Posted by TMS:
Nomar is no longer a viable option at SS... his range is nothing like it used to be (not that it was ever that great to begin with)... he's a weak hitting 1B, OF super utility guy at this stage in his career... he should probably get back on the roids, it might help to extend his career a few years.
He's probably having trouble finding the stuff that worked for him after he left Senator Mitchell's team.
Posted by TMS:
Nomar is no longer a viable option at SS... his range is nothing like it used to be (not that it was ever that great to begin with)... he's a weak hitting 1B, OF super utility guy at this stage in his career... he should probably get back on the roids, it might help to extend his career a few years.
Agreed. I really hope Jeter doesn't end up with that projected .736 OPS though!
I am so ready for some baseball.
I'm pretty psyched for this season.
Posted by islesfan:
I am so ready for some baseball.
I'm pretty psyched for this season.
me too, but i'm not psyched for this:
Sources tell SI Alex Rodriguez tested positive for steroids in 2003
In 2003, when he won the American League home run title and the AL Most Valuable Player award as a shortstop for the Texas Rangers, Alex Rodriguez tested positive for two anabolic steroids, four sources have independently told Sports Illustrated.
Rodriguez's name appears on a list of 104 players who tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs in Major League Baseball's '03 survey testing, SI's sources say. As part of a joint agreement with the MLB Players Association, the testing was conducted to determine if it was necessary to impose mandatory random drug testing across the major leagues in 2004.
When approached by an SI reporter on Thursday at a gym in Miami, Rodriguez declined to discuss his 2003 test results. "You'll have to talk to the union," said Rodriguez, the Yankees' third baseman since his trade to New York in February 2004. When asked if there was an explanation for his positive test, he said, "I'm not saying anything."
Phone messages left by SI for players' union executive director Donald Fehr were not returned.
Though MLB's drug policy has expressly prohibited the use of steroids without a valid prescription since 1991, there were no penalties for a positive test in 2003. The results of that year's survey testing of 1,198 players were meant to be anonymous under the agreement between the commissioner's office and the players association. Rodriguez's testing information was found, however, after federal agents, armed with search warrants, seized the '03 test results from Comprehensive Drug Testing, Inc., of Long Beach, Calif., one of two labs used by MLB in connection with that year's survey testing. The seizure took place in April 2004 as part of the government's investigation into 10 major league players linked to the BALCO scandal -- though Rodriguez himself has never been connected to BALCO.
The list of the 104 players whose urine samples tested positive is under seal in California. However, two sources familiar with the evidence that the government has gathered in its investigation of steroid use in baseball and two other sources with knowledge of the testing results have told Sports Illustrated that Rodriguez is one of the 104 players identified as having tested positive, in his case for testosterone and an anabolic steroid known by the brand name Primobolan. All four sources spoke on the condition of anonymity due to the sensitive nature of the evidence.
Primobolan, which is also known by the chemical name methenolone, is an injected or orally administered drug that is more expensive than most steroids. (A 12-week cycle can cost $500.) It improves strength and maintains lean muscle with minimal bulk development, according to steroid experts, and has relatively few side effects. Kirk Radomski, the former New York Mets clubhouse employee who in 2007 pleaded guilty to illegal distribution of steroids to numerous major league players, described in his recent book, Bases Loaded: The Inside Story of the Steroid Era in Baseball by the Central Figure in the Mitchell Report, how players increasingly turned to drugs such as Primobolan in 2003, in part to avoid detection in testing. Primobolan is detectable for a shorter period of time than the steroid previously favored by players, Deca-Durabolin. According to a search of FDA records, Primobolan is not an approved prescription drug in the United States, nor was it in 2003. (Testosterone can be taken legally with an appropriate medical prescription.)
Rodriguez finished the 2003 season by winning his third straight league home run title (with 47) and the first of his three MVP awards.
