SI identifies “Max” from Canseco’s book
-
- April
- 18
Sports Illustrated has uncovered the identity of the supposed steroids dealer Jose Canseco says he introduced to Alex Rodriguez.
Joseph Dion confirmed some of Canseco’s story but denies giving Rodriguez any steroids.
Reporters from New York just spoke to Rodriguez, who admitted to working with Dion. “A good man, a real good man, actually,” Rodriguez. “I had no idea he even knew (Canseco).”
Rodriguez said he met Dion through Eddie Rodriguez, one of his mentors from Miami. He said he knows Dion socially and that they speak “four or five” times during the winter.
If what Dion and Rodriguez are saying is true, then Alex has nothing to worry about. The question now is whether federal investigators have any knowledge of crimes committed by Dion and can use that information to get him to testify against Rodriguez.
More on this story as it develops.
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on Friday, April 18th, 2008 at 4:17 pm by Peter Abraham.
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Peter Abraham
Alex has nothing to worry about and played this the right way by not addressing anything Canseco had to say.
>>The question now is whether federal investigators have any knowledge of crimes committed by Dion and can use that information to get him to testify against Rodriguez. >>
Testify against him for what? For *not* using PEDs?
No, Peter, that’s not the question. There is no indication at all that Dion is involved in any investigation in the first place. Canseco lied, and his first ghostwriter, the Mitchell investgators, and everyone with a brain knew that out the outset. There’s no further “question” here at all, at least not to anyone with a shred of objectivity about ARod.
Canseco is a world class jerk. When his first book came out, I honestly didn’t want to believe any of it because it was from such a poor source. (Un)fortunately for all of us, some of what he said was true. Palmiero was a really ugly thing for the game, and some players have gotten off scott free (Pudge, etc.) I just wish one player would come up and say, “you know what, I did roids. I was in AAA and knew if I hit a few more home runs, i’d get millions of dollars. My guess is that x% of players did them too.” I think everyone would understand that.
And I don’t want to give the press a hard time, but I’d love for a reporter to say, “You know what, I knew there were steroids in sports. I didn’t say anything because it’s a multi-billion dollar industry and it pays my mortgage.”
That being said, I think baseball gets a unfair deal in all of this. Honestly, how many guys in the NFL do you think are on the juice. Much more that baseball i’d say.
If the SI story is accurate, A-Rod and Dion have conflicting stories of how they met.
“If what Dion and Rodriguez are saying is true, then Alex has nothing to worry about. The question now is whether federal investigators have any knowledge of crimes committed by Dion and can use that information to get him to testify against Rodriguez.”
.
Pete…what are you talking about ????????
OH GOD LET IT BE TRUE THERE IS A BOTTLE OF CRYSTAAAAAAL IN THE FRIDGE IF WALSH SAIDS ISIAH IS FIRED
sorry people I didn’t mean to hijack the blog. Carry on.
I was thrilled to hear this news. Now Arod’s the one who’s “vindicated”. Of course there will still be the moron’s that will continue to point fingers at Arod but for the vast majority the cloud of suspicion is gone. Great work by Sports Illustrated..
Scott
Wow, Pete. Amazing seeing you try to make a story out of nothing. To testify against A-Rod?
The SI story contains a very interesting line…
Dion says: “[I]t’s true that Dion moved back to Miami, where he was raised, and was introduced to Rodriguez by Canseco in the late ’90s.”
Contrast that line with this from Pete above:
“Reporters from New York just spoke to Rodriguez, who admitted to working with Dion. ‘A good man, a real good man, actually,’ Rodriguez. ‘I had no idea he even knew (Canseco).’ ”
Dion corroborates Canseco in part, saying he was introduced to A-Rod by Canseco, so Dion clearly knows Canseco. A-Rod admits he knows Dion, says he speaks to him four or five each winter, but seems surprised that Dion knows Canseco. That’s doesn’t sound right.
pat:
I’m assuming this is what you were alluding to, right?
What are you talking about? Are there still government officials talking anything that Canseco says seriously? Has anyone (other than this habitual liar) actually even implicated Rodriguez in the steroids scandal?
How did we get from a salacious and undoubtedly confabulated book to talk of testimony?
Come on, Pete.
murphy
yup.
What a much ado about nothing.
So what if ARod was wrong about who introduced him?
