Friday Chat Has Begun

seefer · Post by **seefer** » Fri Feb 25, 2005 8:02 am

steroids anyone?

TheKing · Post by **TheKing** » Fri Feb 25, 2005 8:03 am

I was planning on taking him in the fifth round.

King of Queens · Post by **King of Queens** » Fri Feb 25, 2005 8:12 am

Originally posted by TheKing:

Does anyone else think Coco Crisp will explode this year? Coco Crisp exploding? Hmmm...

Kids: "Sonny, we've got Cocoa Puffs"

Bird (trying to avoid them): "Argggh"

Kids: "Munchy, crunchy chocolatey."

Bird (takes a bite of cereal): "Woo hoo!! I'm kookoo for Cocoa Puffs!!"

TheKing · Post by **TheKing** » Fri Feb 25, 2005 8:40 am

Tom,

Who'll be more valuable this year Bigbie or Monroe?

Tom Kessenich · Post by **Tom Kessenich** » Fri Feb 25, 2005 8:43 am

Originally posted by TheKing:

Tom,

Who'll be more valuable this year Bigbie or Monroe? Well Bigbie's a safer guy to go shopping with, that's for sure.

I think Bigbie will be the guy with more value since he'll be a starter. Monroe is going to need an injury (which could happen) to make a strong impact. I'd go with Bigbie.

Latham · Post by **Latham** » Fri Feb 25, 2005 9:01 am

Tom,

Will the Oakland A's invite Jose Canseco to play in their old timers game. If so, will Jose ask Mark Mcgwire to go into the bathroom stall and inject him before the game. If all of these events play out, how far will Mark Mcgwire shove his louisville slugger up Jose's ass!

Happy Friday Everyone

TheKing · Post by **TheKing** » Fri Feb 25, 2005 9:02 am

I'd like to hope the Tigers can find 450+ AB's for Monroe. He showed so much progress in the second half last year.

I recently read Brian Walton's article which stated that in terms of overall importance, the draft vs. FAAB would be 60/40. Would you agree with that?

Tom Kessenich · Post by **Tom Kessenich** » Fri Feb 25, 2005 9:04 am

Originally posted by Latham:

Tom,

Will the Oakland A's invite Jose Canseco to play in their old timers game. If so, will Jose ask Mark Mcgwire to go into the bathroom stall and inject him before the game. If all of these events play out, how far will Mark Mcgwire shove his louisville slugger up Jose's ass!

Happy Friday Everyone Interesting thoughts there.

On a serious note, while Canseco is hardly a credible witness for a number of reasons am I the only one who's noticed that no player has yet stepped forward to sue him for slander or libel? Seems to me if he was making all this up the players would be fighting a little harder to clear their names if they were wrongfully accused.

But it sure is quite among the steroid ... ummmm "alleged" ... steroid users.

Tom Kessenich · Post by **Tom Kessenich** » Fri Feb 25, 2005 9:05 am

Originally posted by TheKing:

I'd like to hope the Tigers can find 450+ AB's for Monroe. He showed so much progress in the second half last year.

I recently read Brian Walton's article which stated that in terms of overall importance, the draft vs. FAAB would be 60/40. Would you agree with that? I haven't really sat down to evaluate it but off the top of my head I'd say that sounds about right. I just think it varies from year to year. If you have a season without any major injuries than your in-season work doesn't need to be as valuable. But if you're being blasted with injuries than what you do during the season will decide your fate and up the percentage of importance.

In other words, I don't know if there's a set split I would make. There are too many variables that could skew the results one way or the other.

Gordon Gekko · Post by **Gordon Gekko** » Fri Feb 25, 2005 9:07 am

Originally posted by Tom Kessenich:

am I the only one who's noticed that no player has yet stepped forward to sue him for slander or libel? Seems to me if he was making all this up the players would be fighting a little harder to clear their names if they were wrongfully accused. none of the players will sue him. his attorney will air all of the players dirty laundy. most players probably got a couple girls on the side.

TheKing · Post by **TheKing** » Fri Feb 25, 2005 9:07 am

Palmeiro considering suing Jose

http://www.sportsline.com/mlb/story/8225816

Tom Kessenich · Post by **Tom Kessenich** » Fri Feb 25, 2005 9:08 am

Thanks for the update. It's about time someone stepped up if Canseco is the liar they all insist he is.

Gordon Gekko · Post by **Gordon Gekko** » Fri Feb 25, 2005 9:08 am

Originally posted by TheKing:

Palmeiro considering suing Jose

http://www.sportsline.com/mlb/story/8225816 he won't. just posturing.

Tom Kessenich · Post by **Tom Kessenich** » Fri Feb 25, 2005 9:10 am

Then it's meaningless and Canseco will win the battle as far as I'm concerned.

Latham · Post by **Latham** » Fri Feb 25, 2005 9:11 am

Any player that would choose to sue Canseco better not have any skeletons in their closet. They would open themselves up to having to answer questions under oath about steroids as well as any other dirt a lawyer can find. I don't think any player would put themselves through this, even if the Canseco stories about them are untrue.

