Oklahoma State University pitcher Andrew Oliver's legal victory against the NCAA last week could impact the NFL and NBA more than it does baseball.
Oliver challenged the NCAA rule that allows an athlete to retain an attorney but forbids the attorney from direct involvement in negotiations.
"For a student-athlete to be permitted to have an attorney and then to tell that student athlete that his attorney cannot be present during the discussion of an offer from a professional organization, is akin to hiring a doctor but the doctor is told by the hospital board and the insurance company that he (the doctor) cannot be present when the patient meets with a surgeon because the conference may improve his patient's decision making power," Erie County (Ohio) judge Tyge M. Tone wrote in the decision.
Oliver was ruled ineligible on the eve of an NCAA regional last year because he used an agent when he was a 17th-round draft choice of the Twins out of high school.
For baseball, Tone's ruling would make things a lot easier. With the NCAA paying little attention to what goes on in baseball, virtually every drafted player has an agent. But many of them will not deal directly with the teams and that bogs down contract talks.
In the NBA and NFL, however, the NCAA is more vigilant in policing the involvement of agents, who now can use the Oliver ruling as a legal precedent. It will be particularly significant for athletes allowed to declare for the draft as underclassmen but who can withdraw from the draft and return to school if they do not use an agent.
Now, it would seem, they will be able to be above board in using an agent to gauge the pro market before deciding whether to become draft eligible.
INFIELD CHATTER
-- Outfielder Garret Anderson has become a focus for Atlanta, which added Ken Griffey Jr. to its list of failed offseason acquisitions, along with shortstop Rafael Furcal and right-handed pitchers A.J. Burnett and Jake Peavy.
-- Second baseman Orlando Hudson is involved in talks with the Dodgers, who had been reluctant to pursue him in the offseason. Dodgers general manager Ned Colletti also said he is continuing to talk with outfielder Manny Ramirez.
-- San Diego first baseman Adrian Gonzalez has recommended the team sign right-hander Walter Silva, who pitched in Mexico for Monterrey. Gonzalez, who faced Silva during winter ball, said the 32-year-old could fill a rotation spot for the Padres.
OUT IN LEFT FIELD
Thanks, Junior.
It doesn't matter what led Griffey to finally return to Seattle for his final big-league season. What does matter is that baseball can use a feel-good story, and having Griffey finish his potential Hall of Fame career with the franchise where he got his start is definitely a feel good for Griffey, the Mariners and the fans.
Give kudos to Hall of Famer Willie Mays, who reportedly contacted Griffey and helped convince him to return to Seattle instead of going to Atlanta, where he would have been in a platoon in left field.
Playing-wise, returning to the American League provides added opportunities for Griffey because of the designated hitter. Just as important, Griffey gets a chance to say goodbye with the team with which he originally said hello.
Griffey, of course, forced the Mariners to trade him to Cincinnati so he could play in the town where he grew up and for the team for which his father spent the prime of his career.
But early in his Cincinnati days, Griffey confided to friends he missed the comfort of Seattle. It was a case of father knows best. The elder Griffey had warned his son before the trade to Cincinnati that, although things might seem rosier elsewhere, there's value in staying put. Dad admitted that point was drilled home when he was traded by the Reds to the Yankees in 1981.
CLOSING STATEMENT
It has been a rugged week for the Washington Nationals.
First, left-hander Odalis Perez doesn't show up in spring training, saying he regrets agreeing to a minor league contract and won't report unless the deal is reworked.
Then it's revealed that Esmailyn Gonzalez, whom the Nationals believed was 19, is actually Carlos David Alvarez Lugo, 23. Gonzalez, given a $1.4 million signing bonus three years ago, is coming off two seasons in the rookie-level Gulf Coast League.
"I'm very angry. We've been defrauded," Nationals president Stan Kasten said during a conference call. "And make no mistake: This wasn't a college kid with a fake ID that came in and did this. This was a deliberate, premeditated fraud with a lot more to this story, and we are going to get to the bottom of it. There were many, many people involved in this premeditated fraud."
Kasten refused to go into more details because of the ongoing investigation.
NUMBERS GAME
-- 7: Teams that had payrolls last year of less than $64 million, which was the difference in the payrolls of the Yankees, who ranked No. 1 at $209 million, and the Red Sox, who were No. 3.
WEAVING PLAN FOR WEBB
Arizona is planning to hold ace right-hander Brandon Webb for the third or fourth game of spring training instead of starting him in the spring opener against Colorado.
By pushing Webb back, he won't face any National League West teams in spring training. That's a familiar pattern for the Diamondbacks, who like to keep their top pitchers from getting too much spring training exposure against division rivals.
HE SAID IT
"I told him I was disappointed in myself and I let the team and organization down. It's easy to succeed; it's hard to fail ... I wanted to pitch better. It was something I felt bad about."
-- Pitcher Eric Gagne, who signed a minor league deal to return to Milwaukee, where last year he was given a $10 million contract by general manager Doug Melvin to be the closer but failed to fill the role.
(Tracy Ringolsby writes for the Rocky Mountain News in Denver, Colo. E-mail ringolsbyt(at)RockyMountainNews.com.)
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