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Thread: Betts brings to memory one heck of a player.

  1. #61
    TalkSox Ascended Master mvp 78's Avatar
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    Reliving the Nomar stuff is frustrating as Hell.

    "I called him to wish (Nomar) good luck and good health, and said thanks for all you've done," Lucchino was quoted as saying in the Boston Herald. "I told him I was calling on behalf of John [Henry] ... and that we all had a lot of respect for what he'd done for the franchise.

    "Then I asked him, 'How's the heel?' He said, 'Great.' I said, 'Great? A couple of days ago you said you had serious concerns.' He said, 'That was then. It's great now.'
    Quote Originally Posted by moonslav59 View Post
    ( I won't say the "C word.")

  2. #62
    TalkSox Ascended Master mvp 78's Avatar
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    http://archive.boston.com/sports/bas...raised?pg=full

    Injury question raised
    Sources: Garciaparra offered different story
    By Bob Hohler, Globe Staff | August 5, 2004

    ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. -- His story never wavered. From the beginning, Nomar Garciaparra attributed the tendinitis in his right Achilles' tendon to a ball striking him in batting practice before an exhibition game between the Red Sox and Northeastern University March 5 at City of Palms Park in Fort Myers, Fla. But Garciaparra said he never knew who hit the ball. And no one else in the organization acknowledged hitting the ball or witnessing the incident.

    As it turns out, the episode may not have happened. Two sources familiar with Garciaparra's case said yesterday that Garciaparra told a different story to club officials, but the team never contradicted the shortstop's story, even though club officials were aware it wasn't accurate. One source said he was told Garciaparra was injured before spring training.

    Garciaparra's agent, Arn Tellem, called the assertion "absolutely, positively [expletive]. Totally, unequivocally, positively false."

    Garciaparra, after initial projections he would be out for just a few days, missed the first 57 games because of the injury. Sox general manager Theo Epstein said he traded Garciaparra to the Chicago Cubs last Saturday after the shortstop told manager Terry Francona and team trainers three days earlier that he would probably need to miss "significant" playing time this month because of the injury and would likely require more time on the disabled list. The day after the trade, Garciaparra denied saying that.

    Francona and Epstein last night declined comment on the latest development, saying the Sox had agreed the night before with Tellem to halt a public dispute that centered on Garciaparra's physical condition and the reasons why the club and the five-time All-Star were unable to agree on a contract extension that would have kept him in Boston.

    Why Garciaparra would shield the exact nature of his injury is unknown. One possible explanation is that his value on the free agent market could be diminished if he suffered from a chronic case of Achilles' tendinitis rather than from an injury from a specific trauma. Another possibility was that he wanted to avoid additional questions about the rigorous training program for elite athletes in which he participates each winter at the Athletes' Performance Institute in Tempe, Ariz.

    Why the Sox would participate in masking the cause of Garciaparra's injury also remained in question, though teams have been known to shade the exact nature of player injuries.

    The circumstances surrounding Garciaparra's injury initially were so vague team officials said he was suffering from a bruised heel. He played the first game of the exhibition season against the Twins March 4 before he said he was struck by the ball the next day. At first, the injury was described as so minor that Garciaparra was expected to miss only a day or two.

    "It's nothing serious," he said. "I just got hit by a ball in BP."

    When he was unable to play March 7 against the Yankees, he became irate when a reporter asked him if he were ducking the game, refusing comment as he walked away. Yet he continued to maintain the injury was minor.

    "It's not bad at all," he said. "If this was the season, I'd be in there."

    Garciaparra returned to action March 9 against the Reds and played again March 11 against the Orioles. Then he sat out until March 17, when he played his final exhibition game against the Indians. He went hitless in eight at-bats in four exhibition games.

    The Sox ultimately shut him down in spring training, hoping he would be ready to play by early April. But they placed him on the 15-day disabled list March 31, saying he would need three weeks of rest and rehabilitation before he could be reexamined and possibly cleared for a minor league rehab assignment.

    "It's a long season," Epstein said at the time. "It's a long career. We want to make sure we put this behind us so it doesn't become more chronic."

    Garciaparra returned June 9 and continued to report lingering problems with the Achilles'.

    Before the trade, Epstein said he shared all of Garciaparra's medical information with Cubs GM Jim Hendry, who said he was satisfied the Sox had given him all relevant information. The trainers for both teams talked on the morning of the trade.

