Meanwhile, back on the diamond
Posted by: Peter Abraham - Posted in Misc on Feb 09, 2009 
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Hey, actual baseball news!
Back when I wanted to write a spring training preview story, I talked to Brian Cashman. He revealed a few things that are at least somewhat interesting.
· The Yankees will use Joba Chamberlain as their No. 5 starter from the start of the season. There are no plans to pitch him out of the bullpen. “That is why bringing Andy (Pettitte) back was so important,” Cashman said.
Having Chamberlain as the No. 5 will allow the Yankees to easily skip his turn on occasion, thus controlling his innings.
· Cashman said he “absolutely” likes the idea of keeping Xavier Nady and Nick Swisher on the roster. While a trade is possible, there is value in roster flexibility. “Nady can cover us in left and right. Swisher can play first, left, right and center in an emergency. It gives our manager a lot of choices,” Cashman said.
In theory, Joe Girardi can rotate Nady, Swisher, Johnny Damon and Hideki Matsui in left, right and DH. One guy sits, everybody stays fresh.
· There are high hopes for Melky Cabera to reclaim center field. “Melky played well in winter ball and he has to show the competitiveness to put last season behind him,” Cashman said. “The good ones always find a way.”
Cashman also stressed it was a competition and that Brett Gardner will get a long look. They want Austin Jackson to stay in the minors.
· Cashman is “wide open” to the idea of having veteran free agents come to camp on minor-league deals to try and make the team. No word yet as to who those might be.
We return you now to “Alex Rodriguez: Huge Cheater or Innocent Victim?”
I think Melky is capable of having a solid season. I hope so, for the Yankees sake.
Keeping both Nady and Swisher makes way too much sense. Especially considering that the reports are that Abreu might potentially sign now for something like $3 million for 1 year, what team is going to trade anything of value for either of those guys when people like Bobby and Adam Dunn are still available and potentially for pennies on the dollar? Plus the health track records of Damon and Matsui in recent years are not exactly glowing, both Nady and Swisher could be in the every day lineup for extended time.
Love the idea of keeping Nady and Swisher.
“In theory, Joe Girardi can rotate Nady, Swisher, Johnny Damon and Hideki Matsui in left, right and DH. One guy sits, everybody stays fresh.”
I’m confident this is exactly what will happen. Damon and Matsui probably aren’t capable of playing every day, which is why Swisher is a perfect fit for this team.
“We return you now to “Alex Rodriguez: Huge Cheater or Innocent Victim?””
While this is clearly phrased in jest, I think the best descriptor for ARod is Product of His Time. A time when PED use was technically “cheating,” but there was no punishment for it.
If ARod can honestly admit that he juiced as a Ranger but not as a Yankee, I think he can rehabilitate his image. 2003 was a turning point in the steroid era, the end of MLB looking the other way. I think a lot of people would accept a story that ARod left his PED use behind him when he left the Rangers, and raised his game to a new level when he joined the Yankees.
I just hope, as a Yankee fan, that this story is true.
We return you now to “Alex Rodriguez: Huge Cheater or Innocent Victim?”
Damn it, I keep changing the channel but this show is everywhere!
I really don’t get why Andruw Jones refused a minor league deal for the Yankees, and yet signed one with the Rangers.
The Yankees could use a CF, and if Andruw is back and good, he’d get the job.
The Rangers have a crowded outfield and really no spot for him. I guess he either is scared of NY media, or really just doesn’t want to try.
any tidbits on how Cash sees Hughes and Kennedy going this spring?
Andruw Jones avoided Boston because he said its too cold and there’s too much going on up there. I imagine the same would hold true for NY. I’m loving the idea of his fatass sweating out in the Texas heat. Who needs him.
“I think a lot of people would accept a story that ARod left his PED use behind him when he left the Rangers, and raised his game to a new level when he joined the Yankees.”
I think Yankees fans would accept that, but unfortunately Yankees fans are only 1/30th of the baseball community. I’m pretty confident that the fans of the other 29 teams will stick with A-Roid, no matter what Alex says or does. He has been Hester Prynne-d, and innocence or guilt don’t really matter in the end.
“I really don’t get why Andruw Jones refused a minor league deal for the Yankees, and yet signed one with the Rangers.”
If Boston was “too cold” for him do you really think New York is much better? Texas has the weather he wants…of course that ballpark doesnt hurt either…
I’d be happy if they held onto both Swisher and Nady.
And I’m hoping Melky can show he is one of the ones who can bounce back from a bad season, but I’m looking forward to that competition for CF – and I hope it IS a competition, meaning that both do well and a real decision needs to be made.
Baseball talk? No way!
I love that Cash likes the idea of keeping Nady and Swisher because I do think that this depth is extremely valuable.
Ken Singleton was on with Kim and Evan/WFAN. I love the guy – he’s knowledgable and well-spoken. However, he perpetuated the idea that Alex is all about his numbers and not a team player – Kim basically agreed. I think that is lousy and untrue. Ok, Alex is hung up on numbers – so are most players. To say that he’s not a team player is just unfair.
Andruw Jones chose Texas because it is a home-run hitter’s pardise. Even his fat and lazy ass can put up old Jones numbers on that tee-ball field.
There are plenty of AB’s for everybody.
Its nice to have depth for a change.
I wouldn’t trade Nady or Swisher unless the player(s) I got back were too good to pass up.
Both of those guys will do more to help the team win games this year than anything they can bring back in a trade.
So am I reading it right?
104 players tested positive during 2003?
Was every player on every club’s 25 man roster (750 guys) tested?
So if that is the case we are talking roughly a MINIMUM penetration of steroid use of about 14%.
“So am I reading it right?
104 players tested positive during 2003?
Was every player on every club’s 25 man roster (750 guys) tested?
So if that is the case we are talking roughly a MINIMUM penetration of steroid use of about 14%.”
750/104 = 7.21%
With the way this off-season has been for Alex and really not knowing how he’s going to react (on the field), everyone is going to have to step on the roster and really earn their playing time and be productive. I think last year, too many guys took their playing time for granted and it showed in their at bats (and on the field…Cano…).
““So am I reading it right?
104 players tested positive during 2003?
Was every player on every club’s 25 man roster (750 guys) tested?
So if that is the case we are talking roughly a MINIMUM penetration of steroid use of about 14%.”
750/104 = 7.21%”
Sorry im retarded, nvrmind
To continue my post – Alex works hard and gives 100% on the field. What more is he supposed to do to prove that he’s a team player and why should he have to prove it more than anyone else?
104 juicer players out of 750 total players = 13.8%
14 for every hundred players
14 x 7.5 (groups of 100) = 105 dirty birdies
I’d say somewhere in between huge cheater and innocent victim.
How much you want to bet the remaining names don’t get published because some lawyer from either MLB or the Player’s union gets a judge to slap a gag order on it? That kind of story is what deserves the most press, not a monotonous rehashing of Arod stories.
We return you now to “Alex Rodriguez: Huge Cheater or Innocent Victim?”
It is neither. He will rebound and take his troubles out on the opposing pitchers. He hasn’t be tested positive from 2004 to 2009. One positive test doesn’t convict him.
Peace
just curious, when was the 2003 test administered and how much of a heads up did players get before the test was given?
oops you caught yerself, rendering my correction post moot
February 9th, 2009 at 11:28 am
“The problem was that as late as 2003, using PEDs was arguably not a stupid thing to do.”
jeremy-
sure it was. sometimes there’s gray areas with vitamins and supplements , but there’s never been a gray area about flat out steroids.
every athlete who’s been on a high level athletic field for the past twenty years has lived with steroids being there too. you absolutely can know who’s using if you’re tuned into the players you’re playing against.
i honestly never felt that it gave them an advantage that couldn’t be matched. first of all, you’re dealing with a dumb a—when you competing against someone that uses. that’s the first important clue to know how to beat them.
do you think derek jeter has ever cared about competing against canseco, garciapparra, mcguire, arod, juan gonzales, etc?
he knew he could beat them his way. and he did.
yes , steroid use creates some interesting numbers, but it doesn’t seem to create consistent winners . yes , some users have some rings, but winning isn’t something you associate with bonds, mcguire, arod ,or sosa for example. with the numbers they produce , you would think there would be more winning.
i once had a very grizzled veteran former player who was a behind the scenes person for the five years going into ‘96 when the yankees won their first championship in a long time, tell me something very simple.
he said,” the cream rises.”
sometimes it takes a while, but when jeter, arod, tejada, and garciaparra were all thought of as potential hall of famers, it now appears only one was the real mc coy.
jeter alone is going to be making a hall of fame induction speech.
What I want to know is when do we get the list of the other positive names?
Why was just Alex’s released?
IMO this in no way absolves Alex, but why should others get off scot free?
another question, do these 104 players KNOW they tested positive?
ok, i’ve absorbed the arod/steroids thing. i know its nowhere near ‘over’ but the cats out fo the bag and there is a new reality. im still pissed at arod, but he’s not a mass-murderer either.
now im getting psyched again for the start of ST.
we have a stacked team that is going to compete from day one for the championship. call arod whatever names you want, but just try to get him out!
thats all the knocks im taking as a yankees fan. we are still the beasts of baseball and i dont care who likes us or doesnt, to hell with them all
LETS GO YANKEES!!!!!
I think Minor Leaguers on 40 men rosters were included in this testing as well- making the percentage smaller
I do agree there is a line. If a player went through one 3-month cycle (not that I think that’s all he did) and it affected his performance for 1 year I don’t think you can say he is banned from the HOF.
Does anyone know the sample size of tested players?
because my cubicle neighbor says it was an opt in sample,
meaning if lets say 1/2 of the MLB players opted in then the true % would be almost 1 out of 3.
Rebecca,
There is a pending court case before the Supreme Court of California on the release of the names on the list.
Depending on the outcome of that case, you may never know who else was on the list unless Selena Roberts chooses to leak more names.
If the Union loses the case, all of the names will come out.
Randy,
I don’t think steroid use is divved up between those who win rings and those who don’t.
Derek Jeter’s father was/is a drug counselor. I would think his views on drugs are shaped by the environment in which he grew up.
When you have this much money at stake, lots of people lose their willpower.
I’m not condoning PED use. I abhor it. However, one must understand that not every player finds it easy to resist.
People who have used PED’s have won championships. It was that way in the 50′s when greenies were the PED of choice and its that way today.
Its the culture that needs to change. The need to have to use PED’s, which goes all the way down to the high school level, is what has to change.
To change it takes REAL leadership at the professional sports level.
So far, at least in baseball, that’s non-existent.
The headline reminds me of a family guy episode where brian is on trial for custody of his kids.
They ask peter what better describes Brian.
Lawyer: Mr. Griffin, which of the following two phrases best describes Brian Griffin? “Problem drinker” or “African-American haberdasher”?
Lawyer: Thank you. “Sexual deviant” or “magic picture that you stare at till you see something”?
“Alex Rodriguez: Huge Cheater or Innocent Victim?” He is neither one. He probably tested positive, and im going to assume there is more to the story than him sitting there with needles.
I would figure the following
Damon LF = 150 games
Matsui DH = 150 games
Nady RF = 142 games
Tex 1B = 156 games
Swisher LF = 12 games
DH = 12 games
RF = 20 games
1B = 6 games
CF = 90 games
Total 140 games
I think that they would use Swisher for 7 innings in CF and put in a sub….Like Pete said, it keeps every fresh
I read Bill Madden’s article in the Daily News suggesting that the Yankees drop A-Rod. How conceivable is that? And, could it be an option if say his doping went on as a Yankee?
“What I want to know is when do we get the list of the other positive names?
Why was just Alex’s released?
IMO this in no way absolves Alex, but why should others get off scot free?”
rebecca-
i agree with your sentiments, but it’s not quite that simple. bonds for example didn’t test positive in those 2003 tests. the feds retested his 2003 urine sample( they have em all) and with testing that wasn’t available in 2003 , say bonds now tested positive.
the feds are retesting every single sample from the 2003 testing. the final list of players testing positive will be much higher. it could be hundreds instead of 104.
this is going to take a while. but in the mean time there are players out there who have never used and never will. root for them.
“The Yankees will use Joba Chamberlain as their No. 5 starter from the start of the season. There are no plans to pitch him out of the bullpen.”
So who starts the first game at new Yankee Stadium? It is the 10th game on the schedule, but there is one off day scheduled.
If they just go in order regardless of the off day, then its the 5th starter – Joba. If they skip the 5th starter because of the off day, its the #1 starter’s turn.
Which leads to another question – who starts opening day – CC or someone else (Wang?).
sj where did u get the info that roberts has the other names?
I read Bill Madden’s article in the Daily News suggesting that the Yankees drop A-Rod. How conceivable is that? And, could it be an option if say his doping went on as a Yankee?
Get this out of your head. The only time a-rod allegedly has tested positive was in 03′. There has been random testing since and nothing, so forget that. And why would you? This is still one of the best players in history.
FYI his numbers in 03 werent even close to his best season. 02 was, but not 03′.
I am more confident for Alex since Radomsky said he never spoke to him, and there has been no other connection to him other than this suposed report.
randy: I see.
It still kind of baffles me, however, how baseball seems to be the only sport with a massive doping scandal (okay, and cycling)…but seriously…do any of us think that NFL, NBA and NHL players haven’t doped up?
Again, doesn’t make it right. I just find it kind of interesting.
Even more interesting, if ou ask people if they had a huge contract if they’d do it, and they tend to say yes.
For you Premeir fellows: Chelsea just fired Scolari.
Just the idea of 6 year old urine sickens me.
Speaking of roster flexibility, who’ll play third while Alex is off testifying before the Senate’s “Make me a household name” committee?
Is it true that Scott Boras has retained the law firm of Dewey Cheatem and Howe on Alex’s behalf?
AND FOR MY DAILY RANT AGAINST ESPNSOX
this jamal anderson arrest thing came out and espn issues a statement that they dont have all the facts so they cannot discuss this. REALLY!!?!?!?!
It didnt seem to stop them from reporting 48 hours non-stop on this Alex thing.
I really really want something to know espn off their high moral horse.
And please start investigating everyone who has injuries and changes that indicate steroid use.
Griffey? Ortiz? Thome? A. Jones?
Chipper jones? Varitek?
It can go on and on and on.
i was looking at the early season schedule and it seems like the way to go is start cc on opening day and then push joba’s 1st start back to sunday the 12th, then start cc again for the home opener. with one rain (snow?) out that would line joba up to be skipped altogether on the 23rd. that gives joba only 3 starts in april without leaving a hole in the rotation.
Ham,
She refused comment on Dan Patrick’s Radio Show on whether or not she had the list. That’s the tipoff she has the list.
She just pulled the name out that gave her the biggest bang for the buck. As we see, it worked1 lol
It will also help her book sales since her “tell all” book about Arod is to be released in May.
The only way Joba sees more than 3-4 starts in April is if AJ goes down and they all move up one rotation spot.
All,
Someone saying, “talk to the union” is not an admission of guilt. Anything he would have said would have been thrown out there, changed, and no one would believe it anyway.
It does need to be addressed sadly before the weekend when ST starts. I am certain he is working on a good explanation.
Pettite pitched the last game at the old stadium. Would it be a suprise for him to pitch the first in the new one?
Can one be both a huge cheater and a victim? The answer is absolutely yes.
Next!
Check you out later.
Can SI writers stop with writing books about the Yankees…I’ve had enough. I’m just one person, but I’ll not be browsing over there any time soon.
“Someone saying, “talk to the union” is not an admission of guilt. Anything he would have said would have been thrown out there, changed, and no one would believe it anyway.”
This.
Had A-Rod come out and talked without talking to the union first he could have easily been in violation of union policy, and trust me–that’s not exactly something you want to do.