Tom Kessenich · Post by **Tom Kessenich** » Fri Feb 25, 2005 9:14 am

That's definitely true, but as far as I'm concerned their denials carry no more weight than Canseco's accusations -- and in the case of several of the players he named they carry considerably less. If they want to prove their innocence they need to show a helluva lot more in my opinion.

By the way, if Barry Bonds wants people to stop asking him about steroids than all he needs to do for me is answer one simple question:

How in the living hell did his head grow a hat size in his 30s? Answer me that Barry and I'll never ask you another steroid question again.

newkidintown · Post by **newkidintown** » Fri Feb 25, 2005 9:15 am

The reason you dont see all these players like mcguire, palmeiro, juan gone, and irod filing lawsuits for libel, is because truth is a complete defense to that charge. Do I think canseco is full of you know what as far as the people he just thinks are juiced because of their body types? Hell, yes. Some may, some may not. I think you have to be pretty stupid though, to name names and accuse specific people of taking illegal drugs that will tarnish their name and lead to lawsuits, unless you are pretty damn sure that you can back up your claims. I think he can back up some pretty big names.

rotatorcff · Post by **rotatorcff** » Fri Feb 25, 2005 9:15 am

Well, Raffy has been pimping Viagra for a few years now. If anyone isn't afraid of the potential media glare of a lawsuit like this, it ought to be Raffy.

Tom Kessenich · Post by **Tom Kessenich** » Fri Feb 25, 2005 9:17 am

Originally posted by newkidintown:

The reason you dont see all these players like mcguire, palmeiro, juan gone, and irod filing lawsuits for libel, is because truth is a complete defense to that charge. Do I think canseco is full of you know what as far as the people he just thinks are juiced because of their body types? Hell, yes. Some may, some may not. I think you have to be pretty stupid though, to name names and accuse specific people of taking illegal drugs that will tarnish their name and lead to lawsuits, unless you are pretty damn sure that you can back up your claims. I think he can back up some pretty big names. I do as well which is why nobody has stepped up to sue him yet.

Liquidhippo · Post by **Liquidhippo** » Fri Feb 25, 2005 9:50 am

Tom,

LOL, excellent point about the growth of Barry's head, although technically, i think the head growth would be due to human growth hormone, not steroids(i'm guessing, i could be wrong). There are signs he used both. But this, and Canseco's allegations, the talk of lawsuits, brings up an interesting issue. What exactly constitutes libel? And, lets say, for the sake of argument, someone has no dirty laundry, and tried to sue, wouldn't they have to PROVE the allegations were false? If so, that seems difficult, if not impossible to do. I mean, lets say Canseco did in fact see 'John Doe' inject steroids. Outside of a film, or photograph, its pretty much one person's word vs. another. Can someone really be sued for stating a true fact simply because they can't prove it? Does anyone know where the burden of proof lies in this area?

Similarly, there are certain signs associated with illegal performance enhancing substances, certain types of injuries, foreheads growing at age 35 etc. Now, fantasy sports writers, their job is to evaluate players, project stats for the year, potential injuries, their performance......inextricably connected to the evaluation, is speculating whether or not the player has or has not taken steroids. And yet, if a writer suggests someone has taken steroids, are there potential legal ramifications if this can't be PROVEN? Is a potential libel/slander lawsuit lying in wait for such an accusation? I would hope not, but its a strange world we live in, nothing surprises me anymore.

KJ Duke · Post by **KJ Duke** » Fri Feb 25, 2005 10:25 am

Looks like if you fill one final league in each city you're at 300. Would you put out notice that you are filling the final league in each city and then stop taking sign-ups?

Or do you plan to keep going? Personally, I wouldn't want to draft with half the people on the phone in another city.

Tom Kessenich · Post by **Tom Kessenich** » Fri Feb 25, 2005 10:38 am

If we reach 300 teams before March 13 (the official end of our sign-up period) we may keep the registration open to see if we can fill another league. We'll know more about the interest once we get to 300 teams -- which should be real soon.

As far as phone hookups, that could happen. We had it for baseball and football last year and it went off great for both events, so we're not concerned about doing that at all if necessary.

Gordon Gekko · Post by **Gordon Gekko** » Fri Feb 25, 2005 11:02 am

Originally posted by :

Hey, I'm not a lawyer or anything but it seems that if I signed up for an event with 300 guys (it states it in the rules) and I landed in second place overall behind signup # 301, I'd have an $85,000 lawsuit right there. don't worry. i'm in the first 300. no lawsuit

Ken · Post by **Ken** » Fri Feb 25, 2005 11:19 am

Originally posted by :

Hey, I'm not a lawyer or anything but it seems that if I signed up for an event with 300 guys (it states it in the rules) and I landed in second place overall behind signup # 301, I'd have an $85,000 lawsuit right there. If players in the last full league are spread over three cities I think they would be prefer Greg try to get an even number of leagues in each city rather than having to do a phone draft. If that means going to 315 so be it.