news: July 2013

Tuesday, July 30, 2013

Justice for Shahzeb Khan

Tuesday night was the unfortunate time when a storm hit DSP Aurangzeb Khan’s family and when it was over it took away the most precious and important thing from them; it was their only son “Shahzeb Khan” who committed a crime, an unpunishable sin to challenge unjust act of a feudal lord. Shahzeb was killed allegedly by Shahrukh Jatoi near Mubarak Masjid in DHA on Tuesday night. The killing resulted from a small argument he had with Nawab Siraj Talpur, when the latter’s servant verbally harassed his sister. Talpur and his friend, Jatoi, allegedly followed Shahzeb and shot him.

Though, electronic media did not cover the incident at the earliest. The family and friends of victim started a movement on social media which grabbed the attention of thousands of youngsters as a result of which hundreds of Shahzeb’s friends, supporters and sympathisers gathered outside Karachi Press Club, carrying banners from which his face smiled down upon everyone. When I, along with my friends visited his home for condolence I found an unusual feeling there. The family was grieved but they all were ready to fight against injustice. They all were charged to challenge big lords. His aunt told me that “he was my only nephew. I know he is not going to come back by our efforts but all we want is the shameful act should not be done again to kill another Shahzeb.”

I remember Sarfaraz Shah an unarmed young man murdered by security personnel in cold blood, though he was begging for his life when he was being cruelly dragged, Faizan Haider and Muhammad Fahim murdered by an American diplomat "Raymond Devis" and after that Fahim’s widow committed suicide to protest against injustice. Amid her sighs her feeble voice always knocks my mind: “We are poor. We will never get Justice. They are so influential people”. I haven’t forgotten Mughees and Muneeb, two innocent brothers who were beaten to death by the mob of beasts under police protection. These are shameful examples of injustice in our society. However Constitution of Pakistan says that: “No person shall be deprived of life or liberty, save in accordance with law.” (Article 09). Peace and Justice are two sides of same coin. You can never expect peace without bringing justice among people.

The ruling elite is unable to control this anarchy as they don't have the capability neither they do have will. Politicizing the misery of a family is not the aim. Our objective is "Justice for all". When i hugged Shahzeb's sister, it’s a tremendous feeling that she is courageously fighting for justice. It is the responsibility of each one of us to wake up and stand up to demand justice for one Shahzeb if we don’t want our Shahzebs to kill by some rich master just to satisfy his ego. Shahzeb was not just a person. He is the reflection of how our society is ruined and crushed by feudal lords. Feudal is a mindset killing our brothers, fathers, sons, ruining honor of our sisters and snatching happiness of our mothers. Why Pakistani citizens are supposed to kill by Drones, crushed on streets, kill in riots or blasts and if someone wants, he can kill them to claim his authority and prove himself God on the earth?

For me youth is the only hope for Pakistan. To get rid of ethnic and dynastic lords, we all have to join hands and do collective efforts. It might going to take decades as roots of feudalism are deeply penetrated in our society but one day our efforts will put a full stop to this imperialism inshallah. I have decided to stand up with Shahzeb’s family because I don’t want my Shahzebs to get away from me and want a secure society for them.

May Allah rest Shahzeb in peace, Ameen!

Trade deadline: Who will be on the move?

Baseball's non-waivers trade deadline arrives Wednesday at 4 p.m. ET, leaving three more days of flux for players and teams. USA TODAY Sports' Paul White and Jorge L. Ortiz look at players who could be on the move and teams with vexing decisions to make before the clock runs out:

TEAMS ON THE FRINGE: Buy or sell?

Justin Morneau, 1B, Twins

Why he could be dealt Morneau, 32, probably has seen the last of his 30-homer years. His contract — at $14 million a year — is up after this season, and Minnesota might as well get some return.

Who needs him The Orioles, Rangers and maybe even Yankees could roll him into a first-base/DH mix. Even the Rays would consider a rental such as Morneau. But Morneau certainly is adept enough defensively to be a factor for National League teams, and nobody could use a first baseman more than Pittsburgh.

Forecast The Pirates badly need a bat, but they aren't likely to deal top prospects. Morneau would cost less but be that big name the Pirates could show fans and players.

***

Luke Gregerson, RP, Padres

Why he could be dealt Long-term consistency from setup men is a rare commodity. Gregerson, 29, has been doing it now for five seasons. That makes him more enticing than teammate Huston Street, who is less consistent and often injured.

Who needs him The Tigers and Pirates are the contenders most in need of creating bullpen depth. It's been a Tigers quest all season, and the Pirates were already getting concerned about wear and tear on their effective group before closer Jason Grilli was lost for at least a month. The Rangers could also use more certainty in front of closer Joe Nathan.

Forecast The Tigers, knowing the bullpen is the question mark on an otherwise powerhouse club, are the team most willing to pay more than the going rate. It should take a young starting pitcher to get a deal done.

