MLB Capsules: Braun makes passing reference to drug test
NEW YORK (AP) — Ryan Braun referred only in passing to his positive drug test and possible 50-game suspension as he accepted the National League MVP award at a black-tie dinner Saturday night.
After congratulating other award winners and thanking teammates, family, and the Milwaukee organization, the Brewers left fielder, speaking before a crowd of around 800 in a hotel ballroom, thanked the Major League Baseball Players Association for supporting him through his entire career, "especially for supporting me through everything I've went through over the last couple of months."
ESPN.com first reported in December that Braun had tested positive in October. Braun's grievance appeal before arbitrator Shyam Das to avoid a suspension began Thursday.
"You know, sometimes in life, we all deal with challenges we never expected to endure," Braun told the crowd. "We have an opportunity to look at those challenges and view them either as obstacles or as opportunities, and I've chosen to view every challenge I've ever faced as an opportunity and this will be no different. I have always believed that a person's character is revealed through the way they deal with those moments of adversity."
Braun, the NL Rookie of the Year in 2007, hit .312 with 33 home runs and 111 RBIs last season in leading Milwaukee to the NL Central title. He was not available to take questions from reporters Saturday night, his first public appearance since news broke about the positive test.
Braun's appearance overshadowed a sometimes funny, sometimes poignant 89th dinner of the BBWAA's New York chapter that honored, among others, former Mets catcher Gary Carter, who is fighting brain cancer. The Hall of Fame slugger was represented by his three children.
Carter received the "You Gotta Have Heart" award. Fighting tears, his pregnant daughter, Chrissy, said: "I'll tell my dad about the standing O — he'll like that."
Also honored was Yankees head athletic trainer Gene Monahan, who retired at the end of last season after 49 years with the organization.
Monahan, the night's final award recipient, was honored for long and meritorious service to baseball. He was introduced, appropriately, by Yankees closer Mariano Rivera — who had earlier received the "Toast of the Town" award. In an emotional speech, Monahan acknowledged late Yankees owner George Steinbrenner on several occasions and concluded by saying, "To do what you do the best and love the most, that's what happiness is all about."
Don Newcombe, 85, elicited laughter as he introduced Tigers ace Justin Verlander, who joined the former Brooklyn Dodgers pitcher as the only players to win a Cy Young Award, MVP trophy and Rookie of the Year.
On a Mets-themed evening that acknowledged the 50th anniversary of the team's first season, Frank Thomas, Jay Hook and Al Jackson spoke on behalf of the 1962 Mets, remembered for their 40-120 record.
Former Mets player and manager Bobby Valentine was lightly and briefly booed when introduced as Boston's new manager. Valentine joked about traveling from the Boston chapter's Thursday dinner before introducing Yankees reliever David Robertson, who received an award for community service.
Former Mets and new Miami shortstop Jose Reyes accepted the writers' "Good Guy" award, and outfielder Tommy Davis received the "You Could Look It Up" award, honoring the 50th anniversary of his 153-RBI season with the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Stu Sternberg, principal owner of the Tampa Bay Rays, accepted Manager of the Year and AL Rookie of the Year on behalf of Joe Maddon and Jeremy Hellickson, respectively. Maddon, who spoke by video, is on vacation with his wife in the Greek islands, a trip planned in early September, before the Rays made their big comeback to reach the AL playoffs.
Cardinals third baseman David Freese was in attendance to accept the Babe Ruth award as postseason MVP.
At N.Y. civil trial, Mets hope to shed Madoff taint
NEW YORK (AP) — With spring training just weeks away, nobody's working harder to prepare for the New York Mets' future than their lawyers.
A March trial may decide how much the team owners' disastrous investment in the fraudulent business of imprisoned financier Bernard Madoff will cost the club.
"It's going to garner tons of attention and comes at a horrible time for the Mets. It's not a great way to start the season," said Neal H. Levin, who heads the fraud team at the Chicago law firm Freeborn & Peters and is not involved in the case.
A court-appointed trustee is trying to recover money for investors in the massive Ponzi scheme in which 4,900 investors were told their $20 billion investment had grown to $68 billion by November 2008. But when investigators finally reached him, only a few hundred million dollars actually remained in Madoff's accounts. Madoff admitted the fraud and is serving a 150-year sentence.
To the trustee, Irving Picard, the Mets owners were winners in Madoff's multi-decade fiasco, pocketing hundreds of millions of dollars in fictitious profits.
Picard has demanded more than $1 billion for investors, saying Mets co-owners Fred Wilpon and Saul Katz either knew or should have known Madoff was up to no good. The two men have steadfastly denied any wrongdoing, saying they were victims themselves.
