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This Week’s Words of Bud Selig, MLB, MLBPA

By Stuart Jones

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Normally when the Bay Area tunes in to hear MLB Commissioner Bud Selig speak, it’s for some sort of post-season awards show, or for the state of the Giants/A’s territorial drama. The All Star Break is another good time to hear the Commissioner give some sort of State of the Sport type of address as we hunker down and wait to hear things we will probably have issue with. Since Monday morning, Selig has had words transcribed by tweeters, and these are some of the things he’s spoken into a microphone:

On his legacy: 

I have not heard any rumors yet about whom would be the possible successor to Selig, and I know plenty of people will be happy with his leaving office, but I’m not so confident things will change drastically with the owners being the people that elect the commissioner.

Oct 28, 2012; Detroit, MI, USA; MLB commissioner Bud Selig at a press conference before game four of the 2012 World Series between the Detroit Tigers and the San Francisco Giants at Comerica Park. Mandatory Credit: Andrew Weber-USA TODAY Sports

On Biogenesis and drug program:

Then again, as someone said, if they’ve sent him an e-mail, how would he know?

One wonders then, how aggressive does Selig want to get on those that test positive for a PED? 100 to start? A season? Do they start really enforcing the “if you lied to investigators that counts as another strike” rule that they’re trying to nail Ryan Braun and Alex Rodriguez on?

Guess that answers that question.

So, less than 80 positive tests in both MLB and MiLB.

You might have heard reports that Alex Rodriguez and his group were trying to agree on a deal for a 150-game suspension. If the report is true, I’m not sure what his suspension would be after the agreements are put into place between the sides.

Hence the 5 to 500, which is a little scary. Giving a 500 game suspension (a little over 3 years) for “just cause”… that is heavy.

So when you consider players like Nelson Cruz that are due to be free agents, this could impact the deal he gets, since it’s looking likely that if he got a suspension, the bulk of it would happen in the 2014 season.

On attendance: 

Breaking news, nobody’s happy about attendance in St. Petersburg. While we wish the Rays could just violate their deal with the stadium before 2027, they have such a long ways to go there, you really do hope something happens. Florida has been doing a good job in showcasing how it is not an ideal place to house a baseball team. Might it be unfair of me to say that since the Rays have never actually been in the City of Tampa Bay? Perhaps, but I have no faith in that state to show up for baseball consistently over the course of a season, good or bad.

On replay:

The process doesn’t have to take forever, Joe Torre. If you have a central command in New York, or even a better system of using replay at the stadiums, set a rule of a number of replays, this doesn’t have to take forever. It does appear they are moving forward from just home run calls or fair/foul on home runs, so there is something positive that should be taken from that.

On the international draft:

I am shocked he is trying to save the money of the owners. Just shocked, I tell you!

On the future of the All Star Game:

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