    Cubs trainer Dave Groeschner told the Chicago Sun-Times that Sox trainers told him Garciaparra might need the odd day off, which is not what Epstein said he was told when he talked to Francona and the trainers. Epstein said he was so alarmed by what he was told about Garciaparra needing significant time off that he called principal owner John W. Henry into his office to participate in the discussion.

    "I talked to the [Boston] trainer several times about all this," Groeschner said. "They told me exactly what Nomar did when he got here -- that he may need a day off once in a while. We're comfortable with where he is right now."

    Garciaparra, in Colorado with the Cubs to play the Rockies, repeated his denials there to Chicago reporters.

    "I have heard a lot of stuff," he told reporters. "Earlier in the year, I heard I was faking it. I was like, `Yeah, I want to sit out for a month in a year when I'm a free agent.' That makes a lot of sense."

    For the first time, Garciaparra also addressed the reason he remained seated on the bench during the Sox' 13-inning loss to the Yankees July 1, the one he sat out after telling trainers he could not play because the tendon was sore.

    "My teammates told me to go sit down in a specific spot so we can go score some runs,"
    he said. "Then I heard I'm unhappy there and I wanted out. I was like, `Man, if I wanted out, why did my wife and I buy a new home [in Boston] in the offseason?' I don't know where it comes from."

    Gordon Edes of the Globe staff contributed to this report.
    Quote Originally Posted by moonslav59 View Post
    ( I won't say the "C word.")

  3. #63
    TalkSox Ascended Master mvp 78's Avatar
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    http://www.espn.com.au/mlb/recap?gameId=240307102

    Nomar Garciaparra had no impact on the game at all, diminishing
    the drama by skipping the game with a minor injury to his right
    Achilles' tendon that should sideline him for one more day.

    "There's no need for me to play," said Garciaparra, who would
    have been traded had Boston obtained Rodriguez. "It's spring
    training."

    Asked if he might be ducking the confrontation with Rodriguez,
    traded by Texas last month, he laughed and said, "It's not even
    worth a comment."
    Quote Originally Posted by moonslav59 View Post
    ( I won't say the "C word.")

  4. #64
    Deity Bellhorn04's Avatar
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    It all worked out pretty good for us, I'd say.

  5. #65
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    Quote Originally Posted by S5Dewey View Post
    Two things come to mind when I hear that.

    I can remember the pic of a shirtless Nomar on the cover of SI - and he was friggin' RIPPED - and an entire article about his workout regimen.

    The other thing I remember is that after that appeared there was some speculation about PED usage and Curt Schilling said that he was certain that Nomar didn't get that way by using PED's. Not that I believe him now, but that's what he said.
    Oh baby do I remember that cover of SI. It was a virtual transformation. God bless him. He was so so talented but in my mind it was pretty obvious what was going on. I won't judge the man though because I can't say with any certaintity that I would not have done the same thing.

  6. #66
    Legend S5Dewey's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by cp176 View Post
    Oh baby do I remember that cover of SI. It was a virtual transformation. God bless him. He was so so talented but in my mind it was pretty obvious what was going on. I won't judge the man though because I can't say with any certaintity that I would not have done the same thing.
    Ya. I can remember thinking that God had finally constructed the perfect body and he gave it to Nomar.

    I understand the temptation to use the PED's. My son had a gifted baseball player in his HS class who bulked up over a season. I didn't think much about it back then but now I wonder....
    It's a mere moment in a man's life between the All-Star game and the Old Timer's game.
    -Vin Scully

  7. #67
    Resident Old Fart Spudboy's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by mvp 78 View Post
    It started well before then. They were all over him in Spring Training (lots to do with him wanting to hold out for a bigger contract). I remember how pissed off WEEI was at him for having the gall of sitting on a picnic table and fielding questions from reporters about him possibly being traded that offseason (for Maglio Ordonez). He had a Howard Dean moment where he laughed with a weird tone and it was played over and over again on WEEI for the following months. Nomar got injured that spring and the media posited that it was from him playing soccer in the offseason with Mia.
    This is an accurate account.

    I remember all this stuff.
    "Hating the Yankees like it's a religion since 94'" RIP Mike.


    "It's also a simple and indisputable fact that WAR isn't the be-all end-all in valuations, especially in real life. Wanna know why? Because an ace in run-prevention for 120 innings means more often than not, a sub-standard pitcher covering for the rest of the IP that pitcher fails to provide. You can't see value in a vacuum when a player does not provide full-time production."

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