Roberts has her “tell-all” book about Alex coming out in May. It seems like everything he does is all over the newspapers. Don’t know what else after this she could put in her book that we don’t already know!
“Talk to the union” sounds like “They’re the ones who f-ed up”. A simple ‘no comment’ is less benign, but it doesn’t really matter the word is out there.
I know Pete’s going to jump all over me, but the federal judge needs to haul Roberts’ ass into chambers and demand an explanation on how she got the list. If she refuses as his her right, put her ass in jail.
They put Barry Bonds’ trainer in jail for a year, longer if they could’ve. They’re still doing search & seizures, raiding his ex-wife’s house.
Meanwhile Mark Fainaru-Wada is an ESPN correspondent.
I understand the “code” or whatever protects sources. But if there is a commission of a crime, then it’s aiding and abetting, harboring a criminal, whatever you want to call it IMO. Serena Roberts didn’t commit a crime, but we need to find the original leak. Otherwise the justice system just continues to be a joke.
# Fran February 9th, 2009 at 12:02 pm
Roberts has her “tell-all” book about Alex coming out in May. It seems like everything he does is all over the newspapers. Don’t know what else after this she could put in her book that we don’t already know!
—–
I googled this the other day and saw a rumor she plans to question his sexuality in the book.
Fran
February 9th, 2009 at 12:02 pm
Roberts has her “tell-all” book about Alex coming out in May. It seems like everything he does is all over the newspapers. Don’t know what else after this she could put in her book that we don’t already know!
_____
Maybe Alex was the mystery rapist in the Duke Lacrosse case.
I mean it had to be true right, because Selena Roberts insisted it was.
Randy,
I enjoy getting your take as someone who’s had an inside look at the sport, but I still don’t see why it was stupid to take steroids in 2003.
The whole point of the steroid saga is we generally don’t know who juiced and who didn’t. For every guy like Bonds, who looks like a caricature of a juicer and puts up amazing numbers, there are a dozen guys who we can only speculate about.
You say anyone who uses is stupid. How stupid are the players whose PED use helped them, to some extent, score longer and more lucrative contracts?
You say PED use doesn’t make you a winner. Well if it makes you better at baseball, even in some small way, it can help you become a winner. And how do you know that, of all the WS winners of the PED era, their best players were all clean? Your personal beliefs about who is a “winner” and who isn’t have nothing to do with (a) who actually juiced and (b) whether PEDs actually improved those players’ abilities.
A positive way of looking at all this is to say, as you do, Jeter is all that more of an extraordinary player. But his accomplishments as a clean player do not mean that players who used PEDs are automatically losers.
I think you are saying that most players resisted using PEDs back in 2003 because they found it dishonorable or distasteful. I simply don’t think that abstract questions of honor and dignity would be enough to hold the vast majority of players back from using PEDs.
“I’m not condoning PED use. I abhor it. However, one must understand that not every player finds it easy to resist.”
sj-
we’re on the same page here. if you read between the lines with what i say, i don’t say that people who make bad decisions about steroids are necessarily bad people. you even see jeter still being very friendly with clemens even after everything that happens. you just wish your friend wouldn’t make mistakes.
my main partner when i played serious two person beach v/ball was very suspect. he had just retired as a 6’5 tight end with the bears. he was a body builder who never missed a day at the gym and didn’t have an ounce of fat on him. i never asked. i suspect he sometimes did especially when i first met him and then stopped. as time when on he went from 245 to 215-220 and was still in great shape.
people can make a mistake and then move on from it. arod could himself. it’s not like a scarlet letter that has to stay on their forehead forever.
i know steroids aren’t supposed to cause brain cancer, but when visiting a coaching friend in spring training last year who was also a friend of my v/ball partner, i was told he had just died a week earlier from a brain tumor.
this stuff isn’t an abstract thing with me. i’m sure it’s not with you either. baseball will recover from this mess . the bad doesn’t take away from the good. there’s still going to be a lot of good baseball going on .
“do any of us think that NFL, NBA and NHL players haven’t doped up?”
NFL has no problem suspending star players for a 1/4 of a season when they violate the league policy. That’s been the case for years. MLB, in large part because of the union, has been way behind the curve when compared to the NFL.
There’s still a line (albeit fine) between right and wrong.
When and if these players did these drugs they were faced with a choice. Their teammates, trainers, and friends didn’t force them to start and continue a PED regimen.
They chose to do it, knowing it was wrong. If it wasn’t then it’d be open, encouraged, and acceptable to share openly.
I can forgive and forget, but don’t try to condone what Alex allegedly did by saying stuff like, “It’s okay because 50% of the players were doing it.” Uh uh.
A lot of people justifying Alex hate Barry Bonds and were crucifying him. Talk about double standards.
Andrew,
Who cares what the fans of other teams think.
We have ARod under contract for nine more years. Our interest as Yankee fans is to have him playing at his best over that time and to avoid having to deal with this story every time ARod does something good or bad. It’s ok with me if Sox fans chant A-Roid for the rest of his career as long as he responds by putting baseballs in the bleachers.
If we’re talking about ARod’s image to Yankee fans, the best thing he can do is try to draw a line between Bad Ranger ARod and Good Yankee ARod.
Of course, the really scary possibility is that there is no Good Yankee ARod, and he has been a cheater beyond 2003. If that’s the case, nothing he can say will help him.
I did just read that Roberts book about ARod is described as “an expose of A-Rod’s controversial path to self-destruction.” No wonder why he won’t talk to her. I wouldn’t have given her a statement either last week.
randy l,
couldn’t get through your last post. I stopped when I saw the “Scarlet Letter”.
Is it a red “C”? Varitek already wears one. Oh ho, ho. LOL. Thanks for that one.
I don’t care what Sam or Pete say, Selena Roberts is a hack. Just look at her “work” discussing the Duke Lacrosse players. She is a terrible writer who makes baseless claims. She has also shown in the past that she doesn’t like A-rod and has it out for him.
Unfortunately, I do believe her report on A-rod is true this time. As bad a reporter as she is, there is no way 4 sources are all lying and there’s no way SI would publish this story unless the sources were confirmed.
The best thing for all of us including A-Rod is acknowledge it happened and leave it in the past.
Now to more important things… Who will bat 3rd and 4th? I personally like the idea of alex batting third and Tex 4th.
randy
I like Jeter as a player as much as you do. I’ve had alot of respect for the way he’s played the game. But at this point I can’t say he’s doing it the right way. I’ve learned that people that you respect or look up to can let you down. I’m not saying he has just warning not to put anyone on the pedestal. It makes the fall hurt more from up there.
“I don’t care what Sam or Pete say, Selena Roberts is a hack. Just look at her “work” discussing the Duke Lacrosse players. She is a terrible writer who makes baseless claims. She has also shown in the past that she doesn’t like A-rod and has it out for him.”
I feel the same way, though I don’t think this report is untrue. Just in general I think the finger pointing game is terrible in this baseball era. She pointed the finger at ARod and I’m pointing the finger at her. Being “professional” doesn’t mean I can’t think what she did is wrong.
Steroids are also illegal. So much attention gets put on the fact that these players “cheated”; however, they also broke the law by buying and takeing them. That’s what got the government involved in this mess to begin with.
Randy,
Speaking only for myself, I don’t understand why guys did it. I really don’t.
I get the whole “if the other guy is doing it, I have to do it” thing.
However, when you don’t know the effects of something you put in your body, I don’t know, it just rings too risky to me.
Unfortunately, in the business I’m in, PED usage is something you have to learn about. A company hires you to find them a spokesman. Its my job to do enough research to know whether or not the possible spokesman is clean. That’s what the business has come to these days. What you find out is, PED use is RAMPANT in sports these days. It may have been worse 6-7 years ago but, its still rampant today.
A quick story. A couple of years ago, I got “e-mail friendly” with Victor Conte.
I was fascinated by Conte. Not only was he a founding member of my favorite college band back in the day (Tower of Tower), I was amazed at the depth of his knowledge re: PED use.
I also felt he was being railroaded by the government and recommended some lawyers I was friendly with on the West Coast.
Anyway, the depth of knowledge he had blew me away. Even more mindblowing was the lack of knowledge and firepower (to combat it) all these pro and amateur sports bodies had. It blew me away.
It was like going to war with a BB Gun. They had no chance.
Conte never played the “name game” with me.
I never asked about specific guys. I’m not interested in such gossip.
I was interested in the culture. Who does it? Why? How deep does it go?
The answers I got blew me away.
It made me realize that no matter what name comes out as a PED user, I’m not surprised.
I’m more surprised when I hear about guys who never touched the stuff. That’s how widespread it is.
Patrick,
I agree with you and it burns me up. I disliked Roberts just from reading her two previous pieces about ARod, especially her article about ARod being something close to a slumlord, which was a really shoddy piece of journalism.
If I have access to The List and want to expose ARod, Roberts is my ideal contact. She must have salivated over this information.
I don’t want to shoot the messenger here – I know that her story is likely true because of the amount of corroboration. But Roberts stands to profit from this story because she has made a name for writing about ARod and has a book about him coming out. If, as SJ44 suggests, she really has the names on The List, then she deliberately crafted her story for her own benefit by reporting on just ARod’s name. And that’s reprehensible, even if it doesn’t change the truth of the story.
There are high hopes for Melky Cabera to reclaim center field. “Melky played well in winter ball and he has to show the competitiveness to put last season behind him,” Cashman said. “The good ones always find a way.”
================================================
brettisgod is not gonna like hearing that
i like bob costas alot but i cant believe he didnt ask her more about the list, who has it, when the other names will be coming out, etc. he gave her a pass there on what i thought was the big question. there was alot to cover with the ozra thing thrown in there, too, but still i tuned in wondering if she had the list and when we would hear the other names, and costas didnt really go there.
Russell,
My point was that although I dislike Selena Roberts quite a bit and think she is a terrible reporter, I don’t think she did wrong here. Put yourself in her shoes, if you found out that the biggest star in MLB tested positive for steroids what would you do? She is going to make a PILE of money from this one report.
sa, i hope that the gardner fans arent rooting against melky and vice-versa. i kinda favor melky myself, but im hoping thier both so good they have to move nady to create space!
Tom,
That’s not necessarily true. Yes, steroids are illegal.
However, what got the government DEEPLY involved in the case were the guys peruring themselves before a grand jury.
That’s what got the government’s attention.
For all the talk of BALCO, Victor Conte did a few months of house arrest. It was a nothing case.
What turned it into something, was the lying before the various grand juries. That’s what made a minor situation a major problem.
Perjuring themselves. Sorry for the typo.
Any info on Arod’s ESPN interview today?
Patrick,
If she’s sitting on all 104 names, and she has a book coming out about one of them, she has a conflict of interest. She has an incentive to focus all the attention on ARod even if there are other famous players on the list.
Yes, ARod is almost certainly the most newsworthy name on the list, but he is still only part of the story. What is her justification for reporting on only part of the story and sitting on the rest?
I hope that she only knows ARod’s name and doesn’t have the whole list, because this story is sickening enough already.
Arod to sit down with peter gammons?
Maybe the pressure to live up to the contracy and he expectations led him down this road…He was in the right climate for this to be accomplished……Maybe this also led him to want to get out of texas……This is on the premise that he is actually guilty at all……
alot of the commenters are defending arod with ‘if it was you, you would have used’ while still attacking the leaker. if you assume most people in arod’s place would cheat (i disagree with the premise) then why wouldnt you allow that a person who has seen the list just couldnt keep a secret? human failings on both ends should be treated equally shouldnt they?
personally i hold arod accountable for his actions, but i will continue to root for him as long as he’s a yankee, and i also want to see the leakers punished.
however, i am against jailing journalists to force them to reveal thier sources, which has been outlawed in alot of states.
SJ,
East Bay Grease or Live and in Living Color?
Why is anyone even concerned about Roberts?
Is it because anyone doubts or hope to high heavens that the story is true?
if it is not true, than this is all moot.
BUT
I fear we all believe it is true.
Therefore, maybe who cares who wrote the article, as thats another discussion for another day.
If in FACT Arod used or uses steroids, that is exactly what we have to deal with here.
Roberts could be the most impeachable writer on the face of the earth, or the owner of the national enquirer, who cares.
Arod is basically screwed.
The hope is that doesnt mean by extension the yankees are totally screwed.
I see, SJ. That is why Bonds, Clemens and Marion Jones have either been in jail of on trial for perjury and people like the Giambi brothers have not.
My question would be: what is the end game and/or point of all of this then?
Thanks.
or on trial.
“the federal judge needs to haul Roberts’ ass into chambers and demand an explanation on how she got the list. If she refuses as his her right, put her ass in jail.”
It will happen just like happened to the media guys who leaked Bonds grand jury testimony.
Of all the places to break his silence…ESPN??? Gammons(if the story is true)?!?!? This ought to be entertaining.
peter gammons 1st question:
Arod, do you have an opinion on why Theo Epstien is so awesome?
Why would the Yankees be screwed?
Shouldnt the Rangers be screwed? They had A-Rod and Palmeiro in 2003, no?
one thing about the expectations on arod. who thrust these expections on him? well to a great extent, alex paid scott boras to create those expectaions. remember the brouchure about him which started all the GOAT talk in the first place. you cannot pay an agent to go around and sell you to prospective teams as the greatest of all time to get the richest contract(s) in baseball without creating expectaions. it is those very expectations that convinced texas and then the yankees to give him the richest contract in history.
dont cry about the expectations on him when he’s paying people to create them and then cashing in on them
Let’s Go Yankees!!!!!
Peter Gammons?
Where did this report come from?
I guess if you are going to put up a fight, who better to fight than the Red Sox #1 fan.
Source on the Gammons/A-rod interview?
Jeremy,
I agree, if Roberts has the whole list then what she did was despicable. However, I don’t think she does and if that’s true then reporting on A-rod was the right thing.
jeremy-
what you say makes sense, but there are people who just won’t use. jeter, i’m sure , is one of them.
we know he doesn’t use peds or else those balls to his right wouldn’t go through
(just trying to make light of a serious situation )
Frost/Nixon
Gammons/A-rod?
http://www.nydailynews.com/spo.....st_pu.html
http://www.nydailynews.com/spo.....st_pu.html
Jeter, “Give him the benefit of the doubt.”
Good, clean quote.
Gammons Arod link
http://www.nydailynews.com/spo.....st_pu.html
I can certainly see why folks do it. I watched a kid I played ahead of on the depth chart for his entire freshman year put on 50 pounds in a year and turn into a human battering ram. The transformation, while it also took a lot of work at the gym, made this kid all conference as a sophomore. Steroids aren’t a magic potion, you do have to put in a lot of hard work, but boy the results you can see. Then there are the hammy tears and the peck strains and dying too young that come along with it. Maybe if we had more former athletes out there explaining that it turned them into hobbled old men younger people would think twice about it.
SJ — you really got the impression that she has the entire list of names and just has, as of now, decided not to release it? That’s a like bomb coming through your roof and not blowing up!
Alex is doing an interview with ESPN? Who said that?
“We return you now to “Alex Rodriguez: Huge Cheater or Innocent Victim?”
Damn it, I keep changing the channel but this show is everywhere!”
I agree 100%. Unfortunately its gonna be like this until real baseball things start happening like the WBC or opening day.
Alex Rodriguez expected to make first public comments on steroid report on ESPN
http://www.nydailynews.com/spo.....st_pu.html
id pick gammons too, he’ll lob some folly floaters arod’s way without any probing or follow-up at all.
knock roberts all you want but she’s get you a much better interview than gammons will.
there is a reason they handpicked gammons.
Wow. That got posted fast.
Bob(The Original) February 9th, 2009 at 12:37 pm
Gammons Arod link
http://www.nydailynews.com/spo.....st_pu.html
=======================
Ah! Thanks for the link.
