Former Cubs prospect Jose Ceda - traded after the 2008 season for the ghost of Kevin Gregg - shot a guy in the Dominican. In the spine. And it seems nobody knew:

JUPITER -- Jose Ceda brought a painful secret with him when he showed up to spring training last season with the Marlins, fresh off a trade from the Chicago Cubs. Ceda -- not known by the Marlins until Sunday -- had shot his best friend with a handgun in the Dominican Republic.

The friend survived, and the shooting was ruled an accident, according to the 23-year-old pitcher and his agent, Paul Kinzer. Details of the shooting are fuzzy.

Fuzzy? Somebody (other than the Miami Herald) should look into this. While I'm no Dominican criminal law expert, shooting a guy seems problematic - even if he is your best friend.

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Ceda revealed the 2008 incident to The Miami Herald on Sunday when he was asked about his weight loss. Ceda, whom the Marlins obtained from the Cubs for Kevin Gregg after the 2008 season, expressed pride that he had reduced his weight from 300 pounds to 273.

The reason? According to Ceda, he worked out and received instruction from a nutritionist -- something he was unable to do the previous winter when authorities confined him to his home briefly in the aftermath of the shooting.

``I didn't leave my house last [winter],'' Ceda said.

He also missed the full year with a bum shoulder. Perhaps the two were related.

At least the authorities looked into it. In the end, Ceda wasn't charged. Still, that's a hell of a thing to carry around - you know, shooting your friend:

Kinzer said that there were initial fears that the friend, who was shot in the stomach, might be paralyzed. Kinzer said the bullet penetrated the spine.

``Thankfully, he is doing better now,'' Kinzer said.

Ceda said he paid all of the victim's medical expenses, more than $11,000.

Seems to be the least he could do.

What do the Marlins think of this?

The Marlins said they were never informed. Neither manager Fredi Gonzalez nor Larry Beinfest, the Marlins president of baseball operations, were aware of the incident until informed of it by a reporter for The Miami Herald on Sunday.

``It just seems a little weird,'' Beinfest said.

That's one word for it.

Anyway, all's well that end's well. That's what I always say. That and "when in Rome."

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