Bob DuPuy, the President and Chief Operating Officer of MLB has issued a statement regarding Baseball Prospectus' Pete Rose story:

"The story that appeared on the Baseball Prospectus website today regarding the return of Pete Rose to baseball in 2004 and the alleged written agreement that had been reached by Rose and Commissioner Selig is unsubstantiated and totally unfounded. The report is wholly inaccurate.

"As has been reported many times by the Commissioner and as recently as one week ago, Commissioner Selig and Mr. Rose have met regarding his pending application for reinstatement, which originally was filed in 1997. The Commissioner has not made a decision and no agreement with Mr. Rose has been reached or signed. When a decision is made, it will be reported through the appropriate channels. Any unnamed source to the contrary or any report suggesting otherwise is both unfortunate and journalistically irresponsible."

As you can well imagine, this story has caused a veritable shit storm in the on-line baseball community. Check out the thread running at Baseball Primer for the gory details.