Alfonzo Suspended 50 Games

[love_that_reefer]

Major League Baseball suspended catcher Eliezer Alfonzo for 50 games for testing positive for a performance-enhancing substance.

Alfonzo is a member of the Giants' 40-man roster. He had a solid rookie season for the Giants, but his defense kept him from being a backup once the team brought in Bengie Molina. He was hitting .306 with three homers and 14 RBI in 16 games for Triple-A Fresno this season.

Terrible, disappointing news for the Giants organization. Drop him from the 40 man roster and put someone else deserving there. Also, drop Frandsen from the roster too. No point of him being there since he is out for the year.

[GiantsFanatic]

Wow this sucks, my question is that would the 50 games count as games he will miss in the future when he's called up? Or would Minor league games count for this suspension?

[love_that_reefer]

Minor league games count. Holm is playing too well for him to be called up anyway.

[hot_corner_gurl]

He is officially on your "restricted list" and is actually no longer on the 40-man roster (so says the giants website). Frandsen is still on the roster though. I doubt they'll drop him.

[riverdunesrat]

What a schmuck. If the MLB weren't such wussies, the dude should be banned for life.

[Bear]

Terrible, disappointing news for the Giants organization. Drop him from the 40 man roster and put someone else deserving there. Also, drop Frandsen from the roster too. No point of him being there since he is out for the year.

As a person who has overcome personal problems to another human don't you think you are being a little harsh? Compassion might be in order here.

[riverdunesrat]

As a person who has overcome personal problems to another human don't you think you are being a little harsh? Compassion might be in order here.

There is no compassion in baseball. Only passion. Oh, and also there is no crying in baseball either.

Besides, roid users do not deserve the lame three chances the league has given them. IMO, first strike and yer out.

[jpants10]

could you imagine if MLB really employed a one-strike rule?
i'm pretty sure canseco has ensured that if that were the case, the majority of the league stars (i.e. revenue source) would be banned for life. that doesn't look good considering the media revenue issues going on.
also, from a legal perspective, can we say "deprivation of property rights without due process"?

sorry riverdune...but maybe this is one situation where you really are being a "dirty rat"

[jpants10]

that aside, the giants should really get rid of him. he wasn't that great. holm is performing, and bengie doesn't move fast enough to get hurt (lol). they really need to refocus their franchise motive toward re-establishing credibility after the bonds era. there's just no room for crap like this in the clubhouse these days.

[riverdunesrat]

could you imagine if MLB really employed a one-strike rule?
i'm pretty sure canseco has ensured that if that were the case, the majority of the league stars (i.e. revenue source) would be banned for life. that doesn't look good considering the media revenue issues going on.
also, from a legal perspective, can we say "deprivation of property rights without due process"?

sorry riverdune...but maybe this is one situation where you really are being a "dirty rat"

Don't want to get into a debate about roids here as we have done it already at S3F to infinity.

Everywhere else there is a zero tolerance for illegal substances why are professional athletes any different? It will never happen as you say as then there would be too many guys getting banned for life. And the fidiot Selig would never allow that to happen.

"deprivation of property rights without due process" Not sure what that has to do with being banned for life.

We as fans are the ones who put up with roid use and it seems more and more that the majority of fans don't really care whether a guy is using or not. I care and I stand by my one-strike rule. But then who am I? No one, just some dirty rat.

[jpants10]

i won't debate 'roids with you. but basically under the Constitution, you are guaranteed three things under Due Process: life, liberty, and property. When you have a job in a non-at-will position (as MLB players do), you have a property interest in that job. The government, or any other authority taking government-like action, cannot take that away from you without giving you Due Process of law. It is unlikely that any MLB regulation imposing a zero-tolerance policy (banning them for life) would be upheld in any courtroom, due in part to the strict scrutiny the regulation would receive, due also in part to the strength of the MLBPA, due in part to the Court's deference to sporting bodies to enforce lex sportiva while at the same time being very careful to not let those same bodies usurp governmental power, and finally due in part to the US government's weird way of romancing professional baseball.
Bottom line being: change is needed. but a one-strike rule just wouldn't pass muster.

[love_that_reefer]

As a person who has overcome personal problems to another human don't you think you are being a little harsh? Compassion might be in order here.

Exactly what was harsh about what I said?

[Bear]

Exactly what was harsh about what I said?

The part about dropping both Alfonzo & Frandsen from the 40 man roster. If they were in a bind for space I would agree, but to drop them for these reason makes no sense to me. If you have any hope of playing these guys again you need to stand by them, and support them durning these times. If not you are just throwing them to the wolves.

Also are you under the impression that the Giants are a playoff team or are they in a rebuilding period? It seems to me that if it is rebuilding then you can cut these guys some slack.

[love_that_reefer]

Dude, throwing these guys to the wolves? What wolves? Alfonzo is gone for 50 games. What sense does it make to keep this guy on the roster? Frandsen is out for the year. What sense does it make to keep him on there? This is a business and this is baseball. I find nothing harsh about taking these guys off the roster. Its not like these guys are going anywhere. The Giants need pitching now with Lowry being setback and Zito being sent to the pen, don't you think it is wise to put pitchers on the roster?? It doesn't matter if they are rebuilding or not. Point of this game is to win and the Giants management has not been doing that at all facets. Have the best men available! Frandsen's feelings aren't going to be hurt by this and Alfonzo will learn a lesson. I find nothing harsh about these simple ideas.

[jpants10]

i think what bear is getting at without knowing it is...
if we keep moving these guys around, we might run out of franchise-options. see: davis, rajai.