Fehring the worst

Union head has many issues to solve -- starting with steroids

More in this column: • The Yankee Effect • All-Star Notebook

Donald Fehr has a steroid problem. The executive director of the players' association loathes the idea of submitting his players to any sort of random drug testing. However, the public pressure from his rank and file to do just that intensified at the All-Star festivities in Milwaukee on Monday, with several more players endorsing random testing, including Derek Jeter and an emphatic Mike Sweeney. "Start tomorrow," the Royals first baseman said.

Neither Fehr nor his predecessor, Marvin Miller, have been squeezed like this so publicly. To address a fan base with diminished faith in the integrity of the product and, more crucially, the concerns of his players that some among them are getting an illegal, unfair competitive advantage, Fehr must negotiate a testing program with the owners. To do that, however, he must set aside the union's longstanding position that players should not be subjected to what he regards as privacy violations prompted by no reasonable cause. Moreover, it also will mean making a major concession to owners -- something the union despises. This is a group that still regards giving away half a year of service time for arbitration in 1985 the way Bill Buckner might regard a certain October error.

Steroid use is too prevalent to be ignored. A Major League Baseball security source, for instance, said Canadian customs has been assigning as many as five agents to comb the luggage of major league teams. "And they're all searching for the same thing: steroids and drugs."

Toronto Blue Jays first baseman Carlos Delgado said he has been approached by other players to purchase steroids in Canada for them. (Some steroids that are illegal in the United States are legal in Canada.) "I tell them no way am I getting involved in that," Delgado said.

Rightfully, the steroid issue is tricky enough to have become a stand-alone item in the labor negotiations. It's not a chip to be bargained against another chip. First, however, owners and players must address with urgency the game's core economic problems, given that both sides have barely budged from their positions for more than a year

The announcement of a strike date could help the situation. It would impose a deadline on what's been a stagnant process. "It may have to come to that only because that's the way it's always been," Braves pitcher Tom Glavine said. "You'd like to be optimistic and think it's not needed. Maybe this time will be different. You'd like to think so, anyway."

It's time to save the season. No steroid testing plan will be up and running in the next two months. The structure and administration of the agreement requires long, hard discussions. And testing by itself will only curb, not end, the use of illegal supplements in baseball. The increasingly popular Human Growth Hormone, for instance, is detected in blood tests, not urine tests. So-called designer steroids are easily altered to not leave signature markers on urine tests. And will baseball chase players down during the offseason, the time when most major leaguers add steroid-aided mass?

While the specifics of testing may be tricky, this much is certain: Baseball has a steroid problem and Fehr is under fire to address it.

The Yankee Effect

Why do players seem to automatically get better when they put on the Yankee uniform? Here's one theory: New York is so deep in talent that newcomers often don't have to play the leading roles they are asked to fill on other teams. All-Star Robin Ventura, a flop with the Mets last year in the middle of their order, is just one perfect case study. Another might be Raul Mondesi, who, according to new teammate Jason Giambi, "has been walking around with a smile on his face all week'' after being traded from Toronto. Mondesi might turn out to do for the Yankees what David Justice did for them in the last three months of the 2000 season. (But buyer beware: The right fielder might also disappear the way Justice did thereafter.)

Jeff Weaver, who was traded to New York from Detroit last week, is likely to continue the trend. More specifically, he will benefit from the Yankees' strong bullpen after the Tigers tempted injury by running up high pitch counts for the young hard thrower. For instance, Weaver threw the second-most pitches in the AL last year. He was fifth at the time of the deal. The right-hander averaged 112 pitches for Detroit this year while throwing at least 120 five times. Those are eyebrow-raising numbers for a 25-year-old with a thin power base -- the trunk and thighs.

Weaver had thrown 93 pitches over seven innings in his first start with the Yankees -- as a Tiger, his pitch count was less than 100 just once this year -- when manager Joe Torre turned the game over to his bullpen and reliever Mike Stanton. The Yankees won, 10-6. Weaver isn't likely to reach 120 pitches in a start for the rest of the season with New York.

Most baseball executives are still puzzled as to why Tigers president Dave Dombrowski would trade a young frontline starter under a reasonable long-term deal -- one of the most valuable commodities in the game. Said Weaver, "It seems like Dave Dombrowski likes his personnel and wants to win with the people he brought in, no other reason."