Well that should be..interesting
With due respect to Pete and others, I do not believe that A-Rod should agree to any thing as far as the past is concerned, especially 6 years old. He should vigorously fight. There is a major difference between Bonds/Clemens cases and A-Rod case. He did not lie under oath and unless there is a McNamee kind of bombshell, one has to question the custody of the samples, testing procedures and linking codes to names etc.,. Mistakes can happen with any of them. It is amazing to see Pete others show their high moral ground and not wait for every thing to come out.
One thing A-Rod should do about the future.
He should give a middle finger to the union and agree to periodic testing by an independent body and continue to put up good numbers. This will help him gain the credibility back.
thanks, guys.
Wow – can’t wait to hear what ARod has to say!
Gammons will be a cupcake interview. Don’t think we’ll get anything out oif it, but it’ll be good for Arod.
Should use the “Outside the Lines” people for something like this. They’d at least ask tough questions and more importantly challenge iffy answers. Gammons? He’d agree to be Arod’s personal toilet if it would keep him on good terms.
“The only way Joba sees more than 3-4 starts in April is if AJ goes down and they all move up one rotation spot.”
So I guess he’ll get 5 starts then?
Last night a few guys here questioned why Gammons has been so silent on this. Guess this explains it?
Randy,
Maybe we should get Jeter on PEDs right away. Then Cashman might be able to give him a long-term contract in 2011 after all.
Remember when Jeter’s contract was “the next controversy”? That ship sailed pretty fast.
More seriously, I’m sure you’re right that there are players who didn’t use out of principle. I also believe that the vast majority of people will abandon their principles in a heartbeat if they can get an advantage with no fear of punishment.
If Jeter completes his career as a clean player, he will deserve all the credit in the world. So will every other player, successful or otherwise, who resisted the temptation to juice.
Live and in Living Color. One of the best live album of my college days!
Tom,
I wish I could tell you. IMO, the Bonds case is the very definition of a witchhunt.
People hate Bonds so they don’t care the millions and millions of dollars (as well as empaneling TWO grand juries!) wasted to nail a guy on a perjury charge.
The case doesn’t warrant the millions spent on it.
Put it to you another way.
There has been more money spent by the government on the Bonds, Clemens, BALCO cases (I once heard the number was in excess of 12 million dollars) than there was investigating the financial abuses on Wall St.
Now tell me, which has had more of an impact on our daily lives?
The government has something like 15 investigators and US Attys working the Bonds, Clemens and BALCO cases.
I heard there are TWO people working the Bernie Madoff case.
Again, its all about context. Which crime has hurt more people and where should the resources be placed?
When we cut through all the emotion and all the nonsense, what we are left with is a baseball player flunked a steroid test.
A shame if you are a fan of the player. However, the crimes that took place on Wall St, and Bernie Madorf FAR outweigh this stuff.
I couldn’t tell you the end game because I don’t think even the government knows the end game at this time.
Some have posted that Roberts may have it out for Alex, check out some of her articles on the NY Times website and judge for yourselves…
http://topics.nytimes.com/top/.....index.html
“A-Rod’s Properties and Charity Suggest Some Stinginess
By SELENA ROBERTS
Alex Rodriguez isn’t exactly a slumlord, but he has become a landlord caricature among some of those who live in the properties that he owns and operates.”
December 7, 2007
“SPORTS OF THE TIMES; Rodriguez Is a Bauble A Champion Doesn’t Need
By SELENA ROBERTS
Selena Roberts Sports of The Times column discusses New York Yankees infielder Alex Rodriguez’s decision to opt out of 10-year contract to become free agent”
October 29, 2007
“No Longer Trying, Rodriguez Positions Himself for Success
By SELENA ROBERTS
He doesn’t swing for the cameras anymore, and yet Alex Rodriguez is still posing even when he’s not trying to be a poser.”
October 5, 2007
“Splendor in the Park: A-Rod Is Posing a Problem
By SELENA ROBERTS
Why does it always seem as if A-Rod is posing? As if all sound bites are orchestrated, as if all photo-ops are a manipulation?”
July 19, 2006
I mean really, it seems that she’s making her career on his back…
Steve B — What do you mean we won’t get anything good? Didn’t you want to know what A-Rod thought about Pedroia’s grit and guts and Alex’s take on Dustin’s MVP?
bb totally disagree with your first statement that arod should stonewall, that will make this last forever, get him pulled into some court or hearing to testify and then he’d have to come clean or get indicted. get it over now!
however, your second suggestion that he go over the union and have WADA or someone test him independently for the rest of his career might be a great move.
She’s making it a career to break his back.
“I was interested in the culture. Who does it? Why? How deep does it go?
The answers I got blew me away.”
sj-
now that’s a subculture that’s taking it to another level that’s beyond my experience.
we both know this isn’t going to go away.
… and i agree with your approach of learning as much as possible.
Pete, I agree with your rants about A-Rod. But then I think of how you went easy on Giambi, embraced him even. Yankees could have used that 20 million a year for 2 or 3 more pitchers per year. That might have helped. Unfortunate that you are selective when it comes to villifying steroid cheats.
SJ44 is right.
Rich people should be allowed to get away with anything because they have the money to fight it.
Us normal people should be punished to the full extent of the law because it doesn’t cost that much money to do.
“Frost/Nixon
Gammons/A-rod?”
I lol’d.
Power to the Rich people!
They’re above the law!
I have a bad feeling about this Gammons Arod interview.
I think there’s going to be a lot of righteous indignation and talk about how his rights have been violated.
“There has been more money spent by the government on the Bonds, Clemens, BALCO cases (I once heard the number was in excess of 12 million dollars) than there was investigating the financial abuses on Wall St.
”
hey moron, Wall St. mess just happened, that won’t be the case by the end of it. Lying to a grand jury or government committee is a serious offense regardless of what is beign questioned. You steroid apologists are amazing. I’m sure SJ you’d have these wonderful defenses if Ortiz was the name leaked and nto a Yankee.
dominican, do u believe that arod tested positive? if you do then shooting the messenger does nothing. if it wasnt her it would have been rosenthal or verducci or someone else. if pete or sam go ahold of that info, they would have published it too.
i think she likely is trying to further her career on arod’s back, but if you believe that her report about the test is correct then what does it matter who wrote it?
DominicanYank, Of course she’s out to get him.. Most NY writers are.. That is not news.
E-Man,
If that’s what you got from the post, you need to pay more attention in your junior high school classes and spend less time on here.
DominicanYank- She is obviously trying to make her career off of A-Rod no doubt about it. This woman was also heavily involved in the botched “Duke Lacrosse” scandal a few years ago. She essentially finger pointed at those players for months calling them rapists then when the correct verdict was reached she ran and hid behind her SI credentials.
al she was a colunist with the ny times during the duke situation, they let her go this fall and she switched to being a reporter for si.
Mrs. Kekich,
People in the financial community knew about Bernie Madoff for years. He has 10 years of complaints lodged against him with the SEC and they all went uninvestigated.
The Madoff case didn’t “just happen”. Its been happening for years and the Feds, and everybody else in the financial oversight communities, slept on it.
If you are going to call somebody a moron, try having a clue to the subject matter being discussed.
If you can’t do that, look in the mirror the next time you feel the need to call somebody a moron.
It is just great that Mr. Perfect Natural hitter got outed. Just fitting that so many YANKEE’S are cheaters! Giambi,Pettitte,Clemens and Arod. (plus many more) LOL
It is great to be a Sox fan!
150 is having a listener wide vote as to who wants arod back on the yanks assuming he is guilty and you can decide such matters. The vote is still at 10 to 1 for having arod on the team Yet, every other fan is an ignorant jerk who just blares on about how arod doesnt deserve to live and that this was the yankees worst signing in history. iT JUST goes to show you that the ones who like to hear themselves talk the most are often the ones that know the least.
At least, the general public has some semblance of reason and intelligence left to overcome their emotions to make a coherant decision. One would think arod has murdered a child and his mother in cold blood after hearing some of the media’s comments about him. This is just pent up rage I would think from completely blowing this story in the early 90s ya know … when this stuff was actually going on. When people actually cared and the information was actually relevant.
Now, it really seems like outside of the majority of the hopeless media and a few miserable fans, no one really cares about arod and his roids use in 2003 when the majority of the game was involved in this stuff and the culture was entrenched in PEDs use. At this point, all anyone is doing is trying to make news and headlines to earn a few bucks – the media thinks its some contest on who can be the most obnoxious, repetitive moron of the bunch.
And frankly, I think it is a tie so far between about ten sources. I think the outrage is spinning out of control to the point that it is laughable – the fans dont care for the most part, so why does the media make it out to seem like arod is the devil himself? Its really a sad disgrace to see so many people acting like children over a matter that is really not very relevant to us yankee fans. Doesnt the media realize we dont care and that we JUST WANT TO WIN! That is all baseball is about and thas all its ever been about – the team that wins is the team that is loved the most by its fans no matter what its players do. The media needs to get off its high horse and realize that they are acting like foolish 5 year olds.
Buddy it’s as plain as day. Money has nothing to do with anything. The law is the law. If you lie to the government under oath, you should be punished.. It doesn’t matter what it’s about or what else is going on in the country.
Your post is trying to downplay breaking the law by pointing to how much it’s going to cost and the other problems our country faces.
Let’s look at some facts:
The Olympics added “steroids” to the list of banned substances in 1975.
Trafficking became illegal in 1988.
The FDA made it a controlled substance in 1990.
Therefore although MLB did not change until 2004 to impose penalties for anabolic steroids and other PEDs, athletes knew that they were obtaining them through traffickers who were doing it in violation of the law.
Roberts of SI is working on a life story about A-Rod, and if there were 4 sources, she obviously did her homework. Whether she can or will reveal those sources is unlikely.
Apparently the information collected on the 104 athletes was “never” to be released and was to remain anonymous. So what legal recourse does A-Rod have and who would he go after, if none of the sources are revealed?
I can see why athletes used anabolic steroids, testosterone, HGH, etc. If your teamate comes to ST pumped up and puts up better numbers than you, after having equal numbers the year before, and you’re both due for arbitration, and he gets 8M/year and you get 1/4 of that, knowing you’re equal in ability, what would you do??
What if Manny is on the list, and it’s divulged today. At age 37, will he get a one year contract, or even a contract at all?
Gene Orza, IMO, is probably in real trouble.
A-Rod, if he goes about it the right way, will probably win forgiveness from most of his fans, but as it stands, all of his current and future records stand to be tarnished, because of the release of this information, ie. he’s “screwed.”
The trolls are out in force it seems. Sorry you guys missed out on Teixeira
Arod- mr perfection,
I love how redsox fans come to yankees blogs. You think a decent yankee fan would ever be caught dead in a redsox blog to rag on them. No because we actually have class. Get out of here before you get hurt and get a life. You think a redsox player has never done roids, think again.. They just happen to have one of the guys leading this ridiculous investigation employed for them. Im sure ortiz has never touched the stuff in his life when he went from league acverage to a superstar in one year – yea right. Cant wait to see ortiz’s name among the rest of the players on that list that arod was on. And we will have fun kicking the redsox @$$ next year in the division as well. Please, go get a life now.
“it really seems like outside of the majority of the hopeless media and a few miserable fans, no one really cares about arod and his roids use in 2003 when the majority of the game was involved in this stuff and the culture was entrenched in PEDs use”
this is so incorrect as to be totally hilarious. only a few miserable fans care? apparently you are one of those miserable fans since you are here commenting on the subject. and judging by the traffic here, id say that just about everyone who occasions this blog must also be a miseralbe fan b/c traffic is through the roof.
I’d like to live in the fantasy world where not a single big name Red Sox player ever touched PEDs. It must be a happy place.
Michale Kay on right now(an hour early)-if anyone wants to listen in.
Ham Fighters, are you an American? I ask this because neither Roberts nor anyone else had a legal right to ARod’s test result. In fact, the government only had a warrant for the test results of the Balco Ten, and had no right to ARod’s results. ARod wasn’t one of the Balco Ten. ARod has rights here in America, 4th ammendmant rights and they seem like they’ve been violated. I hope we take the constitution a little more seriously than we do a failed drug test.
Yanketrader,
Roberts is NOT working on a life story about arod. She is looking for stories about how arod destroyed his life. She has a personal vendetta against the guy – come on man, think about it. She was clearly out to get arod from day one.
Ummm … hasn’t A-Rod tested clean for several years, and he still put up a 54HR a couple seasons ago? Even if he tested positive in ’03 or not, this is fact isn’t it?
I’m not saying A-Rod’s innocent or guilty on the ’03 test, but I have to question how this all came about 6 full years down the line, when the ’03 tests were supposedly confidential. The way this has all come to light strongly suggests that however the information got out is probably at least as illegal as anything people are getting all rightcheous (sp?) about.
Like it or not, that’s another very important issue altogether. A couple of the people involved (Roberts, Canseco perhaps?) have books and stand to make some coin on this. Theft & blackmail can be very profitable if done right.
And what if there are holes in their stories? Their sources stories? If Alex’s ex-wife and Jose Canseco are half of Roberts sources, and their side of it is just ‘he said’/she said’ then suddenly it all sounds pretty sensationalized doesn’t it? And if the tests were also anonymous (I really don’t know if they were or not) what are the chances the names on the list don’t belong to the samples in question?
I’m not saying it doesn’t all line up as proving Alex guilty of failing the ’03 test. I don’t know that yet. But we don’t know at this point that there’s anything to actually prove, either. Yet 99% of what I’m reading sounds like a NY Post headline. Or, head (up-the-butt) line.
IMO Alex should defer to the union and press charges if anything’s illegal in this. Even if he did fail the test in ’03.
“I also believe that the vast majority of people will abandon their principles in a heartbeat if they can get an advantage with no fear of punishment.”
jeremy-
the punishment isn’t just getting caught. the punishment is also that you are doing something bad for your body and you’re maybe going to die sooner than you should.
this is really off the wall, but i had an email conversation with selena roberts a long time ago about a conference that she wrote about about that discussed the ethics of peds.
it was an academic conference with leading ped experts there. one of the the questions was are all peds bad? what if there was one that extended life and the quality of life?
another was why isn’t correcting eye sight artificially banned? the answer to that is it’s good for everyone.
if there was a ped that extended life and made people healthier , everyone would use it. why ban it?
but the problem with steroids is they are bad for humans in the long run.
so a major punishment for steroid users is that steroids are bad for them. their health is going to suffer. some people have that internal compass in them who just won’t do that to themselves.
Phil,
What about Roberts’ First Amendment right to publish information given to her?
It is nearly impossible to sanction a reporter for publishing information that she obtained from a source.
The real issue as to Roberts’ reporting is whether she is sitting on additional names, and if so, why.
Al, the WHITE Sox were not in the running for Texiera, do your homework! LOL Dave, Jumping the gun on me being a Red Sox fan? And as much as you claim about Ortiz, I don’t see 4 sources on him, as a matter of fact there are none.
Jeremy, if she paid someone to steal the information then she’s an accomplice.
Atleast that would explain where Gammons has been the last couple of days. Not being interviewed and assuming not one of the “sources”. You would assume that the interview is going to be very sappy. A lot of my rights were violated, I didn’t do anything. There is no way he will do anything but say he didn’t do it. This interview will be done the way that Arod and Boras want it to be. Don’t be mistaken Boras might be a jerk but he is the best in the business and will make sure this interview is only done the way he wants it, with the right questions asked and makes sure Arod says the right things.
