Injury foils Floyd's
'great spring'
By MIKE BERARDINO
Sun-Sentinel
Posted March 27 2001
VIERA -- Monday morning Cliff Floyd
sat at his locker and talked about his “great spring”
and how good he was feeling, at the plate and in general.
Several hours later, the Marlins’
left fielder stood at his locker, an all-too-familiar bag
of ice in his hand, and rolled his eyes at the inevitable.
“Unbelievable,” Floyd said
after leaving a 6-5 win over the New York Mets with tightness
in his left groin.
Floyd, hitting .342 with a team-high five
home runs, was hurt stretching a sixth-inning bloop into
a double. He hesitated as he rounded first, then opted to
continue after seeing reserve left fielder Mark Johnson
splayed face-first on the turf.
Floyd felt a “grab” halfway to second but slid
in safely. Three innings earlier he fouled a pitch off his
right foot, but there were no lingering effects.
It’s the groin that has him concerned
with Opening Day less than a week off.
“Opening Day? No question, I’ll
be ready by then,” he said. “I’m going
to do whatever I have to do to play Opening Day.”
He smiled and shook his head at what has become a rite of
spring for the talented but star-crossed outfielder.
“I’ve been trying to
go the whole spring without getting hurt,” he said.
“I can deal with little aches and pains. As long as
I’m not popping tendons and tearing ligaments, I’m
fine.” (go to list)
Floyd added
to NL all-star team
Sunday, July 8, 2001
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) -- Cliff
Floyd is going to the all-star game, after all.
The Florida Marlins outfielder, bypassed
for the National League team when manager Bobby Valentine
announced his reserves last week, was added Sunday as a
replacement for injured New York Mets pitcher Rick Reed.
Valentine's original decision set off
several days of sniping between the manager and Floyd, who
said he was so certain he was on the team after talking
with Valentine by telephone that he purchased $16,000 worth
of plane tickets for family and friends to attend Tuesday's
game in Seattle.
Floyd learned he had been added to the
team after Florida's 6-1 victory over the Tampa Bay Devil
Rays. He said he regretted an injury created the opening,
but he was grateful to be headed for Seattle.
"I pray for nobody to get
hurt, but maybe it was meant to be," Floyd said. "I'm
definitely going to enjoy it.
"All the stuff is behind us.
I'm going to have a blast. It's a good ending to a bad beginning."
Valentine sent a letter to Floyd on Friday
expressing regret over the friction caused by not picking
him for the team. Floyd, who's batting .342 with 21 homers
and 70 RBIs, said he just wants to put the situation behind
him.
"All you do is go up to him
and shake his hand and be a man about it. Things happen,"
Floyd said. "I'm just going to forget about it and
thank him for the opportunity.
"The issue got out of hand....I
just want to enjoy it. Some things you just have to let
go."
Reed was scratched from his scheduled
start Sunday night against the Yankees. He left his June
27 start against the Chicago Cubs after 2 2-3 innings because
of lower back spasms. It was his shortest outing of the
season.
Floyd gets a $10,000 bonus because
of his addition to the NL team. (go
to list)
2001 MLB All-Star
Game
Marlins' Floyd slams Mets'
Valentine
BY JOSH DUBOW
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
NEW YORK
Cliff Floyd won't have a problem
flying to Seattle if he wants to confront Bobby Valentine
in person about being snubbed for the All-Star Game.
Floyd was so certain he would make the team after talking
to Valentine that he bought nearly $16,000 worth of plane
tickets.
But Floyd wasn't among the selections for the National League
team, and on Thursday, Valentine said the Florida Marlins
outfielder "misunderstood the conversation'' —
prompting an angry response from Floyd.
"If he said I misunderstood, then he's lying,'' Floyd
said in Montreal, where the Marlins were playing.
About all Floyd, his agents and Valentine could agree on
Thursday was that someone wasn't telling the truth.
Floyd and Valentine had been having a spat since May, when
Floyd called the New York Mets skipper "a stupid manager''
during a testy series between the teams.
Valentine later said Floyd's remarks could be a tiebreaker
in his All-Star picks.
The two tried to clear the air Tuesday — the day before
Valentine made his selections — when Mets public relations
director Jay Horwitz called Floyd's agents to let them know
Valentine wanted to speak to Floyd.
"The point of the conversation was to clear the air
for both of us,'' Floyd told the Sporting News Radio. "I
wasn't losing sleep over it, but it was bothering me that
every time I got asked a question it wasn't about baseball,
it was about comments I made about Bobby Valentine.''
The phone call only increased the animosity between the
two.
Floyd's agent, Seth Levinson, said the player told him Valentine
said: "I'm not supposed to tell you today because it
is against league rules. But congratulations, you're on
the team.''
Earlier, during a conference call to discuss Tuesday's game,
Valentine disputed the statement.
