SI report: A-Rod tested positive in 2003
Posted by: Sam Borden - Posted in Misc on Feb 07, 2009 
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UPDATE, 11:15 a.m.: Sports Illustrated.com is reporting that Alex Rodriguez tested positive for two anabolic steroids in 2003. The magazine cites four independent anonymous sources.
Said Rodriguez: “You’ll have to talk to the union. I’m not saying anything.” Previously, Rodriguez has denied using performance enhancing drugs of any kind.
Testing at that time was administered as a survey. Those tests were meant to be anonymous, but the results were seized by government investigators as part of the investigation into BALCO.
MLB banned steroids in 1991 but no punishments were in place in 2003. It also was, and remains, a crime to use such drugs without a prescription.
Rodriguez, 33, has 553 home runs and is on a pace that would see him break the record of 762 held by Barry Bonds. The government has charged Bonds with perjury for denying steroids use and a trial is underway.
UPDATE, 12:16 p.m.: Yankees general manager Brian Cashman had no comment. The organization, he said, is working with MLB on this.
————–
This was the earlier post today before this news broke. Uh … never mind:
For those that have finished reading Joe Torre’s book, you’ve likely noticed just how much attention was paid to Alex Rodriguez’s psyche – and I don’t mean his alleged affinity for Derek Jeter.
Anyone who was around the Yankees for any period of time would quickly understand just how fragile A-Rod’s ego is, and the book talks numerous times about conversations Yankees would have – everyone from Torre to Larry Bowa to Brian Cashman to Jason Giambi – about how to get Rodriguez to perform at his best and, essentially, keep his mind from getting in the way of his bat.
For whatever reason, A-Rod has a tendency to just focus on the wrong stuff. He is often so concerned about how something will look that he forgets about how it will actually turn out – putting style in front of substance. I liken it to someone pausing before saying something, appearing to put thought into what they’re going to say, but then saying the wrong thing anyway. How could that happen? Because they weren’t actually thinking about what they were going to say – they were more concerned about how it would sound.
Rodriguez’s one saving grace with the Yankees has been odd-numbered seasons. In 2003 (his last year with Texas), 2005 and 2007, he has won MVP awards and hit 47, 48 and 54 home runs, respectively. Obviously this year he will begin spring training with a controversy (the Torre book/possibly more Madonna stuff), but history would show it won’t matter on the field. Given his past, it seems reasonable to think 2009 will be a big season for A-Rod.
espn sayin arod testes positive for steriods in 2003
Well..looks like there might be a reason for that great 2003 season he had.
Welcome to the steroids mess A-Rod.
Hey Sammy, you should check out si.com before you post. now this just looks foolish.
Here’s the next controversy that was ppredicted
“Obviously this year he will begin spring training with a controversy (the Torre book/possibly more Madonna stuff),”
maybe we can add one more to the list now
No mention of this article yet?
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.c.....ml?eref=T1
What are the chances this would be posted just as the news hits?lol
RGR, I was thinking the same thing. lol
Red Sox fans will have a ball with this.
When will Manny and Ortiz be outed now? We all know they did it
You know, the Yankees just can’t catch a break. We make all the right moves during the offseason. Everyone is all excited with anticipation and this happens. It’s just unreal.
He’s got A LOT to worry about his image now!!!!
uh-oh… here we go Yankees 2009 circus
If he doesn’t admit this there’s gonna be trouble. It is pretty messed up that out of 104 names his leaks out. However, I can’t support a player who goes into denial. If this is actually true he better not pull a Bonds and treat us all like idiots.
It just seems like were the only team to catch this bullsh*t
Whats the biggest controversy in the RS offseason? That Pedroias BROTHER raped some little boy?
Where’s Pete??? He would be all over this
in 2003 .. 80% of MLB players tested or not were using steroids.. can we move on now? Is this ever going to end..
I actually feel bad for Arod here… it’s just never enough.
P.S. David Ortiz never ever absolutely did not use steroids. Heh.
Good luck to MLB getting the Union to ever agree to a testing program in the next CBA.
If you can’t guarantee confidentiality, you don’t have a viable testing program.
I find it interesting that his name “suddenly” leaks out in an investigation in which is he isn’t involved.
Who knows if its true and if it is, 2003 is a long time ago.
You wonder, aside from trying to play “gotcha”, what the point of this is at this time?
He has been tested more than anybody in baseball the past several years and has come up clean every time.
Just strange to me how this “confidential” information is now public.
The article says that 104 players tested positive. Was there any player that wasn’t taking something? Good grief!
The best way to deal with this (if it’s true) is for Alex to come forward and say whatever it is that he took. If he deals with it head on, that will increase the chances that it goes away.
There is no getting around this, Alex Rodriguez “A-Rod” tested POSITIVE for Anabolic steroids. Confirmed By FOUR SOURCES. IT’S OVER PERIOD
If AROD ended being traded to BOSTON this never wouldve leaked and we all know it. SI and Tom wanted to get AROD any way they could and congrats they did. One we dont know what the anabolic steriods were and if he only tested positive in 2003 then he has been clean since he was a YANKEE so thats all I care bout. Hes a Yankee now he wasnt in 2003
Sam:
You know, they say in comedy, timing is everything…
there goes the clean HR record
Some of you should chill out and not be so reactionary.
Its that kind of behavior that gives this stuff legs.
Who knows if its true and if it is, so what. Its not going to affect THIS season. That’s all that matters.
If they are going to produce names of guys who were doing steroids in 2003, and testing positive, its going to be a pretty long list and there are going to be a lot of big names on it.
I dont think people realize just how big this is going to be. A-Rod has shown that little things such as clubhouse tension can greatly influence his on-field play, how do you think a steroid controversy that will put a huge hit into his legacy effect it? This is terrible for the Yankees and for MLB. Now get ready for another awkward HR chase only this time in the bronx. And o yea A-Rod you can kiss the HOF goodbye.
So..I suppose we have moved on from the Torre book..
Somehow, Jose Canseco comes out looking great in all of this.
SJ44
>Its that kind of behavior that gives this stuff legs.
Welcome to NY
Honestly, if he comes forward, says he did it (if he actually did it) ill like him even more (if thats possible)
Its not like hes been using them lately as he’s been tested ridiculously the last few years. Yet he STILL hit 50+ HRs in 2007. As long as it doesnt affect him mentally
What is over???? This is just another waste of time for all us fans……what a joke!!! I am so sick of STEROID talk….CAN WE ALL JUST MOVE ON
Now we get to hear about AROD being a Roid user for the next few months…..
ughhhhhhllllllllllllllllllllll
this is getting old
AROD had better seasons in 2001 and 2002 so what exactly did those steriods help him do differently?
“Who knows if its true and if it is, so what. Its not going to affect THIS season. That’s all that matters.”
SJ44, you are being a bit naive here. While I agree that the Torre book wouldn’t have affected the guys, this crap comes out right before ST starts. You gotta believe that it’s going to be story number one at ST. Alex will be bombarded with questions; so will the other guys. I wouldn’t be surprised if this has *some* affect on Alex.
I stand behind my te- what’s that, he took what?
Say, weren’t the 2003 results supposed to be anonymous?
Sadly, I can already hear the “A-Roid” chance across the nation.
unreal. Someday the steroid era will be put to rest. It doesn’t look like it today. It’s probably all over TV as we speak.
It’s funny because a story broke that he took steroids right after you posted this. irony? yes.
chance/chants (above)
What baseball needs to do now is release the list. I for one am tired of “confidential” information being leaked to the media.
what i dont understand is that a-rod was a great player even before 2003 im gunna stick by a-rod here
I wanna see the other 103 names. When will that be released? Although I can probably guess who will be on it…Already known names, and more Yankees
So much for a quiet spring training…..
I’ve always said forgive Barry and Roger, and no one is with me. How do I fight for a red button player like Alex?
What I’m hoping will help Alex’s chances at getting into the HOF is that he’s clean now and is still putting up monster numbers. Still, having your name associated with steroids just isn’t a good thing.
Yes they where suppose to be sealed and not leaked out. If every1 remembers since 2004 everyone is taking drug test and AROD has been CLEAN since hes been a YANKEE and thats all we should care about. We all cheered Doc Gooden and Strawberry when they were Yankees after their drug problems and since AROD is a YANKEE and a CLEAN one this to me has no affect on what he will accomplish in pinstripes
Given that it’s widely accepted that A-Rod is an incredibly mental player, it’s hard to think this won’t have at least some effect on him. I guess only time will tell for sure.
If A-Rod’s name is leaked, I want all 103 other names leaked. Otherwise this is just a complete hatchet job by SI, because it’s clear that they went digging just for ONE person’s name and to them, it only matters that one player had a positive test. The story should be 104 people testing positive, not just A-rod, but of course that’s completely impossible and all you will hear about for the next month is how A-Rod is a cheat and all his accomplishments are now invalid.
Love how there was no reference to how many times Arod has been tested and come up clean in the last 5 years.
Heh.. journalism at it’s best.
Steroids were rampant back then. Somebody is going to pay you millions and millions of dollars if you perform, and they are not going to test for PED’s, it’s a surprise that even more players didn’t use. MLB created this problem by looking the other way for years.
“I’ve always said forgive Barry and Roger, and no one is with me. How do I fight for a red button player like Alex?”
Because Bonds and Clemens are first class jerks. Let’s see how Alex deals with it. Then we can decide what kind of guy he is. Right now, I’m backing Alex. He’s a Yankee and I’m giving him my support.
A list of 104 names under seal but just one is released.
What else is new? The 4 leakers anonymous. What a joke.
this steroid witchhunt has to stop. it is getting ridiculous. is this really something so awful that we should be burning these guys at the stake. its the same with the medias reaction to michael phelps… grow up already move on there are bigger issues.
Laura,
I’m not being naive at all. Its not going to have any effect him.
The guy plays with a swirl around him all the time.
It will have an effect on the nervous nellies in the fan base more than it will have an effect on him.
All you have to do is read the posts today. Every 12 year old with a keyboard will be on this blog posting nonsense all day and night.
Do you think he’s never heard fans scream at him about steroids and God knows a 1,000 other things?
All that will happen now is media people will get on their soapboxes and rip him, followed by reactionary fans who will be sheep parroting whatever somebody in the media says about him.
Then, the season starts and all that will matter is if he produces.
The results of a 6 year old test, if the story is even true, aren’t going to be on the minds of the players once the season starts. It will be all about wins and losses and nothing more.
*HoF Lock*
I love how only A rod’s name out of 104 people is leaked out. Let’s not forgot this a slow week in sports. THe writers need to write about something. I am so sick of this steriods stuff. It was 9 yrs ago. I bet he has been tested since then, and came up clean.
All I know is that I hope he and the Yankee PR people learned fron Bonds and Clemens, and deal with right now, and admit to anythingthat can come back and bite him in the ass…..Deal with it now, and it’ll die down….There’ll be more names…SJ44, the union must be outraged right now…
Derek Jeter February 7th, 2009 at 11:10 am
I stand behind my te- what’s that, he took what?
————————————————-
This is the kind of stuff Derek always supports. Now A-Rod will get real support from the captain.
Sucks, but if he did it he deserves anything that comes his way.
If 80% of MLB took steroids in 2003, then why does it seem like its only the Yankees that are being outed? I dont think the Yankees were 80% of baseball
“So..I suppose we have moved on from the Torre book..”
Yes, I would say so. Lucky for Torre too.