***

Kyle Lohse, SP, Brewers

Why he could be dealt Milwaukee can demand a big return for a pitcher who's already proved he can handle the stretch-run and playoff pressure. Lohse was the one who beat the Braves in last year's NL wild-card playoff, and his experience makes him safer than Houston's Bud Norris or San Diego's Edinson Volquez. Lohse's $11 million salary is less than Peavy's $14.5 million, and Lohse is locked up through 2015.

Who needs him He's a good NL fit, putting Atlanta on the list, plus the Braves can help deepen Milwaukee's collection of promising young pitchers. Putting him at the bottom of the Dodgers rotation would be a comfortable spot for a guy who has been hot lately but isn't the dominant sort.

Forecast The Cardinals system is deep enough that it can provide the quality prospects needed to persuade Milwaukee to make an intradivision deal and St. Louis still hangs on to its very best young players. Plus the Cardinals can offer a major league-ready player or two.

GALLERY: TRADE TRACKER

July 30: Chicago White Sox traded RHP Jake Peavy to the Boston Red Sox in a three-team deal. The Detroit Tigers received shortstop Jose Iglesias from the Red Sox and the White Sox received minor league outfielder Avisail Garcia from the Tigers. Dennis Wierzbicki, USA TODAY Sports

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Former GM shares all you need to know about MLB’s trade deadline

John Hart discusses strategies for buying and selling on July 31.

Former Indians GM John Hart. (PHOTO: David Richard/AP Photo)

John Hart served as the Cleveland Indians’ general manager from 1991 to 2001, building teams that took the American League Central pennant six times. After leaving the Indians, he took over the vacant GM position with the Texas Rangers and worked in that job through the 2005 season.

Now a studio analyst with MLB Network, Hart, who will highlight the network’s coverage of Wednesday’s trade deadline, spoke to USA TODAY Sports about a general manager’s job in the final days of July.

FTW: How and when does a team determine its approach for the trade deadline?

Hart: As a general manager, whether you’re a buyer or a seller, it really starts right when the season begins. You have an idea about your club, and you start preparing. If in fact you think you’re going to be a buyer, you’re certainly going to be scouting a lot of players on clubs that you think are going to sell. If you’re the seller, you’re kind of doing the same thing. You’re going to be looking at 8-12 clubs’ minor league systems, and bearing down on their prospects.

The other piece is the financial piece. You have to spend time with your ownership, and you have to determine — especially in today’s world — one, if you’re a buyer, am I going to take the money on? There are some clubs that just aren’t going to be able to take on the money, so they’re going to have to give up better players.

I think when you get to the All-Star Break, you want to have your ducks in a row. If you’re the buyer, you want to know the players that you want. If you’re the seller, you want to know the minor league players that you want. You’ve met with your scouts, you’ve got all your reports, and from there — the last piece — is determining who the buyers and sellers are out of the tweener group, the teams that are five to seven games out.

FTW: For a team that’s out of contention, what’s the value in keeping a veteran player approaching free agency?

Hart: The GMs know what type of players are being offered. They say to the public, “We’re not going to talk about this player; we like what we’re doing; we’d prefer to hold this guy.” They use the right words. But at some point, they know that they’ve had six calls, and they’ve talked about a few players that would interest them, and they know whether clubs are going to play or they’re not. So at some point, you draw that line in the sand and go, “If we don’t get something of value, I don’t want to trade this guy just to trade him. He’ll have more value to me than it would be for me to get some fringe prospect in A-ball.”

Mets outfielder Marlon Byrd (PHOTO: Evan Habeeb/USA TODAY Sports)

The real important piece is: What does this guy mean to our club and how we finish? For instance, if you’re talking about (Mets outfielder) Marlon Byrd, you say, “OK, we’ve got Jenrry Mejia up here, we’ve got Zack Wheeler up here, we’ve got Matt Harvey up here, and some other youngsters Marlon Byrd, is he a good citizen? Check. Is he playing well? Check. Is he going to help our club achieve a better year than we did last year and provide something positive for our young players?” If the answer is yes, you’re going to need a pretty good player in return.

How do you weigh your internal assessment of another team’s prospect against the prospect’s national reputation?

Hart: The internal assessment is everything. Everybody knows who the top guys are. The key is, if you have a player that can command top guys, you go for the top guys. If you don’t, there’s a lot of good players in other clubs’ systems that aren’t necessarily touted as the top guys. You out-scout people.

The fun part of the job is what you’re doing now. It’s a painful time, but this is pure baseball, according to your organization. Guys are out there beating the bushes, and as a GM, you’re on the phone with them. They were down somewhere in A-ball or Double-A, and they’ll call you after the game and say, “Look, if we talk to so and so, we’ve got to get this guy in the deal. I just saw this kid tonight, I hadn’t seen him before — check our reports.” This is where you end up helping and improving your organization.