"Cliff Floyd's agent is a liar,'' he said. "I
didn't back out of anything. I talked to Cliff and Cliff
knows exactly what I said. ...
"(Cliff) called me and I told him he's on the bubble
and I appreciate everything he does,'' Valentine added.
"I told him that I love him as a player, I've wanted
to get him as a player, I scouted him as a player, and we'll
see how the chips fall.''
That prompted an angry response from Levinson, who, with
his brother Sam, represents many major league players, including
Mets first baseman Todd Zeile.
"We will stand by our reputation in the industry and
the character of the players we represent,'' Seth Levinson
said. "I have never said anything publicly about this
incident until today. So Bobby Valentine's attack is without
basis.''
Floyd was so certain of what he heard that he immediately
spent $15,988.13 on seven plane tickets for friends and
family to go to Seattle for the game.
"The truth is that when I talked to him on the phone,
he said that I was on the team barring anything crazy,''
Floyd told the Sporting News Radio. "Now I'm going
to ask you, what crazy thing could happen in one day?''
But Floyd didn't make the team, losing to outfielders Moises
Alou, Lance Berkman, Vladimir Guerrero, Larry Walker and
Brian Giles.
Valentine said Wednesday that the spat had nothing to do
with his choice.
"Please don't embarrass me with questions like that,''
he said. "He's not going because other guys are more
deserving.''
Criticism isn't new to Valentine. David Wells of the Chicago
White Sox called Valentine a "loser'' earlier this
season, and other players, including Robb Nen, Jose Mesa
and Craig Biggio, were critical of being left off the All-Star
team.
"I think that people don't like him for the simple
fact that he tries to steal the glory from a manager's standpoint,''
Floyd told the Sporting News Radio. (go
to list)
Floyd's goal
-- again -- is to stay healthy
Tuesday, February 20, 2001
MELBOURNE, Fla. (AP) -- Preseason previews of the Florida
Marlins make outfielder Cliff Floyd's mom mad.
Invariably the stories mention Floyd's
fragile health. He understands, but his mother doesn't.
"She calls me and says, 'They're
writing that stuff again. Why do they keep doing that?"'
Floyd said with a laugh. "My dad gets all the baseball
magazines, and I tell him not to leave them around. But
she gets bored and reads them and goes right to the Marlins:
'Cliff Floyd -- great potential, but ..."'
Brace yourself, Mrs. Floyd, because here
it comes again: Your son has great potential, but ... dubious
durability. Injuries have sidelined Floyd for at least a
month in six of his seven major league seasons, a pattern
all the more galling because of his enormous talent.
He reported for spring training Tuesday
healthy and crossing his fingers that this year he can stay
off the disabled list. The Marlins share that hope.
"He's the key to our lineup,
because he's got so much talent," manager John Boles
said. "He hits for high average with power, and he's
a base-stealer. It would be neat to see him play a whole
season. I bet his numbers would be comparable to anybody
in baseball."
Last year Floyd hit .300 with 22 home
runs, 91 RBIs and 24 stolen bases despite being hobbled
by a torn meniscus in his left knee that put him on the
disabled list for a month.
That was his sixth DL stint. He has also
had wrist, knee ligament, Achilles' tendon and hamstring
injuries.
"Because of what has happened
in the past, you know what's going to be said: 'He's a fragile
guy,' and all that stuff," Floyd said. "I'm very
used to hearing it."
And teammates are accustomed to seeing
him with a cast or crutches. Floyd stood at his locker Tuesday
exercising his right forearm using a contraption that looked
something like a splint. Catcher Charles Johnson glanced
at it and reacted with mock alarm.
"What's that on your hand,
man?" Johnson said.
Floyd shrugged off the teasing and said
he feels great. He has recovered from wrist surgery in November
and said his offseason training regimen was the most rigorous
of his career.
At 6-foot-4 and a muscular 240 pounds,
Floyd certainly looks robust. He'll bat third in a lineup
that should be the Marlins' most potent since their World
Series championship season in 1997.
Luis Castillo is now a proven leadoff
man, and offseason acquisition Johnson means more run production
from the catcher spot. Preston Wilson, Derrek Lee and Mike
Lowell are all capable of hitting 30 home runs.
And then there's Floyd, a left-handed
hitter who should be approaching his prime at age 28. He
said he wants to become a more aggressive hitter this season.
"I'm not going to worry about
making contact as much as in the past," he said. "I've
always tried to just put the ball in play a lot. For a big
man, they don't ask me to put the ball in play. They want
me to do other things."
When these words are relayed to Boles,
the manager rolls his eyes.
"Cliff should just keep doing
what he's doing," Boles said. "The only thing
he needs more of is at-bats.
"If we had him healthy for
a whole year, it could be something. He's a special offensive
player. I wouldn't like to be a first baseman holding a
guy on with Cliff Floyd at the plate. He can really hospitalize
you."
But with Floyd, any reference to
hospitals is best avoided. (go to list)