Hamfighter,
I meant cares like “I want arod off the team because he did roids in 2003″ cares. You know the way about 10 percent of yankee fans and the wide majority of the media is acting. He is still the best player in the game – a report coming out in 2003 that he did roids doesnt mean a thing to change that. And i come on here every day to defend arod against the haters and keep people thinking about baseball rather than roids use. That is how I care – I dont care about arod leaving the team or arod being punished for something every one was dsoing. That is the joke here. Everyone was doing roids at that time, it wasnt even against the rules of the game and not a single person seemed to notice the massive amount of homeruns all of a sudden but now, taking roids back then was some federal offense. It was some master crime – give me a break. This is all such BS. Werent you just arguing about forgiving pettitte for his use not even two months ago? You are being so hippocritical if you did.
Anon February 9th, 2009 at 12:05 pm
1. Fran February 9th, 2009 at 12:02 pm
Roberts has her “tell-all” book about Alex coming out in May. It seems like everything he does is all over the newspapers. Don’t know what else after this she could put in her book that we don’t already know!——-
I googled this the other day and saw a rumor she plans to question his sexuality in the book.
———————–
Hard hitting journalism at it’s best. Heck that is why she was a Times reporter and SI.
“Al, the WHITE Sox were not in the running for Texiera, do your homework! LOL Dave, Jumping the gun on me being a Red Sox fan? And as much as you claim about Ortiz, I don’t see 4 sources on him, as a matter of fact there are none.”
Wait! There are actually White Sox fans? I thought your bandwagon disappeared after 2005.
The question of the day, as yankee trader just pointed out, is:
If the 104 man list came out right now and Manny Ramirez was on it(or any other free agent, really), would he even get a contract, or would he basically be forced to retire?
Pete, keep up the good work. Please continue to add humor to the page because as Yanks fans we need it badly. I never really loved A-Rod but this is just terrible.
I love the idea of keeping Nady and Swisher. Someone always gets hurt and it sure beats throwing a triple A guy out there.
Love the rotation depth with Hughes and Kennedy too. The last 5 years the rotation has been a nightmare.
Release all the names I say!
I am totally dreading this book that woman has coming out about Alex.
(or would the yankees sign him for 9 years)
phil i have said consistenly thoughout this that i want to see the leakers punished. i dont think reporters should be jailed to reveal sources, but that is not the only way to go after leakers.
for those who are proclaiming that arod only used in 2003, remember that the test he was supposedly tipped about from ozra was in 2004 when he was a yankee. that doesnt prove he was doing them in 2004 but it certainly suggests it.
Randy,
That is a very rational way of approaching PEDs and an interesting anecdote too.
The physical cost is the reason for not taking PEDs that makes the most sense to me.
However, people do things that are terrible for themselves all the time. Smoking is an obvious example. If you live in NYC you are treated to horrifying ads showing people who suffer from catastrophic smoking-releated symptoms. People smoke anyway because the benefit of smoking (it feels good) outweigh the drawbacks (the price and the risk of health problems).
Consider that PEDs can actually make someone seem MORE healthy in the short-term (and might help you make millions to boot), and I can imagine a player easily rationalizing away the risk of long-term health problems. Especially when he may be getting misleading advice from a drug supplier, who could be lying his butt off to move more product.
Arod mr perfection,
There is a list of 103 people who tested positive for something in 2003. You dont think a single redsox player will be on there. Think again buddy. You are only kidding yourself. And the reason no one outsted a redsox player yet is because of who was running the investigation – he was employed by the team. This whole thing is such a joke – a biased laughingstock. So many things that are so wrong with this country and the people in it are coming out with these events.
Okay I get a few hours of work. Did I just hear right that A-Rod is doing an interview with Gammons this afternoon?
ANSKY,
Wait a minute, who said Roberts paid anyone for the information?
The Sky is falling. The Sky is falling.
This scandal was the best thing that could have happened.
It will only change what needed to be changed.
Alex will still be at 3b and the season will start on April 6th.
I do not agree with trying to get an edge, using steroids, but I put it above trying to ruin other people’s lives for your own personal gain. Offer 200 million dollars contracts to journalists, and let see what stupid things they would do, to get an edge. To journalists I say Do us a favor spare us the righteous indignation
This is going to be a fun year!
“IMO Alex should defer to the union and press charges if anything’s illegal in this. Even if he did fail the test in ‘03.”
What if one of the sources worked for the players union?
“Jeremy, if she paid someone to steal the information then she’s an accomplice.”
Yes she is. Wouldn’t that be interesting, but it won’t help A-Rod get into the HOF.
” And as much as you claim about Ortiz, I don’t see 4 sources on him, as a matter of fact there are none.”
How do you know- have you seen the list?
I hate not being able to read all of the posts because I know I am missing good stuff. I am on a lunch hour drive by and did see this. If there already has been a response to it I apologize.
“but I still don’t see why it was stupid to take steroids in 2003.”
It was stupid to take them in 2003 because the 1991 MLB drug policy strictly prohibited the use of steroids without a valid doctor’s prescription. I don’t think violating any part of MLB policy is smart on the part of any player.
pat-correct
Part of me is hoping that Papi is on that list.
Harsh, maybe, but this burden needs to be shared. If there are 103 players on it, then Arod shouldn’t carry the cross himself.
Who better to share it than a Red Sox player?
Jennifer,
You have to be kidding me. Hard-hitting journalism? More like irresponsible, biased, destructive journalism. Robert is leading this charge like she led the charge to crucify those lacrosse players. And guess where she took that one? Right into the grave. The face that SI then hired her is atrocious. Where are the repercussions from her spearheading one of the biggest travesty in journalism in this generation. How can anyone take a reported like that seriously? And now, with her book about arod – just wow.
dave- Don’t feed the troll man. He/she obviously has no idea what he/she is talking about. All of us regulars are completely aware of how biased the Mitchell Report was, no need to attempt to educate a troll.
tarheel,
What exactly will it change for the better? I dont see one positive thing coming out of this whole ridiculous nonsense.
Jeremy,
She has a right to report it, but it doesn’t mean that ARod’s rights have not been violated. Since the government had no right to ARod’s test, this s a really big deal.
Hey Al, I’ll have a number 1 meal, Whopper w/cheese with a diet Coke! LOL People making $8 an hour should have no say on a Yankee blog!
Trisha,
It was against MLB rules to take steroids, and yet baseball had no testing policy and no punishment for being caught, and if you tested positive on the first round of tests in 2003, your results were supposed to be kept secret forever.
That’s my point. Why is it stupid to break a rule that carries no penalties? It’s stupid not to have the penalties in the first place.
dave, i have always had a problem with the whole concept of ‘haters’. arod’s fans tend to use this term for anyone who isnt as big a fan of arod’s as they are.
i dont think the yankees should have gotten arod, i thought that money would be better spent elsewhere. i dont think they should have resigned him after the opt-out. however im a yankees fan and i root for him when he’s playing. i also think he’s pretty comical and sometimes poke fun at his public personal. i also think he’s a great player, and if i have the 2nd pick in my fantasy draft, im taking him. im also rooting like hell for him to come clean and put all this behind him and have a great year. i also think he cheated and deserves condemnation for that cheating.
so am i a hater? by most arod fans standards i think i am. by most rational baseball fan’s standards i think i have a nuanced understanging of a complicated person and i would prefer he was playing elsewhere.
Al,
Sorry they pulled me in. mY emotions are running high these days and I get on edge at a very low threshold because of all of this. My bad.
Want to put an end to PEDs in MLB.
1. Amend all contracts to include a clause if tested positive and proven positive[ no false positives], then you’re contract is voided for cause.
2. Ban the player for 3 years from participation in any baseball activity associated with MLB.
3. Sponsers, should also have clauses in endorsement contracts to be able to void these lucrative deals.
Of course these thought are not based on reality- because the powerful players union would fight this.
“In order to reclaim PR territory he once occupied, he must come off credible and personable when he makes his first statement. It will be much more than a finger-in-the-dyke moment.”- bob raissman
gb7-
is it just me, or does that sentiment strike you as odd ?
Randy,
It strikes me as odd. When has ARod ever occupied PR territory?
dave
I do agree roberts is despicable. However, the DA was even worse.
He basically allowed the case to go foward, with no evidence, in order to win the upcoming election. He needed the black vote, and he used the press to get it. Thats why he was jailed and is facing numerous lawsuits. Ms Roberts it seems got a better gig at SI.
as several of the lawyers pointed out yesterday, selena roberts did not break any laws unless she broke into someones office and stole the list. there is no prior restraint on reporters and publishers. there is no law against publishing this information. there are laws that pertain to the people who had access to the list as part of thier jobs within the legal profession.
reporters are sometimes jailed in an atttempt by the courts to find out who illegally leaked the information. this practice has been outlawed in several states by shield laws, i think new york is one of those states.
there is absolutely no evidence to suggest that roberts broke the law here. whoever leaked the information likely did though.
roberts may be in jeopardy of being jailed for contempt of court for not revealing her sources, but until and unless she is called and refuses to testify, she has broken no laws.
dave- Your sarcasm meter is broken.
Al from BK – I hope you aren’t referring to me, I am far from a troll.
My initial reaction is to wait until Alex talks,” Jeter said. “Give him the benefit of the doubt. Give him that respect.”
When asked if he was worried about his own name being among the 104 names on the sealed list of Major League Baseball players who tested positive in baseball’s 2003 survey testing season, Jeter answered:
“Why would I worry about me being on the list?”
Jeter said the Yankees were stunned by the news that their teammate had shown up on a list of 104 players who tested positive in 2003 in tests that were supposed to be kept confidential. The government then seized the tests, which led to a lawsuit by the Players Association and a long legal battle that now rests in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.
“Everybody was shocked,” Jeter said of the A-Rod news, “but you’ve got to wait to find out both sides.”
Jeter said he didn’t know how much a distraction the situation would present for the team. “You can only talk about it so much,” he said. “It would be nice to talk about baseball, but here we are and there hasn’t been a baseball question yet.”
http://www.nydailynews.com/spo.....od_de.html
Hamfighter,
I dont know why you would think that I think your a hater for thinking that. I would consider a hater someone who will boo arod when they come to the stadium next year or call up the radio or post on blogs about how arod should be off the team or will just hurt the team next year. That is a hater to me. The way you described it you are not. But saying that people are not drastically over-reacting about all this is still being a bit naive. The media and very few fans are acting like this is huge like arod committed murder rather than taking some drugs to make more money. I think some of these same reporters would send their mother down the river to make a huge break or double their pay.
There is so much hippocracy and so many double standard. And these people are the last ones that should be passing judgement on arod. The ironic thing is the only people who this actually legitimately effects are real yankee fans and the team and FO. And we are for the most part far less enthralled and captured by this story. I think the true yankee fans would much rather see the yankees win above all else and believe that no matter what arod will be far more of an asset to us next year than anything else he could possibly be. He is still a great hitter and nothing any irresponsible journalist writes isgoing to change that. And it is also a joke to assume arod has been doing roids for over ten years – please! We barely have real proof that he did it at all and people are so ready to jump the gun to say he has been a cheater his entire life.
The number 1 fact is this: Arod has never been on a team that has won a major league world series championship. So expect 10 more years of being without one. He is a legitimate jinx that is now proven to be a cheater.
Why would you let Peter Gammons, of all people, talk with ARod this afternoon.
A-Rod will make his statement today, and thereafter and it will be feeding time for the lawyers. Yes he will be the starting 3rd baseman this year and the story will fade.
Dont like Joba starting. No No No.
Dont Like Girardi
Damon wears on me.
Wish Jeter was more of a captain.
Texeiera will suffer from the Giambi jitters.
Chin Min $hould have been paid better
C.C. better not walk everbody
There’s a pitcher named “COKE”?
Is that not good? Geez!
Phil Hughes & Ian Kennedy??
Whats up w/them?
Besides Nady, the outfield is poor.
3rd place finish
Francesa just said that Alex is supposed to give a statement tonight and then sit down for an interview with ESPN (Gammons). No specific time.
dave
As a med student you know when you have a boil you lance it. Think of this as getting the infection out. It needed to happen. Sooner better then later.
Russell NY
Because he is well respected, and will likely give a softball interview.
Jennifer,
Where is the smiley face or the wink? People are acting soo dumb today, I would believe almost anything i read on here. Thank god you werent serious.
Its not just the players union who would fight it.
Don’t kid yourself, the owners don’t want these guys out for long periods of time either. They have bills to pay.
As far as sponsor deals, those clauses are already in those agreements.
How to solve the problem? First, new leadership in the game.
Selig, Fehr and Orza can no longer be in charge. If they are, you have chance to solve this problem.
Once new leadership is in place, have the USADA take over the Doping Program.
You do that, you go a long way toward solving the problem.
As Posnanski wrote the other day, Arod didn’t need the juice – his 1996, at age 20, was so ridiculous (36 HRs, 123 RBIs, 141 R) – nothing he did thereafter would be a surprise.
Meanwhile, David Ortiz at age 28 hits 20 HRs with the Twins in 2002.
He then does this with Boston starting the very next season:
Age 29 : 31 HRs
Age 30 : 41 Hrs
Age 31 : 47 Hrs
Age 32 : 54 HRs
Age 33 : 35 HRs
So I ask you – which player would you suspect is cheating?
Hard to believe Arod would need to cheat – less hard to believe the countless others unnamed who did.
dave- Sorry
You are right, I should have put a 
you have “no” chance to solve the problem. Sorry for the typo.
Can you stop about arod..please!
I agree arod needs to admit it and apologize. I also think those other 103 names better be all out on the table at some point. IF ROBERTS broke no laws as people claim, there should be no reason those other names are not published by months end…
Francesa is right, they should release the other 104 names. Unfortunately I’m sure there are other Yankees on the list.
Jennifer- I would never call you a troll. I thought it was very obvious who the aforementioned troll is.
dave- Its fine trolls can get the best of all of us.
troll- So any player who has never won a championship is a jinx? Ted Williams was a pretty good player so was Don Mattingly. I wonder if they are considered jinxes/curses by their former teammates?
dave i have to disagree with your characterization of the duke lacrosse situation. yes roberts was heavily in favor of the prosecutor’s case. but this was moslty the case of an overzelous prosecutor (since removed and disgraced) pushing an agenda in order to woo votes. yes some in the press including roberts were behind him but saying she spearheaded anything, or that the crux of the travesty was in the press, is imo inaccurate.
focus on the TEAM
So it looks like Alex is going the Roger Clemens route, denying it.
” I can imagine a player easily rationalizing away the risk of long-term health problems.”
jeremy-
i agree there’s temptation. i still think there’s people who won’t cross certain lines.
but in keeping with what you pointed out, what about pitchers that throw across their body on purpose to get natural movement . they will also get a very short career because it rips up their arm.
should that kind of choice be made illegal?
A-Rod is having a **press conference** today:
http://www.nydailynews.com/spo.....st_pu.html
SA -
Thanks for that link to Jeter’s reaction.
Anyone able to listen to Michael Kay? I can’t seem to tune in AM radio.
“Francesa is right, they should release the other 104 names. Unfortunately I’m sure there are other Yankees on the list.”
I’d rather see them now and be done with this garbage.
russel, because gammons has no interviewing skills whatsoever and fawns over players.
“So it looks like Alex is going the Roger Clemens route, denying it.”
for all we know, he might not.
Al from BK-
Thats what I get for not reading through the comments. I just saw his reaction to what I wrote than yours so I assumed incorrectly.
Yea ortiz went from mediocre in his prime to a superstar to the best his game in his early 30s. Then, as most roid users, he fell off a cliff due to injury and probably wont recover from it. He is also so big that getting even bigger would hardly be noticed. It wouldnt shock me in the least if ortiz did roids. It would surprise me more if arod did it for any significant length of time – there was no rapid ascent to stardom with arod as there was even with bonds when he started hitting monster shots and there has not yet been any significant dropoff whatsoever in arods career – if he stopped all of a sudden after doing roids for a while, we would see some precipitous drop off. Arod has had no dropoff and basically, no injuries throughout his career. It is impossible to believe he has been doing roids for over a decade with a career that he has had. he was also one of the best before the majors
Doreen, Kay isn’t on until 2:00 pm.
