RedIvyCub

Absolutely correct. Testing is only allowed if there is suspicion. This is pulled directly from the Major League Baseball’s Joint Drug Prevention and Treatment Program (page 9). mlbplayers.mlb.com/pa/pdf/jda.pdf "B. Drugs of Abuse Except as set forth in Section 3.A or Section 5.B (as to Stimulants) or Section 3.C or Section 4.E, Players shall not be subject to testing for the use of any Drug of Abuse. C. Reasonable Cause Testing In the event that either Party has information that gives it reasonable cause to believe that a Player has, in the previous 12-month period, engaged in the use, possession, sale or distribution of a Prohibited Substance, the Party shall provide the other Party, either orally or in writing, with a description of its information (“Reasonable Cause Notification”), and the Player will be subject to immediate testing or a program of testing, as determined by the IPA, to commence no later than 48 hours after the Reasonable Cause Notification was provided. Notwithstanding the foregoing, if a Party receiving Reasonable Cause Notification disputes the existence of reasonable cause, that Party shall have the right to commence a proceeding before the Panel Chair, as defined in Article XI(A)(9), within 48 hours after receipt of the Reasonable Cause Notification, and the Panel Chair will determine whether reasonable cause exists to subject the Player to testing. No reasonable cause testing of the Player will occur until the completion of the proceeding before the Panel Chair. The proceeding before the Panel Chair may be conducted by conference call at the request of either Party, and shall be completed within 48 hours from the time the Panel Chair was notified of the existence of the dispute. The Panel Chair shall issue his decision within 24 hours of the completion of the proceeding, and if the Panel Chair finds reasonable cause to exist, the testing or testing program, as determined by the IPA, shall commence within 48 hours of his decision. "

I don't see them butting heads with the MLBPA over this especially with the big money contracts. However, what a bankruptcy could affect are the payments still being made to Sosa. Would wipe those out as well as to any other player who had a contract with deferred payments. Bet the DBacks are thinking they should have done this themselves years ago. LOL

http://www.chicagonow.com/blogs/david-kaplan-chicago-sports/2009/07/breaking-news-cubs-sale-to-be-announced-today.html Seems once again his "excellent resources" are playing games with him.

Too bad the banks cant claim players as assets like they do with houses and cars. I can just imagine the repo man dragging off the entire Cubs outfield in the middle of a game :rotfl: Don't you mean the player's contract as an asset?

You all do realize the reason for less games on WGN, don't you? It's the Superstation tax. It's why TBS under new Braves ownership is no longer the flagship station of the Braves. So don't be surprised to see no more game on WGN America down the road. Albeit, they will probably still televise on the local feed only. And for those who are so upset about not seeing the Cubs on WGN...talk to fans of 28 other teams who don't have the advantage that you do. I don't think they will feel too sorry for Cubs fans if they lose WGN games. Then again, that is Zell's fear because then WGN will probably not be a Superstation much beyond that with all the horrific programming they offer.

sadly, no. for some strange and inunderstandable reason, tennessee is considered the reds market. who knew? oh, yeah, try living here in louisville. this is NOT a reds town, despite the bats being the AAA affiliate. i know of more cubs, sox (both), and (explitive deleted) cardinal fans here than reds fans and yet we are stuck with reds broadcasts over the cubs games. and yes that is important. do any one of you want to listen to 9 innings of jeff brantley and thom brennamen female doging about the cubs and/or cubs fans 3 game straight? its bad enough that if i ever wanted to catch the game on radio, bitter old marty brennamen comes out the speakers. thankfully when the games are on wgn, they aren't blacked out here (strangely enough). it's only when the games are on espn or tbs when i really don't have much of a choice. WGN games aren't blacked out anywhere. They pay the "superstation tax" for each game that they show. As MLB has found other ways to get money off of having out of market fans (through MLB EI and MLB.tv), that superstation tax has gone up which is why you no longer see Braves games on TBS and WGN has slowly but steadily cut the number of games that are shown. Very true. This is why some games were moved to CLTV about a decade ago and this is the reason for some games being on WCIU. Cubs and Sox are the only team paying this tax now and it has increased immensely since its inception. So don't be surprised that even though Ricketts is a huge fan of this team that you see less or no games on WGN America in the future. They could also do like they do with the Bulls and Hawks and only put the games on the WGN local feed hence reducing the Superstation tax. I never understood why the Cubs just took the rap for reducing the number of games without explaining the reason to the fan base. If people realized this, they could be mad at the right people.

