Will Steroids Allegations Finally Shatter the Paul Lo Duca Myth?
But I'd like to take the time to focus on a lesser player - Paul Lo Duca. While no one is surprised that the Mitchell Report fingered Clemens (I guess throwing the bat at Mike Piazza can now be described as "Roid Rage"), seeing Lo Duca's name among the list of users is both surprising and welcome. Call it Schadenfreude if you will, but I was glad to see "Mr. Intangibles" named.
I did not always dislike Lo Duca. At one point he was a Minor League guy who consistently put up good numbers, both offensively and defensively, who did not seem like he was going to get a shot. I was glad when he did get a chance in the Majors. But my take on Lo Duca began to change when he was given credit for a bunch of things in which he may or may not have deserved.
There's a saying -- in God we trust, all others must show data. I am a numbers guy. I like to see cold hard facts. If you tell me that Paul Lo Duca is a good ball player, I want to be able to look at the statistical record for confirmation of that. I want to see good on-base skills or good power numbers or good defensive metrics.
When anybody starts throwing out things like intangibles, I get suspicious. I am a firm believer that any theory worth its salt has to have falsifability. If I tell you that Luis Castillo is a great power hitter, we can immediately check the veracity of my claim with a quick look at his career home run totals. There's a way to tell if my statement is true or false. In this case, it is clearly false.
But when someone says something like, "You can't measure Lo Duca's value to the team because he brings so many intangibles", well my BS detector goes off. This is irrefutable evidence and I refuse to believe something that can't be proven just because someone asserts it to be true.
Lo Duca acquired this great reputation for intangibles due in large part to two reasons. One, he was a good quote for newspaper guys and they wanted to be able to say something positive about him. Since there was only so much in the statistical record to prove that he was a good player to have on a team, writers invented the myth that he was a great leader.
And the second reason was that certain writers in Los Angeles, such as Bill Plaschke and T.J. Simers, who held a personal grudge against Dodgers general manager Paul DePodesta and they did everything in their power to run him out of town. When the Dodgers traded Lo Duca as part of a package to acquire Brad Penny, the L.A. writers went on the attack.
They lampooned DePodesta for trading Lo Duca, "the heart and soul" of the team. And to make matters worse, Penny got hurt immediately and did not contribute to the Dodgers, making it even easier to ridicule the trade. Yet somehow the Dodgers made the playoffs that season, even missing their "heart and soul". Imagine that!
It takes a minute to acquire a reputation and a lifetime to lose it.
When the Mets acquired Lo Duca, general manager Omar Minaya said of his new catcher, "This guy's a gamer. This guy's a guy that is going to give you that leadership quality, not only on the field but also in the clubhouse."
Lo Duca has a surprisingly effective 2006 and then a more traditional season in 2007 for the Mets. But his statistical record is there in the open for everyone to see. Let's take a second to talk about some of the other contributions made by this quality leader.
It seems our pal has had some trouble with gambling debts. This is from August of 2006: "A report in The Daily News said that at least twice in the past two years illegal bookmakers had taken steps to get Lo Duca to pay his gambling debts."
Our man with the intangibles also has a preference for younger women. Also from August of 2006: "Mets catcher Paul Lo Duca's troubles increased Wednesday when a 19-year-old Long Island girl told a New York paper she had been having an affair with the catcher."
The woman went on to say that she did not know that Lo Duca was married until she read about his impending divorce in the paper. The reason Lo Duca's wife filed papers? Infidelity.
But he's a rock in the clubhouse, right? Here's what old heart and soul said in June of this year when he, rather than some of the Latins on the club, was asked for an interview: "Some of these guys gotta start talking. They speak English, believe me."
Lo Duca was a free agent after the season and the Mets showed little interest in bringing him back. Instead, he signed a one-year contract with the Nationals. General manager Jim Bowden left no doubt why he signed the catcher
"He wants to be there with the game on the line. He puts the ball in play and he is a winner, and that's why he is here. We are ready to start winning. We are opening up a new ballpark and its time to win."
It takes a minute to acquire a reputation and a lifetime to lose it.
But now, with the Mitchell Report out, we can add steroid cheat to Lo Duca's resume. Let's take a second to soak in the totality of the Paul Lo Duca package.
No power - check
Declining batting skills - check
Poor at throwing out baserunners - check
Problem gambler - check
Philanderer - check
Divisive, potentially racist clubhouse attitude - check
Steroid user - check
It's one thing to use performance-enhancing drugs. It's another to be a complete idiot about how you conduct your illegal activities. Lo Duca, while a member of the Dodgers, wrote a personal note to FBI informant Kirk Radomski on Dodgers' stationary.
What a tool!
The only good thing about this is Plaschke's version of a mea culpa. In today's LA Times, Plaschke wrote:
"And, the following summer, give new boss Paul DePodesta credit for trading Lo Duca to the Florida Marlins.
I wrote that sending Lo Duca out during the middle of a pennant race was one of the worst trades in team history. If DePodesta made the trade based on steroid use, then I stand corrected."
Well, I guess it's better to be part right than all wrong. If the recent revelation makes even Plaschke turn his back on Lo Duca, I guess it was worth however much MLB spent on the investigation.
Sources:
AP: Mets get their catcher - Paul Lo Duca
New York Times: Mets Support Lo Duca as Gambling Stories Swirl
MSNBC: Teen says she had affair with Mets' Lo Duca
New York Daily News: Lo Duca Tired of Doing Talking
Nationals Official Site: Nats sign backstop Lo Duca
Published by Brian Joura
Freelance writer for hire. References available upon request. View profile
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11 Comments
Post a CommentHey SteamRoller no one doubts that "Paulie" has been playing the game all of his life. He's just not a good MLB-quality player.
What kind of facts do you need, look them all up. Paulie's been playing the game since he could walk.
I wonder if the Nationals put the same research in to LoDuca as you.
lol, nice article Brian. Enjoyed it thoroughly.
I've never understood the Lo Duca thing myself. So he's from Brooklyn. Big whoop. I for one am glad that he's gone
Hi ARodSux - thanks for reading and commenting. I love the combination of your handle and the last line in your post. It's true that Lo Duca led the Mets in average in 2006. And even with that, he was barely an average player overall because of his lack of power (love that .110 isolated slugging!), dearth of walks, high GDP totals, etc.) and he was clearly much worse in 2007. Hey, if you like Lo Duca so much, you'll still get to follow him for the Nationals. Good luck with that.
What a douche. The writer, not Lo Duca.
You leave out a number of pertinent facts, and tend to focus on the "intangibles" that you claim to be against. "Potentially racist and divisive" is such a fuzzy accusation. You act as if he was the only baseball player to a) sleep around, and b) gamble.
Also, he was an AMAZING part of the 2006 Mets. It's interesting that you neglected to note that he LED the Mets in batting average with .318 that year. He had a banner season, and pushed it all the way.
I for one an sorely going to miss Lo Duca's presence in the Mets lineup. Take your player hating attitude and give it to someone more deserving.
LoDuca and Clemens certainly got slammed the hardest. Having just finished reading the entire report, I think that rational people can draw one of two conclusions. Either they think that the report is just the tip of the iceberg because only two people really cooperated with Mitchell or they think none of this is believable because it all comes from two co-conspirators helping Mitchell under duress. Either way, I think it was a mistake to put names in the report and then state that you believe punishment should be withheld. Mitchell ruined a lot of reputations with very little hard evidence. I predict there will be law suits against Mitchell and MLB.
I agree with Carol. Fantastic article, Brian. Five stars to you. :-)
Anyone taking performance enhancing drugs should be disqualified- but more importantly such persons should be ashamed of themselves!