A federal grand jury has indicted Roger Clemens on charges of making false statements to Congress about his use of performance-enhancing drugs.
The 19-page indictment charges Clemens with three counts of making false statements and two counts of perjury in connection with his February 2008 testimony before the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. According to the United States attorney’s office, Clemens faces a maximum sentence of 30 years in prison and a $1.5 million fine, but under the current sentencing guidelines, a conviction would likely bring 15-21 months. Clemens’s allegedly false testimony came in a public hearing in which Clemens and his former trainer Brian McNamee, testifying under oath, directly contradicted each other about whether Clemens had used the banned substances.
I love baseball and it would be nice to have a Triple-A stadium down the street but I’m not sure this is a good idea. No cash from the Padres? Is this really the way most minor league stadium deals are structured?
Landing the top minor league team of the San Diego Padres would require Escondido to pay the entire $45 million cost to build a 9,000-seat ballpark and to give the team all revenue from concessions and naming rights, city officials said Monday.
Mayor Lori Holt Pfeiler said the city’s motive for spending so much money without any immediate revenue in return would be spurring development of a large district of shops, restaurants and condominiums near the ballpark, which would be built on mostly vacant city land between Washington Avenue and the Sprinter rail line.
“A ballpark would be a cool anchor that changes the way people feel about that area,” said Pfeiler, predicting the ballpark would attract many millions of dollars in private development to the industrial zone south of Highway 78 and east of Interstate 15. “This is the quickest way to get what we want to happen there.”
When asked about the proposal, City Councilman Sam Abed said he was concerned that the city would be committing nearly all of its redevelopment revenue for the next 25 years without any guaranteed return on that investment.
“The deal right now is frontloaded to the Padres and backloaded to the city,” Abed said, noting that the only immediate revenue would be “insignificant” lease payments from the team. “We only benefit if and when all this ancillary development happens.”
“It is with profound sadness that the family of George M. Steinbrenner III announces his passing. He passed away this morning in Tampa, Fla., at age 80,” the family said in a statement.
“He was an incredible and charitable man. First and foremost he was devoted to his entire family — his beloved wife, Joan; his sisters, Susan Norpell and Judy Kamm, his children, Hank, Jennifer Jessica and Hal; and all of his grandchildren.
“He was a visionary and a giant in the world of sports. He took a great but struggling franchise and turned it into a champion again.” Steinbrenner had been in failing health for the past several years and had rarely appeared in public. He attended the opening game at the new stadium in April 2009, sitting in his suite with his wife, Joan. When he was introduced and received an ovation, his shoulders shook and he cried.
The North County Times is reporting Escondido is pulling ahead of San Marcos as the front-runner to become the next home for the Padres Triple-A baseball team. City officials have been meeting with the Padres to discuss potential plans a new minor league ballpark surrounded by a large shopping and dining district. Escondido officials say their location offers the greater potential for accompanying development and is located south of Highway 78 and just east of Interstate 15.
“They like the location and they like the potential for ancillary development,” said attorney Dave Ferguson, who last fall spearheaded an effort to bring a new San Diego Chargers stadium to the same area. Ferguson said the San Marcos ballpark site provided less opportunity for extra revenue.
Padres officials declined to comment Thursday, but Padres chief executive Jeff Moorad told the North County Times last week that the team was leaning away from San Marcos because another city had a better plan.
I’m going to submit my request for Swasted.com press credentials right now…
The 2010 MLB First Year Player draft starts today at 4 pm PST. I’m not even going to pretend to pay enough attention to amateur players to have an educated guess on who the Padres will take with the #9 overall pick. 17-year old Bryce Harper seems to be the consensus #1 overall pick for the Nationals despite what some scouts and JUCO umpires may consider a poor attitude. I don’t know the kid but one look tells you he definitely has “makeup” issues.
Eric Byrnes made his return to the diamond this week, appearing in a softball game in Menlo Park, CA. He’s rumored to have gone 2-3 in his debut with 2 HR’s. Here’s a video of his first at-bat….gone!
Will Ferrell hopped into character at a minor league baseball game on Thursday night in Round Rock, Texas. The Round Rock Express played host to the Nashville Sounds and Ferrell “entered” the game in the 6th inning as relief pitcher Billy Ray “Rojo” Johnson wearing #99, sporting a thick mustache and gold chain and carrying a bag of what later turned out to be canned beer. Rojo’s first pitch went behind the Nashville hitter and he was ejected after exchanging words with the batter and home plate umpire. After his ejection, Rojo confronted the batter, tossed his glove at him and then retrieved the bag of beers and started spraying them on him while he was chased around the field.
It turned out Ferrell was in town to promote the Will Powered Golf Classic, which benefits College for Cancer, an organization that provides scholarships to cancer survivors. The promotion was seeded well by the Rock Round marketing staff as they posted a press release on their site on 05/03 saying the club was interested in signing the “U.S.-born former Venezuela phenom”. His signing was announced two days later.
After being released by the Seattle Mariners last week, Eric Byrnes is ready to return to the diamond to play…softball. The 34-year old outfielder has struggled to stay healthy since signing a 3-year, $30-million contract extension with the Arizona Diamondbacks back in 2007.
Yesterday in an interview with MLB.com he revealed that he’s fairly sure he won’t be returning to the Big Leagues but is looking forward to joining his buddies in a recreational softball league in Menlo Park, CA.
“I think this is the end,” Byrnes said in an interview with MLB.com on Wednesday. “You never say never, but I think this is it. Parts of 11 seasons, man — I gave everything I had to the game. I can look myself in the mirror and know that I gave it my all. I’m proud of that.”
I know there’s one guy in Esco who would love to have Eric on the Sunset Lounge squad…
According to a North County Times article, the San Diego Padres and Cal State San Marcos have engaged in preliminary talks about the possibility of moving the Padres Triple-A franchise to the San Marcos campus. The Padres will lose their Triple-A affiliation with the Portland Beavers at the end of the season when the Beavers’ current home stadium is converted to a soccer-only venue after the 2010 season.
“We do have interest in placing a minor-league franchise in our territory, and the only territory that makes sense is North County,” Jeff Moorad, vice chairman and CEO of the Padres, said Wednesday.
Moorad declined to say “which municipality has contacted us.” However, Cal State San Marcos public information officer Margaret Lutz confirmed the school has discussed the matter with the Padres.
“There has been one meeting, all at high levels,” Lutz said. “They are only in the conceptual stage.”
The new team would probably be Triple-A, the highest level of minor-league baseball, because the Padres will lose their Triple-A affiliate in Portland, Ore., when its home stadium is converted to a soccer-only stadium after the season.
To accommodate a Triple-A team, Cal State San Marcos would need to build a stadium that seats at least 10,000 —- something that would probably cost $35 million to $50 million, Moorad estimated.
The UT is reporting that the Padres scheduled Opening Day starter, Chris Young, will miss the big day at Petco Park on Monday due to shoulder soreness following his promising season debut in Arizona. Homegrown talent Kevin Correia will take the mound instead.
Young, lauded as one of the Padres veteran leaders, hasn’t started more than 20 games since 2007 due to injury, though in that time his annual salary has taken leaps and bounds from $600,000 in 2007 to $4.6M last year. You can’t blame the guy for the Albert Pujols liner he took to the face in ‘08, but hopefully this isn’t the beginning of perpetual injury trouble for the Padres this year.
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