership, they know the guy isn't going to be productive for the life of the contract. They're paying what it will take to get the guy in uniform for them, so they can harness his productive years right now, and get butts in the seats today. [Baseball Prospectus ran a conversation snippet with an anonymous front office person where he made exactly that point.]

Case in point: The 2006 Detroit Tigers. They have an impressive home grown talent pool, but without Ordonez, Rogers and I-Rod, they're an 80-win team on the outside looking in. And it's not like the Tigers don't know that Ordonez is going to suck in the last year of that deal; they're really just hoping it's not the last three years. You think they think Sheffield's going to be worth $15M in 2009? Of course not - but it was the price they had to pay to get him in their uniform for 2007.

Management isn't shocked and amazed when players drop off while making $MM - that's just the nature of the beast.

Posted by: Subrata Sircar at March 6, 2007 07:33 PM

Why hasnt anyone commented on the fact that this sounds EXACTLY like the way that Mark McGwire responded when Congress asked him if he took steriods? I dont want to jump to conclusions, but I think this is a very telling "non-statement". Moreno seems adamant about getting an answer from Matthews and I think he will soon. Moreno is the real hero here. Check out this AP article: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17486195/.

Posted by: Katie at March 6, 2007 07:33 PM

The easy way out for the Angels is a Matthews confession. Ain't gonna happen now that the lawyers are in the house. This will be more Giambi than McGwire other the next couple weeks. Crank has it right, the Angels are looking for the exit.

Posted by: abe at March 6, 2007 09:24 PM

The Angels were foolish to offer this deal in the first place. Too bad they don't have to pay double.....Serves 'em right, more so Stoneman than Moreno. He's a total boob for throwing around Artie's money like a trophy wife at a show sale......

and please enlighten us, Santos, what is that "issue" people who aren't for an Olympic-style doping free-for-all trying to further? A relatively clean(er) game? Imagine that...Yeah, some issue, huh?.....Duh....

Posted by: gugu at March 7, 2007 04:46 AM

matthews would be an IDIOT to say anything except "my lawyer told me to say no comment" BEFORE he finds out what anyone has got on him. it is actually possible that matthews, even if he DID get scripts for HGH did not actually break any law. and if he used it before 2005, he sure didn't break any MLB rule.

and we are assuming it actually WAS matthews and not someone using his name.

i think anyone who says ANYTHING after being accused of something without talking to a lawyer first is a damm fool...

Posted by: lisa gray at March 7, 2007 10:49 PM