All Things Bubba

Google has a baseball-related "doodle" today - in honor of Jackie Robinson's birth, 94 years ago today. Very cool!

Uh, boy. Quite the bombshell exploded today.

Some interesting points from the long article....

- There seems to be a connection to Florida, particularly the University of Miami Hurricanes baseball program.

- Most of the names revealed are not a surprise. Many have already been busted.

- Melky is still a bonehead. Bosch was upset with him for getting caught...and for not paying. Bosch rails against Cabrera, writing that "in helping him, I put my business and all my doctors at risk by fabricating patient charts and phony prescriptions." He adds that the slugger should "man-up" and pay $9,000 he owes, adding, "I am on the 'line' here!!"

- A-Rod is the biggest name implicated. He is an admitted 'roider, but claims he hasn't used PEDs since 2003. It appears this is not true. The Biogenesis records on him start in 2009 and continue through 2012.

The Yankees are reportedly desperately looking for a way to void A-Rod's contract, though few think they'll find one. But I wonder if this is the end for A-Rod, one way or another. Can he really come back from another hip surgery, without PEDs, at age 38?

Ugh. The Yankees were idiots to take A-Rod back after he opted out of his contract in 2007.

The article suggests the Biogenesis scandal means the MLB testing program has been "futile," but I disagree. Most of the MLB players implicated were in fact caught. I'd say that means it's working.

As for whether baseball should continue to crack down on PED use...yeah, I think they should. Baseball players are often very young, and if PEDs were allowed, they'd be under tremendous pressure to juice. Because there's so much competition, they feel they have to have every edge, and because they don't want to let their teammates down. Think of how Lance Armstrong pressured the young riders on his team to juice.

Someone at Red Reporter pointed out that if baseball gets a reputation for being dangerous - if players start dying young, like pro wrestlers, or get testosterone-fueled cancers like Lance Armstrong, say - parents are going to be reluctant to let their kids play baseball. Look at what happened with boxing. Back in the days of Frazier and Ali, everyone knew who the heavyweight champion of the world was. Now, the average American probably hasn't a clue. Boxing has faded that much, and a big reason is its perceived danger. For the good of the sport, baseball needs to keep on top of the PED thing.

Labels: steroids

Fox Sports South has an article about Braves shortstop Andrelton Simmons, that includes some comments from Paul Janish. Probably interviewed during Braves Caravan.

"I think the biggest thing as a shortstop is to have pitchers want you back there. That was always my goal on any team that I played with," teammate and defensive-minded shortstop Paul Janish said. "As far as Andrelton goes, man, for being such a young guy, he's not overwhelmed at all in these situations, which is huge especially in the games that we play in. Being in the race down the stretch, playing a lot of close games, having a lot of ground ball pitchers on this team, he's gonna play a huge role."

..."Him and Paul (Janish) are so good there defensively that it takes a little bit of worry out of your mind," reliever Jonny Venters said. "I try to make my pitches and get ground balls and I know that those two guys are going to make the plays, and they're going to make the plays that probably a lot of guys won't make."

Labels: Paul Janish

Paul Janish was on tour with the Braves Caravan this week, and there's photo and video evidence online.

He's the second player interviewed in this video.

And he's shown in this video, pitching at a shelter, preparing and serving meals with other Braves players.

Judging from his knife skills (or lack thereof), he doesn't cook. At. All.

Not that the other Braves looked any more comfortable in the kitchen. I guess it's not something baseball players do a lot of.

Geez, they better not let Carl Pavano in the kitchen. He's likely to accidentally chop off one hand and burn off the other.

Labels: Paul Janish

Just when you think you've heard it all...Carl Pavano hurt himself shoveling snow in Vermont.

Of all the bizarre injuries he’s suffered, this might be the Pavano-est.

He was shoveling snow in his driveway in Vermont, slipped and fell...and ruptured his spleen. Out six to eight weeks. Does that happen to normal people?

At least it happened before anyone signed him, so they didn’t get burned. Again.

Looks like the Braves have something similar to the Reds Caravan, where the players go on tour to meet fans in January. Paul Janish is scheduled to appear tomorrow at a couple of places in Cumming, GA.

Maybe we'll get a report on how his shoulder is doing.

On another subject, I went to the BBWAA New York dinner on Saturday. They paid tribute to all the no-hitters thrown last season, including Phil Humber's. This is from the program:

Labels: Paul Janish, Phil Humber

Photo by Jamie Sabau / Getty

Tony Cingrani has become one of the Reds' top prospects.

John Sickels released his Reds prospect report today, and he has Cingrani at #3.

3) Tony Cingrani, LHP, Grade B+: He was sure effective for a guy with a mediocre breaking ball, relying on fastball/changeup combination. Given the improvements he's made over the last three years, I think the breaking ball can become at least average, which would make him a number three starter, maybe more.

Baseball America's report came out a few days ago, and they, too, have Cingrani at #3.