Ed, Clemens pulled the same thing with a statement and then the 60 minutes interview.
Doreen, I am not listening to Michael Kay today but I saw him on ESPN’s Sports Reporters yesterday. He said this would hurt ARod and his legacy and he hopes that Alex can handle it. He said ARod should come clean. He also said that all of the other names should be released.
Release the other names I bet there is some Papi/Manny on there.
Rosenthal on dan patrick:
FOX’s Ken Rosenthal joined the show to weigh in with his take on the Alex Rodriguez situation.
– Dan asked Rosenthal if he was suprised. “Not surprised. Not shocked. I am never shocked to hear any athlete used performance-enhancing drugs. Not just in baseball,” Rosenthal said.
– Rosenthal thinks A-Rod has a major beef with the players’ association, since the union did not destroy the records.
– Rosenthal thinks A-Rod should keep quiet. He shouldn’t come out and apologize. If he told the truth, he’d be exposing himself to legal issues he can’t even imagine. The government is working on cases, like Barry Bonds, and who knows if they’ll come after A-Rod down the road as a witness or something else.
– Rosenthal said if he ran baseball, he’d come out and say we won’t let out the 104 names from 2003 and we’ll go after the person who leaked it.
– Rosenthal said the most disturbing aspect of all of this is if players have been tipped off by the union. That means all of baseball’s testing efforst are for naught.
Also, the Selena Roberts audio with dan patrick is up at his site. Sorry, guys who are boycotting, it’s on si.com.
Thanks Trevor and Fran.
Kay came on an hour early today, 1 pm, to talk about Arod.
So far, its been a pretty balanced show.
Kay is on now-he started his show an hour early.
Doreen-listening to him online
I think this is a little too soon to say anything.
I’d let the story die down. But I suppose he has to say something. He owes it to the Dominican Republic team.
E-Man, now that’s called stupidity. lying as far as going on 60 minutes? huh?
Ham,
I am not really an expert on the situation but from what I have read, it seemed like she was front and center regarding the publicity they got in the media which rapidly spread across the country and she was pushing that whole guilty before proven innocent thing that american media folk seem to love to push on their readers. I just felt like she was irresponsible in her reporting – extremely irresponsible and extremely bias. She could very well be doing the same thing in this situation. Fact is, her reputation is not glowing for knowing the truth before publish opinion that she writes as if it is fact. That is the type of person she has portrayed herself to be and i think that is relevant to this.
let me be clear about gammons, i like him. i understand where he’s coming from i dont expect objectivity when it comes to the socks or the yankees, but i like him. he seems like a nice guy, tells a good story, is pretty well informed (on a national level anyway) and obviously is very connected. he is also a fellow cerebral hemorrage survivor.
however his skill is in creating personal relationships and being informed by these contacts. and he’s great at it. almost everyone iv talked to who’ve met him had nothing but good thing to say about him. this is how he’s so connected.
but interviews? iv never heard him put a really tough question to anybody. sitting across the table from a guy and firing questions in front of a camera is not his forte. he’s way too soft and doesnt follow up enough.
this is why they chose him. he has a ton of stature in the baseball media, (makes roberts look like a hack by comparison) and hes no danger of asking tough, probing questions.
its really just going to be alex reading a statement through gammons ill bet.
Doreen
Listen online
http://www.1050espnradio.com
Alex’s interview with Gammons tonight I am sure is just the beginning. You know that lots of reporters will be waiting for him in Tampa when he arrives.
Ed, yeah it is.
He should pull a Giambi. Hold a press confrence in Tampa. admit or deny. Take whatever questions he can and try and be done with it.
The whole statement and limited interview thing doesn’t work.
If arod doesnt come out and apologize this thing will drag on FOREVER. hE COULD be dragged off to court by someone else looking to make a big name for himself. The team could getingt distracted by all the negative attention surrounding it and arod. The players will start liking him even less. Unless he is innocent, he should just admit it and apologize ASAP. The sooner he does so,the sooner the media will run out of things to say about it and the sooner it ends. Otherwise, the media will feed off his denial – that will build the story up even more than the disproportianate size it already is.
Conseco batting 1000% on his,Roid cheaters expose’.Not for nothin could anyone have predicted his accuracy.
What does Arod say?
A)- I never did steroids and this test has not been proven
B)- I did steroids once in 2003 and have never done them again
C)- I am not allowed to comment on these tests and will not until told to do so by the union and or government
D) I am sorry for anyone I hurt in 2003 based on the rumored failed test. To the Yankee fans, I have been clean since I have been a yankee and will continue to be clean.
I am not allowed to comment any further on the 2003 testing.
I am looking forward to a great season and to help the Yankees get back to winning championships.
Kay: who’s the punk that released A-Rod’s name?
wow…
pat -
Thanks. I got it.
YankeeTrader
I’ve been saying what you’ve said for years now. And you’re right, the player’s union would never have agreed to anything like this in the past and may not now. Maybe ownership was not that interested in it either. Only when money and power to these groups comes is compromised will they make any move on it.
I have pushed for a lifetime ban, let’s say with all testing after 4/1/09. Sponsorship voiding contracts of players and teams would be a powerful force as well, because so much of the money is there.
The frustrating thing is that the solution to this is not some impossible, unreachable fantasy notion. It is pretty basic and attainable. It would take diligence, honesty, and a mutual respect for the game by players and management to accomplish it. Apparently they don’t have enough of that.
People are always hacking away at the branches and not getting to the root. Even now, the discussion is diverted to either people who skewer Arod or defend him to the death or debate the ways and means that the information was leaked and what the motives of that were. Why so little of the conversation is devoted to “hey, what measures should be taken to stop this crap once and for all?” baffles me.
So tomorrow I imagine we’ll go through the same thing again. Just like Groundhog’s Day.
we should start an ‘on the list/off the list’ pool (yankees/red socks version). ill take manny, ortiz, burnett, and youkilis in the ON and pedroia, jeter and wakefield for the OFF list.
Hopefully D and when he does say the length of time, it was only the one season and never before or since. I pray never since because that could really tear his reputation to threads if he has been doing roids through the era of testing and all the hearings.
YankeeRay, I’d guess a mix between C and D. He’ll apologize, but he won’t make it clear what he’s apologizing for and he’ll say he can’t comment on the story due to the ongoing investigation.
YankeeRay
February 9th, 2009 at 1:50 pm
What does Arod say?
—–
I left out E
A)- I never did steroids and this test has not been proven
B)- I did steroids once in 2003 and have never done them again
C)- I am not allowed to comment on these tests and will not until told to do so by the union and or government
D) I am sorry for anyone I hurt in 2003 based on the rumored failed test. To the Yankee fans, I have been clean since I have been a yankee and will continue to be clean. I am not allowed to comment any further on the 2003 testing. I am looking forward to a great season and to help the Yankees get back to winning championships.
E) I did steroids from 19XX thru 2003 and I was wrong. I have been clean since MLB instituted its drug policy and I continue to put up big numbers while maintaining a drug free baseball career from 2003 and beyond. I apologize for anyone that I have hurt.
YankeeRay, a thought crossed my mind this morning, would i rather have arod or manny on the yankees, and you immediatly came to mind!
“‘Release the other names I bet there is some Papi/Manny on there.”
Probably is Al, but what difference does it make? Doesn’t make Arod any less of a cheater, does it? I agree the list should be made public ASAP, but only because it’s the one way for baseball to put this issue to be put to bed for good.
We as fans don’t get anything out of Boston players being named. Some almost certainly will be, but so will some Yankees. This issue has nothing to do with the rivalry. The Yankees 4 championships will stand forever and so will the two Boston won. It’s a baseball issue. And it will cheapen the game and the accomplishments achieved therein until MLB and, more importantly, the incredibly obstinate MLBPA finally make it go away.
“‘Release the other names I bet there is some Papi/Manny on there.”
Probably is Al, but what difference does it make? Doesn’t make Arod any less of a cheater, does it? I agree the list should be made public ASAP, but only because it’s the one way for baseball to put this issue to be put to bed for good.
We as fans don’t get anything out of Boston players being named. Some almost certainly will be, but so will some Yankees. This issue has nothing to do with the rivalry. The Yankees 4 championships will stand forever and so will the two Boston won. It’s a baseball issue. And it will cheapen the game and the accomplishments achieved therein until MLB and, more importantly, the incredibly obstinate MLBPA finally make it go away.
Can we please get back to talking actual baseball? I know the ARod thing is a big deal, but can we have one thread that doesn’t dwell on him?
In that spirit:
1) Swisher is NOT GOING TO PLAY CENTER UNLESS SOMEONE GETS HURT!! He doesn’t like playing there and he can get enough ABs as it is between 1B/LF/RF/DH.
2) If you don’t think Joba should start, you are a moron.
3) If the rotation coming out of ST is what it is supposed to be, CC should be the one starting the first game.
I’ve never heard Kay so spittin’ mad.
He and (?) are spot on with some if their more salient points.
How Alex does in the first 9 games determines how the Yankee fans greet Alex.
The other guy said this will affect Alex’s legacy, but it won’t kill baseball.
Only Selig can do that.
If CC starts the home opener, who gets the biggest cheer? CC, Tex, or Jeter?
pete:
welcome back
i think this would be a great route for a-rod to take:
-admit he made a stupid mistake (like about 80% of players..)
-tell the yankees he wants his contract reworked to be paid the average salary of the team
-donate 50% of his salary for drug/steroid prevention for children
regards,
sally
Ham Fighters
February 9th, 2009 at 1:54 pm
YankeeRay, a thought crossed my mind this morning, would i rather have arod or manny on the yankees, and you immediatly came to mind!
—
Lol Ham, can we still have both? lol
I saw where a few people yesterday were pining for Manny now and I thought it wasn’t a bad idea.
Take a little focus off Arod and just in case he melts then we have back up.
Obviously with Nady and Swisher both staying, there is no financial room for him but it certainly wouldn’t hurt at this point.
http://www.newsday.com/sports/.....5479.story
I’m happy to hear this. He’s their teammate – they don’t need to approve of what he did, but they need to support him, if for nothing else, the good of the team. Also, if they like him (and I don’t mean that they are all best buds), would they want to see Alex (or any teammate) crushed and have to deal with this by himself? It’s the right thing to do.
Also, as far as Alex speaking – he needs to be himself. If he’s distraught, it’s ok to show that. He can’t put up a false bravado and come off as not caring at all about this. Of course Alex cares – people will be more understanding if he shows that he does, if he recognizes just how badly this mistake has cost him.
Yankee Ray, I just saw this quote from Boras in an article on the NY Yankees website:
Boras told Fox Sports on Saturday that even if the
SI report is accurate, “It was one season, and since
then, Alex has gotten the ‘Good Housekeeping’ seal
the last five years by passing baseball’s drug
tests.”
It seems like that may be his response like many on this blog have offered.
You do realize, “Mr Perfection” that Schilling did steroids, right?
/sigh. As if no Red Sox player ever did steroids… Mo Vaughn…
Sorry abot the double post.
Yankee Ray:
If Arod owns up, I think he has to be very careful not to reference particular dates, years or periods of time. Last thing he needs is to say “I did ‘em in 2003, but then stopped” only to have some evidence to suggest otherwise be dropped on him.
“just an aside, but where the hell has cb been ?”
Yeah, where is CB?
Interview coming up within the hour on espn.
Sally, how would he cater to Madonna if he gave his salary away? The reason for doing roids was to better himselve and get higher paying contracts. Too bad this didn’t come out before he cheated the Yankees out of 28 million a year for 10 years.
As a Jeter apologist, I’m kind of shocked that he actually said anything about the situation.
And what he said was certainly better than what Boras said. Jeez.
“”’Release the other names I bet there is some Papi/Manny on there.”
Probably is Al, but what difference does it make?”
————————————-
I think it does make a difference.
Too many fans are singling out players like Bonds, Clemens, Arod. If 100 names get leaked, finally there will be general acceptance of what really went on and we can start to make real changes.
MLB continues to find scapegoats. MLB as a whole messed up. Players, the union, the owners, the management…
Stop blaming individuals!
*Does AROID,think* that staying quiet,directing questions to the union,hiding away in the Bahamas, *THAT THIS WOULD BLOW* *OVER?*
Did he not learn from Andy to *just come clean,* and Roger when you don’t?
*My suggestion,haul him before congress,and answer to all*
*Why,When.How long etc,and grill him to humiliation.*
Again, I had to fly though the posts.
Jeremy, I understand what you’re saying but to me it is the same thing (well not entirely the same) but think of it this way. If a player receives stolen goods, MLB may not have it in a player’s contract that there is a penalty but it is still against the law. The fact that they mentioned in their 1991 policy that steroids were a schedule 3 drug and they were prohibited from taking them without a doctor’s prescription should have been enough. Do we have to have an associated penalty for breaking every policy that we put down? Isn’t it enough to say that this is the policy and we expect you to abide by it? To me that is a yes.
Ham fighter – what is interesting to me is to see whether or not a reporter could be considered an accomplice to a crime when the reporter leaks information. And since the information is under seal in California, it doesn’t much matter what NY’s laws are. And we’re talking federal not state. Stakes are much higher. No shield law is going to protect someone with leaked information as shield law’s are only a protection for information during “newsgathering”.
okay, the arod things wearing off on me. ill still follow it but im thinking about:
guys in sweats stretching out in the sun on perfectly mowed grass.
im thinking about the pop of an early spring fastball in the catchers mitt.
im thinking about guys who play for the reds or the mariners saying, ‘hey, we all start at 0-0 and look at the rays last year…’
im thinking about beet-red snowbirds in tourist T-shirts.
im thinking about yogi’s golf clubs…
“”Why would I worry about me being on the list?” he said.”
And this is why Derek Jeter is the posterboy for major league baseball as we want it to be. He will always be tops in my book.
GOOD ON YOU DJ FOR MAKING THE STATEMENT YOU DID!
DJ is nothing if not objective. He too knew that there were 104 names on that list. That’s a lot of names to let your teammate take the only hit.
“Too many fans are singling out players like Bonds, Clemens, Arod.”
Boston Dave:
Weren’t there 75-80 guys named in the Mitchell Report?? Have Bonds or Clemens been any less singled out as a result?
FWIW, it is has been these same guys who’ve been singled out over the years for their significant achievements. They are/were the stars of the game. The attractions. It should not be at all shocking that when things begin going badly and the stars are tied to the problem, that they are the ones singled out.
trisha, obviously i defer to your legal knowlege. your accomplice idea is intriguing, have u ever worked for the D.A.? absent payment prior to the leaking of such information, i cant see it though.
as for shield laws, i was not saying they applied here, i was saying i’m against jailing journalists to force testimony and pointing out that since the majority of people here are new yorkers, thier state prohibits the practice.
ARod admits he used.
Breaking news he admitted it.
breaking news… Arod confesses on ESPN…..
looks like A-Rod is going the Giambi route. Good for him.
That was breaking news on ESPN tv.
ESPN: A-Rod admits to Peter Gammons he has used PEDs.
jynx, you espn cows!
Bonds! (Giambi too but he apologized. Plus, he tells the media dirty joke so they love him)
Clemens! (Pettitte too, but he’s a “man of faith” so we feel bad about it)
A-Rod! (plus 103 other names but who cares we got Alex).
Francesa said the 104 names are around. And some names that where left off the Mitchell Report are on the 104 list.
I’ve seen some of those pre Mitchell Report list and there where lots of big names. Most aren’t that surprising.
