Progression of Players on Steroids

Check out the video linked on Youtube as well!!

Young Stud Caught; Suspended 50 games

Edison Volquez of the Cincinnati Reds tested positive for a male fertility drug that is banned by MLB and helps increase levels of testosterone. The 26 year old right-hander will have to wait even longer after his Tommy-John surgery recuperation. Volquez admitted to using the drug claiming that he and his wife used it in order to try and start a family.

A highly touted prospect of the Texas Rangers system, was traded to Cincinnati for young power hitter Josh Hamilton.

What does this mean for the MLB moving forward? Stars, Sluggers, Pitchers, Youngsters...when it comes to using illegal substances there really isn't a particular "steroid look". Although the more famous players to have been high publicized for their use of steroids are generally very large and strong men, there are many other players like Volquez who are failing these drug tests, often citing reasons other than to increase their baseball performance, as to why they took the drug.

MLB to Consider Floating Realignment

A recent article from The Big Lead describes an on-going topic discussed on talk radio shows covering MLB discussion. The idea is to potentially try to create divisions that are more competitive based on the markets that they play in. This is called Floating Realignment.

Many fans of lower market teams are upset that they're teams don't have the economic ability to compete with teams such as the New York Yankees and the Boston Red Sox who have payrolls around $200 million, and even above for the Yankees. Markets like the Twins, Orioles and Blue Jays don't have these funds and consequently don't have the ability to place the higher paid, and typically more talented, players on the field of competition.

On the WFAN radio, the San Diego Padre coach was asked to comment on this topic. The Padres would be moved to the lower level market, and thus would be seen as having an easier schedule if this move was made. The coach felt that he didn't like this move. He felt that the game has been set up relatively the same for over 100 years and shouldn't be changed now. Every player is of major league talent, and money doesn't necessarily compute directly with win total. Through lower-level scouting and development any team can compete, as seen with the Colorado Rockies of late.

I personally don't like the idea to rearrange the divisions based on the markets that they play in. I believe that a salary cap should be put in place to put a ceiling at how much money can be spent on a roster.

Opening Day 2010!!

Ah, yes! Baseball is back in town!

Sunday Night, April 4th was the first game of the 2010 season as the New York Yankees visited the Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park in Boston, MA. Like any other season, there are predictions for comeback players, winners, losers and every fan believes their own team has the best chance to make it to the playoffs.

But what changes are there to the 2010 season. Let's take a look at some changes and upgrades occurring this season in Major League Baseball.

1. Southwest Airlines is now the official airline for the Philadelphia Phillies, Baltimore Orioles, and Texas Rangers. To commemorate the partnership, Southwest is giving Phillie and Oriole fans a chance to get 10% off their airfare is booked in the month of April!

2. Citifield adds new dining options. Although there's no HGH Hamburgers, Citifield is offering some new dietary options for its fans. Local favorites such as the Shake Shack, Nathan's, Brooklyn Burger, The Original Cascarino's, and Mama's of Corona highlight the options for mets fans!

Podcast

Please enjoy the podcast posted below. It was a thrill to be able to speak with Andrew Vazzano of TheRopolitans.com

MLB Podcast!

Crisis Management Gone Wrong

A look at the Exxon Valdez oil spill crisis. The Exxon Valdez oil spill is one of the most highly scrutinized crisis management cases. Over 1,000,000 barrels of oil spilled into the water when an oil tanker went aground entering the Prince William Sound.

Proper crisis management highlights a few key steps to follow, of which Exxon did a poor part of demonstrating in its crisis response.

1. Timeliness of response:
Exxon CEO waited 6 days before he spoke at all to the media about the oil spill. Our Text, outlines the its best for the company to respond on the issue within 36 hours of its exposure.

2. Don't Constantly Deny Media

Exxon continued to deny the media's request to answer questions. This does nothing but give reason for the media to be creative and publish its own assumptions as to the questions they are trying to figure out, which most probably is not accurate.

3. Keep Information Accurate

Exxon didn't efficiently verify the information to be revealed to the media. This caused Exxon to have released contradictory information, creating an image of foolishness and led many to doubt what information was actually true and correct.

