First, Delmon Young hits a replacement ump with his bat. Followed by B.J. Upton’s DUI arrest. And now, OF Elijah Dukes has been suspendedly indefinetly for some undisclosed incident. Nice job of player development those Devil Rays have happening in Durham, NC — oh, for the days when the biggest embarrasment to the franchise sat in the owner’s box. From the St. Petersberg Times’ Marc Topkin.
“We’ve had way, way too many of those occurrences,” Tampa Bay manager Joe Maddon said. “We have to really sit down as a group and try to figure out how we’re going to prevent that in the future. Really, this last one should be the last one.
“It’s nonsense. It’s unacceptable behavior. We can’t have that there or here. This is a year of trying to understand what goes on within the group, and I’m really cognizant of not trying to influence too quickly because I do respect the people that have been here before me. So before I give a strong opinion on anything, I want more information.”
Dukes (above), who has had numerous on- and off-field problems, was suspended after an incident before Saturday’s game at Charlotte. The Rays have not disclosed details, but several players said they heard it involved other Bulls at the team hotel.
I don’t mean to tell the Bulls how to run their club, but perhaps they should pass some kind of rule about not letting all of the players sleep with Susan Sarandon.