The right first step.
and still Michael Kay has nothing
Trisha,
I agree with you that violating baseball rules is wrong, but I’m talking about what players could be expected to do in real life.
Baseball players are not choir boys. The history of baseball (all professional sports, really) is filled with examples of players doing everything in their power to win and make more money, including outright cheating.
The only way a sport can prevent cheating is to deter it from taking place. Saying “Just Say No” isn’t deterrence.
To the contrary, MLB celebrated the McGwire/Sosa home run chase and looked the other way when it came to the drug question.
While buying PEDs was illegal, FBI agents were not raiding locker rooms and arresting the juicers. There was no fear of punishment of any kind.
So to answer your question, yes, we need to have penalties in place to deter any significant form of cheating. We cannot ask players to do whatever it takes to win and reward them with millions of dollars for doing so, and expect them not to take PEDs when there were absolutely no penalties for it.
Do we know the direct quotes, yet or just that he did it…
Thank You Alex for admitting. It will make this much easier for you, the team and most importantly the fans that dont want to listen to these questions all season.
if the main source is cinthia, i dont condone it, but you really cant blame the woman.
YEAH! WAY TO GO ALEX! THANK YOU!
Only with the Rangers. Has not used since 2003. Is apologetic. Was trying to live up to the bug contract
Rishi
Okay at least I know I am not going crazy. I knew I didn’t hear it on the radio.
bug= big
Well ARod admitted it.
I am waiting to hear that Manny Ramirez has played most of his career on acid.
“We cannot ask players to do whatever it takes to win and reward them with millions of dollars for doing so, and expect them not to take PEDs when there were absolutely no penalties for it.”
Actually yes, we can ask players not to break the law by taking illegal drugs. There were criminal penalties for it. That should have been enough.
i hope this changes alex. lets the air out of the baloon. dont worry about the home run record or who is the GOAT and just play. win rings and be happy.
maybe not but we can hope.
A-Rod is doing an interview with Peter Gammons and apparently he has admitted to using steroids during his time with the Texas Ragers. The full interview will be shown tonight on ESPN.
Scott F
So he did it. I’m glad he admitted it.
I guess the circus is still not leaving town though.
I think this is the best thing we could want to hear from Alex Rodriguez.
IMO, I think he is just indicative of the culture at the time.
I’m so glad he didn’t go the denial route. This makes it MUCH easier to rally behind him this season.
Good for you Alex.
Hopefully he’s telling the truth that he only did it during his stint in Texas. Pettitte first claimed he only did it once and later we find out he did twice.
Now you all owe Pete and Selena
Roberts an apology! Lets hear it.
pat, the only player who’s lived up to his bug contract is Matsui:
http://tinyurl.com/6mxkf5
the MLPA got the names of failed tests in 2004.
Good for Alex. This will be cathartic and I think he can be at peace now.
Good job, Alex. They can’t sling arrows that they haven’t already.
Now, I think the Yankees and the fans can throw their support behind him.
I thought Kay said, “keep it right here because you’ll hear it first.”
Now can we talk about actual baseball?!?
Good move by Alex. Hopefully, this will only be an issue for the first part of the season. By August, I’m hoping it’s just a blip on the radar.
Nick, every time you post that pic, I laugh. Thank you.
Time to open up the Yankees Lohud Blog bar early.
Who needs a drink?
welcome to the Party, Michael Kay
Regardless of your troll status, I think this bears addressing: No way does anyone owe Selena Roberts an apology. She still released only one name out of 104 from a list that she obtained through at least some sources that did something illegally. She is in no rush to release the other names and is undoubtedly throwing a huge party for herself right now, while her book’s publishers are most likely sending her a gift basket in expectation of some huge sales. She still deserves to get grilled, but now there will be much less grilling considering A-Rod isn’t going into Operation Deny.
Ham, my main desire in life was to be a government prosecutor (can you tell?) I had a job in the AG’s office in Philly out of law school but my mother died unexpectedly and it really changed a lot of my focus. So I dropped back five. I am certified to practice in federal as well as state courts so you never know what’s in store.
Nick
I was waiting for the Joba joke.
That’s what I like about you. Unpredictable.
We’ll see how the interview goes, but admitting what he did is a good first step. As far as the Hall of Fame goes, maybe he’ll get credit from some writers for at least being up front about what happened when so many others didn’t even when confronted about it. There will be many writers will never vote for him, but nine years is a long time.
Fantastic !Arod admits he took steroids when he was with the Rangers, of course he then stopped totally when he came to the Yankees!
* crickets*
Godzilla vs. Mothra: the gift that keeps on giving.
Roberts is still a hack, so no, she does not get an apology. Even a blind squirrel finds a nut every once in a while.
Ugh. Why does Gammons get to do the interview?
Talk about cruel & unusual punishment.
I’ll give Alex the benefit of the doubt. But now we’ll hear people say who is to say that he really stopped.
He did it because he was trying to live up to that contract?
Why give the interview to that BOS hack Gammons?
Micheal Kaye just said Alex is doing the interview w/ Gammons and he has admitted to using roids from 01′ to 03′ and he said he did it to live up to the contract. ‘It’s the culture of the time’
Ugh. The stupid contract.
good for A-rod…can we let this die now…I would love to see a “leaked list” with players from other teams, though.
Alex could have done this interview with anybody. He chose Gammons.
Good for you Arod.
I am a forgiving person. All Bonds had to do was admit and my heart would have been softened for him also, as much as I detest him as a person!
I admire and respect the honesty. We all make mistakes. To err is human, to forgive divine. If there are penalties, future especially, he will have to pay them. But I don’t need to be his executioner.
GO YANKEES!!!
Admits he did it from 2001-2003. Stop doing it when he got to the Yankees.
I’ve heard that Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger is on the list as well.
Its on ESPN NOW!
And I have earned a ton of respect for Curt Schilling because he wants to see the entire list and doesn’t like that Arod was singled out.
If there is one person I believe it entirely clean, it’s Schilling. Seriously.
Andrew, she only said she got 4 sources. She NEVER got the list, get it? Now go celebrate that Arod cheated at the LoHud bar.
WOW he used from 01-03…Can this get any worse…
tj quinn on espn
“he apologized for using it, he said that he used it only for a period of time when he was in texas that when he arrived at the rangers in 2001, then the largest contract in professional sports history, he said he felt a ton of pressure to perform, to show that he was worth that money.
he also said, that he was not, he wouldnt be specific about what he took, where he learned about it, if anybody injected him.
he said simply that it was a loose culture, he said that i was stupid, i was naive, he’s apologetic.
he also said that he has never used since 2003.”
btw – I don’t have to like Selena Roberts if I don’t want to …. and I don’t
Great, hopefully Andy gave him some advice. Lets see if Alex can set an example for everyone else who gets busted.
uh – Michael Kay, get the freaking audio
Haha, but Schilling is probably on the list…
hmmm what do you expect a guy who is on the list to say? Maybe he’s just betting on that the list won’t be released =)
“WOW he used from 01-03…Can this get any worse…”
Actually, the fact that he’s admitting using for a while helps him. If he had said it was a one time thing or that he didn’t know what he was taking, he would have zero credibility.
Awesome. Man up Alex.
Said around 2001-2003. Said not after 2003. Left himself a little wiggle room
Trisha, what other route could he take? He saw how Pettitte got treated so that’s the route he took, the easy one. But good for him. I agree though, release all the names and move on.
So, he decided to start using steroids in 2001 the same time the league and MLBPA finally agree to player testing for PEDs? That makes a lot of sense.
does anyone beleive that he stopped?
the bigger issue here is the other 103 players? so one si reporter who clearly doesn’t like alex writes a story and a book about one player and the other 103 get off scott free?
one mets clubbie gets cought not paying his taxes and the epicenter of steroids in baseball is nyc? if it was a chicago guy, think we’d be talking about white sox now?
in no way shape for from do i condone ped usage. it’s cheating. yes, this sounds like sour apples from a yankees fan. but my point is this stuff was rampant. people made millions/billions by turning a blind eye.
if that happened in any other business, heads would roll. i suggest that for baseball
re: Selena Roberts
Most of us accepted that the reports were true. We were unhappy with the way it was handled.
The more that ARod confesses and the more open he is, the less people will feel the need to buy her book.
I’m sure she was hoping he’d keep quiet.
His defense makes sense, since he has talked in the past about living up to the contract. Hopefully it is true.
For what it’s worth, he did seem genuinely sorry and looked on the verge of tears almost.
“WOW he used from 01-03…Can this get any worse…”
Of course it could. It would be worse IF HE USED WHILE HE WERE ON THE YANKEES.
ARod is likely saying that he used PEDs when baseball looked the other way and stopped when baseball finally started cracking down in 2004.
If that’s the truth, it’s the best case scenario for Yankee fans. The Yankees are not responsible for what ARod did while playing for another team.
just broke…
A-Rod Admits Using Steroids in TV Interview
In an exclusive interview with Peter Gammons of ESPN, Alex Rodriguez confessed to using steroids. He said he was “stupid” for doing it and that he hadn’t used since 2003.
“Micheal Kaye just said Alex is doing the interview w/ Gammons and he has admitted to using roids from 01’ to 03’ and he said he did it to live up to the contract.”
I suppose that’s a pretty good answer, but that’s the same contract he played under til 2007. Why stop after ’03? Did he feel any less oblligated to live up to it from ’04 to ’07? Or maybe the “culture of the time” changed? Maybe Gammons asked this, I don’t know.
more on espn,
host, ” a loose culture within baseball or witnin the texas rangers at the time?”
quinn, “he seemed to indicate especially within the rangers, but he said across baseball, he said, i dont want to quote him exactly, but i dont want to say this was just something in the texas clubhouse, that this was something across baseball.”
Of course he stopped when he came to the Yankees… when he was on 60 Minutes he said he never did them at all. I would like to believe that he is clean now, but I can’t believe anything that he says. What a joke, Selig should be fired!!!
and here is Steve Phillips…
Wow.
Alex is being truthful. Divulging more than required. 6:00pm should be interesting.
Good for him. Hard to believe he’s going to be the face of truth in the steroid era.
http://www.nypost.com/seven/02.....154283.htm
Does the general consensus of this blog believe he stopped in 2003?
It’s easier to get behind the guy after admitting and apologizing for his mistakes.
At this point, I believe he’ll get a standing O in his first home at-bat.
First, regardless of reasons why, CONGRATULATIONS to AROD the first player to say YES I took PED?
100% cool.
BUT
so he only used PEDs during the exact period of time for which there exists evidence of that use? And no other times? Just like Pettitte! What a coincidence!
alex said, “I am not a crook.”
Wow.
and we have audio
Laura, I agree – I think most people would always wonder if the 2004 steroid use was really just a one time thing. I’m glad he’s admitting it all – and unlike Kay, who pretty much believes that A-Rod is still using, I don’t think he used it past 2003.
Now Alex can answer the questions that everyone will ask of him…..and then, what? There won’t be anymore because Alex will have answered them.
I’m still very disappointed, but this was a first step.
BRAVO, he finally showed some stones and came clean!
Steve,
As image-conscious as he is, he probably stopped when baseball put in the penalties for positive tests.
Does the pressure leave Alex now in these postseason ABs ?
Ed, if that’s the case, then people will be able to move on from this somewhat – even if his legacy is tainted. I always thought it was a good idea for Alex to show he’s upset about this – it makes him human.
“WOW he used from 01-03…Can this get any worse…”
Its better than saying he used it from 01 to the present. Or saying that he only used it one time. Which we know it crap. I think this was we can put it behind us ala Pettitte last year and Giambi before that.
I heard that people want to void his contract. Why? He wasnt the only one taking it and why would we get rid of the best player on the team? He had awesome abilities when he first came up. I dont see his production dropping much. Who knows. It might make him more of a threat on the bases and better contact hitter as he was with the Mariners.
Brandon: hopefully he will clutch in the postseason now.
The fact that it’s criminal doesn’t mean much in reality. Heck, amphetamines have been in the Controlled Substances Act from the beginning (1970) in schedule II, and we don’t care a single bit about the prevalence of greenies over several decades.
Not that I condone steroids. It would just be hypocritical of me to get worked up about the illegality of one drug and not others. And players will always try to find an edge throughout sports history.
That said, good for Alex. America’s a lot more lenient on those who admit.
I can’t wait for ARods’s upcoming book: “If I Did It”
Refer to the 12:28 posting….
“so he only used PEDs during the exact period of time for which there exists evidence of that use? And no other times? Just like Pettitte! What a coincidence!”
Didn’t he just say he started in 2001.
The test was in 2003. How is there evidence for the first 2 yrs in Tex.
I think Alex stopped when testing started. Unless he slipped the testers when they showed up, then you gotta wonder.
But even as a “young stupid” kid, he’d realize that continuing to use after testing was implemented.
Where the hell are Gammons and Alex? On the beach? (can’t block out images of PG slathering tanning oil on AR)
Rodriguez, who joined the Yankees for the 2004 season after a trade from Texas, said “all my years in New York have been clean.” He also said it felt good to be honest about what he’s done in the past.
“The more honest we can all be, the quicker we can get baseball [back] to where it needs to be,” he said.
http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/.....id=3894847
I hope he is telling the truth.
If he took it with the Rangers when he was making $250m why would he stop with the Yanks when making $300m!??! That is even more pressure. Especially with that stupid homerun bonus that they put in his contract. If he did it with the Yanks then I wouldn’t be surprised if he tries to blame the NY fans and media.
Well at least he came clean. This is what I wanted to hear if the allegations were in fact true. He was roiding on a Texas team where pretty much everyone was roiding.
‘Brandon: hopefully he will clutch in the postseason now.’
I mean it only makes sense Ed, no ? Weight of the world, World Series is televised to the world, did he carry those thoughts each AB ?
Call me naiive, but I don’t find it hard to believe he stopped in ’03.
He left the Rangers, came to the Yankees.
They put in penalties to severely punish steroid and PED users.
I can only hope that this means ALL using players have a moment where they can ride on the coattails and say I did it to, I did it too, I did it too, then with that rush it takes the pressure and onus off Arod, and essentially cleans the plater for everyone.
As far as Arod, well…..
The problem is that he has no credibility as he’s lied repeatedly about using them at all whenever he’s been interviewed since 2003. Now that he’s caught we’re supposed to take him at is word and believe that he used them then and only then?
I totally believe he is still taking them, as are a lot of people, but by him admitting at least part of the truth, he is tainted forever, he will never be the HR king.
Maybe NOW, we can all focus on the TEAM winning a world series, and ignore the INDIVIDUAL on his now permanently tainted and ruined self- centered drive to be the ” best”.
Thank GOD lets play baseball.
im willing to give arod a pass on ANY prior use, yankees or otherwise, IF he comes totally clean, even if it means a 1 year suspension. really, come totally clean, let the cards fall where they may, answer all the questions and be free of all this crap.
then go to tampa and prove that you are the great player everybody knows you can be.
So he says his reasoning for using is the pressure of a big contract in Texas…
yet with even more pressure and an even bigger contract in NY, and the added pressure of playing next to Jeter he decided to stop taking steroids.
Since there is no evidence he used I can’t call him a liar, but the comparisons to Pettitte’s only once are all there.
Betsy: My view on A-Rod still doesn’t change, and I will continually support him as a fan as long as he’s on the Yanks. Hopefully this year, A-Rod will win his first ring.
“I would like to believe that he is clean now”
I believe it. Have you seen his 09 pictures? He looks frickin tiny. He looks like he did back in Seattle.
http://www.baseball-almanac.co.....#038;t=TEX
Behold the 2001 Texas Rangers and begin to understand the culture and context of what was going on.