Be sure to respond quickly, have uniform information, and work collaboratively with the media to ensure less gossip stories that create and circulate rumors.

Doctor with Ties to MLB Steroids Arrested

Dr. Douglas Nagel of Virginia was arrested for his ties with MLB and NHL Teams and players and his distribution of anabolic steroids. The Polk County Sherriff's Department will begin to quesiton Washington Capital hockey players on the issue, which will undoubtedly spread to MLB players as well

In recent news involving the MLB directly,Carlos Beltran has been questioned as part of the federal investigation of Dr. Anthony Galea. Galea was arrested in the winter for the use of illegal drugs. He has links to several MLB players including Alex Rodriguez and Carlos Beltran.

These arrests could eventually be detrminental to the secrecy of the MLB and its players. During these investigations the criminals will release any and all information in order to lessen their sentence. Through this manner the steroid scandal crisis will evolve.

Back in the Forefront

In an article written by Buster Olney of ESPN.com, he describes how Major League Baseball will begin testing for HGH (human growth hormones) in its minor leagues.

This can potentially lead to HGH testing in the major leagues sooner or later. In the past, commissioner Bud Selig (photo above)has used the minor leagues as sort of a guinea pig to test out his plans that he hopes to implement on the major leagues. Selig has been very consistent with his outlook and strategy to rid the game of as many performance enhancing drugs that he is able to. He has been very visible and has not hid his opinions on the matter of this crisis the MLB is continuing to deal with.

It seems like every other month superstars of the game, both current and past are coming out admitting to using these performance enhancing drugs...we'll take a closer look at these players and the media they attracted to the sport.

Strategic Planning and Assessing Crisis Vulnerability

Our senior seminar class text, Crisis Management in the New Strategy Landscape, by William "Rick" Crandall, John A. Parnell and John E. Spillan, clearly identifies that a business should properly evaluate their organization based on their company practices. The book identifies five steps:

1. External Analysis
2. Internal Analysis
3. Strategy Formation
4. Strategy Execution
5. Strategic Control

In short, the five steps suggest that the organization assess any opportunities, strengths, weaknesses and threats they face in their organization macro-environment as well as their internal environment. From there the organization must take these and match the internal with the external. From there, put a strategy into practice and properly adjust this when necessary.

Often this type of strategic process is referred to as a SWOT analysis. (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats)

With keeping brevity in mind, I want to take a look into how crises play an affect on the MLB and its own SWOT analysis. Crises can be a weakness and a threat. For instance, 20 years ago, there threat of the public viewing performance enhancing drugs as bad and a weakness of the MLB not having any rules against them. However today, the situation with performance enhancing drugs could be considered both. As a weakness, its internal players are the ones actually using the drugs. However, as a threat is the media and their coverage of the scandal as well as information leaking to media outlets that aren't necessarily needing to know.

Do YOU think that 20 years ago the MLB thought that steroids factored into their SWOT analysis at all?

Juicin

Literature in Baseball Crisis

When searching for articles and literature on crises involving Major League Baseball, I came across this particular book, Baseball In Crisis: Spiraling Costs, Bad Behavior, Uncertain Future written by Baseball In Crisis: Spiraling Costs, Bad Behavior, Uncertain Future in 2008. Below is a description of the book provided by Amazon:

"Recent polls have placed football ahead of baseball in popularity. Does this reflect football's rise or baseball's decline? Why has the national pastime--a title perhaps becoming inaccurate--fallen behind other major sports? Is the trend reversible?

This book identifies the most substantial and persistent issues that have impaired Major League Baseball's development. Chapters cover inflationary player, team and game costs; changes in baseball's fan base; congestion in urban areas that host big league ballclubs; the negligent and irrational actions (some of it criminal) of players, owners, league officials, and the players' union; and the maldistribution of power among the major league franchises. Six major reforms needed to boost the popularity of baseball are identified."


Baseball and football are much different sports. Football is full contact and baseball is more of a skill based sport. However, football has exceled in recent past and the 2010 Super Bowl was the most watched television program in the history of television. Football is played once a week, and fans can easily consider themselves "fanatics" because they only need to watch 3 hours a week. However, baseball is much more intense as they play at least 162 games at about 3 hours a game. Which may set up baseball fans to more likely overcome a baseball crisis. They have invested so much of their time into the sport and MLB that I would believe to think that they are more likely to remain with MLB.

