Scuttlebutt

Former Oakland A Troy Neel was sentenced today to five years probation for failing to pay his ex-wife child support.  It was the biggest child support default case in Texas history, with Neel owing approximately $779,000 in unpaid support and interest.

In 2000, Neal was ordered to pay $5,000 a month to his ex-wife to support their two children.  Neal finished his professional career playing in Japan and South Korea around 2001.  He then bought a small island is Vanuatu, in the South Pacific, and built a successful resort there.

However, all good situations come to an end.  His passport expired in 2008, and the government of Vanuatu ordered him to leave the country, probably under pressure from the U.S. where Neel’s a wanted man.  He was nabbed at LAX, the airport in Los Angeles, flying in from Sydney, Australia late in 2008.  And, of course, he still has to pay the child support.

Meanwhile, the first player selected in the 2004 Draft, Matt Bush, was sentenced to six months in a rehabilitation program after several off-field run-ins, where he was under the influence of drugs and/or alcohol, involving charges of assault, vandalism, drunk driving and resisting arrest.

Bush was a complete bust as a professional player.  As a shortstop, he couldn’t hit, so he switched to pitcher, and although he showed real promise in half a dozen appearances, he then promptly tore his elbow ligament and was out of action until 2009.

The Pads traded him to the Blue Jays in February of this year, and the Jays cut him on April 1st for another drunk driving incident in Dunedin, Florida.  By all the accounts I’ve read, Bush is a real loser.

Bush was a controversial No. 1 pick the year he was selected, because it was clear to most observers that he went only No. 1 ahead of the likes of Stephen Drew and Jered Weaver, because the Padres didn’t want to pay him a premium bonus.  Instead, the Padres signed him to a $3.15 million bonus, which turns out to have been money flushed down the toilet.  If your going to have to spend millions of dollars to sign anyone taken with the first pick, at least get a top prospect.

Bush is only 23 this year, and presumably has some talent, so if he can get his head straight in rehab, he’s still got an outside chance of having a professional career, especially with the Independent A leagues out there to give him an opening.  However, he’s got a history of being a jerk going back to 2004, when he was involved in a fight outside a nightclub in Peoria, Arizona before even playing his first professional game. It seems doubtful to me that six months of therapy can cure a lifetime of being a jerk.

Meanwhile, the Red Sox made another solid move, trading Julio Lugo to the Cardinals for left-handed hitting outfielder Chris Duncan. Everyone in baseball knew that the Red Sox were desperate to unload Lugo, even though it meant that the Sox would have to eat almost all  of his remaining contract except for the major league minimum paid by Lugo’s new team.

In these circumstances, the fact that the Sox got anything for Lugo is a victory of sorts.  Duncan’s not a great player, and he’s having a bad year.  However, he has a career major league OPS of .851 against right-handed pitchers in more than 1,000 plate appearances.  A player like that has real value in the right role (i.e., pinching hitting and platooning against right-handed starters).

When a team is both wealthy and smart, they’re awfully hard to beat.  On the other hand, if a team is merely wealthy, everyone else has a chance.

On that point, it was reported yesterday that the Mets still see themselves as buyers with respect to the impending trade deadline, even though they are now 7.5 games back of the wildcard spot in the NL.  More importantly, I think, they have seven teams in front of them for the wildcard.  In their own division, they’re in fourth place, ten back of the Phillies.

Even if the Mets suddenly get healthy and pull off a few big trades, they not only have to get hot, but all the teams ahead of them have to get cold.  I don’t see all seven teams and/or the Phillies falling apart, even if the Mets go on a tear.

Rob Neyer beat me to the punch on this point, mainly because I didn’t think I could squeeze an entire post out of the point.  Here’s Neyer’s article, which I don’t think makes the point as succinctly as I do, but contains a rather amusing philosophical quote.