This A-Rod story is going to be huger than huge and it’s going to stick around awile. Sam, you HAVE to start a new article on the A-Rod story.
A-Roid
IS JETER NEXT?
You know what is really odd:
Josh Hamilton who is a recovering junkie is loved. The press tell his story like he is an angel. I don’t know how much crack and heroin this guy has done, but I do know he was on it for years.
So it is acceptable to to be a narcotic user and get clean, but not a steroid user… it just makes absolutely no sense.
Maybe MLB ex-steroid users/players need to go on crack for awhile so that they can get some sympathy.
We are stuck with this mess for NINE more years. Great – I’ll be 50 when this is finally done.
Relax, roids have been tested for years. This was in 2003. Arod is still the best player in the game. And did you ever think pettitte who was viewed in far higher esteem but most people took stuff? It is really irrelevant if he continues to be the best hitter in the sport six years later – he just had the best season of his career in 2007 when roids were tested. No way he was on them then. It doesnt matter. And ive taken steroids for bee stings before -they give out steroids for many, many medical reasons. lets wait and hear the reasons before ppl start launching into how this will impact his homerun chase.
the funny thing if 2003 wasnt really a ABOVE AVG. year for AROD it wasnt like he shatterd records or did something unique. It was the “worst” of the 3 MVP seasons actually
So much for confidentiality. If the list is never released, officially, or only released in part, I would ignore it as unproven. If it is released, the union has the right to redress as its contract has been violated. Why, in any new contract, should the union agree to any testing procedure that is obviously not secure?
How does anyone even know that it didnt have some legit reason behind it??
“So it is acceptable to to be a narcotic user and get clean, but not a steroid user… it just makes absolutely no sense.”
As long as we don’t think it enhances performance, it’s all good!
lastly..
I think MLB2009 for Xbox and PS3 should include steroid abuse, because it is obviously the most important thing in baseball. Maybe you can put the player that is in a slump on steroids for a month…
steroid use was as common as pine tar. We know. We have moved on.
There are legal steroids prescribed for certain medical problems.
i dont belive this becuase on the barry bonds report multiple reports came in from diffrent sources and another thing is the si is about blah blah blah and A-rod can sue the si company becuase they cant make that public untill the players union ok it
how about this, we don’t make a big deal about it?
http://tinyurl.com/amanpq
Where was this intrepid investigative reporting 5 years ago? Where were these 4 anonymous sources ready to spread the word that the “greatest player in the game”, along with 103 other major leaguers, tested positive closer to when it actually happened? Oh that’s right, the media didn’t start paying any attention to steroids until, you know, they needed to tear down reviled and uncooperative figures like Barry Bonds and Clemens. I guess it took them realizing that “steroids sells newspapers” to go and dig in to supposedly confidential information and cherry-pick who they decided to blacklist. That’s real great
And somehow the roids are still working six years later if he took them to enhance his performance -those must be the longest acting roids on the planet to last six years! Wowwwwwww. Talk about a bargain. Good stuff for arod to still be considered the best player in baseball six years after he supposedly took stuff and we still have no idea if it was performance related.
I am done. Done with baseball, done with the Yankees. How much more of this crap is anyone supposed to take? How many times have I defended A-Rod and the Yankees to haters just to have it thrown back in my face? This is a stupid game of ridiculously over paid players, many of whom aren’t even great athletes. Screw the new stadium- screw all the new stadiums. Baseball should be shut down and Selig should be in Sing Sing.
Didn’t Jose Canseco say he introduced A-Rod to a steroid dealer?
Arods image is so screwed.
Eventually he’s going to have to answer for it. As if the guy doesn’t have enough reasons for people to hate him.
Pat M,
MLB has no chance, unless Congress intervenes, of ever getting the Union to agree to an MLB sponsored testing program again.
Look at the facts in this case. The Feds got a search warrant to get info on the 10 people involved in the BALCO case. They come upon this list. A list mind you that has NO PENALTIES ATTACHED FOR TESTING POSITIVE because it was a list ONLY to determine if there was a problem in baseball. If over 5% of the players tested positive in 2003, only then would a system be implemented with penalties for a positive test.
In other words, testing positive for steroids in 2003 was NOT AGAINST MLB RULES. In addition, those results were (and still may be, depending on the outcome of the case in the California Supreme Court) CONFIDENTIAL.
Instead, ONE guys name gets leaked….Arod.
Like I said, I wish Bud good luck getting the Union on board for a testing program in the next CBA.
Unless the Government or a completely independent testing body takes over the program, there is no way the Union will agree to it.
They will shut down the sport before hanging their members out to dry on this issue.
Use these stories to Tear down reviled and uncooperative figures like Clemens?? I dont think clemens was considered either of those until after the investigation by any one – the HGH was the reason he became reviled and uncooperative.
Just goes to show how great of a country we live in, when the government is supposed to keep stuff confidential.
I wonder how it has not been leaked that JFK wasn’t killed by a magic bullet???
Ya know Dana Stubblefield just got his punishment for steroid use. All this double standard when its a baseball player is just silly to me. And I dont care about the statistics in baseball argument.
SJ44 – thank you for being a voice of reason. This information is coming from an unnamed source. How do we even know if its accurate? And if Alex’s name was on there, it was before the ban on performance enhancing drugs. What about since 2004 when Alex joined the Yanks.
Canseco probably going to make some money with tv appearances in the next few days. Where’s the rest of the list though.
I WANT TO SEE ALL THE NAMES IF THIS GOT OUT ALL OF THEM. THIS WAS SUPPOSED TO BE CONFIDENTIAL.
VARITEK
ORTIZ
MANNY
DAMON
MILLAR
KAPLER
SCHILLING
YOU KNOW ALL THESE GUYS WERE ON IT TOO
What I want to know is who are the other 103 names and why only Arod name is leaked. Looks a little suspicious to me.
And what’s with all the Yankees players names coming out. Steroids were obviously rampant but no big name Red Sox have been outed.
Things that make you go hmmmmmmmmm.
“I’m not being naive at all. Its not going to have any effect him.”
SJ44, we will have to agree to disagree here. Alex is all about his accomplishments and how they will be seen in history. This kind of thing can damage that. It will weigh on his mind all season. I don’t think he’ll become a .200 hitter, but he won’t have his mega odd season numbers that he usually does.
Nah, the only people doing ‘roids were Yankees and Bonds.
The Red Sox are clean. Sen. Mitchell said so in his report.
Dassit, I’m curious to see the rest of the list as well.
I also guarantee that this post will get the most responses in LoHud history.
“AROD had better seasons in 2001 and 2002 so what exactly did those steriods help him do differently?”
Who’s to say he wasn’t using in ’01 and ’02?
SJ44,,,The whole system is in the crapper….This was the main concern back when they were hammering out this drug testing program….Now the players greatest concern has come to be…..A-Rod and the Yanks better get on this right now and get the spot light off of him….
Come on Central CT Yankee…we all know that the Sawx are the love of ESPN and MLB…there is no way they could ever stop that lovefest.
Can we wait and see how this will effect A-Rod? What’s the point of this?
WHO CARES IF THE RED SOX WERE ON IT?????!!!!! It makes no difference. We were supposed to be BETTER than they were, not EQUAL. And ARod was supposed to be the guy to set the record books back straight. I will be booing him if I ever go into that stadium.
guilty or not guilty….this guy is as fragile as they come and will wind up balled up in the corner of the clubhouse whimpering and crying while Madonna and his therapists soothe his broken pysche…
Agree that the whole list needs to be produced…..
I know he is the best baseball player in the world and he makes a ton of money and wins mvps – god, how much more of an A-hole can he be?? And now some report is coming out 6 years after the fact that is telling us he did roids with no proof or explanation. Wow how could you not hate arod for that? And the fact that he has the nerve to continue to be the best player years after this event. God, i hate him. After doing roids, a player is supposed to stop being good. Doesnt arod know this?? And there is obviously no legal steroids on this planet so I cant be jumping to conclusions without facts or an explanation.
(sarcasm)
Look to the person who was in on reporting this. Selena has a thing against A-Rod. The only “proof” is unnamed sources.
Nice that we read something or hear something and automatically that person is guilty.
What a country.
From the prior thread:
GB, you have no idea how much I want this to not be true…..but the odds of that are infinitesimal.
Dave, a cheat is a cheat. I guess I shouldn’t be shocked. Roger Clemens was a user and his workouts were legendary. I just thought A-Rod worked so hard, kept himself in such great shape, that there is no way he would feel it necssary to even try something like this.
This puts a damper on the upcoming season – I feel like I’ve just been punched in the stomach. The guys on MLB are right – Alex is very aware of records (that’s good) and baseball history. He is also not as thick-skinned as Bonds or Clemens. He’s going to have a rough year.
I turned off MLB – this is too depressing to watch. I’m not going to listen to sports radio or read the papers – I don’t feel like stressing myself out about this (though it’s too late now, I suppose)..
“And what’s with all the Yankees players names coming out. Steroids were obviously rampant but no big name Red Sox have been outed.”
The stain is on Arod, not the Yankees. He was a Ranger when this happened.
Don’t Forget to buy Selena Roberts’s (the SI reporter who broke the story) book: “Hit and Run
The Many Lives of Alex Rodriguez” OUT IN MAY!!!
http://www.harpercollins.com/b.....index.aspx
Here’s where I see the problem for Arod.
He was put up on a pedestal as the poster boy for breaking Bonds record “clean”. Now that appears to have an asterisk next to it to.
On top of that, if he was truly using PED’s, the Yankees just made the biggest bone headed stupidest franchise killing deal in the history of the game with him last season since all PED users DO NOT age well without the help of PED’s. We know this is a fact.
If Arod was a user, his late 30′s are going to be ugly and the A in Arod will stand for “albatross”.
I don’t want to even think what he’ll look like at 40 something in a Yankee uniform without having PED’s to help him anti-age and still play the game.
That said, if a Boston star’s name never leaks to the press as a PED user then all of us Yankee fans calling it a conspiracy are right.
You can’t tell me that David Ortiz isn’t/wasn’t using…and all the Varitek rumors were quickly quashed despite the fact the guy has fallen off the cliff like most PED users tend to do in this sport when they get off the juice.
As part of his plea agreement, Stubblefield gave the names of football players he knew were using steroids.
Funny how that information remains confidential. Yet, baseball players get outed all the time.
My feeling on this is simple. Who cares?
If you are under 15 years old and think your sports heroes don’t look for an edge, I’m sorry to break it to you but, that’s not how it is in the real world of professional sports. Sadly, its time to grow up and realize that whenever big money is involved, #$#% happens.
Just look at our financial system abuses in this country for additional proof of this.
2003 was a LIFETIME ago when it comes to PED use in sports. Many, many guys were using. Some heavily, some in the experimental stages.
Some were also, unbeknowst to them, “using” by taking legal supplements they purchased at their local GNC’s.
Those supplements are rarely scrutinized by the FDA and their labels are often inaccurate.
There are many, many athletes who took what they thought were legal supplements only to realize later they were ingesting analbolic steroids.
Its a complex issue and its so much more than just playing the “gotcha” game.
What should Arod do? Hard to say.
You have a case before the California Supreme Court regarding the confidentiality of the names on that list. Any admission that you are on that list could affect the decision of that case.
For that reason, he may be unable to speak on the topic at the present time.
If however, he can speak about it, tell the truth, make it a one day story, and never talk about it again.
Like I said though, he may be unable to talk about it due to the ongoing court case re: the list.
