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- There weren’t really any major stories around the league on Monday, unless of course you consider the start of spring training a major story. The Mets and Pirates officially kicked things off around the league. Spring training is always a fun time of year because all of the players are together again and it means that real baseball (and nice weather!) is right around the corner. That being said, it’s also pretty boring and I’ll be complaining about spring training in about a week. So, something to look forward to!
- Esteban Loaiza was a really solid pitcher through the early- and mid-2000’s and he even had one great year in which he finished second in the Cy Young voting. If you watched baseball in this time, you likely remember him but also have likely not thought about him in years. Well, he’s back in the news, and it’s not why anyone would expect. Apparently, according to a report from Jeff Passan of Yahoo Sports, Loaiza has been arrested for transporting 44 pounds (!) of heroine and cocaine. So, uh, yeah, he’s going to be in jail for a while.
- There’s another drug story in the news, this time involving ACES sports agency. According to Jon Heyman, former associate Juan Carlos Nuñez is suing the agency for allegedly making him make under-the-table payments to players and families as well as help clients get performance enhancing drugs. That’s the one thing this offseason was missing: A new PED scandal. Hell yeah! Nuñez has been in the news before as he was part of the Biogenesis scandal — he directed some players to that clinic for PEDs — and he also helped Melky Cabrera with that bizarre scheme to set up a fake website when the outfielder got caught taking PEDs. For whatever it may be worth, Dustin Pedroia, Joe Kelly and Tyler Thornburg are represented by ACES, though there is no reason to connect them to this scandal at this time.