NEW YORK – Red Sox closer Jonathan Papelbon on Thursday stood by a magazine interview in which he compared former teammate Manny Ramirez to cancer and said Boston made the right decision when it traded the slugger to the Los Angeles Dodgers last summer. Papelbon was quoted in the April issue of Esquire as saying, "He was on a different train! And you saw what happened with that. We got rid of him, and we moved on without him."
The story was posted on the magazine's Web site Thursday.
"So Manny was tough for us," Papelbon added. "You have somebody like him, you know at any point in the ballgame, he can dictate the outcome of the game. And for him not to be on the same page as the rest of the team was a killer, man! It just takes one guy to bring an entire team down, and that's exactly what was happening."
"Once we saw that, we weren't afraid to get rid of him. It's like cancer. That's what he was. Cancer. He had to go. It sucked, but that was the only scenario that was going to work. That was it for us. And after, you could feel it in the air in the clubhouse. We got Jason Bay — Johnny Ballgame, plays the game right, plays through broken knees, runs out every ground ball — and it was like a breath of fresh air, man! Awesome! No question."
In the Red Sox clubhouse before playing the Cardinals in Jupiter, Fla., on Thursday, Papelbon backed up his assertions.
"I'm not afraid to say it," he said. "If it's the truth and I believe it, I'll say it."
Papelbon also said he had not heard from teammates or anyone else asking him to soften his statements about Ramirez.
"Because I think they all know that's the truth," he said. "If I said something that was out of line, then yeah. But I don't think I said anything that's out of line. I spoke the truth.
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NEW YORK – Federal authorities have found performance-enhancing substances on the materials Brian McNamee said he used to inject Roger Clemens, The New York Times reported Tuesday. McNamee turned over the syringes, vials and gauze pads to federal investigators last year, after he told baseball investigator George Mitchell he injected the pitcher with steroids and human growth hormone.
The Washington Post reported Feb. 6 that tests linked Clemens' DNA to blood in the syringes given to investigators by McNamee.
Clemens has said repeatedly that McNamee, his former personal trainer, injected him with B-12 and the painkiller lidocaine.
"I assumed, and I am not surprised, that the tests were positive for both DNA and for performance-enhancing drugs, because that's what Brian said all along, and there's not much doubt that Brian's been telling the truth," McNamee's lawyer, Richard Emery, told The Associated Press. "The confirmation of that fact, once again, just seems to me to be another significant step towards jail for Clemens."
A federal grand jury in Washington is investigating whether Clemens lied when he told a congressional committee last year that he didn't use illegal performance-enhancing substances. McNamee, testifying before the same committee, said he repeatedly injected Clemens with steroids and HGH.
Rusty Hardin, Clemens' lawyer, did not return a telephone call seeking comment.
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TAMPA, Fla. – Alex Rodriguez has a torn labrum in his right hip, but the New York Yankees think he can avoid surgery. A cyst in the hip was drained Wednesday, and the third baseman will miss the World Baseball Classic. Yankees general manager Brian Cashman said that if surgery is needed, Rodriguez would be sidelined for four months.
"If at some point it's not working and it's a problem, then the other one becomes more of a choice," Cashman said Thursday. "Right now, the route we're going is conservative."
Cashman said that if Rodriguez is able to play, the three-time AL MVP might have offseason surgery to repair the labrum tear. Cashman said Rodriguez's preference was to try rest and treatment first.
"We're collectively trying to figure out what is best to do," Cashman said. "We don't want to rush into it. We want to digest it."
Cashman said the team hopes the cyst was the cause of stiffness that had bothered the 12-time All-Star and caused him to see a specialist, Dr. Marc Philippon, in Vail, Colo.
Earlier on Thursday, ESPNdeportes.com reported that Rodriguez's brother, Joe Dunand, said the slugger was going to have surgery with a projected 10-week recovery time.