After the lawsuit was filed, the Mets announced they were considering selling up to 25 percent of the franchise because of "uncertainty" caused by the lawsuit. Now, the need for such a sizable infusion of cash might be diminishing. The Mets have shrunk their payroll and the legal prospects seem to have improved, as two decisions by the presiding judge may have limited the chances that Madoff's downfall will doom the team's finances.
In the first, U.S. District Judge Jed Rakoff limited what the team's owners might have to pay to other Madoff investors to $386 million. He also made it possible the payout won't top more than $83.3 million, saying that the potential penalty would be limited to that amount unless Picard can prove at the trial that the Mets owners "willfully blinded" themselves to Madoff's fraud.
In a second ruling Tuesday, Rakoff blocked Picard from appealing the earlier ruling until after the trial, despite claims that the judge's reasoning will affect the calculation for the entire recovery effort, possibly costing jilted Madoff investors billions of dollars.
The Mets declined to comment Friday about the coming trial. A spokeswoman for Picard said his lawyers also would not comment because the litigation was ongoing.
This week, lawyers will submit written arguments to Rakoff on their pretrial requests. Rulings will define the perimeters of the trial, set to start March 19, and perhaps clear the way for former New York Gov. Mario Cuomo to step to the plate in his role as mediator to try to broker a settlement.
The likelihood of a deal seemed to diminish, though, when Picard and his lawyers concluded that Rakoff's reasoning might be applied to other cases, costing billions of dollars for investors.
So far, about $325 million has been distributed to the holders of 1,230 investor accounts, in addition to $798 million disbursed as a result of an industry fund that reimburses victims of fraud up to $500,000. Agreements so far resulted in the recovery of about $8.6 billion and the recoveries exceed prior restitution efforts related to Ponzi schemes in both dollar value and percentage of stolen funds recovered, Picard's office reported. Legal appeals were delaying disbursement of the rest of the money to investors.
Levin said there is a trend in courts that could work against the Mets, with the legal term "willful blindness" being loosely defined as having a level of knowledge that exists somewhere between actual knowledge and something that should have been known.
"As a baseball fan, I'm disappointed that one of baseball's prize franchises is under such a cloud," said Robert Berliner, an attorney who runs the Berliner Group mediation service in Chicago and is not involved in the case. "The Wilpons dealt with their childhood friend and he turned out to be a crook. It's hard for me to see that that makes them accessories."
He said it was too early to rule out a settlement.
"After the narrowing of the issues by the judge, I thought they ought to be in a position to settle it. I was a little surprised that it hasn't happened yet," he added. "There are a lot of cases that settle on the courthouse steps on the day of trial and this could be one of them."
-- Larry Neumeister
Orioles seek to make impression in a football town
BALTIMORE (AP) — That other team in Baltimore can't catch a break.
The Orioles on Saturday held an event designed to create a buzz about the club before spring training begins next month. Unfortunately, the timing couldn't have been much worse. Not only was city awash in purple on the eve of the Ravens' appearance in the AFC championship game, but it also snowed overnight.
In spite of all this, thousands of fans crowded the Baltimore Convention Center to listen to the Orioles' front-office personnel and players speak optimistically about a franchise mired in a run of 14 straight losing seasons.
During the offseason, Dan Duquette, the new executive vice president of baseball operations, bolstered the starting rotation with Wei-yin Chen of Taiwan and Tsuyoshi Wada of Japan. He also added depth in the outfield and infield. And he isn't done yet.
"We're going to continue to look for additional on-base capability and some more pitching," Duquette said. "But I like the core. I like the way our team is coming along, and certainly we're going to look to add between now and when we open."
Duquette understands that it's going to take a winner to draw some attention away from the Ravens, but he appreciated the enthusiastic greeting he received from the fans Saturday and was impressed by the size of the throng.
"I'm heartened that we have so many people here today," he said. "I'm really encouraged by our fans. They've told me, 'Give us some hope' and 'Give us a good team,' and that's what we're going to do this year."
A Massachusetts native, Duquette worked for the Red Sox before being fired in 2002. Asked who he was rooting for in Sunday's AFC showdown between the Ravens and New England Patriots, he wisely answered, "It's going to be a great game, isn't it?"
Manager Buck Showalter has been at the helm for 1½ years and has not yet been able to pull the Orioles out of last place in the AL East. He made no guarantees for this season, but likes the makeup of the team compared to what it was in September.
"It's always a work in progress, but I look at the upgrades we've made in the 40-man roster in about 10 or 15 spots," he said. "I really like what we've done in the international market. And there a bunch of things still going on that we'll continue to kick the tires on."