Because more than 5% of big leaguers had tested positive in 2003, baseball instituted a mandatory random-testing program, with penalties, in '04. According to the 2007 Mitchell Report on steroid use in baseball, in September 2004, Gene Orza, the chief operating officer of the players' union, violated an agreement with MLB by tipping off a player (not named in the report) about an upcoming, supposedly unannounced drug test. Three major league players who spoke to SI said that Rodriguez was also tipped by Orza in early September 2004 that he would be tested later that month. Rodriguez declined to respond on Thursday when asked about the warning Orza provided him.
When Orza was asked on Friday in the union's New York City office about the tipping allegations, he told a reporter, "I'm not interested in discussing this information with you."
Anticipating that the 33-year-old Rodriguez, who has 553 career home runs, could become the game's alltime home run king, the Yankees signed him in November 2007 to a 10-year, incentive-laden deal that could be worth as much as $305 million. Rodriguez is reportedly guaranteed $275 million and could receive a $6 million bonus each time he ties one of the four players at the top of the list: Willie Mays (660), Babe Ruth (714), Hank Aaron (755) and Barry Bonds (762), and an additional $6 million for passing Bonds. In order to receive the incentive money, the contract reportedly requires Rodriguez to make extra promotional appearances and sign memorabilia for the Yankees as part of a marketing plan surrounding his pursuit of Bonds's record. Two sources familiar with Rodriguez's contract told SI that there is no language about steroids in the contract that would put Rodriguez at risk of losing money.
Arguments before an 11-judge panel in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in Pasadena are ongoing between government prosecutors and the players' association over the government's seizure of the test results from the Long Beach lab. The agents who collected the material had a search warrant only for the results for the 10 BALCO-linked players. Attorneys from the union argue that the government is entitled only to the results for those players, not the entire list. If the court sides with the union, federal authorities may be barred from using the positive survey test results of non-BALCO players such as Rodriguez in their ongoing investigations.
whatever, i'm sure most of the league has done some PED, just like all baseball(and other sports) players throughout history have done when available. anything to get a leg up.
Posted by jaydh:
whatever, i'm sure most of the league has done some PED, just like all baseball(and other sports) players throughout history have done when available. anything to get a leg up.
What? Your saying Ruth, Gehrig, Aaron, Greenberg, Maris, etc. etc. etc. did roids?
What these guys are doing today is called cheating! Cheating on a level never before seen.
[Edited by - 4949 on 02-07-2009 12:26 PM]
roids isnt the only ped ever in sports
Posted by jaydh:
roids isnt the only ped ever in sports
But quite obviously, it is the most record shattering substance to affect the entire history of baseball, and that' cannot be argued. The old record holders didn't have the option of using these kinds of things.
It's a dead argument. It is what it is and it's plain and simply 'cheating on a mass level'.
I am much more troubled about how some people try to defend this rather then get it all out in the open, throw this behavior out and make this sport relevant again.
[Edited by - 4949 on 02-07-2009 12:41 PM]
Posted by 4949:
I am much more troubled about how some people try to defend this rather then get it all out in the open, through this behavior out and make this sport relevant again.
because your post screams naivity. just because this is surprising to you doesn't mean its surprising to people who know that peds have always existed. sure, this era its steroids, in the past its amphetimines or whatever a player could get their hands on if it would give them a leg up. how do you know how much past PEDs affected baseball? you don't because they aren't/weren't addressed like it is today. a ped is a ped.
Posted by jaydh:
Posted by 4949:
I am much more troubled about how some people try to defend this rather then get it all out in the open, through this behavior out and make this sport relevant again.
because your post screams naivity. just because this is surprising to you doesn't mean its surprising to people who know that peds have always existed. sure, this era its steroids, in the past its amphetimines or whatever a player could get their hands on if it would give them a leg up. how do you know how much past PEDs affected baseball? you don't because they aren't/weren't addressed like it is today. a ped is a ped.
Bring me the whole histoory of PEDS and prove to me what your saying. Prove how far it goes back and the effects it's had on baseball? I'm serious.
it's looking more and more like over half of baseball has used PED's...unreal.