All-Star Notebook

With pitchers doing their best to avoid him at nearly all costs, Barry Bonds still hit a home run every 7.6 times he put a ball into play in the first half. So what happened in the Home Run Derby? Bonds hit only two homers, or one every 6.0 fat batting practice pitches he put in play. "See that?'' Padres closer Trevor Hoffman said. "We didn't know the way to get him out is by grooving 74-mile-an-hour fastballs." ... The two greatest draws in baseball are the Yankees and Sammy Sosa. The Yankees are the Beatles and Sosa is Elvis. The Cubs slugger once again proved his showmanship with a fearsome display of hitting in the Derby, once hitting a ball clear out of Miller Park and twice rocketing pitches off support beams above the huge outfield window panels. "We've never seen anything close to that in this park," Brewers first baseman Richie Sexson said. "We wondered if people could hit one off the windows and he goes over them. We never even thought that was possible." Said Giambi, "He's the man-imal. He hit balls to ungodly places." And Texas shortstop Alex Rodriguez added, "As players, we have an even greater appreciation than fans of what he can do because we know how difficult it is. It's like we're all hitting seven irons and he's hitting driver. I mean, we're crushing baseballs and he's going 100 feet beyond us. It's awesome." ... Glavine is using a rock with similar minerals used in pickle brine to treat the blister on his pitching hand. "You can't find pickle brine anymore," the veteran left-hander said, adding that he'll definitely make his next start Saturday. ... More proof that brainpower is just as important as money when it comes to running a franchise. There were 60 players on the active All-Star rosters for Tuesday's game. Not one of them was originally signed by the host team, Milwaukee. ... Giambi talks regularly with retired slugger Mark McGwire, who the Yankees first baseman said is enjoying married life and golf. "I know he's watching more baseball than he ever has before," Giambi said. "He [tapes] the games and then calls me up to tell me what I'm doing. I've got my own personal hitting coach." ... Philadelphia third baseman Scott Rolen said "in the proper situation" he would consider signing a contract with a new team as a contingency to a trade. However, the uncertain labor climate and the buyers' trade market make that scenario unlikely. "The Phillies aren't going to get nearly what they thought they would get," said one baseball source, "and Rolen's not going to get nearly what he was offered by Philadelphia. Look around. No team is signing players to extensions this year." ... The Dodgers may be adding a frontline starting pitcher for the second half. One baseball source said Kevin Brown is recovering so well from his back injury that he expects to return to Los Angeles' rotation next month. ... And give credit to Dodgers executive and pitching guru Dave Wallace, who is as valuable to that franchise as scout Gene Michael is to the Yankees. Wallace pushed for Los Angeles to trade for Odalis Perez and to ignore opportunities to deal Eric Gagne. Wallace also deserves credit for Hideo Nomo getting the bite back in his forkball. ... Is steady Albert Pujols, who didn't make the All-Star team, already being taken for granted? Here are his numbers from the first half last season: 21 HR, 66 RBI, .323 AVG, .391 OBP and .594 SLG. And now for the first half of this season: 21 HR, 66 RBI, .294 AVG, .393 OBP, .579 SLG. Detect a pattern? ... And then there is Greg Vaughn of the Devil Rays, who has put together two of the worst halves imaginable. In the calendar year dating to the 2001 All-Star Game, Vaughn hit .183 with 11 homers and 51 RBIs. He has four hits this season against left-handers. Not last week. This season. ... One AL GM insists Oakland GM Billy Beane grew disenchanted very quickly -- maybe too quickly -- with first baseman Carlos Pena, who was traded to Detroit. Not so, Beane said, explaining, "Once again we have to play the shell game. Every deal we make we have to give up talent. We can't just buy players or assume contracts. So we're always going to be scrutinized." ... While Randy Johnson and Pedro Martinez decided to skip the All-Star Game as if it were an optional social function, it's always great to see first-time All-Stars get jazzed about being selected. This year's group includes former Class A Kenosha batterymates Damian Miller and Eddie Guardado. Said Miller, a Wisconsin native ("Drinking beer and watching the Packers are the two biggest sports [in Wisconsin]," he cracked), "Eddie was a starter but he always had the mentality of a closer.'' Said Guardado, "Never in my wildest dreams did I ever think I'd be here."

Sports Illustrated senior writer Tom Verducci covers the baseball beat for the magazine and is a regular contributor to CNNSI.com. Click here to send a question to his Baseball Mailbag.

 

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