NORTH HOLLYWOOD, Calif. (AP) -The recession-plagued economy and his love of baseball weigh heavily on Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Randy Wolf. He’s employed but Manny Ramirez is not. He’s never been mentioned in the steroids discussion but knows the game is tainted by it.
“Look at the way the country’s been,” Wolf said Wednesday at a high school where he has been working out during the offseason. “Hundreds of thousands of people are losing their jobs. That’s why I’m lucky to play baseball for the Dodgers.”
After what he characterized as a “crazy offseason” in which he had offers submitted, pulled and reduced, most notably from Houston, Wolf signed a one-year, $5 million contract with the Dodgers, with an additional $3 million in incentives.
He will report to spring training in Glendale, Ariz., on Saturday, with his surgically repaired left shoulder feeling stronger than when he began his career 11 years ago, he said.
own three offers from the Dodgers.
Wolf said he thought he’d be the one who wouldn’t have a place to go this spring. Now, he hopes the Dodgers and Ramirez can “meet in the middle” and work out something.
“It’d be nice to see him out in left field,” Wolf said. “He had a huge impact on the team last year, and on the National League West. He’s exciting.”
What baseball needs to do, Wolf said, is help the fans. A bleak economy calls for reduced ticket, food and stadium parking prices, he believes, and ridding the game of steroids and other performance-enhancing substances would go a long way to restoring the public’s confidence in the game.
On Monday, Alex Rodriguez admitted to using steroids from 2001-03 while with the Texas Rangers. On Wednesday, Miguel Tejada pleaded guilty to lying to Congress about his use and admitted to buying human growth hormone.
“More people relate to this game and as a result hold it to a higher standard,” Wolf said. “When football players are caught with steroids, people say, ‘OK, it happens.’ With salaries, no one complains about how much football and basketball players make.”
Wolf said he isn’t sure if he wants the list of the 104 players who have tested positive to be made public.
“Will that make things end? Probably not,” he said, adding that he’s not defending Rodriguez, but he also doesn’t think it’s fair that Rodriguez’s name was made public.
Add A Comment