MLB should just release a list of players who DIDN’T use steroids. It’d be a shorter list.
Whats to say he was using in 01 and 02? But whats to say he used a single time, this was a prescription drug or he never actually used and this is all to get publicity? Whats to say that arod had the best season in 07 and this report says he used in 03 meaning he still can have one of the best seasons in the history of baseball without any performance enhancement? Whats to say this doesnt change the fact that arod is still the top drafted fantasy player in 2009, 6 years after the event? Whos to say that roids would even help him? He certainly didnt have his best season if he was on them in 03 …
Tom-
Are you saying that b/c she wrote a book on him that makes her claims LESS legit? I would think the opposite.
This is crazy.
Looks like I won’t be turning on ESPN until a Brett Favre story breaks.
Oh yeah, and it’s not just “an unnamed source”, but 4 sources. I’d take bets on the fact that those of you who are claiming this isn’t true will be backing off those words soon.
“What about since 2004 when Alex joined the Yanks.”
The Yankees media guy needs to get on this right away. Alex is tested all the time now and always comes up clean. This is the message that we need to be getting out there. What happened in 2003 (if it even did) was on Texas’ watch. Alex is a Yankee and a clean one at that.
Drew, some people just don’t go crazy over this no matter if its A-Rod, any other Yankee, or anyone in baseball period.
this is a pretty good article, if it wasn’t posted yet…
“SI.com reported that 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 said 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.”
http://mlb.mlb.com/news/articl.....8;c_id=mlb
“The stain is on Arod, not the Yankees. He was Ranger when this happened”
And Clemens did roids in Houston and Toronto but people associate him with the Yankees.
You gotta admit this looks bad whether it’s the Yankees fault or not. Between the Mitchell Report, Brian McNamee, Jose Canseco it’s been nothing but big name Yankees or Bonds in the news.
Where are the other big names around baseball being outed?
MLB should just release a list of players who DIDN’T use steroids. It’d be a shorter list.
=====================================
Sad but probably true
Tom
February 7th, 2009 at 11:31 am
“Nah, the only people doing ‘roids were Yankees and Bonds.
The Red Sox are clean. Sen. Mitchell said so in his report.”
Only one problem with your posting Tom. It simply is not true. Mitchell was very careful to articulate that he included only the information he was able to find out. It was not an exhaustive report and does not mean if someone is not in the report that they are clean.
Drew,
I thought you said you were “done” with baseball? Now, you are going to go to the stadium and boo Arod?
Really, get a hobby and when you get to the legal drinking age, then come back and play in here.
Emotional 12 year olds are the last thing we need to read in here today.
G Love,
The problem I see with your theory is, the guy has shown no signs of breaking down. I’m not of the opinion he was/is a serial steroid user as others were in the game.
Could he have experimented with it? LOTS of guys did back in the day.
Perhaps he tried it, didn’t like it, and stopped. Or, stopped when testing took place. Which would mean he has been clean for the better part of 5 years.
He doesn’t strike me as a serial user, which is why I don’t think he will fall apart as he gets older.
I’m not claiming that at all Drew. I think you’re the one jumping to conclusions here.
SJ, it’s all out there now – even if this report proves to be false (and how do you go about proving something that didn’t happen? It’s impossible), no one will believe it.
What is your recommendation for how A-Rod should handle this? Either way (denial – no one will believe him; admission – he’s a cheat and his records are meaningless), A-Rod is in a no-win situation.
Betsy,
1. yOU dont even know if this is definitely true
2. you dont know if he had precribed this for some reason or another – I get roids injected into my blood stream when i get stung by a bee. There is a thousand reasons to have steroids given as medication.
3. He is still the best player in the game or even in the history of the game – 2007, was one of the best season any player has ever had in the last century. We had peds testing then. There was no way he was on it. So this guy has the talent without using a thing.
4. Maybe he used it a single time. Pettitte used Hgh only a few and whole he was injured to come back. You forgave him
5. Even if this is true and he used them for a while, he is a yankee and everyone in the world is going to hate on him. The yankee fans should be the one group that actually supports him. I know a yankee fan supporting arod is a foreign concept but what is the point of being pissed at our best player when we want him to take us to and win the world series. Yankee fans boo him and I ask myself and they freakin crazy – how will booing help the yankees win?
“You can’t tell me that David Ortiz isn’t/wasn’t using…and all the Varitek rumors were quickly quashed despite the fact the guy has fallen off the cliff like most PED users tend to do in this sport when they get off the juice.”
Okay, how do you explain the fact that Alex hasn’t fallen off a cliff like Pudge and Varitek? Alex has been tested often these last few years and he’s come up clean. He has continued to put up fantastic numbers. There is nothing to say that Alex is going to be a disaster later in his career.
Maybe A-Rod was telling the truth when he said he gets tested an absurd amount of times. A lot of people wondered why he would be tested so much, I guess now we know why they would focus on A-Rod.
“Good luck to MLB getting the Union to ever agree to a testing program in the next CBA.
If you can’t guarantee confidentiality, you don’t have a viable testing program.”
Exactly. And they’ll never be able to, for reasons like this.
Laura,
Here’s the problem with your theory. The Yankees can’t say whether a player has or has not tested positive in his time in NY. Its against the testing rules.
They can’t comment on it at all.
In other words, somebody can leak that a player tested positive. Yet, the player or team can’t say, “I’ve been tested by the Yankees X number of times and have been clean everytime”.
Its against the rules of the testing program.
That’s why leaks kill drug testing programs. Without confidentiality, you don’t have a viable testing program.
Ray, I was trying to be funny. Mitchell did his best to find every –Yankee– player who ever used steroids.
However, I’m still trying to figure out why Schilling was at the original congressional hearing on ‘roids.
This is soooooo f’in annoying – they cannot continue to release one or two names out of a list of thousands who took this crap. If they want the fans to know – do it right, release every single persons name. This is so messed up doing it in this biased manner. And of course, the yankee get fu___ed the most from this crap. I am so sick and tired of this BS.
I have to go home and explain to my 8 year old son that his favorite player is a cheater…..yikes!
i’m so upset by this i went back to mainlining eightballs to calm my nerves!
S.A.-Brian “The Ninja” Cashman: Showing free agents lots of love
February 7th, 2009 at 10:59 am
Well..looks like there might be a reason for that great 2003 season he had.
Welcome to the steroids mess A-Rod.
————————————————————
Where are the upwards spikes from his first full year until 2008? His career has been as consistant from the first day until now as anybody I’ve seen in 50 years. His second year was a downer, because of injuries.
me too dave
BTW, the perverse irony is that the US Attys office in SF is investigating whether Bonds committed perjury and at the very same, the conduct of their investigation has led to the disclosure of sealed grand jury testimony, which is itself a felony.
If it emanated from the US attorney office, someone is going to jail.
Rule 6E of the Federal Criminal Code makes it a felony for prosecutors, court reporters and grand jury members to leak testimony they take in secret.
I don’t think Sam will have to post anything else all day. lol. This topic will be talked about for a wile.
Tom-
I wasn’t assuming anything, I was asking a question. You said something, I was inquiring as to your motives.
And SJ-
Aww. Are you calling me prepubescent and immature? Am I having an emotional reaction that’s bothering you? Well I really apologize! Please feel free to skip my posts. I don’t really need to parse words with mental midgets.
“Here’s the problem with your theory. The Yankees can’t say whether a player has or has not tested positive in his time in NY. Its against the testing rules.”
Oh, okay. Still, we need to get behind Alex and do whatever damage control we can.
ok Steve B. Ill take that argument but 2005 and 2007 were better than 2003 also.
SJ, I think this will affect Alex. I realize that he plays with this kind of stuff swirling about him, but look what hapened in 2007 – not one of his better years (though most players would kill for those #s). Same with 2006…… This is different than the Madonna (which is a big “who cares?” with me) tabloid stuff. People are now going to rightly question any records Alex sets. He is not clean, period. I also have my doubts as to the legitimacy of his numbers after 2003. If he used it once, he may have used it more. I like Alex personally – I have defended him umpteen times here and elsewhere – so this is not personal with me. I don’t think I’ve ever been more disappointed in my life as a sports fan.
WoW, this is just what A-Fraud and the yanks need right now. will he come clean or pull a barroid or clemans and misremember. yeah, this happened in 2003 while he was in texas, but lets all remember he is now with the hated evil empire and people will jump on the bandwagon to say he is still a cheat / fake.
and we all thought we would be going to spring training in 1 wk to concentrate on the 2009 season and working towards #27…
Betsy,
He may not be able to say anything about it due to the impending court case in California on the issue of the list the Feds now possess.
He’s in a box because I don’t think he can comment until the Supreme Court of California makes a ruling. He can’t jeopordize that case.
Which is why he said, “Talk to the Union” when SI ambushed him in Miami the other day.
Makes me think they knew Selena Roberts was working on this for sometime and they (the Union) prepped him on what to do if she ambushed him.
“Perhaps he tried it, didn’t like it, and stopped. Or, stopped when testing took place. Which would mean he has been clean for the better part of 5 years.”
Agreed, but that’s only part of the issue. A somewhat significant component in the contract the Yankees gave Rodriguez was the idea of him breaking the homerun record as a Yankee. While that’s exactly what’s going to happen, it’s going to happen with a cloud similar to that of Bonds when he broke it IMO. He has quite likely hit 200+ clean homeruns in a Yankees uniform, but if today’s news proves to be accurate, he’s got another 350 or so that come into question.
Don’t Forget to buy Selena Roberts’s (the SI reporter who broke the story) book: “Hit and Run
The Many Lives of Alex Rodriguez” OUT IN MAY!!!
***************************************************
That name Selena Roberts is familiar to me.
Why is that?
Betsy
February 7th, 2009 at 11:24 am
GB, you have no idea how much I want this to not be true…..but the odds of that are infinitesimal.
——————————————————————————————
One only needs to look at the Grimsley report to see how many reported names were wrong from those that were exactly on there. Does anybody think that it took 5 years for this to surface if it were true? No mention what so ever in the Mitchell report.
The real culprits here are:
The Government which deems it has the right to take anynomous tests as if the donor’s had no rights to the privacy which was promised at the time of testing.
2. The nasty turd who leaked the information.
Sadly the Govt. embodies the worst of human nature and always attracts the lowest form of the species as its’ employees. Dirty self righteous nobodies who take cheap thrills from sneaky anonymous attacks.
again AROD has been clean since he was a YANKEE. Yankee fans did cheer Doc and Straw and even Steve Howe..haha jk bout Howe after they had drug problems before they were a Yankee. Your 8 year old son most likely started cheering for AROD in the last few years, while he was clean and a YANKEE.. LETS GO YANKEES and AROD will now have a clean MVP season
“I realize that he plays with this kind of stuff swirling about him, but look what hapened in 2007 – not one of his better years”
Wasn’t he MVP in 2007?
A-Rod is obviously a witch. Obviously.
If he isn’t a witch, he’s certainly a pinko commie, right down to his lip gloss.
In order to Save the Children, we should burn A-Rod at the stake.
For kindling, use The Yankees Years. At the very least, he’ll roast with a smile on his face.
Crew,
The only mental midget on here today is you. Congratulations though, you are living up to the mental midget role you have set for yourself today.
KS,
That’s the delicious irony of all this. The leakers (if they are from the US Attys. Office) are guilty of more serious crimes than the people they are investigating.
Something that gets lost in the coverage of this stuff.
