FanHouse GaryGibson

Because the NFL season never ends, we present our 2009 Offseason Roadmaps for front offices to navigate through the summer.

John Fox and Marty Hurney headed into 2008 with their jobs on the line after an underwhelming 2007 that featured a whole lot of Mittens and not a lot of excitement in Charlotte. They decided to throw caution to the wind and play for "now" by trading their 2009 first-round pick for a chance to pick up both Jeff Otah and Jonathan Stewart in the first round of the draft.

With a healthy Jake Delhomme, Julius Peppers finally deciding to care, a road-grading offensive line and a rejuvenated Smash and Dash running game that featured DeAngelo Williams and Stewart, the Panthers surprised some people by winning the NFC South and looking like a Super Bowl-caliber squad.

Pudge Rodriguez thought that by dragging Gary Sheffield away from the fracas after throwing a bat piece in the general direction of umpire Greg Gibson, that he might have saved Sheff a suspension. Pudge was wrong. The hammer of justice has fallen, and Gary Sheffield has been served a three game suspension for the bat shard toss.

MLB cited Sheffield's "aggressive actions" toward home plate umpire Greg Gibson, in making its announcement. Umpire-in-chief Charlie Reliford said after Thursday's game that he believes Sheffield threw the stub of his broken bat toward Gibson after a fifth-inning groundout.

Sheffield said that is "not true," and suggested that he would expose a "conspiracy" within the game, if he is not cleared of wrongdoing.

"Once they see the tape, and they still suspend me, then we're going to talk about this conspiracy that's going on," Sheffield said. "If it ain't no conspiracy, then I shouldn't be suspended at all."

More drama from Gary Sheffield. Conspiracies? People out to get him? Second spitters? Outstanding! Now this is something I'm interested to hear about. I'm also wondering if Roger Clemens will be retroactively suspended for throwing a bat at Mike Piazza during Game 2 of the Subway Series in 2000. Could that play a part in Gary's conspiracy theory?

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