"I spoke with Alex and his doctor and Cash today, and we're speaking again this afternoon," Rodriguez's agent, Scott Boras, said in Phoenix. "Obviously, he is concerned. He was playing really well, but it's obviously been a difficult few days for him."
The injury is the latest setback for baseball's highest-paid and perhaps best player, who last month admitted using banned drugs while playing for Texas from 2001-3. And it potentially leaves a huge hole in the lineup for the Yankees, trying to rebound after missing the playoffs last season following 13 consecutive appearances.
Last year, Rodriguez was sidelined from April 28 to May 20 because of a strained right quadriceps — his fifth career trip to the disabled list.
His 138 games were his fewest since 1999, when he tore the medial meniscus in his left knee during a spring training agility drill on March 30. He played in the first two games of that season with Seattle, then was put on the disabled list April 7 and missed 32 games until he returned May 14.
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VIERA, Fla. – Jim Bowden's final move as Washington Nationals general manager was his own resignation.
Bowden abruptly stepped down Sunday morning after four seasons, leaving under the cloud of a federal investigation into the skimming of signing bonuses given to Latin American prospects.
He has maintained his innocence in the matter, but said Sunday, "I've become a distraction."
"It's an emotional decision. It saddens me. But I feel it's in the best interest of two of the things I love the most, and that's the Washington Nationals and baseball," Bowden added.
Seated at a table with Nationals president Stan Kasten before a small contingent of reporters and team officials, Bowden read from a prepared statement, sometimes deviating from the script as he struggled to contain his emotions.
No replacement was immediately announced.
"We're not planning on missing a beat," Kasten said. "Our staff has a meeting tomorrow morning, first thing. I'm not going to have anything to say to you about next steps for a while — later in the week."
Bowden is the only GM the Nationals have had since the franchise moved from Montreal to Washington before the 2005 season, overseeing a team that went 81-81 in that debut season but has been below .500 ever since.
Last season, the Nationals were a major league-worst 59-102.
"It takes a lot of courage for (Bowden) to do that," Washington manager Manny Acta said after Sunday's 7-5 exhibition loss to Baltimore. "Is he perfect? No. But few are brighter and few work harder."
Bowden's tenure with the club was marked by such moves as the trade for Alfonso Soriano, the failure to re-sign Soriano, free-agent busts such as Paul Lo Duca and reclamation projects such as Dmitri Young.
"When I came here ... the single thing that stood out for me about why we needed someone with Jim's skill is that he's resourceful," Kasten said. "We needed someone that would look around every corner, look under every rock to find the pieces that we could put into place. Because of that, we have a foundation that looks very exciting for '09."
Young revived his career in Washington in 2007 — after a 2006 that saw him go through a divorce, undergo treatment for alcohol, substance abuse and depression, and plead guilty to assaulting his girlfriend before being released by the Detroit Tigers.
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SAN FRANCISCO – Barry Bonds' perjury trial was delayed indefinitely Friday after federal prosecutors notified the judge overseeing the case that they will appeal her decision to exclude key evidence from the jury. Jury selection, which has been set to start Monday, "will not proceed until further notice," according to a filing Friday by the clerk for U.S. District Judge Susan Illston.
Prosecutors told Illston of their intention to appeal a couple of hours after Bonds' personal trainer, Greg Anderson, said at a court hearing that he would not testify at the slugger's perjury trial. Illston had barred prosecutors from showing the jury three positive steroid tests allegedly belonging to Bonds and other vital evidence unless Anderson took the witness stand to authenticate them.
The latest developments are another blow to the all-time home run leader's hopes to resume his major league career. Following his indictment in November 2007, no team made an offer to sign him for 2008. If his trial had ended next month and he gained acquittal, he would have been in better position to join a team early this season.
Bonds is accused of lying to a grand jury in 2003 when he denied that he knowingly took performance-enhancing drugs.
A reluctant and annoyed Illston told lawyers earlier Friday that, in the event of an appeal, she would have little choice but to wait until the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals decides on it.