SJ is right. Until the union settles the case of the release of names, A-Rod has to take a bullet for the union and the other 103 guys on the list and say nothing whether he is guilty or innocent.
Donnie B:
Agreed, they were better. But is that the issue??? To me the “Sure he used steroids, but they didn’t really help him” argument falls a little flat.
2007 was his career year wasn’t it?
Crew=Drew. Sorry for the typo.
Angel,
Selena Roberts used to be a sports columnist for the NY Times. She joined SI about two years ago.
Just curious, who are the other 103 guys on the list?
Were they named or implied at all?
I’m still wondering why the name Selena Roberts doesn’t surprise me and why I know it? Did she used to work for the NY Times at some point?
I have no doubt anymore that these leaks are true. I’m tired of thinking, well, they’ve (the leakers) have got to have something wrong.
I suppose I take some solace in the fact that since 2003 ARod’s tested clean.
It stinks that out of 104 names, only one surfaces.
It stinks that the Yankees always take the brunt of this crap.
It stinks period.
I hope ARod and the Yankees deal with this in an honest and above-board manner.
I feel like crying (could be hormones, though
). But I have a sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach.
Not good at all. I don’t want to overreact.
SJ44 -
The problem is he’s going to be inundated with questions. He’s going to be surrounded by reporters at all times unless he addresses this once and for all and then makes the topic off-limits.
Can somebody explain how a single name gets leaked!!! And it happens to be the most high-profile name in the game.
At least Joe T can sit back now and collect his money without all the attention.
IMO, until all players of the late 90′s retire, PED usage will be a witch hunt. It’s just ridiculous some names take the brunt of it (ARod), while others who obviously are using don’t even get questioned (Ortiz).
Ahh, thank you SJ. I thought that name rang a bell – I’m thinking its ringing it for all the wrong reasons too.
I hope they made this up, the writer is fired and SI has to pay a huge fine. tHIS IS A travesty to call out names like this – a damn witch hunt. We are back in the mccarthy era only this time it is roids users in baseball instead of communists and public embarassment along with a career of shame instead of jail time. Some people on here are saying the dumbest comments Ive ever heard – done with the yankees? Why? Because some moron decides oh today will be the day I rat out arod out of the 10s of thousands of ppl who probably tried roids in baseball in the 90s.
And i think arod is more thick skinner than we give him credit for. This guy takes more crap for being excellent at his job than some convicts and child abusers. hE IS under constant criticism and boos by his own home fans after winning two mvps in five years and having the best mlb season in history just about.
He is tortured by the media and hated by yankee fans for no reason whatsoever. Yankee fans cant wait to hate on arod. Sometimes, I am ashamed to be associated with some people that fall under the tag of “yankee fan.” Booing your own players, being the first one to destroy them publicly without even having a shred of proof. Renouncing your faith in the time because of something that can be some stupid charade. How bout having arods back for once? He only carried us on his back to the playoffs in 2007. Have some damn perspective people – this was six years ago and he has won how many mvps since then? Think for a second before you start railing on the guy.
Angel – A tale told by idiots, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing
February 7th, 2009 at 11:51 am
Don’t Forget to buy Selena Roberts’s (the SI reporter who broke the story) book: “Hit and Run
The Many Lives of Alex Rodriguez” OUT IN MAY!!!
***************************************************
That name Selena Roberts is familiar to me.
Why is that?
————————————————————
Because she’s the “reporter” from the NY Times that’s been stalking Rodriguez for about 5 years. She wrote a fabricated story about him being a “slumlord”. She’s also the one that helped the woman fabricate the accusations on the Duke LaCrosse team. Yeah…she’s above board. She needs to write for National Enquirer.
Michael Phelps is the Happiest person in the world that this came out
Gotta go buy a few copies of Canseco’s books.
Angel, she was made a stink a couple of years ago during the Duke lacrosse trial.
The Duke lacrosse players, thats why I remember her.
She was a bit of a nasty piece of work, if I recall correctly.
SJ44, it sickens me. But unfortunately, this stuff occurs all the time. The problem is that US Attys don’t prosecute each other.
So unless someone appoints an independent counsel, leaks occur all the time with total impunity.
If the leak originated from a defense counsel, that’s another matter entirely. US Attys love to prosecute defense lawyers, as the prosecution of Troy Ellerman illustrates.
Maybe Obama’s justice department will have the integrity to do something about this.
In the meantime, the genie is out of the bottle.
Doreen,
The best he can do is say, “I can’t comment on the report due to the ongoing case in the California Supreme Court”.
It may not be enough to feed the 24/7 news cycle but, that’s all he can do right now until that case is decided, IMO.
LOL, who needs Google when this place is a fount of information? I had to Google it to remind myself. Thanks, Tom.
It never ends.
I’m so sick of all this steroid stuff.
At what point does everyone just realize it was era where it was rampant in all sports, learn from it, and move on?
Why does there have to be a steady stream of individuals dragged through the mud? It was a league wide problem. What benefit does destroying individuals reputations?
This makes me respect Jeter even more. You can tell he doesn’t take steroids because of his low home run totals but he’s going to get 3,000 hits. He’ll go down as an all time great.
SJ, Isn’t it funny how when government breaks the laws they somehow just say it was an honest mistake…Geitner Daschle…Rangle
He is A-Fraud
Why can’t the MLB just label that time the steroid era and move on and take solace in the fact that they are doing everything they can NOW to get PED’s out of the game.
I mean, when you think about it, would you do any different.
During this era, a large number of players were taking PEDs. Why, as a person paid on your most recent performance,would you not attempt to gain a competitive edge from something that, at the time, wasn’t punishable.
Some may have tried it, others used it often. I believe A-Rod was the former, being that he was belting home runs since he came into the game. Alex, just like everyone else, saw the game changing and, in order to keep up, did the same.
Again, this wasn’t punishable in 2003, and has since never tested positive for anything.
Vader-
After 8 years of destroying the Constitution, the examples of gov’t breaking laws are those? At least those guys didn’t invade a country!
“This makes me respect Jeter even more. You can tell he doesn’t take steroids because of his low home run totals but he’s going to get 3,000 hits. He’ll go down as an all time great.”
How do you know he didn’t use steroids too ? Unfortunately that’s what’s going on in baseball today. If he defended Clemens and Pettitte on would think there is an association here.. no ?
I honestly don’t know what to say….
Elaine: I am speechless. I am without speech.
There are two things that stink like hell about this article – one, it is from four independent sources. Where were these sources when the actual trials were going on about performance enhancing drugs? They didnt have time to come forward with any evidence against the biggest name in the sport? What. were they scared? And two, the government seized these documents as part of the BALCO investigation? So that means the government has known since that time everyone who has tested positive for anything of this nature? Then, why are the names leaking out like some preconceived witch hunt? Shouldnt those files be sealed? And why are only certain names coming out of them if any at all? There is no way arods name is in the paper today because the results were seized by government investigators as part of the investigation into BALCO. Who is violating the anonymity of these files?? Is that not an offense in its own right? We do have privacy acts that protect us from being revealed in an anonymous survey.
Jeter’s low HR total is no indication of roid use. Look at all the players connected with steroids. All of them didn’t have numbers that went through the roof.
Great, now instead of hearing about baseball, we’re going to be hearing about this! Who really cares anymore, who hasn’t done it? Next to come up is Pujols, Manny, Ortiz, Prince? The fault is on Selig, hes gotta go. Hopefully, A-Rod never juiced in NY.
Patiently waiting for Manny & Ortiz names to come out………….
Bud Selig shaking his head this morning as he knows there goes the guy that could have been the real home run champ, and to whoever said they should just release a list of MLB players who didn’t use roids that is sad but true haha. Lets hope we get the full list of names leaked, but I am sure that will never happen.
I will still hold out a shred of hope that this isn’t true……..
If it is, I hope, hope, hope that it was just a one time thing (not that it makes it any better in my eyes). Alex has always worked extremely hard and he has an appreciation for the history of the game. Why he would use steroids even ONCE is beyond me.
Alex should just address this once and for all……..but who knows what Boras is advising him to do?
Every one did it, let’s move on…I’m so sick of hearing about this…It’s the Yanks and Bonds vs. the World…Screw the Government
Bud’s shaking his head at thinking of how to deal with the player’s association
The woman that broke this story is the same women that fabricated the duke lacrosse story? Are you kidding me? How can she still be allowed to right and be taken seriously by anyone??
I just said he had better seasons than that year so how much do they enhance performance?? Im not saying its ok just saying while he is a Yankee hes clean
Is there’s a grain of truth to that rat Jose Canseco? Everyone despises him, but everyone he rats out, turns out to be a roid user at some point.
I think, we as Yankee fans need to rally around A-Rod. He ain’t going anywhere. He’s our problem, whether we love him or hate him. He will have another monster year, and finally break out of that post season slump. All will be forgotten.
Drew are you for real…and what does the last 8 yrs have to do with government officials breaking laws?
*write
I’m almost glad Alex is playing in the WBC. The reporters at ST, at least for the first 3 weeks, will have no choice but to mostly cover the new guys as Alex will not be around to distract the team.
I really didn’t need another reason to dislike this jackass.
Guys:
Just so you know, the Gannett company ordered every employee be furloughed for one week his quarter. This is my week and I am legally prohibited from working.
It stinks but there is nothing I can do about it. I can’t work until 12:01 a.m. on Monday.
We have people working on the A-Rod story and there will be more posted here as it becomes available.
Just so you know: Nobody has ever fully explained why the “survey test” results were kept and labeled. The government seized the tests and the union has sued to maintain their privacy.
Going back to the BALCO grand jury, the government has been full of leaks about this stuff. I personally find it ridiculous that they’re spending so much time, effort and money chasing down ballplayers, but they are.
Regardless, Sports Illustrated would not publish something like this were it not checked out and vetted by lawyers. They just wouldn’t. I also find it interesting that for the first time when asked this question, he didn’t deny it. He said to call the union. On all other occasions (and I found 10 times), he denied it.
That Alex tested positive is surely true. It’s also true that steroids were banned by baseball in 1991 and their use is against the law. He doesn’t have a medical condition. I have knowledge of what Yankees have drug-use exemptions and he is not one of them.
So he broke baseball rules and committed a crime. This doesn’t make him unlike many other players. The difference, of course, is that he’s Alex Rodriguez.
If he was a PED user and that contributed to his performance, his being signed for nine more years is not a particularly good thing for the Yankees.
The woman that broke this story is the same women that fabricated the duke lacrosse story? Are you kidding me? How can she still be allowed to right and be taken seriously by anyone??
——————
What?
Isn’t it funny hardly any (if any) Red Sox players have been named? I can smell a conflict of interest with George Mitchell and the Sawk.
Ahhh thats right, GB7. I KNEW she’d written some article on ARod, but I’d forgotten what it was.
I was always surprised she wasn’t fire.
Vader-
You said it. Forget it, really.
There really must be someone having Ortiz’s back on Capitol Hill or something.
the fact this guys name has never even been uttered in the same sentence as PED is unfathomable.
The man was CUT from the Twins. CUT, as in, you are incapable of contributing to any facet of our team and our current options are all better than you.
That man is now known as one of the best clutch homerun hitters in the game and continues to put up decent numbers.
It’s a WITCHHUNT! plain and simple
*fired
Some of you could hold out hope that this isn’t true all you want. The odds are it’s true. He’s been tested more then any one else and that usually happens when someone fails a test.
Unfortunately he was given that insane contract last off-season and he’s here 9 more years.
