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Tuesday Halolinks: A-Rod and 60 Minutes, Angels out on Tanaka?

The Alex Rodriguez saga spills over outside of baseball with a "60 Minutes" segment. Who knows what's up with Masahiro Tanaka?

By Jim Gardner
Jonathan Daniel

As we wind down the winter (only a few more weeks until pitchers and catchers report to Spring Training, the two biggest stories are the continued speculation of Masahiro Tanaka landing spot and how's the biggest scumbag in A-Rod's PED story.  Here are today's Halolinks:

  • Boy, oh boy...what a bunch of weird-ass crap coming out of baseball.  If you haven't heard, "60 Minutes" ran a story on Alex Rodriguez and and his PED scandal, highlighting that everyone involved in this story is covered in crap, including Bud Selig:  The 60 Minutes Report - Joe Blogs.  "At the end of the 60 Minutes report, all is ugliness. A-Rod is guilty and lying, surely, Anthony Bosch seems a first-class lowlife, Rob Manfred comes across as Old Man Potter from "It’s a Wonderful Life," and the only winner in the whole mess — THE ONLY WINNER — seems to be the drugs themselves, which apparently work miracles and, if used right, are undetectable. So what point of all this again? Scott Pelley ends the report like so: "And Bud Selig has announced his retirement from the game. Part of his legacy is the establishment of the toughest anti-doping rules in all of American pro sports." There it is. Bud Selig, who has been commissioner over the worst drug scandal to ever hit American sports, who presided over a game that ten years ago DID NOT TEST for drugs, got 60 Minutes to put that line at the end. Part of his legacy is this glorious chapter of buying papers from Bobby, threatening and paying off Boesch and nailing Alex Rodriguez."  Here's a little more:  11 fascinating details we learned during the '60 Minutes' story about A-Rod - Yahoo Sports
  • Prior to the CBS TV broadcast, there was somewhat a resolution in A-Rod's appeal of his suspension...until he takes it to another court: A-Rod ruling explained — how arbitrator Fredric Horowitz decided on 162 games - Yahoo Sports.  "One of the main questions lingering after Sunday night's reveal of the case against A-Rod on "60 Minutes" was how and why Horowitz decided to knock MLB's initial 211-game suspension down to 162 games. It wasn't as simple as just saying, "this guy is done for season," although that's what eventually happened."
  • It's pretty bad when Satan Scott Boras is one of the people making the most sense: Boras: MLB wrong to go after players and not distributors - FOX Sports.  ""The integrity of the game is only partially served when a known pusher is exonerated, when the genesis of this entire problem is now given a forum and compensation and is not behind bars for the distribution and promoting the use of illegal drugs, not only to baseball players but all members of the sporting community and youth," Boras said."  This is one of the reason baseball has been surpassed by football and possible basketball as our youth's favorite sport -- baseball fails to acknowledge that the players are the their most important product and would rather generate much more negative publicity around a player than fix the problem.
  • Today's Tanaka take: Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim said to be among Masahiro Tanaka's favorites - angels.com.  ""I'm just not sure another long-term, high-salary contract is what the Halos need right now," said an American League executive, noting past deals for Albert Pujols (10 years, $240 million) and Josh Hamilton (five years, $125 million). "If you pay ace-type money to too many guys who aren't quite aces, your salary structure really gets out of whack."  Just spend the money.
  • Alright, so what's going on?  Are the Angels in or out??  Angels did not meet with Japanese pitching star Masahiro Tanaka - latimes.com.  "The Angels did not meet with Japanese pitching sensation Masahiro Tanaka in Los Angeles last week, General Manager Jerry Dipoto confirmed, an indication that the team might not be a serious bidder for the 25-year-old right-hander."
  • If the club has the cash, previous failures shouldn't be a consideration: Why the Los Angeles Angels Should Avoid Masahiro Tanaka in 2014 - Yahoo Sports.  "Yes, Tanaka could be a game-changer for a team that's set up to win now like the Angels, but if signing him turns out to be the wrong move, then the Halos will be 0-for-3 (after missing the playoffs in years in which they signed Pujols and Hamilton in 2012 and 2013) on big-name signings over the last three seasons. That kind of risk-reward scenario is too much to take on for a team that's already swung for the fences and missed in a big way. Bringing in one player won't solve the depth issues that plagued the pitching staff. They need to get better across the board."

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