Robinson Raps Steroid Policy

Frank Robinson, the Hall of Fame slugger and manager of the Washington Nationals, believes steroids have created a “cloud over baseball” and that new penalties against steroid use aren’t strong enough.

In his most extensive comments to date on the topic, baseball’s No. 5 all-time home run hitter said Friday many fans were willing to ignore steroid use because they enjoyed the “home runs, the RBIs, the big explosion offensively” of the last few years.

“But I’ll tell you one thing,” he said. “The players that play this game do care, and the players that have played this game care. I’ll tell you that.

“It’s a cloud over baseball right now about steroids,” Robinson said before a spring training workout in Viera, Fla. “My take on that is that it doesn’t belong in the game.”

Robinson has been reluctant to comment on the steroid issue, and he refused to cite individuals -- “I don’t know if Barry Bonds is on steroids. Do you?” -- but he is clearly concerned about the blanket suspicion cast over all players, especially those who have bulked their bodies and improved their games by more natural means.

“It’s like when they had testing, back when I was playing, for certain drugs,” Robinson said. “A lot of players took it as an invasion of privacy to be tested. I said I have nothing to hide. I’d love to be tested. I wish we all would be tested because that would clear up the ones that are innocent. When you throw a blanket over everybody, that’s mud on me, and I’m clean.”

Under new standards announced in January, players who test positive for steroids the first time will be suspended for 10 days. It will require four positive tests to get a one-year ban. A fifth positive is subject to discipline determined by the commissioner.

“I just think the penalties are not strong enough,” Robinson said. “First offense, 10 days? Five times? You’d have to be awful stupid.”

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Right-hander Ramon Ortiz and the Cincinnati Reds agreed to terms on a $3.55-million, one-year contract, avoiding the last scheduled salary arbitration hearing of the year.

Only three cases went to hearings among the 89 players who filed last month, the fewest cases since arbitration began in 1974. Owners defeated players, 2-1, management’s ninth straight winning record. Minnesota’s Kyle Lohse won, and Kansas City’s Jeremy Affeldt and Oakland’s Juan Cruz lost.

The Reds acquired Ortiz on Dec. 14 in a trade with the Angels and plan to use him in the starting rotation. Ortiz, 31, alternated between the rotation and the bullpen for the Angels last season.

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Nomar Garciaparra has been given a raise by the Chicago Cubs. The shortstop will have a base salary of $8.25 million this season, up from the $8-million deal he agreed to in December. As part of the reworked contract, he will be able to earn $2.75 million in performance bonuses instead of $3 million.

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Frank Thomas hasn’t recovered from ankle surgery and will not report to the Chicago White Sox along with other position players on Monday in Tucson. Thomas had a bone graft and two screws inserted on Oct. 6 to repair a partial stress fracture of his left ankle, injured while fielding a grounder June 17.

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Woody Williams will start the San Diego Padres’ season opener at Colorado on April 4 rather than Jake Peavy, who led the majors with a 2.27 earned-run average last season.

Manager Bruce Bochy said that the 38-year-old Williams, signed as a free agent on Dec. 8, would be better suited to handle the pitcher-unfriendly conditions of Coors Field.

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Venezuelan police rescued the mother of Detroit Tiger pitcher Ugueth Urbina from kidnappers in a surprise raid that left at least one of her abductors dead, authorities said.

Officers of an anti-kidnapping unit rescued 54-year-old Maura Villarreal in a remote mountainous area in the southern state of Bolivar, said Joel Rengifo, the chief officer in the division. She was kidnapped from her home on Sept. 1.