Because you live in St Louis and FSN Midwest is your RSN.

I'm doing Gameday Audio this year. I'm blacked out of Cubs games anyway. Why don't you watch it on TV or do you not have cable or satellite? CSNC is the RSN in this area and I am able to watch all the games (except WCIU because it's too much of a pain to switch over to an antenna to get it on channel 69). MLBTV blacks out in market subscribers which is why you cannot get the Cubs games (nor Sox, Tigers, Reds). So I am going to assume this is for when you are working. When I'm working will be nice, but I also don't get CSN+, so that's a fair few games I can't otherwise watch. And like last year I'm sure I'll be wanting to follow other teams' games too. Eh, you need a job where your company server is located in another team's territory. LOL Seriously, it works.

I'm doing Gameday Audio this year. I'm blacked out of Cubs games anyway. MLBTV follows blackout rules too? I only want it for Cubs games. If the Cubs will get blacked out then forget it. If you go to the page and plug in your zip code, it will tell you which teams are "in market" and hence, blacked out. Only the Brewers would be blacked out for me. Hooray! Always glad to provide information that makes someone happy. I am glad you will be able to get the games. They will only blackout against the Brewers so you should get them on TV then anyhow.

I'm doing Gameday Audio this year. I'm blacked out of Cubs games anyway. Why don't you watch it on TV or do you not have cable or satellite? CSNC is the RSN in this area and I am able to watch all the games (except WCIU because it's too much of a pain to switch over to an antenna to get it on channel 69). MLBTV blacks out in market subscribers which is why you cannot get the Cubs games (nor Sox, Tigers, Reds). So I am going to assume this is for when you are working. Indiana's cable companies don't carry CSN Chicago because it's not the local RSN. At the same time, it technically is inside the Cubs home territory so the games are also blacked out on MLBTV. So if you get cable for any reason, you have no way of seeing those Cub games in this market. I'm still crossing my fingers that they won't black the games out with Uverse (which actually has the channel but they blacked out Bulls games) but I'll have to wait another month to see for sure. Incorrect, I live in Indiana. CSNC is my RSN...was in NW Indiana and it is in NC Indiana. Cable or Satellite...take your pick. I take it you don't live in NW or NC Indiana. They used to have a listing on their website but no longer of the cities where CSNC is the local RSN. BTW, we are blacked out of Pacer games up here even though we live in Indiana. Good thing I am not an NBA fan. If UVerse blacked out the Bulls, they will black out any Chicago team. It isn't the provider you use that matters...it is the overall blackout rules.

So, Greg chose working with the Padres over the Cubs.... You have to admit that is rather interesting...

Depends on who wants to be the guy to caters to the needs of Ron Santo. Sorry but that has to get old after a while so good for Corey on pulling down a full time gig.

I'm doing Gameday Audio this year. I'm blacked out of Cubs games anyway. MLBTV follows blackout rules too? I only want it for Cubs games. If the Cubs will get blacked out then forget it. If you go to the page and plug in your zip code, it will tell you which teams are "in market" and hence, blacked out.

I'm doing Gameday Audio this year. I'm blacked out of Cubs games anyway. Why don't you watch it on TV or do you not have cable or satellite? CSNC is the RSN in this area and I am able to watch all the games (except WCIU because it's too much of a pain to switch over to an antenna to get it on channel 69). MLBTV blacks out in market subscribers which is why you cannot get the Cubs games (nor Sox, Tigers, Reds). So I am going to assume this is for when you are working.

You gotta think this guy has somewhat reliable sources, I don't think MLB.com would just let him post his opinion of the situation as fact. Barry M. Bloom is a national reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.