Posted by 4949:
Posted by jaydh:
Posted by 4949:
I am much more troubled about how some people try to defend this rather then get it all out in the open, through this behavior out and make this sport relevant again.
because your post screams naivity. just because this is surprising to you doesn't mean its surprising to people who know that peds have always existed. sure, this era its steroids, in the past its amphetimines or whatever a player could get their hands on if it would give them a leg up. how do you know how much past PEDs affected baseball? you don't because they aren't/weren't addressed like it is today. a ped is a ped.
Bring me the whole histoory of PEDS and prove to me what your saying. Prove how far it goes back and the effects it's had on baseball? I'm serious.
why should i feel the need to give you a history lesson. you can read and have internet access. i could care less if you think all this started in your lifetime.
is any hitter going to the Hall of Fame in the next 10 years?
Who would go?
Edgar Martinez maybe?
Posted by djsunyc:
it's looking more and more like over half of baseball has used PED's...unreal.
Does that really surprise you? With the amount of money that is at stake...and I would put money it is as far reaching in football and basketball as it is in baseball. Wouldn't surprise me one bit.
on steroids, a-rod, clemens, bonds, fill in the blank.
practically the entire league was using steroids for years.
this is not a little kids game, this is people's lives and a profession.
it's a job, and they did what they had to do to get there's.
how is that any different than the loads of "unethical" things that go on in all kinds of workplaces where opportunities to make huge loads of money is a reality?
look no farther than what is behind the social and economic crisis that is taking place.
there ain't no "sanctity" and we have condoned it all the way through.
these folks are in a profession where you get paid for the best performance, and mlb, as well as all of the stat and glory obsessed fans clearly condoned it.
i don't get the big deal.
you hate a-rod or bonds, or maybe clemens, okay fine.
but the hypocrisy is just too much here, and maybe it's more about their personality than anything else.
they are massive achievers, who still clearly worked hard to get where they were in a society that has condoned winning at any cost, with all us fans urging them on to do it.
muscles don't just grow with steroids, they had to work out.
do i think this is right?
it's not about that, it's about how i think we need to take a look in the mirror as a society first before we go on a witch hunt ranting and raving about what these folks have done to "ruin" a profession that many of us can't seem to see as more than just a game for us to play or let our our own anger at the fact that we aren't living their so-called glamorous life, which is what being a big sports fan seems to be about for a scary number of the most die hard sport followers.
when we hear these folks used performance enhancers we're outraged?
color me confused.
[Edited by - PresIke on 02-07-2009 4:29 PM]
Posted by jaydh:
Posted by 4949:
Posted by jaydh:
Posted by 4949:
I am much more troubled about how some people try to defend this rather then get it all out in the open, through this behavior out and make this sport relevant again.
because your post screams naivity. just because this is surprising to you doesn't mean its surprising to people who know that peds have always existed. sure, this era its steroids, in the past its amphetimines or whatever a player could get their hands on if it would give them a leg up. how do you know how much past PEDs affected baseball? you don't because they aren't/weren't addressed like it is today. a ped is a ped.
Bring me the whole histoory of PEDS and prove to me what your saying. Prove how far it goes back and the effects it's had on baseball? I'm serious.
why should i feel the need to give you a history lesson. you can read and have internet access. i could care less if you think all this started in your lifetime.
Hey that's fine. I know that I' can go research it, but if your gonna dog my comments (or it seems like you are) on the whole steroid issue in regards to A-Rod, then at least bring some kind of proof of what your saying, if it's supposed to be fact. I brought an article that was released by SI and I made a comment about my unhappiness with any of our own players using anything.
And if your gonna indite the entire history of baseball, then yes' bring the proof. That's fair isn't it?
Posted by OasisBU:
Posted by djsunyc:
it's looking more and more like over half of baseball has used PED's...unreal.
Does that really surprise you? With the amount of money that is at stake...and I would put money it is as far reaching in football and basketball as it is in baseball. Wouldn't surprise me one bit.
But it does not bar you from you complaining about it.
Posted by PresIke:
the entire league was practically using steroids for years.
[Edited by - PresIke on 02-07-2009 4:19 PM]
You too Ike. How far back does it go, if it's been going on for years? The word was never even mentioned until about ten years ago.