I think this has been weighing on A-Rod since the Mitchell Report. I suspect he will learn from this and perform better.
Said Orza told him he may have tested positive. Didn’t know for sure until Selena Roberts showed up in the gym.
The timetable of 2001 coincides with his friendship with Jeter becoming estranged. Wonder if PEDs had anything to do with that. Jeter always says you have to be careful about the people you are associated with?
I cheered Giambi.
I cheered Pettitte.
I’ll cheer A-rod.
I haven’t been this devastated since Hulk Hogan was revealed as a “juicer.”
JoeyA,
would it makes you feel MORE better if A-Rod were to be tested out negative during his tenure with the Yanks?
BREAKING NEWS!!!! HE ADMITTED IT!!!!
He said, “I was stupid” and claims to only having used PEDs for his 3 year tenure with the Texas Rangers.
Tune into ESPN at 6pm eastern time to see his interview.
SOURCE: espn.com
“Behold the 2001 Texas Rangers and begin to understand the culture and context of what was going on.”
Guess we shouldn’t be shocked if Teixeira’s name ends up on this list then.
How can you sorta flunk a pee test? That’s like being sorta pregnant.
Eric, You are right. He lied on 60 minutes ,who’s to say he’s not lying now. Make him take a lie detector live on 60 minutes1
Who knows…? Maybe after finally releasing this huge skeleton in his closet, the weight will be lifted off him and he will be at peace on the baseball field…
Yikes, YOUR 2001 Texas Rangers…Caminiti, Palmeiro, Pudge, Gabe Kapler. A-Rod’s comment on the loose culture in Texas re: steroids seems to be accurate.
Sorry, I was browsing through the CSA too fast. Amphetamines are schedule THREE, not two. Same category as anabolic steroids.
Look we all saw A-Rod in 2004. His numbers dropped significantly. I would venture to say his PED use was over after 03′.
Anyone think that Alex talked to Jeter before Jeter’s statement today?
Guess we shouldn’t be shocked if Teixeira’s name ends up on this list then.
==========================================
Nothing should shock us anymore.
ALEX your human afterall….Relax and playball and forget the damn image crap
ARod admitted he knowingly took this stuff.
Why is this $%&!!@ on ESPN continuing to imply that he is being evasive about it? She keeps suggesting he is claiming he didn’t know what he was doing.
Ok, I’m no doctor or chemist, but the folks on ESPN keep talking about the “drug testosterone”. Isn’t that a hormone that you produce naturally? I know that he tested positive for some testosterone abnormality but is still isn’t a drug.
alex rodriguez on espn:
” when i arrived in texas in 2001, i felt an enourmous amount of pressure. I felt like i had all the weight of the world on top of me and i needed to perform, and perform at a high level every day.
back then it was a different culture. it was very loose. i was young, i was stupid, i was naive, and i wanted to prove to everyone, you know, that i was worth it, and you know, be one of the greatest players of all time.
I did take a banned substance, and, you know, for that, im very sorry and deeply regretfull.”
I am actually very shocked he came right out with a confession and not some sort of logical explanation that wouldnt make him look bad.
He probably just decided to F – it. Take it like a man, get it off his chest, and move on, HOF or no HOF.
S.O.S.
check out these two pictures, your point isn’t even close to being true
http://www.baseballmusings.com.....Tigers.jpg
http://i.a.cnn.net/si/2007/wri.....riguez.jpg
Was not specific on where he got them and from who. Was adamant that Canseco’s Max story is not true.
Hopes people would consider him for the HOF but primary focus is on winning a WS.
Hopefully hes gonna have that weight off of his shoulders.
In a weird sort of way, i dont think i have ever had more respect for A-Rod than i do now.
CaptainsCorner,
“Why wouldn’t he stop in 2004″ is the same assumption Pete made and it doesn’t make sense. It completely ignores the facts that MLB instituted drug testing in 2004 and that ARod increased his profile dramatically by going to the Yankees. ARod could have done the math in his head and decided that the risks of getting caught outweighed the benefits of doping.
To those that think he is lying again, I have to agree with the people pointing out the fact that there were punishments put in place in recent years and you would have to be out of your mind to continue to use after you saw what happened to the first wave of stars to be linked to PEDs. His reputation is already tarnished and lying about a year or two won’t make much difference. I hope we can move on from this.
I really hope that those other names come out. Even though he did do it..it is not fair that he was the only one who had to admit it. Pujols and Vartiek’s names were the first names that were released the night before the mitchell report came out but so I wouldn’t be surprised if they are on there. I also expect Ortiz on there..that is a no brainer..Maybe even Piazza..
pat,
It disgusts me that in his hour of asking for forgiveness he’s talking that he wanted to “be the best player” and talking about HOF. Now is not the time! Where’s his PR guy?
To be fair to Teixeira, he didn’t come up until 2003, so it’s not a guarantee that he fell in with the Texas ‘roid culture. Granted, Juan Gonzalez, Palmeiro and A-Rod were still around, but I remember hearing that A-Rod and Teix did not get along too well when their paths crossed in Texas, so it is possible that he steered clear of the substances. But, we won’t know until Selena Roberts shows up in Mark’s gym, I guess.
“A-God (He opened my eyes)
February 9th, 2009 at 2:54 pm
In a weird sort of way, i dont think i have ever had more respect for A-Rod than i do now.”
Its just nice to see him looking like a human. He sure doesn’t on the field. I don’t think he is any more guilty because he is better than the others. It hurts more that’s for sure.
I’m caertain that baggage for all these years had to just be tormenting him knowimg that this day would or very well could arrive……We may see a far more relaxed # 13…..Five years from now it’ll be a blip…I’ll wager that Roger wishes he went this route………..
” i did take a banned substance, and for that im very sorry and deeply regretful.
and although it was the culture back then, and major league baseball overall was very, i just feel that i’m just sorry. im sorry for that time, im sorry to my fans, im sorry for my fans in texas.
it wasnt until then that i thought about a substance of any kind, and since then i’ve proved to myself and to everyone that i dont need any of that.”
We always knew Jeter had an Edge. Now we know how A-Rod does it too. Porque tiene un Edge!
“In a weird sort of way, i dont think i have ever had more respect for A-Rod than i do now.”
I agree. He came out like a man and said what needed to be said. Maybe now he can be real with himself and focus on winning a WS not just getting stats.
“Jeremy February 9th, 2009 at 1:15 pm
ANSKY, Wait a minute, who said Roberts paid anyone for the information?”
********************************************
Nobody said she did. I said IF she paid someone for stolen information, she’s an accomplice. I’m not a lawyer but I think if she obtained it in any way from someone who stole it whether she paid someone to steal it, paid someone after discovering they had already stolen it. I’m not sure if she even had to pay for it. I’m also not sure how the ‘possession of stolen property’ concept applies to ‘information’. There has to be something she or someone else has done wrong if the info should not be out in the public in the first place. That’s regardless of whether the information is correct or not.
Then there’s the old argument where her first amendement rights meet someone else’s rights to privacy. I’m not sure what to make of it there. I do know that if I had learned of confidential private information regarding me being leaked (no matter what it was, good or bad) I wouldn’t be happy and I would certainly consider any legality involved.
A-Rod can afford lawyers, and he should hire a few real carnivores. Even if he did fail that ’03 test.
Roberts stands to profit if she has a book coming out and she seems to have maximized the publicity from the release of the information. Sounds less than pure in intentions to me. Even if she’s got good information and can back it up.
E,
Actually any player would have reason to lie about anything after 2004. Rules were in place and penalties would kick in.
There is no way to be certain that A-Rod or ANY PLAYER is telling the truth about being clean today. As has been said millions of times, the cheaters are always ahead of the testers.
That being said, there is just as much reason to suspect he’s clean as he is dirty. Everyone has to decide on their own how to process this state of the game.
‘Who knows…? Maybe after finally releasing this huge skeleton in his closet, the weight will be lifted off him and he will be at peace on the baseball field…’
That’s literally how I feel, everytime you watched him w/ clutch ABs it just seemed like you know, when I watched that guy nearly kick our asses single handedly in the 2000 postseason, heck Peter Gammons just said it looked like the weight of the world came off his shoulder during this interview, he Peter was shocked …Peter Gammons (Yankee hater extraordinare)
“In a weird sort of way, i dont think i have ever had more respect for A-Rod than i do now.”
Take it easy on this stuff. While he did the right thing, but there’s no nobility in owning up to something AFTER it’s been exposed.
He did what he had to do to effectively move on, and that’s a good thing. But he cheated the game and that’s forever part of his legacy.
The people of the Pacific Northwest sure have it right: “The Curse of A-Rod”. I’ve got no idea how we get out from under it. Here’s hoping he stays out of his own head during Spring Training & gets off to a good start in April, but past history tends to make me doubt it.
Gammons: Arod blamed nobody but himself. Not the union, not the leaker, not Roberts, but himself.
m
Gammons asked the HOF question. That was his answer.
Jeremy,
I understand why he should of stopped. But at this point it is hard to believe anything that he says. It is obvious that he is a very strange and odd character.
pg: “you’re saying that the time period was 2001 to 2003?”
ar: “thats pretty accurate, yes.
pg: what kind of substances were you taking?”
ar: “peter, thats the thing, i mean it was such a loose culture, a loose era, that, i’m guilty for a lot of things, im guilty for being negligent, naive, not asking all the right questions, and to be quite honest i dont know exactly what substance i was guilty of using.
That’s literally how I feel, everytime you watched him w/ clutch ABs it just seemed like you know something is wrong your too good, when I watched that guy nearly kick our asses single handedly in the 2000 postseason I was like this is not the same guy, so who knows what’s to come*
Espresso, I’m not a doctor either but the frau is and she asks do you consider insulin to be a drug? It too is a hormone.
Testosterone, when taken in this manner is a “drug.” The purpose is to correct or enhance the hormonal balance and therefore falls under the therapeutic paradigm. As such the substance is defined as a drug.
The wilderness, that where A-Rod leads any team he’s on, into the wilderness. I was ecstatic when he opted out of the contract, crestfallen when he was re-signed. Now I’m not surprised nor disappointed, simply wondering why did it take so long.
I hope Ortiz is on there.
2002 20 75 .272
2003 31 101 .288
2004 41 139 .301
That sure is an interesting progression around the same time.
Al, again what choice did he have? He took the easy Pettitte route and I told you he is NOT getting a WS in New York. What part of that don’t you understand? Can a I get a cup of chile with that order?
pat,
Thanks. Sure sounds like Alex is deflecting here. Dumping a lot of it on Texas. It’s not like he was an 18 year-old rookie who was pressured to take it by his peers. For 3 years. I think he needed accept a little more responsiblity for his actions.
Is any of this interview on the internet yet?
Don’t have access to a tv right now.
I’m sure Ortiz is on there as well. There was a reason why Ortiz was released by the Twins in 2002.
“In a weird sort of way, i dont think i have ever had more respect for A-Rod than i do now.”
Take it easy on this stuff. While he did the right thing, but there’s no nobility in owning up to something AFTER it’s been exposed.
He did what he had to do to effectively move on, and that’s a good thing. But he cheated the game and that’s forever part of his legacy.
____
True, but for the first time there seemed to be a humbled man. I almost feel that this year and beyond, we may see who Alex really is. Hopefully he is who we thought he is!!! (thanks to denny that will never get old). 2007 A-Rod.
1. I am impressed that he admitted to using from 2001-2003. It’s just so much more believeable than saying he only used it a few times (or less).
2. I do believe he didn’t use after 2003 if only because I think he would have been scared silly to get caught and that he probably would have gotten more buttoned up in terms of walking a straighter baseball path in NY.
3. Alex unfortunately was Alex for part of the interview and did say some things that sounded pretty dumb and not believable (or like he was using a smokescreen) but I don’t think they were as much the substantive things as stupid window dressing things.
I respect the guy for coming clean about the steroid use and not straining our credibility meters by saying it was “only a few times.” Whatever penalties he pays, he pays.
Want the truth about the steroid era? Read Canseco’s book. Truly.
Bob
They are just showing excerpts. the entire interview won’t be on until 6 pm
Phillips on with Kay now. Says that Alex didn’t realize he tested positive until Roberts confronted him the other day. That he didn’t really know that he was taking steroids.
What?
“Take it easy on this stuff. While he did the right thing, but there’s no nobility in owning up to something AFTER it’s been exposed.”
Oh? Then Barry Bonds will forever be cool with me.
Cripes.
Alex is a victim
Also the fact that Ortiz has recently broken down and hasn’t been the same for the last 2-3 years.
Phillips is on crack. Did he not hear the part where Alex admitted using for 3 years?
Thanks. Sure sounds like Alex is deflecting here. Dumping a lot of it on Texas. It’s not like he was an 18 year-old rookie who was pressured to take it by his peers. For 3 years. I think he needed accept a little more responsiblity for his actions.
—
Other than saying, i did it, it was stupid, and i felt that i had to be the best. that sounds like it may actually be his real reason. we all know he wants to be the best and he feels a ton of pressure to win. that isnt anything new, just in 04 and after there was testing.
“Gammons: Arod blamed nobody but himself. Not the union, not the leaker, not Roberts, but himself.”
I wish he had taken on the Union. Fehr and Orza still don’t get it and until one of the game’s star players stands up and says “these guys are hurting us more than they are helping” they may not.
I understood alex to be saying he didn’t know exactly what type of steroids he was taking.
Did anyone noticed that Phillips was kind of smirking when he was on live before?
If he plays the “he didn’t really know” card, it’s probably because he was getting blind injections or supplements from the Texas juicers without asking any questions or worrying about the ramifications of what he was putting in his body. I don’t think that’s his way of trying to cop out of his guilt, though, but it explains why he would stop doing that by the time he got to NY–if you have the double whammy of baseball implementing testing and a completely different clubhouse where guys might not walk up to you and offer to “make you stronger” or whatever some would-be steroid pusher says, it makes sense for him to be clean.
Did Gammons ask about Orza tipping him in ’04?
That’s really is a crucial point IMO.
Phillips on with Kay now. Says that Alex didn’t realize he tested positive until Roberts confronted him the other day. That he didn’t really know that he was taking steroids.
Actually this is NOT what Alex said. This is why he took 3 days to say anything. Because birdbrains like Phillips will turn everything he says around. ONly he can make gammons look good.
The problem now is obvious for anyone who has followed public figures who get caught doing whatever and have to finally admit.
They admit only to the smallest and most inarguable portions of their wrongdoings. Most often though with a little more digging more is unearthed.
I don’t know if ARod used thereafter but I will always be suspicious.
Hey everyone! Didn’t he once look right into the camera and say he never used and was never even tempted?
Now he has been caught and knows there is no escape from that so his best recourse is to admit to only what he can’t deny. But of course then he says he hasn’t used since. This screenplay has been acted out before. He may be telling the truth so much precedent says there’s more to the story.
Orza: ‘Alex you may or may not be on the list’ *wink wink*
Alex: ‘Oh ok’ *wink*
Trainer: ‘I see nothing’ *wink*
Batting coach: ‘I know not to do after dis”
I wonder what Brian Cashman is drinking right now due to all of this. I picture him siting in a dark room by himself and chugging some Whiskey.
Phillips: I watch him and I think of Britney Spears.
ANSKY,
Saying Roberts could be liable if she paid for the information is like saying she could go to jail if she killed someone for it. It’s true but irrelevant because it didn’t happen.
I seriously doubt Roberts is interested in bribing government officials to release sealed information, or has the cash necessary to do it.
Any wrongdoing was by the leaking parties, not Roberts. (I think she is slime, but I don’t think she is subject to any criminal or civil penalties). ARod is not suing anyone. He will never even learn the names of the people who leaked his results, and he can’t sue Roberts.
