Matsuzaka, Bonds the big names as MLB teams begin training
MIAMI: Japanese pitcher Daisuke Matsuzaka, the Boston Red Sox's $100 million rookie, and controversial slugger Barry Bonds are the big stars as Major League Baseball teams open training camps on Thursday.
Nine of 30 clubs begin workouts for pitchers and catchers on Thursday in Florida and Arizona with the rest starting no later than Monday as the dream of capturing a World Series crown in October begins to take shape.
Matsuzaka will join the Red Sox in Fort Myers, Florida, and US players, scouts and fans will have their first look at the "gyroball" that baffled Japanese batters for years.
The Red Sox paid the Seibu Lions $51.1 million dollars simply to win the right to negotiate with Matsuzaka, then signed the right-hander to a six-year deal worth $52 million dollars.
Boston Red Sox pitcher Daisuke Matsuzaka throws during an informal workout at the team's Player Development Complex in Fort Myers, Florida on Tuesday. |
Matsuzaka, MVP of the World Baseball Classic for winner Japan, led Japan's Pacific League in victories three times, earned-run average twice and strikeouts four times in an eight-year career.
Bonds will return to the San Francisco Giants needing only 22 home runs to break Hank Aaron's all-time US homer record of 755, but Bonds' link to the BALCO steroid scandal ensures that his pursuit of the mark will be unpopular.
Bonds, who hit a one-season record 73 homers in 2001, was booed last season and taunted about drug use in most road games, although San Francisco fans supported him.
The 42-year-old outfielder has yet to sign a revised contract with the club after Major League Baseball rejected an appearance clause in the first deal, but few doubt Bonds will be with the Giants when the season opens in April.
Bonds has denied knowingly taking performance-enhancing drugs but his trainer, Greg Anderson, was among five men convicted in the BALCO steroid scandal and Bonds himself faces possible perjury and tax charges in a grand jury probe.
Also looming over the San Francisco slugger is an investigation into steroid links and baseball being led by former US Senator George Mitchell at the urging of commissioner Bud Selig in the wake of a book about Bonds last year.
Bonds' record chase will be the dominating story of the season but there are other tales to tell.
Dominican standout Sammy Sosa is attempting a comeback with the Texas Rangers after a year off following a woeful campaign with Baltimore.
The St. Louis Cardinals will attempt to defend their World Series title while the Series-losing Detroit Tigers will have the fielding exercises of their pitchers scrutinized after numerous errors by the mound men cost them a crown in the best-of-seven championship final.
The Chicago Cubs, who last won the World Series in 1908, will try to end nearly a centuty of futility after spending nearly $300 million in the off-season.
New manager Lou Piniella joined for $10 million. The Cubs spent $136 million for super-slugging outfielder Alfonso Soriano and kept third baseman Aramis Ramirez for $73 million.
They also signed pitcher Ted Lilly for $40 million and fellow starter Jason Marquis for $21 million.
If the talent equals the price tags, the Cubs could be contenders for the crown. If not, ancient Wrigley Field could be home to an expensive flop.
AFP
(China Daily 02/15/2007 page23)