*VINDICATED*
‘Jeter’s low HR total is no indication of roid use. Look at all the players connected with steroids. All of them didn’t have numbers that went through the roof.’
And some had decent improvement in HR production, it doesn’t just turn you into a monster. Remember Alex Sanchez, Lenny Dystra, Abraham Nunez…Jeter had a season which he went from a 10 HR guy to 19 to 24 and then dropped…you don’t know who used it. The problem here is confidentiality in baseball has been broken. Imagine being a nurse or doctor and releasing patients info, after this why should players agree to a confidential test.
“…dave
February 7th, 2009 at 11:47 am
This is soooooo f’in annoying – they cannot continue to release one or two names out of a list of thousands who took this crap. If they want the fans to know – do it right, release every single persons name. This is so messed up doing it in this biased manner. And of course, the yankee get fu___ed the most from this crap. I am so sick and tired of this BS.>>>”
Great reaction!
Alot feel just this way.
KEY WORDS:
103
NFL
DUKE HORROR SHOW
2006
Aww Pete, this furlough stuff sucks. See you next week.
Drew,
If you go to the stadium just to boo arod, I will come to the stadium just to boo you!!! Booing a yankee will never ever help the yankees win – if you are really a yankee fan, you do not boo your own players because you want the team to win no matter what.
No credibility…
Selena Roberts Slurs Innocent Duke Lacrosse Players, Again
http://www.timeswatch.org/arti.....14135.aspx
I just can’t help but laugh. You know, it’s like in the movies when someone hears terrible news and just starts laughing like a mad man. That’s me.
I’m sick of Arod. I want him gone. All he brings is drama. The Yanks just had a historically great off season and now the only thing that will be talked about is Arod on steroids. Who cares if he will hit the most HRs of any player? It’s like Bonds – there will always be a litte * by his name.
And I honestly don’t believe Manny or Ortiz have ever been on steroids. Manny has pure talent and you can’t create his swing with any type of drug. And, as much as I hate to admit it, I like Ortiz. I can’t imagine him ever doing steroids.
GB, that’s a good point about the Mitchell report- why wasn’t Alex’s name on there?
SJ, I wasn’t aware that there was a pending CA about this. Someone on another board mentioned that Heyman was on MLB this morning (not watching – can’t handle this anymore)and said that SI gave Robers the OK to post the story because A-Rod didn’t deny the story. Is that the standard journalists are using now? Pretty sad.
Adam can’t be a Yankee fan. You should be accustomed to drama. Or maybe you’re a new fan. LOL
wow, amazing ESPN radio just saying he is guilty, not surprising and ‘kudos’ to SI for breaking the story… not even acknowledging that he may be innocent
“If he was a PED user and that contributed to his performance, his being signed for nine more years is not a particularly good thing for the Yankees.”
But Pete, we don’t know how long he was using PED. Maybe he used it once and it just happened to be around the time when they were testing. Maybe at the time of the tresting, he had been using for 5 years. We don’t know. All I know is that Alex is a Yankee and that means that he’s got 100% of my support until he’s wearing another uniform.
Oops, thanks Angel! I meant 2006………..if 2007 wasn’t one of Alex’ better years, then that would be pretty scary, lol.
We all know the the Mitchell Report was a BIASED report. I don’t even give a crap about any of this. I’m excited about the season and that’s all. I don’t care if Arod has a relationship with Hannah Montana, WHO REALLY GIVE A F???????????
There will ALWAYS be Yankee haters. Us loyal and passionate Yankee Fan have dealt with it for our entire lives. They Yankees WILL WIN THE 2009 WORLD SERIES!!!
“Adam can’t be a Yankee fan. You should be accustomed to drama. Or maybe you’re a new fan. LOL”
It’s been drama since 94′ he should know that. The only difference is we won 4 championships to mask it.
Pete,
I agree with everything you said except for the last line. Do you really expect us to believe that arod is some sort of enhanced player because of his ped use in 2003? Last time i checked, roids dont last 6 years or even four and in 2007, he had the best season of his or anyones career. He is this good. iT ISNT some enhancement, atleast not the yankee version of arod. I thought of all people, you would at the very least say something like that. tHIS IS not a time for ppl to start questioning arods true god given abilities. He is unstable and has low self esteem and took peds to try to improve himself perhaps but that doesnt mean he is not an amazing player. Fact is, when do people start being questioned for violating privacy and anonymity laws? We heard enough about peds but what about a player or a person;s right to privacy when a survery is said to be anonymous. Who answers for that??
Haha maybe I’m just a naive fan. I’m just really sick of Arod. I was so looking forward to spring training and now every story associated with the Yankees will have some mention of Arod.
Pete makes a great point, if it wasn’t true wouldn’t Arod just say that is false, and not say talk to the union.
There you go Laura, acting is if your life and happiness don’t depend on the game of baseball. I bet you have goals and maybe even a job or something. Sheesh!
Just ask those Lacrosse players, no such thing as being falsely accused, right? They were torn apart by the press and the public. Or how about the Tawana Brawley brouhaha?
Selena Roberts goes out of her way to show A-Rod in a bad light. All that she needs to do is make a claim like this and A-Rod is guilty.
If he admits it, or there are NAMED sources, that is an entirely different matter. Or if the records of those tests are released where all the names come out and his name is on it, then there is more to this than just a witch hunt against one player.
“It’s been drama since 94’ he should know that. The only difference is we won 4 championships to mask it.”
There was drama before that AND they won championship along with it.
“A friend who is close to A-Rod, who is due to report to Yankee spring training in Tampa on Feb. 18 and is currently staying in Miami, told the Daily News Saturday that Rodiguiez “has turned his phone off. This is a mess. I’m not sure how he’s going to take this. He’s never had to deal with anything like this before.” Daily News
‘Haha maybe I’m just a naive fan. I’m just really sick of Arod. I was so looking forward to spring training and now every story associated with the Yankees will have some mention of Arod.’
So build up some cojones and grow up Adam.
I didn’t think it before but right now I am pretty damn sure we will win the 2009 World Series. There is too much bad karma and it will even out.
I, for one, am shocked. I have never really been a fan of A-Rod, but I believe that he was one of the clean guys who worked hard to get where he is at. This truely is a disappointed but I guess its a realization that you really dont know who did or did not use them. As sad as it is, who can say Jter didnt as well? I guess this gives more validation to the books that Canseco wrote. He got burned for them, but in the end he was telling the truth.
Anybody ever notice that rumors get fueled as soon as the heat is on Bulbhead Bonds ?
yea yea half the people in here hate arod for real now – Im sure you guys will be hating him all the way to a world series ring. Us, real fans who actually like the best players on our team and root for them no matter what, will be the ones celebrating like crazy when arod wins us the next one – you guys can jump on board in OCTOBER for all i care. Root for him or hate him – it doesnt matter because he is a yankee and we need him to succeed!! But dont call yourself a yankee fan if you are going to go to the stadium and boo arod. yOUR CLOSER to a redsox fan then a yankee fan once you do that because you are doing more to help the sox win the division than the yanks.
Call me crazy but maybe Arod’s name wasn’t on the Mitchell Report because they waited to see if the Yankees re-signed him so baseball could stick it to the Yankees?
put him on irrevokable waivers as soon as possible (what the sox did to manny)
embarass the hell out of the weak minded arod. Make his life miserable and try to void the deal.
“A friend who is close to A-Rod, who is due to report to Yankee spring training in Tampa on Feb. 18 and is currently staying in Miami, told the Daily News Saturday that Rodiguiez “has turned his phone off. This is a mess. I’m not sure how he’s going to take this. He’s never had to deal with anything like this before.” Daily News
I swear I love how people act like this guy is one day short of taking a razor to his wrists. He’s managed to survive crap before. I hardly think he’s this “fragile”.
OK Guys-
I was born a Yankees fan, been one my entire life. I, as I’m sure all of you, have friends who are fans of other teams who constantly bitch and moan about spending, roids, and everything else. I have defended the team, the Steinbrenners, ARod and the lot until my face was blue. It bothers me that all this will be thrown back in my face. It bothers me that I have said things that have been proven false. I apologize if I have rubbed some people here the wrong way (some of it I’m not sure why), but I am surprised that there is less vitriol towards the team, players and sport here. I’m shocked that there are so many people here defending him. I’ll leave now- not just this great blog, but this less than great game. I am sad, ashamed and angry. If you can’t understand that, then there’s nothing to talk about anyway.
Guys:
MLB’s and the MLPA’s silence on this is deafening. Alex is one of -if not the- biggest names in baseball. If he didn’t do it you would have to believe that both the union and Selig would have said so by now.
http://www.nydailynews.com/spo.....teste.html
Christina seriously if Jeter is on a steroid list he might as well come out now. He also wouldn’t surprise me, I mean he back Giambi, Bonds, Pettitte, Clemens big time..I wouldn’t be surprised really. People think it’s only him, if it’s only him then the supply and demand of steroids in the majors is screwed and there is too much money in baseball for it to only be a few select players.
With A-Rod’s fragile psyche, I can’t imagine him having a good year.
MLB baseball by doing nothing condoned the use of steroids.
Think about the whole 1998 Mcgwire—Sammy HR derby and how MLB promoted it. Any reasonable person who was in the business of baseball, had to know what was going on. Not only did they do nothing they promoted it. I don’t blame anyone player for doing it. Not Giambi, Ortiz, McGwire, or Arod. Ignoring the issue is akin to condoning it.
Lying about it, especially in a legal setting is a whole new ballgame. I wonder if the commissioner has sworn that he knew nothing of the problem while promoting the Sammy and Mcgwire HR derby?
An anolgy that comes to mind is the DOD “dont ask dont tell” policy. Except MLB is allowing the “outed” one’s to be persecuted. MLB needs to get thier head out of the sand and take responsibility.
Brandon – Dude, relax. I remember when Alex opted out of his contract and almost every post here was something like “I’m so happy he’s gone,” “He was never a true Yankee,” etc. I just don’t like the guy, that’s all, and I’m sick of reading about him.
I just goggled Selena Roberts
Lady has an agenda for sure
http://durhamwonderland.blogsp.....ading.html
More recently, Roberts’ direct supervisor at the Times, sports editor Tom Jolly, stated, “I very much regret my failure to recognize that we were dealing with a rogue prosecutor and that the university had compounded his bravado by overreacting to the initial reports about the case . . . The bottom line is that I’d do some things differently, and that knowledge gained by hindsight has informed our approach to other stories since then.”
Tom, though I do believe its true even if someone is innocent you don’t just go flapping your gums immediately without discussing and getting your ducks in a row. So, while I believe the report, MLB and the union’s silence doesn’t automatically mean guilt. Just for future situations where people are accused of things. You know, like the Atlanta Olympic bomber, etc.
‘I swear I love how people act like this guy is one day short of taking a razor to his wrists. He’s managed to survive crap before. I hardly think he’s this “fragile”.’
LOL so true.
*****************BREAKING NEWS******************
The E! Entertainment network is now reporting that Arod tested positive for Madonna as recently as November of last year.
***************DEVELOPING STORY*****************
I am the walrus,
DIDNT YOU GET THE MEMO? The whole roid witch hunt like the communist one back in the 50s is on the standard of GUILTY UNTIL PROVEN INNOCENT. Yea they change the laws special for idiotic events like this one. The great thing is not only are you guilty upon being pointed at but you also have absolutely no way to prove your innocents once you are charged. So you just burn at the stake like with the rest of the communists and witches. And the government always makes it real difficult to find out where the names are coming from while allocating a miassive amount of funds in order to really target the biggest names. Good old mccarthy must be smiling down from heaven and the great work mitchell and his colleagues are doing to absolutely destroy the character and careers of the biggest names in baseball. Yup, maybe tonight we will have a book burning to really get the blood pumping and the nazis coming out of the wood work.