The Orioles have an opening at designated hitter, a job Vladimir Guerrero held last season. Guerrero hasn't been invited back, and Luke Scott left for Tampa Bay. If the Orioles don't get anyone else, Showalter wouldn't blink.
"If the right guy rears his head, we'll go there," he said. "But I like where we are. I look at that as almost an asset. It allows us to move people around and stay healthy."
In 2010, the Orioles finished 34-23 under Showalter and entered 2011 with hopes of making a run at a playoff spot or, at worse, a winning record. That didn't happen, but Baltimore did go 15-13 in September, and Showalter feels that trend can continue.
"I was thinking about it coming in today, with the snow last night and the perception of the team," he said. "I kind of like where we are from a mentality standpoint. I'm trying to relay that to the fans today. I knew last year, even though we finished strong, our pitching still had to go through more of the process.
"This year — I don't want to beat the drums too much — but I kind of like where we are mentally. I think some of it feeds off September, but more importantly, I think the sense of urgency that has to happen for us to compete is there."
Showalter is an avid football fan, and he was more than ready to offer his take on the Ravens-Patriots matchup.
"I think the Ravens got a chance," he said. "I don't think (the Patriots) are going run up and down the field. The first series will be big."
The Ravens are huge in Baltimore right now, but perhaps there will come a day soon when orange and black becomes the color of choice.
"I was driving around the city last night before the snow came and it was all purple. It was pretty cool," center fielder Adam Jones said. "It's humbling seeing all these people here. It just shows the city is loyal."
-- David Ginsburg
Rockies get Scutaro from Red Sox for Mortensen
DENVER (AP) — The Colorado Rockies acquired infielder Marco Scutaro from the Red Sox for right-hander Clayton Mortensen on Saturday in a surprising trade that could pave the way for top Boston prospect Jose Iglesias to take over at shortstop sooner than expected.
The 36-year-old Scutaro hit a career-high .299 for the Red Sox last season, when he had seven homers, 26 doubles, 54 RBIs and a .358 on-base percentage. Boston picked up his $6 million option in October, a month after the team missed the playoffs following a record collapse down the stretch.
Scutaro was expected to remain Boston's starting shortstop this season but he will play second base and bat second in Colorado, where the Rockies also have added Michael Cuddyer and Ramon Martinez in an offseason makeover following last year's disappointing slide.
Mortensen, 26, went 2-4 with a 3.86 ERA in 16 games between the Rockies' rotation and their bullpen last season. He provides depth for a Boston rotation that will be without injured starters John Lackey and Daisuke Matsuzaka next season.
The Rockies targeted Scutaro for months and taking on his $6 million contract gives the Red Sox financial flexibility to make a run at free-agent pitcher Roy Oswalt.
Shortstop has been a trouble spot in Boston since Nomar Garciaparra was traded during the World Series championship season of 2004. Orlando Cabrera filled the position the rest of that year, but he was followed by Edgar Renteria, Alex Gonzalez, Julio Lugo and Gonzalez again; Jed Lowrie, Nick Green and Alex Cora were also in the mix.
Scutaro provided two years of stability after signing with Boston as a free agent following the 2009 season. Now he's gone, too.
The 22-year-old Iglesias appeared in 10 games for the Red Sox last year, getting two hits in six at-bats. A slick fielder who has struggled at the plate as a pro, he batted .235 with a homer and 31 RBIs in 101 games for Triple-A Pawtucket last year. In two minor league seasons since he defected from Cuba, Iglesias has a paltry .308 on-base percentage and .316 slugging percentage.
Still, his defense is considered outstanding and the Red Sox have been grooming him as their shortstop of the future.
Other options for Boston include versatile veterans Mike Aviles and Nick Punto. Both have plenty of big league experience at shortstop, but they were expected to fill utility roles off the bench this season.
Reliever Bard, Red Sox reach one-year deal
BOSTON (AP) — Pitcher Daniel Bard and the Boston Red Sox reached agreement Saturday on a one-year contract and avoided salary arbitration.
Bard and the Red Sox settled at $1,612,500, the midpoint between the $1,825,000 he asked for and the $1.4 million the Red Sox offered. He made $505,000 last season.
The 26-year-old Bard went 2-9 with one save and a 3.33 ERA last season. He excelled as a setup man for Jonathan Papelbon until faltering in the final month.
Papelbon has since signed with Philadelphia and the Red Sox have acquired All-Star closer Andrew Bailey and reliever Mark Melancon.
There has been talk Bard might fit into Boston's depleted rotation. John Lackey will miss the 2012 season after surgery on his right elbow and Daisuke Matsuzaka is still recovering from right elbow surgery.