I’d be curious to see who Dion has ever known on Sen. Mitchell’s team.
OK…I’ll admit it …I missed it too…PETE WAS KIDDING at the end of this post, ALL,,,
Come on pat and murphy. Do you remember how you met everyone you knew in the 90’s? Not a big deal IMO. I’m glad Dion came forward, and I wish that everyone you trumped the arod and steroids link will give equal time to the arod didn’t do steroids story, but I won’t hold my breath.
As reported on ESPN.com
…Dion said he trained Rodriguez for four years when A-Rod was with Seattle. Dion denied Canseco’s account in “Vindicated” that “Max” was a fan of steroids.
“That’s really, really funny because I am the one person that hates steroids,” Dion was quoted as saying. “I’m against it 100 percent. And, A-Rod, at the time that I trained him — and this I swear to God — was 100 percent against steroids. He was one of the hardest working guys, and most natural guy, that I’ve met in my life. He hated steroids. We talked about it.”…
A-rod’s got nothing to worry about. Dion is willing to talk to whoever wants to question him…nothing to hide.
Has Canseco’s wife ever taken steroids or other PEDs? I know silicone is not considered a PED, but (beside the point) she sure took an overdose of that stuff. I remember seeing her picture - that woman is so ugly I wouldn’t even wipe my rear end with her face.
This whole SI story reads as if it were written by the dream team of George Stephanopoulos and Charles Gibson.
Clare:
You’re right. I don’t remember everybody I was introduced to or knew in the 90’s. But I’m getting at something a little different. A-Rod didn’t say that he didn’t remember who introduced him to Dion. A-Rod claimed it was his mentor, Eddie Rodriguez who made the intro. Then A-Rod added the part I find hard to believe. A-Rod said had no idea that Dion knew Canseco.
Canseco being Canseco, and the Miami professional baseball community being a small world, it strikes me as odd that A-Rod knows Canseco, A-Rod knows Dion, but A-Rod is surprised that Dion knows Canseco. (“I had no idea he even knew (Canseco).”)
And it was a gratuitous statement, it had nothing to do with what A-Rod needed to say. All Rod had to say was that he knows Dion, that met Dion through his mentor, and not Canseco and leave it at that. To add that little piece, that he was surprised that Dion knew Canseco, was the kind of pure b.s. that catches an old investigator’s ear. It might be nothing, but…
Pete, this isn’t news…this is garbage.
We all knew Alex didn’t do a thing. This just backs it up.
So when does Canseco go to jail?
Pete…this is such a non-story.
You’re better than this.
Honestly, some of you people such fanboys that you can’t think straight?
I don’t believe Canseco. Not for a second. But until the Feds finish their investigation, nothing is complete in any of this matter.
Do you assume everybody is telling the truth? Brian McNamee swore to the NY Times that he never gave Roger or Andy PEDs. Swore. Then the Feds leaned on him and he admitted he had and provided evidence.
I linked to a story about a Yankees player that a national media agency did that is important. If you can’t handle that, I’m sorry. It’s not a non-story. The federal government wants to talk to a former trainer of A-Rod’s. If you don’t think that’s a story, you’re simply naive.
Geez, I hope we have more sophisticated readers than that.
Trust us Pete.
NON-STORY.
Hmmmm. Lets see. The Manny “incident” from last night has no legs…
The Pope??? Naaaaah. BOOOOORING.
Hughes trying to rebound and put up a solid performance??? YAAAAAAAAWN.
An “iffy” link between ARod and steroids? Yeah, that should get me some decent hits tonight.
So yes Pete. Just because you publish something, doesnt by any means make it a worthy story. And please…spare me the whole “SI national publication” sob story.
Three words: SLOW NEWS DAY.
“Three words: SLOW NEWS DAY.”
Not as slow as the local Los Angeles news the other night - hybrid cats. Mixing big cats with house cats.
gee golly…
i wish i had a web blog so i could disparage readers who had the audacity to disagree with me.
one day…
Peter, defensive much? Nothing like personal attacks to bolster your arguement. I don’t recall the details of the story, and i’m at camden so I’m not about to read it again, but i’m sure if the feds are interested in dion it’s only about how canseco’s lack of credibility impacts the clemens case. The feds have no interest in ARod.
“The federal government wants to talk to a former trainer of A-Rod’s.”