Labels: Tony Cingrani

The Dayton Dragons are posting a series of articles about each of their players who has made it to the big leagues. Yesterday's was #24, Paul Janish. It's a pretty cool article, with a description of the fluke injury that forced him to get TJ surgery, and speculation that he might be the best defensive SS Dayton's ever seen (maybe even one of the best in baseball history).

Shortstop Paul Janish was a popular member of the Dragons in 2005 and '06 and on May 14, 2008, he became the 24th Dragons player to play in the Major Leagues.

Janish was drafted by the Cincinnati Reds in the fifth round in 2004 out of Rice University, where he helped the Owls to the College World Series title in 2003. Janish was the Dragons opening day shortstop in 2005 but suffered an elbow injury that season that ended his year after 55 games on June 5. He batted .245 with five home runs and 29 runs batted in.

"He got hurt on a freak play," remembers Marc Katz, who covered the Dragons for the Dayton Daily News. "He was running out a ground ball and the throw was bad...the first baseman had to tag him off the bag and pushed him...he (fell) down and came off the field holding his elbow."

Janish underwent "Tommy John" reconstructive elbow surgery and returned to the Dragons to start the 2006 season, enjoying a sizzling start to the year for a Dayton team that also included Jay Bruce, Johnny Cueto, Travis Wood, Logan Ondrusek, Carlos Fisher, and three other future Major Leaguers. On May 10th, 23 games into his season, Janish was batting .404. Less than a week later, he was promoted to Sarasota. His final average with the Dragons in 2006 was .398. He added five home runs and 18 RBI.

Janish's defense at shortstop was spectacular. Prior to both the 2005 and '06 seasons, he was selected by Baseball America as the top defensive infielder in the Reds organization. Who is the best defensive player ever to play for the Dragons? Janish is clearly in the conversation that would also include names like Ray Olmedo, Zack Cozart, Miguel Rojas, Miguel Perez, and Tucker Barnhart among others.

"I don't think there was a play he could not make," says Katz. "He had a gun for an arm, he could go in the hole. He would always do it the textbook way. He always threw to the right base. He was smart in the field. There was no flash to him, he just made every play."

Janish split the 2007 season between Double-A Chattanooga and Triple-A Louisville and then returned to Louisville to start the '08 campaign. On May 13, 2008, Reds shortstop Jeff Keppinger fouled a pitch off his left kneecap, suffering a fracture that landed Keppinger on the disabled list. Janish was called up to take his place.

The big league debut for any player has to be a special moment, but Janish's first Major League action was especially memorable. On May 14 against the Marlins, Janish entered the game as a defensive replacement in the eighth inning. In the bottom of the 10th, Janish came to the plate with the score tied, two outs, and runners at first and second. He delivered a hit to right field that drove in the winning run (pinch runner Johnny Cueto) and gave the Reds a victory. Janish became the first Reds player to produce a walk-off RBI in his Major League debut in 13 years.

Janish filled a part-time role for the Reds over the next three seasons, garnering regular playing time for most of 2011. His best year as a hitter came in 2010 when he batted .260 with five home runs in 200 at-bats. His defense at shortstop was his trademark.

"Janish would be a contender for the Gold Glove award if he became an everyday player," said Reds broadcaster Thom Brennaman on a telecast late in the 2010 season. His .991 fielding percentage in 2009 would have set a club record for shortstops and led the National League had he not fallen short of the minimum number of games played to qualify.

Janish spent the first three months of the 2012 season with Triple-A Louisville. On July 14, the Reds traded Janish to the Atlanta Braves in exchange for pitcher Todd Redmond. He appeared in 55 games for the Braves over the remainder of the season.

Janish has now appeared in 379 Major League games over all or parts of five big league seasons. His career average stands at .216 with seven home runs.

Janish's career fielding percentage at shortstop is an outstanding .983. To put that number in perspective, consider that it ranks higher than many of the players considered to be among baseball's best ever at the position, such as Ozzie Smith (.978), Mark Belanger (.977), Derek Jeter (.976), Luis Aparicio (.972), and Dave Concepcion (.971). In fact, Janish's .983 mark would rank fourth best in baseball history among all players who have played at least 500 games at shortstop. He is still 121 games short of joining that group, and at age 30, time is on his side.

Labels: Paul Janish

The NY Times reports that Ryan Freel's parents have donated his brain to science, so it can be tested for chronic traumatic encephalopathy - the brain injury blamed for many former NFL players' suicides.

According to the article, Freel felt he had to play like his hair was on fire, because he was undersized, and, he felt, less talented than his peers. He went all out to make up for it.

But it sounds like there was more to it than that. According to his mom, even as a child, he was reckless and injury-prone. There was that story he told when he was a Red, about jumping off a third floor balcony into a swimming pool. He knew he was hurting himself, but wouldn't stop. When team doctors told him he couldn't play, he'd get mad at them.

Well, maybe something good will come out of this - something that will help other players avoid Freel's fate.

Labels: science of sports