I don’t hate Arod. I’ve always cheered for him when the bonehead fans booed him for not being Derek Jeter.
But this goes beyond that. This goes into a territory where Alex is a liar. As Pete said, he has denied usage of these drugs often in the past and now it appears he’s used it.
The entire reason the Yankees (or any team) would consider going 10 years on a deal with this guy was that he was set up to break Bonds’ tainted record as a “clean” player.
Now that is out the window. There will always be doubt about his accomplishments.
Say what you want, but yesterday there was little to no doubt about what Arod had accomplished in baseball. Today if he breaks Bonds’ record the media will instantly say he’s no better than Bonds as a scoundrel since he also tested positive for ‘roids.
Alex is a sensitive ballplayer. This will do one of two things. He’ll curl up in a ball and be headcase Alex or he’ll use this as fire to prove he’s the best.
Who knows.
The only thing I’m scared about as a Yankee fan is that if this guy was chemically enhanced, he will have a precipitous fall and it will be ugly and we’ll be tied to him for the largest dollars in baseball history.
There could be several reasons why Alex hasn’t fallen off a cliff yet. He’s still younger than the age most PED users break down and for all we know he could be using HGH right now and since 2003 since there is no test for it.
His credibility is now in question and it’s a sad day since I believe the Yankees and MLB were looking to him to be the guy to wash away the sins of Bonds.
Now, that ain’t happening.
LOL Nick
I just read what kind of steroid Arod took: Primobolan. And apparently it keeps you lean with minimal bulk. This would explain why Arod hasn’t looked like the typical steriod user.
‘Brandon – Dude, relax. I remember when Alex opted out of his contract and almost every post here was something like “I’m so happy he’s gone,” “He was never a true Yankee,” etc. I just don’t like the guy, that’s all, and I’m sick of reading about him.’
And when he came back it was hallelujah another player that’s been rumored for a few yrs. has been Mark Teixiera…would you hate him too ? It’s alot of players in baseball and the only good news is Arod can’t be suspended because it was before punishments were established.
jp
February 7th, 2009 at 12:27 pm
put him on irrevokable waivers as soon as possible (what the sox did to manny)
embarass the hell out of the weak minded arod. Make his life miserable and try to void the deal.
———————-
Shut up idiot.
At that time most of the players in the league were using.
It happened, get over it.
SJ44
Yeah you’re right, he really cannot say anything right now.
I can’t honestly say I’m shocked, because frankly, I’m all shocked out from last year’s Mitchell report.
And the fact is, even if ARod only used “just once” or “just a little” or used an over-the-counter supplement that he didn’t know would test positive, it still tarnishes whatever he did from 2003 and before.
However, MLB and the players’ union is going to have to figure out a better way to deal with this entire era. It is clear that more players used than didn’t and you can’t just throw asterisks on every accomplishment and you can’t ostracize 60% or more of the player population.
It is now time for Bud Selig, MLB and the Union to admit that it was a widespread problem, people ignored it for the financial benefit of the game, regrets the “head in the sand” approach, grant immunity to the players, stop the Bonds charade (well, now they can’t because that’s gone too far), and whatever else they need to do to acknowledge everyone’s role in this problem. They were warned as far back as 1998 that this was not just a problem with a fringe group of players.
It is quite off-putting, too, that the NFL, for instance, doesn’t suffer the same scrutiny that MLB does.
yEA g love – im sure you would have appreciated it waaaay more if arod was like oh yea for sure I did steroids back in seattle when asked by the media the first time. Ummm no! That doesnt ever happen and will never happen. As long as he doesnt continue to lie about it now like clemens or bonds i will consider him doing the right thing in terms of being honest. Pettitte did the same thing – he didnt say a word until he was forced into a corner. No one ever does. You have to be an idiot to say it straight out without any proof against you.
Pete,
Here is the problem. Arod is probably legally prohibited from discussing this matter until the case before the California Supreme Court is decided. At worst, the Union would correctly advise him not to discuss it due to the pending case.
What you have is somebody who hates him like poison (Selena Roberts) come into possession of confidential testing results, you have a problem.
How did she come into possession of such confidential material? I think a lot of people would like to know the answer to that question.
If it came from a government source(s) such sources have committed a felony giving her that information.
In other words, the crime of handing over that information is more serious than the crime being investigated.
She is smart enough to know he can’t admit or deny it because of pending case. She looks for a comment from him, doesn’t get it, which gives her to ok to print it. As you know, once you don’t get a denial from a subject most newspaper/magazine lawyers will ok publication of a story.
To me, while she may have “gotten” Arod, she probably has put an end to any reliable testing program administered by MLB.
She has also probably contributed to a work stoppage that almost certainly will take place because this issue is going to solidify the players against the owners when the CBA comes up for negotiation.
There is no way the Union will EVER join with MLB again for an MLB-Administered Testing Program. Its been a disaster from the get-go.
Unless the government or an independent testing body approved by the Union takes over this program, you can forget about baseball when the next CBA comes up.
The players will walk before ever putting their trust in Bud Selig again.
Its just not the way you go about it if you want a testing program that works and a good working relationship between the Union and the owners.
She may get a prize from her editors but she pretty much blew up what’s left of the trust between the owners and players.
Can’t wait to see the reaction of players when she shows up in locker rooms this year. It won’t be pretty.
So here’s an interesting question…if Clemens and McGwire don’t get into the hall, does Arod?
Dave:
Read Will Carroll’s piece in Baseball Prospectus the other day. Athletes have access to designer PEDs that no tests exist for. Wealthy players can get their hands on a lot of different things. You can’t seriously believe that somebody would do it once? Don’t be naive.
The Yankees gave him a $30 million incentive clause in his last contract based solely on home runs.
And while people may not like what Selena Roberts wrote as a columnist for the Times, she is not a columnist for SI. She is a reporter and Sports Illustrated is part of Time Life Inc. They simply would not publish a story like this unless it was vetted by a bunch of lawyers and editors. They know the ramifications of such a story.
Whether you like it or not, that he tested positive is almost certainly true.
Anyway, I don’t know if this counts as “work” or not, so I better stop. I will be back at work at 12:01 a.m. on Sunday.
Lara08-
We shall see shortly.
“Major League Baseball plans to release a statement regarding SI’s report later Saturday”
http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/.....id=3890785
so much for that whole “arod will be the clean home-run king’ stuff. another dirty player climbing through the record books.
sj you’re naive if u think this wont have any effect on this season, arod is going to be dogged all year abou this. for a guy who’s as wrapped up in what people think about him as arod is, this could be a very big distraction.
So where are the names of the other 104 people? I want to see David Ortiz’s name. I do not know how he has escaped all of this for so long.
so jose canseco was right again!
“It is quite off-putting, too, that the NFL, for instance, doesn’t suffer the same scrutiny that MLB does.”
Doreen,
I wonder if putting the two poster children for steroid use (Mcgwire and Sammy), on a pedestal, has anything to do with that?
Brandon Texiera is a user?
I swear if his name comes out. I am DONE with baseball. And I’m not lying.
Wake me up when football starts. Least it’s out in the open players take PED in that sport.
Thanks for clearing up the Legalese SJ44.
Tarheelyank -
Probably. Most of the players in the NFL are pretty anonymous, aren’t they? I mean even casual baseball fans, or people who aren’t fans at all, know who Sosa and McGuire are and what they did in 1998.
We shall see what Tom? My point is how quick you open your mouth is not an indicator of guilt or innocence, only of how unorganized and stupid you are.
Thanks Pete!!!!
Doreen
its clear that mlb has decided to leave it to the government communist hunters to get the job done using millions of tax payer dollars. The mlb is not planning on doing a thing. Why should they? They used mcgwire and clemens and the like to build on the popularity of baseball particularly, mcgwire and when they were done, mlb had no problem throwing them under a bus or into a ditch or anywhere else where they would be least visible. Its clear to me mlb has already chosen its path. And the US government by of course, being incapable of learning from past mistakes has chosen theres.
Instead of releasing no ones name or everyones names, they are going to find the biggest names they can, completely tarnish their career, reputation and their life and then, pretend like they made their mark on baseball by punishing the guilty or at least give off the appearance that they punished the guilty and they will call it a day. And the baseball record books along with the HOF will be missing some of its biggest and best superstars banished from the hall like a plague.
Its all a miserable little plan and no one will win in the end. They were better off ignoring the fact that roids ever happened. and just moving on instead of making this circus act seem like some legit punishment for players when it is the MLB who should be punished for letting it happen right under their noses. Its a ridiculous farce and its slowly damaging the integrity and the sport as a whole.
so sj44, mr. dont comment till you read the book, is now attacking the messenger (selena robers) instead of condemning the cheater.
he’s already blamed her for an upcoming strike that he’s decided will happen now no matter what.
as a supposedly wise man once said; “Some of you should chill out and not be so reactionary.”
o that was you.
Whoever believes this will have no affect on A-Rod are guilty of wishful thinking.
This will be on his mind and conscious for the rest of his career.
He was the “clean” Bonds. We payed him an unheard of amount of money to be the “clean” Bonds.
This is a huge mess, and I was a huge A-Rod supporter.
Just seems that since this guy came here, we have been swarmed by all this garbage he brings.
Yea, he gives us 35+ HR’s and 100+ RBI’s, but brings all of this to a clubhouse every single year. And when things are getting rocky, he becomes a headcase and can’t perform.
This is VERY VERY BAD as a Yankee fan. Our most emotionally fragile player is having his name and career tarnished by PED reports.
Before this, all there was was speculation with A-Rod and PED’s. Now, its true, and that can never be changed.
Face it, from this point on, we have a different A-Rod. He will not be the same. This is a career changing revelation for the most image conscious player in the game.
How could you say this won’t affect him?
Canseco is laughing somewhere.
‘Brandon Texiera is a user?
I swear if his name comes out. I am DONE with baseball. And I’m not lying.
Wake me up when football starts. Least it’s out in the open players take PED in that sport.’
Rumors of Tex started yrs. ago, they were just whispers but he played on that Texas team and you look at his build…would you really be surprised ?
Canseco should be worried about his foreclosed homes, his latest legal conviction, being sued by his lawyers and fighting other has been’s for money.
He’ll laugh right to the mailbox then it will end when he gets the latest suit or bill.
“Rumors of Tex started yrs. ago, they were just whispers but he played on that Texas team and you look at his build…would you really be surprised ?”
Nope, nothing is shocking. When are we going to be able to stop ripping off this band-aid slowly over what happened 6, 10, 15 years ago? Enough is enough.
We want asterisk by every name, record, award and soon you have to put them next to division, league and world series champs too.
Doreen,
Exactly my point. MlB had to know about, and promoted the heck out of it. Only MLB can put a stop to this nonsense, by taking resposibility.
MLB’s policy of “Dont ask Dont tell” has backfired.
Maybe Congress should investigate the Texas Rangers.
Seems like they are big proponents of guys and needles.
Can the yankees get out of the extra money they’re supposed to pay for him breaking home run records, since the records will be tainted?