Texas Rangers Elvis Andrus and Neftali Feliz were acquired in deadline deal in 2007. (PHOTO: Tony Gutierrez/AP Photo)

Frequently, you might have a staff of 7-8 guys, and each guy has three or four organizations where they go top to bottom — rookie ball all the way up to the big leagues. And their job is to know that organization, and to know where the depth is in that organization. If you’re talking with a club and you’ve got a scout that’s been there, top to bottom, he may say, “They’ve got a young shortstop here that we really like. he’s in A-ball and I think you can get him because they’ve got another shortstop in Triple-A and they’ve got a young kid at the big leagues.”

FTW: What are GMs doing in the final days before the deadline?

Hart: At this point, you’re down to players — what’s it take to make a deal? Let’s say that you’re looking for an outfielder, and you’ve got a list of five guys out there that you know are available, and you’ve got another two or three out there that you’re not sure of but you’d really want. You’re going to pay close attention to those five guys that you know are available. You’re going to rank them. And then you’re going to learn what it takes to make a deal for your No. 1 guy, to your No. 2 guy all the way down the line.

If I’m looking for my No. 1-ranked player and it’s going to cost me my best young player, but for No. 2 or 3 — which is not that big of a dropoff — I don’t have to give up as much, then I’m going to go that way.

You’re playing the deal: Who do we want and who do we have to give up? And you’ve got this other group over here of clubs you’re not sure of, and you want to make sure before you make the jump. You might pick up the phone to one of their GMs and say, “Look: I’m getting close to making a deal here. Once I make it, I’m out. If you’re telling me now that you’re not playing, I’m telling you, I’m going away.” That’s how you flush out that club that’s on the fence.

FTW: What about deals that we read about before they happen? Do teams ever leak information strategically?

Hart: There are some organizations that are airtight, where it’s almost a fireable offense if you go out there and start running your mouth. But even then it’s not difficult to sort of match what’s going on. For instance, if one club has just been grinding another club — their scouts have been sitting there, they’ve been watching and focusing on it. People will put two and two together; writers do a really great job now. A lot of it is not clubs that are giving up information, it’s that the writers have seen people around. They’ve got a great feel for what’s going on.

But yes, absolutely. I’m not saying there’s subterfuge going on, but you don’t want to play your hand. You want to play your cards close to your vest. Do you bluff? Do you try to lead somebody that you’re on to somebody else, when you’re on to another player? Absolutely.

FTW: What does a GM do in the final hours before the deadline?

Hart: I think if you really want to play poker to the 12th hour, as a seller, and you’ve got a really good piece, you may have a chance to maximize what you have. You’ll really find out, and be able to compare apples to apples. You have a chance to get a better player later, but you have a better chance to get shut out. It can be chaotic.

The Angels acquired Zack Greinke before the trade deadline in 2012. (PHOTO: Rick Osentoski/USA TODAY Sports)

If you’re sitting there with the player in the market, and you’re holding out for one additional player from two or three clubs, you’re in a pretty good position because you know you’re going to make a deal.

Also, if you’re a club that wanted to do something and for some reason you’ve been shut out — one of the worst phone calls you get, if you’re counting on a guy, is to all of a sudden get a call that says, “Hey, I’m sorry, we just moved this guy.” Or you read a report, and that was the guy you wanted. Now you’re really scrambling. Everybody has a plan B and Plan C.

You get down to the wire, you want to try to help your club. You want to do something. Something comes up, you don’t have enough time to do as much homework as you want, you look at your reports and talk to the scout and maybe make a deal that at the end of it, you say, “I’m not sure that was a wise movie.” Those are the ones to be cautious of — when you haven’t done your due diligence.

Tigers add shortstop as Jhonny Peralta rumors swirl

With the trade deadline at hand and a 50-game suspension for shortstop Jhonny Peralta now perhaps imminent, the Tigers on Tuesday night traded minor-league outfield prospect Avisail Garcia to acquire young Boston shortstop Jose Iglesias, according to several reports.

The transaction was part of a reported three-way transaction in which Boston acquired veteran right-handed starting pitcher Jake Peavy from Chicago.

While Iglesias would go from the Red Sox to the Tigers, Garcia would go from the Tigers to the White Sox.

MORE: Peavy to Boston in three-team deal

There were also reports there could be more players in the deal. According to the Boston Globe, the Red Sox were getting minor-league right-hander Brayan Villarreal from the Tigers. As of late Tuesday night, the deal hadn't been announced.

The reported transaction came in the countdown to Wednesday's 4 p.m. non-waiver trade deadline.

Iglesias, 23, would give the Tigers a proven big-league shortstop to replace Peralta. He showed off sensational defensive skills when Boston visited the Tigers last month. The Red Sox have veteran Stephen Drew at shortstop.

