Jones’ comments, Preller’s deeds overshadow MLB playoff races

The biggest stories of the last week in Major League Baseball weren’t focused on the pennant races, the Chicago Cubs clinching the National League Central or the Seattle Mariners winning eight straight games to make the American League wild-card race even more interesting.

Instead, the prominent storylines involved a star player, who happens to be an African-American, calling baseball “a white man’s sport” and a club general manager getting suspended for hiding medical information from other teams.

Adam Jones, the All-Star center fielder for the Baltimore Orioles and just a quality citizen, was mostly right. San Diego Padres GM A.J. Preller, no matter how he tried to play off the egregious cheating, was dead wrong.

First to Jones, a highly regarded player by his peers with a long track record of good deeds off the field. He was asked about another black man, San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick, refusing to stand for the national anthem in an effort to start a conversation about racial injustices.

So, Jones answered the question and any follow-ups poignantly. All of what he said is deserving of consideration.

Above all the things he said, though, the headline grabber was that black MLB players haven’t protested the anthem for fear of losing their jobs in “a white man’s sport.”

He was mostly right about the demographics in baseball. African-Americans made up about 8 percent of Opening Day rosters, a problem MLB is attempting to address. Of the 30 teams, only two have a black manager (Washington, Dusty Baker; Los Angeles Dodgers, Dave Roberts) and only two have a black person heading their organization (Arizona, Dave Stewart; Chicago White Sox, Kenny Williams).

When Jones looks around the Orioles’ clubhouse, he sees one black coach and two black teammates.

In the United States, competitive youth baseball is expensive, eliminating many children in inner cities. It’s also not easy to watch a three-hour game with delays between each play.

So, yeah, MLB can be seen as “a white man’s sport.”

Jones also sees six Latin players and one from Korea in the clubhouse, so that’s his one shortcoming. Baseball is diverse, just not very black. But, granted, the foreign players don’t have as many bones to pick with American social issues as black players might.

Lost in Jones’ comments, among many things, is that Kaepernick is doing something he believes in and getting ripped apart for it — even though the First Amendment allows him and others to protest.

It’s also everyone’s First Amendment right to express opinions for or against Kaepernick and Jones, even if they come out looking foolish (Tony La Russa).

There are multiple opinions to express on Preller, who already had an established record of crossing the line, and none of them are good. But each one boils down to the same thing:

Don’t trust him any further than you can throw him. Even with him weighing at most 140 pounds, that’s not very far.

Preller established a system in San Diego where not all medical information was exchanged with trading partners and more detailed information was kept separate to give the Padres an advantage in trades.

The Boston Red Sox cried foul after their deal for left-hander Drew Pomeranz, who has remained healthy. The Padres also had to take back right-hander Colin Rea from the Miami Marlins after he injured his elbow in his first start after a trade.

Preller was suspended 30 days and in a statement said that there was no “malicious intent on the part of me, or anyone on my staff, to conceal information or disregard MLB’s recommended guidelines.”

More people might have believed him had this been the first time he had run afoul of MLB rules. Preller was fined last year for holding an illegal tryout in Aruba, and in 2010 he was suspended 30 days for violating international signing rules while an assistant GM with the Texas Rangers.

Padres ownership, which has never had a problem changing out GMs, said that Preller will not be fired. Not said, though, is that he will be on double-secret probation.

Business likely won’t be affected, even though teams won’t trust Preller. But if the Padres have a player who could make a difference, a team is going to come calling. Most likely a team that is a playoff contender.

Those are the clubs that should have been the biggest stories in baseball last week.

This story was originally published September 17, 2016 at 6:32 PM with the headline "Jones’ comments, Preller’s deeds overshadow MLB playoff races."