Where did it say that? Dion said he would cooperate if asked to but no one seems to have asked yet. Do you know something that hasn’t been reported?
Zach:
Blog hits? My job is to provide people with news about the team. You don’t think that that federal investigators wanting to talk to A-Rod’s former trainer isn’t news? Sure, SI, the AP, ESPN, they have no idea what news is.
Good thing you don’t have a blog.
Pete
Why does the federal government want to talk to Dion? A-rod is not under investigation for perjury nor is he under any other type of investigation. I didnt know the government wanted to lean on the former trainers of private citizens who at this point have not had any shred of hard evidence linking them to having done anything wrong.
Yes, Pete must know something that hasn’t been reported.
We are obviously not “sophisticated” enough to read between the lines here.
Between my lack of “sophistication” and Pete’s commanding use of the English language, I’m surprised I haven’t been administered an IQ test just to post here.
Your prose is too much for me Pete. Can you dumb it down a little?
Ok. You are right. The story is news worthy. Just not for the reasons you think it is.
I remember a story about a trainer of David Ortiz being linked to steroids…
you know what happened to that story???
it died.
I actually think it is news that federal investigators want to talk to A-Rod’s former trainer. However, I think it is the kind of news that makes me want to move to another country when our government apparently requires only baseless accusations from a known liar and convict in order to investigate someone who has previously done nothing wrong. In fact, I wonder why federal investigators didnt want to talk to David Ortiz’s trainer when Ortiz had those heart murmurs back in 2006 since PED’s have been linked with heart problems and Ortiz certainly fits the profile of a juicer.
Is that Dion from Dion and The Belmonts? Hey, I know that guy. I have his records. Why don’t the feds come talk with me.
Pete, you’re a better journalist than this post leads one to believe. Stick to baseball.
I think it’s funny how all the posters here employ the “shoot the messenger” theory. If you don’t like the news, blame Pete.
PED stories are so 2007. Let’s move on
johnblacksox:
damn straight its “shoot the messenger”…
it is this type of nypost style reporting that gives the new york media the sensationalist tag it so rightly deserves.
i think its hilarious how all these “reporters” get to hype up story after supposed story…but yet when anybody calls them out on it, they get to hide behind their blogs and columns and simply change the discourse.
i finally understand why billy crystal portrayed the beat reporters the way he did in “61″.
Very curious take Pete. From day one, you have rightly dismissed Canseco’s claims about A-Rod as groundless, but now after the principal person in question, Dion, a/k/a Max, comes out and directly disputes Jose’s accusations, you seem unwilling to consider the case closed. Do you personally suspect A-Rod took steroids in the past?
Peter,
Okay, I’ve now reread the SI story, and nowhere in it do they say that federal investigators want to talk to Dion. Also, even if they did, it’s a large leap from there to your baseless, unprofessional speculation that ARod might have something to worry about. First, that assumes that the federal investigators have any interest in ARod. We’re not talking the Mitchell investigators here, we’re talking the feds. Hopefully they are a little more professional. There’s absolutely no evidence linking ARod to steroids. No balco links, no internet pharmacy links, nothing. So why would the feds be after ARod?
As I said earlier, the feds might have a legitimate interest in Canseco’s credibility because it is relevant to the Clemens perjury investigation. However, that has nothing to do with ARod.
I realize you just can’t bear to let go of a sensational and negative story about ARod. But if you want to retain your credibility I strongly suggest you let this one go.
Us “fanboys” are way more rational when it comes to ARod than you are.
Also, keep in mind that the SI article was co-authored by noted ARod basher Selena Roberts. And even she refrained from the baseless speculation that you indulged in.
Wasn’t aware Rodriguez is the target or the subject of an investigation by the Feds. What exactly would “they” ask Dion to testify about concerning Rodriguez and under what warrant would they compel that testimony?
Selena Roberts? Ugh. I hadn’t noticed that.
The Durham-in-Wonderland blog did a good take-down of her.
http://tinyurl.com/6esz2s
Her and Harvey Araton’s reporting/commentary on the Duke lacrosse scandal was a disgrace. To this day, neither will admit they got it completely wrong.
Credit where it’s due, however.
It looks like someone did some pretty good investigative reporting tracking down this Dion guy. And Roberts’ name is listed first, in non-alphabetical order, suggesting she deserves credit for that scoop.