Ehh pete, i didnt say i thought he did it once but I just cant imagine he has done it his entire career up until this point. The players have access to new drugs but do they have access to the new tests that are being run on them? it is a HUGE risk this day and age with all the testing and all the enhancing of the testing. Its a big industry at this point and while im sure, ped production is just as big as ped testing, I just dont know if arod could afford to runt he risk for this long and not be caught since 2003. And if not, i mean it is clear that he is just a brilliant player. iF HE HAS been on peds his entire career, then, I guess I just need some proof because that is a tough pill to swallow without any proof whatsoever. All this article says is he tested positive once in 2003 – how can anyone go for once in 2003 to he is the player he is because he taked performance enhancing drugs. i dont make those kinds of assumptions without substantial proof to support that line of thinking. In my mind, he could have done it for up to a year but that is as far as I would stretch that time unless it came out that he tested positive in multiple years.
GET OFF MY TEAM AROD.
I AM SO TIRED OF HIS CIRCUS!
NOW YOU WILL NEVER BE CONSIDERED THE G.O.A.T
JUST ANOTHER ROID* MONSTER.
SJ44:
It’s not the media’s responsibility to make things nice for the MLBPA and MLB. As for a drug testing agreement, they have one in place that isn’t a “disaster.” If they don’t, Congress will threaten them to have one as they did before. None of those guys want back on that hearing table.
And a CBA will get done because there’s too much money at stake. A work stoppage in a bad economy would make no sense for players or owners. There is also a growing chorus of young players who don’t use who want this stuff out of the game. They have no sympathy for these older guys. Fehr and Orza cant stand with drug users who are in their mid to late 30s. At this point, they need to be worried about their own complicity.
You can kill the messenger all you want. It doesn’t make the message wrong. And Selena can walk into any clubhouse she wants. You really think some player will walk up to her and start yelling at her? No chance. I’ve never seen that happen, outside of some postgame incidents.
1. Most players have no idea who any of us are outside of people who get on TV. They only know their local beat guys.
2. Players ultimately care only about themselves and their money.
3. Many players don’t like Alex.
I agree, what happened in 2003 stinks. Anonymous tests should be anonymous. Alex should sue whoever is responsible for that. Doesn’t change that he used.
The whole thing stinks. I don’t think Alex is any more or less guilty than anybody else. I think the whole investigation by the government and the Mitchell Report was haphazard and shoddy.
But the guy has stood there time after time after time and denied using drugs of any kind. Apparently that is not true. He has two choices now: Andy or Roger. Admit it and let it blow over or deny, deny, deny and watch your life fall apart.
Doreen,
What to do about it? They are WAY beyond that right now.
The trust is gone between the Union and Selig. It was a tenuous truce as it is. Now? Gone with a capital “G”.
There isn’t anything to do about it. The government is still conducting their witchhunt/investigation of baseball players. As long as that’s ongoing, and players could be indicted, they have to do whatever they can to guard against getting indicted. That takes precedence over feeding the media beast on a daily basis.
There is a case pending in the CA Supreme Court on the issue of making public the names on the infamous “list” and nobody can talk until that case is decided.
In that way, it gives Roberts a “free shot” at nailing a player. In this case, Arod.
He just has to suck it up, go about his business, and wait until that case is decided.
Overall, what should the sport do? If I was Selig, I would call a news conference, declare my drug program a complete failure, apologize to the players for their names being leaked, and look to work with the Union to find an independent testing company to take over the program. At this point, as long as MLB is in charge of the Drug Testing Program, its a failure.
If I’m head of the Union, and Selig doesn’t do what I said above, I tell my membership to start packing money away because we are going to shut down the sport the next time the CBA is up. Until this Commissioner is either gone or they resolve this issue in a MUCH fairer matter than its being resolved at the present time, you can’t be in business with these people. They will sell you out and ruin you.
That’s not the basis of a working relationship and they may have to shutdown the sport again and reconstruct it in a way to have a better working relationship.
This goes beyond Arod. This is a fundamental breakdown of the drug testing system. Meaning, they no longer have a reliable drug testing system in MLB.
Once you lose confidentiality, you lose trust and reliability on this issue.
Its a MAJOR problem and Selig can’t solve it because he’s one of the problems.
Selena Roberts may have nailed Arod but, she has done more damage to the game today than nailing one player could ever do.
She should be proud of herself. For her sake, I hope she break any laws obtaining that info. If she did, she better get a good lawyer.
“Face it, from this point on, we have a different A-Rod. He will not be the same. This is a career changing revelation for the most image conscious player in the game.”
While I agree that the chances are higher than not that A-Rod will be negatively affected by this, there is also the chance that he will use this as motivation to prove to the world that he’s great w/o the extra help supposedly given by PEDs. We won’t know until the season starts.
As for him getting into the HOF, I think that depends on what he does here on out. If he continues to put up monster numbers each season and keeps having clean tests, he may get in. He is so far away from even being considered for the Hall that by the time he’s up for election, the “importance” of this revelation may be ignored by the voters.
“Shut up idiot.
At that time most of the players in the league were using.
It happened, get over it.”
hey bob…
go back to boston you chowderhead
Pete,
Just change your name and contribute anyway.
You know what would be shocking – a BIG CURRENT REDSOX PLAYER DOING ROIDS. That would be shocking to me.
This is taken from the ESPN article on this;
“In a December 2007 interview with “60 Minutes,” however, three days after George Mitchell’s report on drugs in the sport was released, Rodriguez denied using performance-enhancing drugs.
“I’ve never felt overmatched on the baseball field. … I felt that if I did my, my work as I’ve done since I was, you know, a rookie back in Seattle, I didn’t have a problem competing at any level,” he said on “60 Minutes.”
If anyone thinks everyone in the press is going to lay off, they are on crack. Arod’s life will be Hell this season.
I hope he finds enough solace in baseball that he focuses on his game and finishing the contract productively.
This is going to be a mess.
Despite how disappointed I am, still doesn’t change that the Yankees will win the WS this year.
upon hearing about alex, my first reaction is that i burst out laughing . i don’t have anything against alex, but he’s just not a yankee to me.
my position is similar to sj44′s that it’s just not going to matter this season. with 100 or so other names that means about 3-5 players on every team will be named eventually .
there will be no congressional hearings because it would appear to petty considering the world is on the brink of financial collapse. on second though , congress will have more baseball steroid hearings precisely because it would be an incredibly silly thing to do with the serious problems the world is going though right now.
but all alex has to do is say in front of them that it’s a legal matter and can’t comment. as long as he doesn’t lie, he’s not in trouble. so alex’s numbers will be there for the yankees.
Pete’s right, this whole thing just stinks.
I’m so sick of it.
Mkaes you want to just stick your head in the sand.
“He has two choices now: Andy or Roger. Admit it and let it blow over or deny, deny, deny and watch your life fall apart.”
Andy Pettite said that he and Alex have been in touch during the off season. My hope is that Andy will call Alex and tell him to handle it the way he did. That will increase the chances that it blows over sooner rather than later.
“GET OFF MY TEAM AROD.
I AM SO TIRED OF HIS CIRCUS!”
Eh, 103 people tested positive, relax. With 30 teams and 103 people it’s likely every team has roid users.
How the hell did Selena Roberts get her hands on sealed information in a federal case? I have a hard time respecting and trusting her after the Duke lacrosse case. It wouldn’t shock me if she bribed someone or did something illegal to access this information.
I am not totally shocked by the relevation that A-Rod tested positive for steroids, but I am curious to know the other names on that list. So Selena Roberts’ is attempting to protect everyone else’s confidentiality except for A-Rod? Her agenda pushing is deplorable.
sj, your attack on selena roberts is misplaced. any journalist who got ahold of this info would have disclosed it. ask pete if he would have sat on that info.
also consiser that someone gave her that info for the purpose of it getting out. if she didnt disclose it, that person would likely have called another journalist to make the disclosure.
the problem here is that arod got caught using steroids, not that someone reported it.
Pete,
Who really admits to doing roids if there is absolutely no proof to the contrary that they know of? I mean its not like one day he would be asked and just say ok yes i DID it but thats it, I want it to end here after I apologize. Why would any player put themselves through that unless they had to face the music. Especially alex who doesnt seem to handle this kind of thing well. I mean I would expect him to deny it until now – now, I expect him to be a man and face the music. But there was no way he would admit to it up until this point. He didnt have the motivation to go through this kind of circus for no reason.
They leaked the biggest name.
I can hear the chants “A-Fraud” and “Steroids.” What will Alex say? He has said in the past he was not a user.
He has great talent but this will taint his accomplishments.
“They simply would not publish a story like this unless it was vetted by a bunch of lawyers and editors. They know the ramifications of such a story.”
Editors vetted the stories against the Duke Lacrosse players. How did that work out? Where THEY guilty? Sure was made out that way with the media for months.
False accusations happen all the time, and the Media are protected in the laws regarding slander and libel. They don’t have to prove its true, they only have to have a source that says its true.
Standing behind the law doesn’t mean that there is absolute proof. The media only needs a source or two and they are good to go on a story.
“Sources confirmed to ESPN’s T.J. Quinn that Rodriguez was aware he tested positive for steroids in 2003.”
Pete,
Congress has bigger problems right now than holding hearings again to make MLB and the Union playy nice. IMO, the ship has sailed for any further Congressional Intervention, given the current state of the country.
No question, Alex is not very popular among his peers. However, all players, even guys who are clean, realize a drug testing program that’s not confidential is a HUGE problem.
Additionally, if the players feel that ANY problem, a guy who beats his wife, a guy who is a drug abuser, pick any number of issues, is going to get “outed” by MLB (or their sources), you lose the trust between the players and owners.
Lot of money at stake? Absolutely.
However, that works both ways. If the parties don’t trust one another, no matter how much money is at stake, you don’t have a business.
Its bad for baseball because the customer feels cheated. Its bad for the players because they will no longer trust Selig or the owners.
Selena Roberts? She’s just the messenger. However, what she has triggered, particularly getting her hands on confidential information could be a problem. See Judith Miller for example.
No matter what side you are on the issue, this is a big problem. It goes beyond whether Arod will be able to “handle it”.
Its a fundamental breakdown of a program that is vital to the future of MLB.
Its going to be real interesting to see how that ever gets rebuilt.
PETE! glad you got in most of a vacation before this blew. your journalists point of view is needed here. if you had the info she had, would u have reported it or sat on it?
i have to tell you that ever since it became known that list was compiled of who failed the 2003 tests, i’ve been waiting for the list to become public, it was only a matter of time.
ALEX=ANAKIN
“Twisted by the dark side, young Skywalker has become. The boy you trained, gone he is… consumed by Darth Vader.”
?Yoda
“He is in great danger.”
“From the Sith?”
“From himself.”
?Obi-Wan Kenobi and Padmé Amidala}
“Something’s happening. I’m not the Jedi I should be. I want more. But I know I shouldn’t.”
?Anakin to Padmé
I just have to say Chien-Ming Vase is probably my favorite username now eclipsing Alvaro Espinoza’s Hipster Frames.
Trevor
February 7th, 2009 at 12:42 pm
“…….Wake me up when football starts. Least it’s out in the open players take PED in that sport…..”
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The NFL !!!!
…and the highly regarded, national fan favorite, poster boy for the NFL is stinking Dana Stubblefield ???
You are kidding.
How does the NFL get away unscathed ?
The 350 pond running back doesn’t get like he does by eating “Scott’s Turf-Builder” in his morning oatmeal !!!
Oh yeah — the vast majority NFL fan base is WAAAAAY more concerned with point-spreads and pools rather than the actual game of football. Sad, but so damn accurate !!!