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PHOENIX – Manny Ramirez has rejected yet another offer from the Los Angeles Dodgers. The Dodgers announced Thursday night the star outfielder's agent Scott Boras had declined a $25 million, one-year contract with a $20 million player option for 2010. It was the club's fourth offer to Ramirez this offseason.
"We want Manny back, but we feel we are negotiating against ourselves," Dodgers owner Frank McCourt said in a statement. "When his agent finds those 'serious offers' from other clubs, we'll be happy to restart the negotiations."
General manager Ned Colletti and McCourt met Wednesday in Los Angeles with Boras.
The offer is similar to the two-year, $45 million deal with a buyout or club option that the Dodgers put on the table in November. Ramirez refused the offer and the Dodgers withdrew their proposal. The team came back with a one-year, $25 million offer, but Ramirez turned that down as well. Ramirez also turned down salary arbitration.
"Even with an economy that has substantially eroded since last November, out of respect for Manny and his talents, we actually improved our offer," McCourt said.
"So now, we start from scratch."
A message left with Boras was not immediately returned.
Colletti said there was not necessarily a hard deadline, and that Ramirez was not yet needed in spring training.
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SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. – General manager Ned Colletti called the Los Angeles Dodgers' latest offer to Manny Ramirez a "significant concession" by the team but said he's not sure how close the sides might be to a deal.
Colletti and owner Frank McCourt met Wednesday in Los Angeles with Ramirez's agent, Scott Boras, and offered the free-agent slugger a $25 million, one-year contract with a $20 million player option for 2010.
"It obviously gives Manny a lot of flexibility. If he were to agree to something like that, then nine, 10 months from now he is free to try the market again," Colletti said Thursday. "So if you have the chance to be guaranteed or the chance to do something else, it's a pretty good spot to be in."
The offer is similar to the two-year, $45 million deal with a buyout or club option that the Dodgers put on the table in November. Ramirez refused the offer and the Dodgers withdrew their proposal. The team came back with a one-year, $25 million offer, but Ramirez turned that down as well.
Colletti and McCourt made the new offer during a meeting with Boras in McCourt's office in Los Angeles on Wednesday night, after Colletti flew over from the Dodgers' spring training complex in Phoenix.
"It's more powerful when the owner of the franchise is involved in the meeting," Colletti said.
Colletti, in Scottsdale on Thursday for the Dodgers' exhibition game against San Francisco, said he hadn't heard from Boras before the game.
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NEW YORK – Alex Rodriguez was told by the New York Yankees to keep his cousin away from the team. The message was given to the star third baseman on Thursday, said a person familiar with the situation, speaking on condition of anonymity because the team did not make an announcement. The message applied both to spring training and the regular season, the person said.
Rodriguez also was told the cousin should not be anywhere the team congregates, which presumably includes the team's hotel when it travels and the ballpark.
Speaking at Steinbrenner Field in Tampa, Fla., general manager Brian Cashman said only that the matter of Rodriguez being picked up from his spring training opener Wednesday by his cousin "has been handled."
Rodriguez took a similar tone following New York's 5-1 victory on Thursday over Tampa Bay.
"It's been addressed," he said. "And, no further comment."
A day earlier in Dunedin, Rodriguez homered and walked twice, then got into a SUV driven by Yuri Sucart. He's been identified as the cousin who provided Rodriguez with performance-enhancing drugs obtained in the Dominican Republic. Rodriguez admitted using them while playing for Texas from 2001-3.
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NEW YORK – Red Sox closer Jonathan Papelbon on Thursday stood by a magazine interview in which he compared former teammate Manny Ramirez to cancer and said Boston made the right decision when it traded the slugger to the Los Angeles Dodgers last summer. Papelbon was quoted in the April issue of Esquire as saying, "He was on a different train! And you saw what happened with that. We got rid of him, and we moved on without him."