Past Crises of the MLB

Major League Baseball is often categorized into time periods. Looking at the current time period, we will be focusing on the past two decades when looking at past crises that the MLB has dealt with and, that I would say, has overcome.

The 1994-1995 MLB Strike. I will briefly hit the main points of the strike and also delve into the ramifications the strike had on the league. The strike began on August 12, 1994 and ended on April 2, 1995, totaling 232 days. At least 931 were canceled including the 1994 postseason and World Series.

The issue at stake? Money.


The owners wanted to come up with some type of system that would allow more equal revenue sharing by creating a salary cap. This salary cap would essentially not allow the players to make as much money as they potentially could. The Major League Baseball Players Association stood firm on their demands. And would not agree to any contract offer that included a salary cap, which led to their 232 day strike.

The two sides agreed to terms and began the to-be-shortened 1995 season. Some players who tried to become replacement players are still not allowed in the MLBPA. However, fans showed their discontent with the actions of the two sides:

"On Opening Day in 1995, three men, who were each wearing T-shirts emblazoned with the word "Greed," leaped onto the field at Shea Stadium and tossed more than $150 in $1 bills at players.[5] In Cincinnati, one fan paid for a plane to fly over Riverfront Stadium that dragged a sign reading "Owners & Players: To hell with all of you!"[5] The meager crowds at the openers often booed at the players for their rusty fundamentals, shoddy defense, and in response to frequent high-scoring contests. Fans in Pittsburgh disrupted Opening Day by throwing sticks on the field, and holding up the action for 17 minutes before being warned that there would be a forfeit of the game between the Montreal Expos and Pittsburgh Pirates.[5] However, they continued to boo afterwards"

Attendance numbers dropped, fans were upset, others lost touch with the game that was missing for almost a full calendar year. But the MLB has lived on and is continuing to prosper even with the highest payrolls in its history.

Why the MLB?

I have chosen Major League Baseball for multiple reasons. In terms of my Senior Seminar class, I choose it because of its crises that it is currently dealing with. Another reason is that baseball is my favorite sport to watch and follow. My favorite team is the New York Mets and I will try my best to stay unbiased throughout this blog. Although, right now I don't have too many positive things to say about the Mets and could have probably done a blog just on the problems the Mets have been facing....of which they are responsible for putting themselves into. But anyway, lets stick to the topic, Major League Baseball. Most of this blog will focus on the on-going steroid scandal. We will cover who has been involved, the effects it has had on the performance of the game, the effects it has had on the validity of the game and the effects that it poses for the future of the MLB.

Before we get in over our heads, let me provide you a brief history and background of Major League Baseball. Founded in 1869, Major League Baseball is the highest level of professional baseball in the world. Currently there are 30 teams that play each other for a 162 games a piece individually. In 2005, of the 30 teams the average team value was $367 million. In short, we are dealing with a corporation that not only is extremely successful monetarily, but has millions of people physically attending baseball games every season.

Company Focus

Welcome Baseball Enthusiasts!
In this blog I will be focusing on Major League Baseball. Major League Baseball is one of the most popular professional sports played in North America. I will to try to apply information I learn from the textbook, and in-class discussion to developing crisis communication strategies for the MLB. For example, Professor Laskin explained that crisis can be caused by an outside or inside error (deliberate or not). MLB, for example, can potentially face crises from such inside causes such as the use of performance enhancing drugs by the players and outside causes such as the current economic crisis or natural disasters that affect the cities in which the teams play. For example, Major League Baseball is currently having an issue involving the use of steroids by current and former MLB stars.

First Post

This is a student's blog for Crisis Communication class at Quinnipiac University. As such, I as the author of this blog make no representations as to accuracy, completeness, currentness, suitability, or validity of any information on this site and will not be liable for any errors, omissions, or delays in this information or any losses, injuries, or damages arising from its display or use. All information is provided on an as-is basis. Opinions expressed on this blog are James Mullany's personal opinions and do not represent opinion of the Quinnipiac University or opinion of the instructor of the class.