“sj, your attack on selena roberts is misplaced. any journalist who got ahold of this info would have disclosed it. ask pete if he would have sat on that info.
also consiser that someone gave her that info for the purpose of it getting out. if she didnt disclose it, that person would likely have called another journalist to make the disclosure.
the problem here is that arod got caught using steroids, not that someone reported it.”
Someone leaked CONFIDENTIAL information in an ongoing federal case. This will affect the legal community as well baseball. Selena Roberts can report whatever she wants as long as she did not obtain this information illegally.
Your second comment is misplaced. If someone gave Roberts the info for the purpose of getting it out, then that person committed a federal crime for breaching confidentiality. I am not sure if someone would purposely leak this info knowing that he/she will most likely end up in jail.
TELL ME SOMEONE JUST HEARD THAT GUY ON WFAN!!! HAHAHAHA
The guy was basically yelling/crying about how all ARod has caused was controversy and problems since he got here and now that he heard this Steroid thing he’s flipping out. It was pretty comical.
“Your second comment is misplaced. If someone gave Roberts the info for the purpose of getting it out, then that person committed a federal crime for breaching confidentiality. I am not sure if someone would purposely leak this info knowing that he/she will most likely end up in jail.”
so you are assuming that selena roberts broke the law but supposing that nobody else would take the risk of giving her the information. im sorry but this is very naive. grand jury testimony is leaked regularly in this country. from both sides. yes there is some risk of getting caught and people do occasionally go to jail for it, which proves that people do leak such info to the press despite the legal jeopardy.
g. love – its just a mask im wearing today, ill probly go back to my usual sn tommorrow.
SJ44
Being just a baseball fan and nothing more I get what your saying. If MLB looked the other way on steroids until they couldn’t any more and then let the players take the blame, why would the players and the union trust them when they have to do a new agreement. The players aren’t like Charlie Brown when Lucy tells him she won’t pull the baall away.
I’m sick of Arod. I want him gone. All he brings is drama. The Yanks just had a historically great off season and now the only thing that will be talked about is Arod on steroids. Who cares if he will hit the most HRs of any player? It’s like Bonds – there will always be a litte * by his name.
And I honestly don’t believe Manny or Ortiz have ever been on steroids. Manny has pure talent and you can’t create his swing with any type of drug. And, as much as I hate to admit it, I like Ortiz. I can’t imagine him ever doing steroids.
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LMAO!!!
Wolf in sheep’s clothing anyone?
ok it was this way, honest! i saw the list at work, part of my job in the justice dept. I’m also a humongous baseball fan and when i got home that night, i just couldnt keep the secret! i swear i only told my wife, but her brother was over and might been within earshot…
Primobolan is one of the weakest available “anabolic” steroids….i’d be amazed if an athlete in his position….in a sport without a probitive testing program would waste his time with such an innefective and “old school” PED. If this story hav any validity at all….the positive test comes from any number of GNC over the counter supplements
:
Primobolan is a well-known and popular steroid as well. Like nandrolone it’s most often used as a base compound for stacking with other steroids. Methenolone however, is a DHT-based steroid (actually, DHB or dihydroboldenone, the 5-alpha reduced of the milder boldenon). Meaning when it interacts with the aromatase enzyme it does not form estrogens at all. That makes it ideal for use when cutting when excess estrogen is best avoided because of its retentive effects on water and fat. Methenolone is mostly only used in such instances, or by people who are very succeptible to estrogenic side-effects, because the anabolic activity of methenolone is slightly lower than that of nandrolone, quite likely BECAUSE it is non-estrogenic.
Because it is a widely available steroid its often used as a replacement for nandrolone or boldenone to those who have no access to Deca-Durabolin or Laurabolin or Equipoise. When stacked with a heavy mass steroid like testosterone and/or methandrostenolone it can deliver almost similar gains. Those seeking to cut will most likely be very pleased stacking it with drostanolone, stanozolol or trenbolone. Women and beginners also stack methenolone WITH nandrolone because this gives a mildly anabolic stack that is generally regarded as one of the safer stacks around in an androgenic perspective. But alas, with the nandrolone, also a very suppressive stack.
Methenolone is available as an injection or as an oral. The injection is naturally regarded as better. Its an enanthate ester which is quite long-acting and only needs to be injected once a week in doses of 300-600 mg. Because it by-passes hepatic breakdown on the first pass, it also has a higher survival rate. The orals are a lot less handy, but often preferred by bodybuilders who are afraid of needles or who are already taking one or more injectable compounds. The tabs are in a short-lived acetate form, meaning that doses of 100-150 mg per day are needed, split over 2 or 3 doses, making the tabs quite inconvenient for use. The reason doses need to be split up, unlike most oral steroids, is because Methenolone is not 17-alpha-alkylated, but 1-methylated for oral bio-availability. This reduces the liver stress, but also the availability, hence the multiple and high doses needed daily.
Like nandrolone, methenolone is very mild on the system. Probably the reason why both are strongly favored as base compounds in stacks. Methenolone has no estrogenic side-effects whatsoever, on account of its structure. Its effects on the cholesterol levels are barely noticeable. In doses of 200 mg or less (injectable) blood pressure is rarely, if at all, altered. As for hepatoxicity, long-term use will of course increase liver values but gradually and only slightly. The injections of course, since they only pass the liver once, have roughly half the liver-toxic effects of the tabs. The low liver-toxicity is accounted for that the bio-availability of methenolone is carried by a 1-methyl-group, which lessens the need for a carrier attachment such as a 17-alpha-akylated group, the main culprit in steroid-related liver afflictions.
The strangest thing however, taking into account that Primo is still a DHT (or rather DHB) derivative, is that it is quite easy on the system androgenically as well. Women use methenolone often, usually the tabs, and find little virilisation symptoms in short term use of methenolone. Long-term use may induce some acne and a deepening of the voice however. Methenolone is also not overly suppressive of the HPT axis (endocrinal axis for the production of natural testosterone). These are both the result of DHB’s 1,2-double bond, which, analog to the parent structure boldenone, reduces the androgenic binding by 50% as opposed to DHT.
For athletes who wish to maintain a “natural” status in competition, the tablets are quite well-suited as detection chances for the acetate-form are quite slim. However tests have improved and quite a number of metabolites1 of methenolone can be detected with a simple urine sample. But an English study documented that there is a liability in eating methenolone contaminated meats2, which could provide a possible defense if found out. One could always claim they ate the meat of a chicken or cow injected with methenolone since the test concluded eating such meat does not improve performance, but can deliver positive tests for several methenolone metabolites almost 24 hours after ingestion. That’s for those of you seeking a viable defense against a possible methenolone-positive.
Stacking and Use:
Methenolone comes in orals and injectables. The injectables are to be preferred as they can be used for quite some time and only require injecting once a week. The orals are taking every day, or multiple times a day. An oral passes through the liver twice. An injectable only once. The injectable is more effective since less is broken down.
Methenolone is not used all that often by experienced users. It makes a good product as an alternative to Deca or EQ in a cutting stack, because it has similar properties but does not aromatize and does not have progestagenic activity. But those at least slightly versed will prefer boldenone over methenolone as its more potent gram for gram. Its quite mild, so its not as prone to cause your standard side-effects. This too makes it quite popular with beginners. Methenolone was quite popular during the 70′s in stacks with Methandrostenolone. Some of the all-time greats of bodybuilding were quite fond of this stack.
The common use is similar to that of Nandrolone. 300-400 mg a week, in conjunction with other steroids mostly. Some attempt to make up for the lack of potency switching from nandrolone or boldenone to methenolone by using higher doses, in the neighbourhood of 600-800 mg a week. At that point I feel it would be cheaper to opt for boldenone at 300-400 mg a week though. Methenolone makes a poor stacking partner in mass stacks as both Deca and EQ provide better results while they are qualitatively similar. There is a slight merit in stacking Methenolone with boldenone, because apart from its 1-methyl group, methenolone is basically DHB, the 5-alpha-reduced form of boldenone. But since boldenone itself has very low affinity for 5-alpha-reduction, it should have a good synergistic effect stacking the two at 300 mg/week each.
There is no use for alternate drugs since it does not aromatize, is quite mild and the gains are fairly easy to maintain, so post-cycle use of clomid or Nolvadex is not warranted.
“Editors vetted the stories against the Duke Lacrosse players. How did that work out? Where THEY guilty? Sure was made out that way with the media for months.
False accusations happen all the time, and the Media are protected in the laws regarding slander and libel. They don’t have to prove its true, they only have to have a source that says its true.
Standing behind the law doesn’t mean that there is absolute proof. The media only needs a source or two and they are good to go on a story.”
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This is exactly my problem. That it comes from a “journalist” (and I use that word regretfully when it comes to Selena Roberts) who has a past history of doing exactly that, well it just makes you wonder.
I tend to agree with Pete, in that they probably do have a source, but it does make you a rather cynical of the whole reporting a story process, at times.
Wasn’t this just a matter of time? Tell me A-Roid hasn’t looked juiced a la Bonds the past few years. I’m surprised it took this long. Not shocked at all. For those of you who put him on a pedestal, serves you right. As far as Jeter is concerned, that would shock me, yes.
Maybe the Yanks should change their name to the Syringes. Or the New York Cheaters
Selena with Costas on MLB at 2
sj44-
you know that steroids have been a strong presence in so florida since the late 80′s and early 90′s. i first ran into in two person beach volleyball down there on the tournament circuit . my v-ball partner was a just retired tight end with the bears who hit the gym hard. steroids were right there for anyone to take if they wanted an edge. it was a choice everyone had to make . beach volley ball is a pure strength sport on getting out of the sand and being able to get high enough over the net. we all knew who was using and who wasn’t.
i was bullpen catching at the same time at Mechechnie Field in Bradenton and i worked out with a lot of guys in the off season from a lot of organizations. from the beach where steroids use was a given , i could see it popping up in baseball especially with young minor league players who were hitting the gym hard.
you obviously know about all this steroid use going back to the early 90′s because of your proximity to south beach and the emphasis on working out and the body beautiful culture down there . i think that the more one knows the less the whole thing surprises you.
i personally always felt my health was too important to trade for athletic performance, ,but i understood other people making a different decision when their livelihood was at stake. i saw 27-30 year old triple a players that needed an edge to make it over the hump to get to the majors. they were competing with other players who they knew were using and getting ahead of them. who could fault their choice?
it was part of the baseball and athletic culture in so florida. it was around arod all the time. i have no idea what he did or didn’t do and i really don’t care that much because the whole thing is a can of worms that just needs to be put in the rear view mirror and have strong testing from now on.
this is an indictment on major league baseball more than on any one player.
the bottom line is the steroid world started in secrecy and has ended up in transparency.
it’s a mess as you say. arod the person as you say just needs to keep his mouth closed because of the legal implications and just play the game.
i don’t love arod. i would not be upset if the yankees subsidized 10 million a year and moved him to another team. but it’s not because of possible steroid use. in 2003 he could have gotten an over the counter supplement at gnc that triggered a positive test. who knows?
it doesn’t make him a bad guy. anyone around the game knows it was part of the baseball culture.
How many Yankees does this make now that have been directly linked to performance enhancing drugs?
Peter Abraham February 7th, 2009 at 12:39 pm
Anyway, I don’t know if this counts as “work” or not, so I better stop. I will be back at work at 12:01 a.m. on Sunday.
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Pete-
I can assure you that my employer does NOT consider this “work”.