Back with Five-Thought Friday:
1. The Yankees-Rockies series was the first extended play I have seen from Colorado shortstop Troy Tulowitzki, and my impression is that the Rockies have a star. He seems to have shaken off a slow start and I would think he has a pretty good chance to end up the NL Rookie of the Year now.
2. In discussing why he thought it was not incumbent upon his pal, Jason Giambi, to discuss in-depth details on major league steroid use with George Mitchell’s investigation unit, Johnny Damon repeated what so many players have said about this era, “I always have thought what’s in the past is in the past.†It is an interesting concept to take by players. Maybe we should apply that to contracts from now on. Maybe Damon could, for example, tell his agent Scott Boras that when trying to sign one of his clients to a lavish deal to leave what is in the past in the past. So no trying to build up the contract with career achievements like All-Star appearances or .300 seasons or total runs scored. That is all in the past.
3. Damon sure looks like a guy who only has a past now. To play in all of those games in the previous decade-plus, Damon might have surrendered the best of his body, leaving him a slap hitter with no position to play.
4. Joe Girardi did the right thing. There are only 30 major league managerial jobs and turning one down can seem self-defeating. But going to work in the wrong place is more likely to destroy your career then showing the spine to ignore that opportunity, and the Orioles run horribly by Peter Angelos is the wrong place until further notice. Remember that Willie Randolph spurned the Reds, in part, because he did not like the contract situation or the method by which coaches would be selected. As badly as Randolph wanted to manage at the time, that was the right choice. He ended up in a much better place with the Mets.
5. By the way if all the Mitchell investigation determines is that a lot of players took a lot of steroids, that it was easy to obtain those steroids, and that there was a lot of peer pressure to take steroids to keep up with other users in the game, then it will be the Carl Pavano of investigations, a gigantic waste of dough.