Opinion

Major League Baseball, a sport blighted by drugs cheat scandals in the last decade, has announced it is going to introduce testing for Human Growth Hormone in the minor leagues.

The minors have always been the method of introduction used by baseball’s governing body with regard to drug testing. In 2001, the MLB introduced random urine testing in the minor leagues before rolling it out across the majors the following year.

Spring training isn’t even a week old, and already questions are piling up for the Red Sox.

Will David Ortiz return to form? Will the Sox extend Josh Beckett’s contract? What will become of Mike Lowell? Can Jon Papelbon bounce back from his ALDS meltdown? What can we expect from the offense?

Yet out of all these questions, there remains one that I simply cannot wrap my head around: Will Tim Wakefield get a spot in the rotation? 

Red Sox 3B Mike Lowell has been a class act since the day he arrived in the City of Boston. He was a throw-in from the Florida Marlins—added to the Sox haul in the Josh Beckett deal because The Fish wanted to dump his contract.

He is universally considered to be a positive influence in the clubhouse, serving as a liaison between the anglo and hispanic players on the roster. Off the field, he embraced the city. He routinely made himself available to Red Sox Nation, participated in the charitable endeavors of his teammates, and undertook charity work of his own.

With exhibition games starting in March, MSG decided to air ESPN's hit miniseries "The Bronx Is Burning" this week as an appetizer.

This eight-series drama featured characters such as Billy Martin, George Steinbrenner, Reggie Jackson, Gabe Paul, Thurman Munson, Mickey Rivers and Fran Healy. Martin stood out more than the rest with his crazy personality.

It's remarkable why Yankees fans adore Martin despite the nonsense he pulled as the Yankees manager.

I recently received quite a bit of flack for one of the five points in my last article on what the Braves need to happen in order for them to win the East.

So, in the spirit of discussion, and defending myself, I have decided to elaborate on my point on what Bobby Cox needs to do to get his Braves over the hump.

One of the first things I said when the Yankees signed Chan Ho Park the other night was that his deal would make more sense if the Yankees moved Chad Gaudin.

Part of my reasoning was that for the past few weeks, the Yankees have been talking budget. It didn’t make sense to spend $1.2 million, even if it was a good deal, on your sixth reliever if you are being budget-conscious.

Well, it turns out that Gaudin’s contract, and Sergio Mitre’s for that matter, will only be a problem if the Yankees want it to be a problem.

Have people forgotten about Mark Buehrle?

I am a Chicago White Sox fan who lives in Chicago. Naturally, many of my peers are White Sox fans as well.

They, like myself, are very excited for this year's team, which features one of the best pitching rotations in baseball.

While I am with one of my friends, he decides to bring up the upcoming season. He tries to spark up a conversation about the potential of the Sox this year, but he fails miserably by saying, "How 'bout that offense, huh?"

"Oh yeah...all that power..."

"28 in 2010" is the newfound battle cry of the resurgent Yankee dynasty.

However, "27 since 2007" might be a more meaningful one this week.

Just 28 months ago, on a Wednesday evening at the team's Legends Field training complex in Tampa, George Steinbrenner gathered his two sons, team president Randy Levine, Brian Cashman, and several others around him for a salary discussion requested by a leading member of the Yankee team that had won 10 AL East titles and four World Series in 12 years.

In June of '09 I wrote a story recapping Tommy Hanson's major league debut in Atlanta. In that article I talked about the Hansonmania that had taken Atlanta by storm in a losing effort.

In 2010, still days away from the first exhibition game of spring training, Heyward-Hype has made Hansonmania look like my seventh birthday party—the one when the clown didn't even show up.

Considering that baseball's spring training camps have just opened, and that this is Black History Month, it would be a mortal sin not to call attention to an institution that is a significant part of the game's lore.

This is a part of baseball history that's as big as Babe Ruth and Yankee Stadium, something that for the first half of the 20th century served a portion of America that was criminally excluded from Major League Baseball due to racial bigotry: the Negro Leagues.