I don't know what the kid did. But at best I suspect he behaved in the cretin-ish manner of Ben Rothlisberger (a behavior which costcost Ben millions) and at worst he committed a felony crime.
The way this case proceeded seems to be not untypical of a first time offender and a "he said, she said" episode. An unhappy middle ground was reached.
The best move forward for the M's is to sever ties with the kid now. He is no lock as a major league success story. He may flame out. Odds on that may approach even money or better. Get what you can for him and send him elswhere. Let them deal with the PR nightmare.
Z missed this one totally, either the storm of Lueke criticism or the nature of the event itself. Z messed up. But I think he has a hard time cutting ties with his mistakes. Figgins (in my mind) is a Z mistake. The Figgy question now becomes, on a team with a limited available budget next year, what else could that 8 million dollars purchase (OK..$6-$7M, considering the M's may have to eat some contract) that isn't Figgins. Say, a number 4 type arm? MIght that be much more valuable in comparison to the replacement opportunity. Would you rather have Pauley/French/RRS as your other starter (to go with Felix, Vargas, Fister, Pineda) AND have Figgins. Or have Lopez and a real pitcher in that spot. Easy call for me.
But I think Z is a guy wedded to his errors. To punt on them would be to admit the error....and face the career implications of that.
Let Lueke go. Almost any other organization would have done so (I think). But Lueke is Z's guy. We're stuck with the PR debacle.
Drats.
moe
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