NIGHTENGALE: Peers won't soon forgive suspended players

The right-handed-hitting Iglesias is batting.330 this season with one homer and 19 RBIs in 62 games. He's dropped off lately: four hits in his last 40 at-bats.

Iglesias, who is listed at 5-11 and 185 pounds, has a career average of .280. Unlike Peralta, he doesn't have power. In 97 career games, he has two homers.

In the hours before news of the trade broke, reports surfaced that Peralta could be among the big-league players who accept a 50-game suspension within the next few days for their involvement in the Biogenesis drug scandal. The Associated Press said Friday appears the likely day for all the suspensions to be announced.

If a 50-game suspension for Peralta is announced by Friday night's game, he would be eligible to return with five games left in the regular season.

SUSPENSIONS: Under MLB's drug program

The Tigers have known for weeks that Peralta could be suspended sometime this season for his reported involvement in the Biogenesis drug scandal.

At a press conference on trade-deadline issues Tuesday afternoon, Dombrowski at first refused to directly address what would theclub would do if Peralta were suspended. "It's a Major League Baseball issue, so we're not in a position to discuss it," he said.

In response to later questions, he said the club wasn't looking for a bat and he listed the Tigers' organizational depth at shortstop.

"Argenis Diaz (the Triple-A shortstop) is an outstanding defensive shortstop," Dombrowski said. "(Danny) Worth is playing second base (at Triple-A) -- we know he can play shortstop. (Ramon) Santiago can go over there and play.

"You're not going to get the offense from any of them that you would get on a regular basis."

He declined to lengthen that sentence to "on a regular basis from Peralta" or "on a regular basis from an average big-league shortstop." But it appeared to be what he meant.

Garcia, 22, has played for the Tigers in parts of the last two seasons, and he had some standout moments in the post-season last year. He and Nick Castellanos were the Tigers top two outfield prospects. Garcia's exit would make Castellanos path to the majors less crowded.

On Tuesday afternoon, Dombrowski praised Castellanos but didn't offer any indication of when the top prospect might make his big-league debut.

New reliever Jose Veras essentially fills the vacancy for a late-inning right-hander created by the absence of Octavio Dotel, who has been out since April with a bad elbow. As for whether Dotel can pitch again for the Tigers this season, Dombrowski said:

"I really do not know. There are encouraging signs. He's supposed to throw batting practice (Tuesday) for the first time to live
hitters. He has felt better now than he has felt than at any point all year long, he has said. But we all know that throwing to hitters (is) different than coming in to pitch in a big-league game."

John Lowe writes for The Detroit Free Press, a Gannett property.

PLAYERS TRADED BEFORE THE JULY 31 DEADLINE:

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Jake Peavy traded to Red Sox in three-team trade

In the biggest trade this month preceding Wednesday's non-waiver trade deadline, the Boston Red Sox, Chicago White Sox and Detroit Tigers pulled off a three-way trade Tuesday night that accomplished everyone's goal.

TRADE: A's acquire 3B Alberto Callaspo from Angels

The Boston Red Sox got the veteran starter they sought in Jake Peavy, the Detroit Tigers got their shortstop, Jose Iglesias, in preparation of the pending Biogenesis suspensions, and the Chicago White Sox got a prized outfield prospect in Avisavial Garcia.

The Red Sox, who badly wanted another starter, also received reliever Brayan Villarreal from the Detroit Tigers. And the White Sox also received Red Sox minor league infielder Cleulius Rondon and pitchers Francelis Montas and Jeffery Wendelken.

The Tigers, who may lose All-Star shortstop Jhonny Peralta to a 50-game suspension in Major League Baseball's Biogenesis probe, now have a strong defensive replacement who likely will permanently replace Peralta. Iglesias, was hitting .330 for the Red Sox in his rookie season.

"We are excited to be adding a quality player to our middle infield," Tigers president David Dombrowski said in a statement. ""He is a young player that will provide a lot of depth and has had success playing a variety of roles in the infield."

The White Sox, who are rebuilding and no longer had use for Peavy, 8-4, 4.28 ERA, wanted to move Peavy by the 4 p.m. [ET] trade deadline Wednesday.

"We cannot say enough about Jake's intensity, effort, approach to the game and clubhouse leadership during his five seasons with the White Sox," White Sox GM Rick Hahn said in a statement. "Jake is a veteran competitor who makes his team better every day, not just when he takes the ball."

The White Sox were thrilled to receive Garcia, the Tigers' No. 2 prospect. Garcia, 22, was hitting .380 in the minor leagues, while hitting .241 in 30 games with the Tigers.

"Garcia is a very young, five-tool player who already has spent time in the major leagues," Hahn in a statement. "Our scouts are extremely optimistic about his future and view him as a potential impact talent for many years to come."

GALLERY: TRADE TRACKER

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