I’m still waiting for a manager to say that he was aware of his players using and abusing PEDs.
lol. Phillips calling Alex ‘Britney Spears’. Self-destructive.
Mike F not impressed with parts of the interview. Some of it does sound a little cheesy. But that’s Alex. He admitted to the most important thing. Alex will always have to do his own PR dance around the edges.
Captainscorner – I have always suspected Ortiz. Arod started out as an 15-year-old phenom and never looked back. Ortiz didn’t “come into his own” until he hit fenway. And BOY did he come into his own.
Cashman is doing just fine im sure. The Yankees are used to this. FYI, i think Cashman wanted to let alex leave anyway after 07, so it would be hank steinbrenner getting sh**ty in his dark office.
MLB now has a RESPONSIBILTY to the fans of the game to release the rest of this list. NOW.
Aye Aye Captain. Can we get to the point that only Arod is outed and guilty and not Ortiz? That would be todays news not tomorrows hope!
wow i leave for a week and come back to a circus. Holy Cow!
I wanted to say this, I worked in minor league baseball as a trainer for 3 yrs. In my time i saw rabid drug abuse. In fact, the players motto was “if you are not cheating, you’re not trying.” Sick and twisted as it is, it’s their bodies and they choose to do it in order to try and get ahead. For most of them it doesnt work. In fact i think someone said that it was only in 7% of baseball in 2003, and that included minor leaguers on the 40 man. So, I dont think that it is by any means ruining baseball. I do believe that people try it to see what it will do for them. As a medical professional, i can say this, it only makes them stronger, it does not increase swing speed and it does not enhance vision. So, a person must also put in the work in order for their performance to be enhanced. I personally, could care less what people take…smoke… as long as they are putting on a good show. Because when it comes down to it, MLB is entertainment and us fans are paying for a the best we can buy.
Actually this is NOT what Alex said. This is why he took 3 days to say anything. Because birdbrains like Phillips will turn everything he says around. ONly he can make gammons look good.
================================
I guess we probably need to wait and see/hear the entire interview for ourselves.
m
No one is going to be happy with any apology he gives. Gammons says he blames no one but himself.
He’s got to be careful with the who and what because the Feds may want to ask those questions and he can’t have it on a public record.
Trisha:
I said he did the right thing. He had to own up. Still, nothing noble about what he did. He cheated. And he would not have admitted if it wasn’t exposed.
As a lawyer, you probably know the term for when the defendant, usually as part of a plea bargain, admits with detail his crime in open court. The term fails me, but that’s what Arod did today.
“Rodriguez also said of his 2007 interview with Katie Couric on “60 Minutes,” when he denied ever using steroids, that “at the time, I wasn’t being truthful with myself. How could I be truthful with Katie Couric or CBS?”"
“Did Gammons ask about Orza tipping him in ‘04?
That’s really is a crucial point IMO.”
Yeah. I almost hope he didn’t ask because it will sicken me to hear Arod deny.
I can’t really fault ARod, it was, after all, a loosey-goosey era. The wild west of baseball chemistry.
A-God February 9th, 2009 at 3:11 pm
Cashman is doing just fine im sure. The Yankees are used to this. FYI, i think Cashman wanted to let alex leave anyway after 07, so it would be hank steinbrenner getting sh**ty in his dark office.
================================
I have a feeling they are all getting plastered right now
A-rod pulled a Giambi with a dash of Pettitte.
I think Alex knows what he did take but probably took more than just the 2 listed. Why list the 10 things he took? Just say you used PEDs.
Just saw the couric interview with Arod, what a LIAR! He could have starred in the movie Liar, Liar. How can you say he’s sincere when he got caught? He didn’t come out prior only after he got caught!
Just saw the couric interview with Arod, what a LIAR! He could have starred in the movie Liar, Liar. How can you say he’s sincere when he got caught? He didn’t come out prior only after he got caught!
The only thing Philips is saying to Kay right now that holds a ring of truth to it is that the fan reaction will dictate how Alex does the rest of his stay in NY. If Yankee fans want us to win, the booing has to stop and the A-Roid chants have to stop. Otherwise, we won’t win the entire time he’s in pinstripes.
Steve Phillips saying 70-90% of players used PEDs…kind of provides some context…
Steve B didn’t realize it was you who said that. I’m “speed reading” and actually sometimes pull things out of responses (so don’t know the originators.)
I may not have read your entire post because I agree with you that there is nothing noble about cheating.
Maybe I am breathing a sigh of relief that he actually admitted to using for three years!
I don’t believe for a second that Arod stopped using after 2003. I just don’t.
I think he started using something else. Whatever couldn’t be detected.
I mean seriously, he wins an MVP in Texas and gets traded to the Yankees and all of a sudden the guy is going to change his PED routine and risk the wrath of NY?
Come on…
If you believe he quit using everything upon arrival in NY, you still have that ounce of hope left for these guys that I don’t anymore.
I was one of his biggest fans and constantly chided people who sat in my section who felt the need to “boo” him because he wasn’t Jeter.
Now, I’ve got nothing for him. I don’t even have any respect for him coming out and telling the truth.
He’s a liar.
He doesn’t belong in the hall of fame.
He’s our 3b for the next 9 years and I can only imagine how rocky all 9 of them will be.
My hope is that this coming clean will free him of his demons and he’ll just play and help the Yankees win.
But I don’t believe any of what he’s selling anymore.
He’s lost that respect from me.
He’s drama. That’s his schtick.
He may be contrite because he got caught, but he still cheated himself and the game.
I know he’s not alone and all of these guys cheat (although Jeter seems pretty vehement he never cheated although I wonder if Jeter ever popped amphetamines before a game).
What needs to happen now is that list must be made public. For baseball to get past this there has to be no more bombshells, although I imagine when a lot of these guys hit their 40′s and 50′s we’re going to be seeing tons of tell all books about PED used.
What a mess.
As for Arod I won’t boo him. I don’t boo players on my favorite team.
But I feel completely different about the guy.
He’s a liar. He didn’t lie just one time. He lied a lot about PED use.
Ugh.
*sorry it was 70-80%
Mr.. errr. Perfection –
“Rodriguez also said of his 2007 interview with Katie Couric on “60 Minutes,” when he denied ever using steroids, that “at the time, I wasn’t being truthful with myself. How could I be truthful with Katie Couric or CBS?””
steve, the word you’re looking for is allocution
Let’s play a **what if** game: A-Rod gets traded, does Cashman move Teixeria to 3B and Swisher goes back to 1B which will clear out the OF logjam? Move Jeter to 3B, and either have prospects battle out the starting SS gig or get a new SS?
NYTimes front page on this has a pic of Arod in a Ranger jersey…a nice change
G Love what will you do if you ever find out Jeter used PEDs?
I hope jeter stands up for him like he did giambi, like he did pettitte. if he doesnt, AROD will be ruined for life. I almost feel bad for alex. For such superstar, his life keeps getting worse. I think we as yankee fans need to support Alex. He says he never used during his yankee yrs and that is good enough for me.
I agree with Phillips, the list should not be released.
But, his reason is so stupid. Why? They’ve already got their big fish to fry. Unless there’s an Ortiz or Pujols on there of course. Wha?
My thought is that 103 wrongs don’t make one right.
Ed,
IF you could trade him (and you can’t b/c of his salary), the easiest thing to do is move Jeter to third and go and get a SS.
Is there mandatory drug testing for the WBC. If so, 2006 should be a benchmark.
Ed this country will payoff the trillion dollar debt before that happens.
Alex admitted the truth – and now people don’t believe him. I’ve had enough of Francesca and Kay. Fine, don’t believe him…..but then don’t come on the radio prior to this and say that he needs to tell the truth. Why? If no one is going to believe Alex anyway, what is the point? I think Alex did the right thing – I’m not going to nitpick everything he said. Alex is darned if he does and darned if he doesn’t.
Steve Phillips thinks the Yankees should just move on. I don’t think that’s happening…..and his Britney Spears comment was ridiculous. Telling the truth was a much better avenue to take than the road Roger went down.
here’s what espn has broadcast so far:
Pg:” alex, this weekend sports illustrated reported that in 2003 you tested positive for testosterone and an anabolic steroid known as primobalin, what’s the truth?
Ar: “ when i arrived in texas in 2001, i felt an enourmous amount of pressure. I felt like i had all the weight of the world on top of me and i needed to perform, and perform at a high level every day. back then it was a different culture. it was very loose. i was young, i was stupid, i was naive, and i wanted to prove to everyone, you know, that i was worth it, and you know, be one of the greatest players of all time.
I did take a banned substance, and, you know, for that, im very sorry and deeply regretfull
and although it was the culture back then, and major league baseball overall was very, i just feel that i’m just sorry. im sorry for that time, im sorry to my fans, im sorry for my fans in texas.
it wasnt until then that i thought about a substance of any kind, and since then i’ve proved to myself and to everyone that i dont need any of that.”
pg: “you’re saying that the time period was 2001 to 2003?”
ar: “thats pretty accurate, yes.
pg: what kind of substances were you taking?”
ar: “peter, thats the thing, i mean it was such a loose culture, a loose era, that, i’m guilty for a lot of things, im guilty for being negligent, naive, not asking all the right questions, and to be quite honest i dont know exactly what substance i was guilty of using.”
Separate segment:
Ar: gene was very specific in 2004, we had a meeting in September or august , don’t quote me on the date, but he said there‘s a government list, there‘s 104 players in it, you might or might not have tested positive. ”
Good for Alex coming clean. It doesn’t matter what he took -he admitted it. The whole interview will be on ESPN at 6PM.
Still the media is never happy. Francesa said ARod should come clean – he did and Francesa said it wasn’t a good apology. Kay basically the same thing. He and LaGreca were picking it apart. What more do they want from him?
WBC testing is Olympic testing and more stringent than MLB testing.
Allocution!!! That was the word I was looking for. In a sense, that was what we saw from Arod today…’cept it was in the court of public opinion instead of a real court.
A little OT But to be honest Britney Spears and Alex would make a hell of a better couple then Madge and him.
tom grieve is on mlb network talking about arod like he’s some kind of innocent expert.
he was the gm of juicers central. maybe he knew nothing, but i doubt it. he needs to be asked under oath if he knew anything.
to me this is pure hypocrisy.
some of the people involved are drawn to the camera like moths to a flame.
it’s like on a tv show when the arsonist is in the crowd watching the fire .
Now we know why Maddog took off from Francesa…he is never happy.
“Just saw the couric interview with Arod, what a LIAR! He could have starred in the movie Liar, Liar. How can you say he’s sincere when he got caught? He didn’t come out prior only after he got caught!”
Oh please! Should we take him out to Times Square and have him shot? He didn’t come out – neither did 103 of his pals. That’s 3.5 per 40 man roster or other players on other teams. Once they all come out and have a group confession I will think Arod was a cad not to have done so…
Michelle
7% ? And you actually believe that?
Try this link: http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/drobson66.htm
Stronger wrists will also produce a faster swing, btw.
WWF entertainment is not what people want from their baseball entertainment.
“steve, the word you’re looking for is allocution”
Thanks Pokey, I had just realized that a couple minutes ago.
So how does Tex respond to the inevitable “did you see people shooting up when you were at Texas – was that the culture you experienced?” questions…
Brandon…at least they would have better lookinh kids IMO.
Brandon…at least they would have better looking kids IMO.
I wouldn’t condemn anyone for lying to Katie Couric.
Vader,
At this point, I’ve got no more shock in me. Tell me Jeter, Mo and Bernie were using and it won’t make a difference. I’m out of shock.
I’ll feel sad. I’ll understand why they did it since apparently the entire league was doing it.
It still doesn’t make it right.
My feeling is that this sport has had a PED problem for a lot longer than the past 15 years.
The Bash Brothers in Oakland were in the late 80′s.
That’s 20 years.
I think it goes deeper and longer and what we as fans have to come to terms with is we’re watching the WWF now.
These guys are chemically built.
This isn’t gym rats becoming great players with pure sweat and dedication.
This is science. It’s chemistry.
I know it’s not new. I know it’s been going on a long time and that guys scuffing balls or corking bats are just as guilty…
I just know I won’t believe it’s real ever again.
It’s wrestling.
LOL
Someone could type up exactly what they wanted Alex to say, he could say it without missing a beat and that person would still say they weren’t happy.
Its for him to apologize. You can’t make someone believe you if they don’t want to. And I hope he knows (I’m sure he does) that many people will doubt what he says and he has himself to blame for it.
pat,
I loved your apology comment from this morning. My feelings exactly.
LOL. Pete is AWOL again.
Big stories break when Pete’s in the air.
Maybe the pilot will “slip” in the news along with the weather report upon approach.
New Post……. ==>
im reserving my judgement till i see the whole interview. and dont forget, this isnt the end, he is going to have to address the rest of the media very soon, so what we know now is only a piece of what he is going to say in total.
FatBoy thinks players never take player’s word to put stuff into thier body. Alex may or may not have been well detailed on what he took.
Furthermore, I would be happy to take or administer a banned substance if it would enhance the performance of the mobile version of this site.
A little OT But to be honest Britney Spears and Alex would make a hell of a better couple then Madge and him.
=============================
Speaking of Madonna…her new BF Jesus-HOT
Trish, he didn’t come out because his gonads were in a vise with the ESPN story. There are no other stories on the other 103 at the moment. He was not sincere, he was sorry he got caught, bottom line.
So, here is a question: if he beats the all-time HR record by more than the number he hit from 01-03, does that make a difference?
I don’t understand why people are praising Arod for telling the truth. He had no choice, given that the tests are positive. What was he going to do? Claim the tests were wrong?
And I doubt that he has been completely clean since coming to NY.
Of course steroids don’t help ballers, but still an interesting article.
Check out the paragraph about he MVPs handed out in recent years. It’s quite striking.
http://msn.foxsports.com/nba/s.....of-scandal
“My hope is that this coming clean will free him of his demons and he’ll just play and help the Yankees win.”
That’s all any rational sports fan can hope for.
Maybe this will finally teach us not to care what comes out of athletes’ mouths and never waste our time trying to hold them up as role models.
I do not think this will be a never-ending crisis for the Yankees. It will blow over unless it’s revealed ARod continued juicing as a Yankee.
If that happens, then I can’t imagine what the fallout will look like.
Alex is never going to satisfy everyone. He will continue to be tested, as other players have been. Yeah, I know he can take more sophisticated stuff. He’d have to be completely stupid at this point. Especially since Primobolan was supposedly difficult to detect and yet, here we are.
I think he took a good first step. I think he will be fine. I think he can say, I did the interview, no more questions. I think the Yankees can do the same. Perhaps one more statement at Yankees camp, but that’s it. I think his teammates can also deflect questions because of this. It takes the elephant out of the room for the most part.
i’ve just started reading the comments in this thread after basically avoiding baseball and news since i heard of the story saturday night. i just read some of sam’s blog entries yesterday. it’s all still sinking in, i guess.
saying i’m bummed about all this is such an understatement. i feel like i’ve been punched in the gut and had the wind knocked out of me for about a day and a half…
but after thinking about all the info i’ve read and taken in so far, i have to wonder what more can be said about the people in charge ignoring the issue for so long?
who knew there was this random, anonymous test in 2003? i for one, didn’t.
further, this test was the basis to decide whether they needed future testing in the game or not? seriously? this was their litmus test to see if this was a real problem or not? gee whiz! talk about tip-toe-ing through the issue. the leadership really does need to change in all areas.
They are praising him because they want to. No one is telling people to love him, stop worrying about people who choose not to think he’s the devil.
I must admit, I’m privledged to be at this blog site with all these morally upstanding individuals…..All the glass houses all on one site………
G. Love,
Let’s not get carried away here. Athletes roid out because they want to win. They don’t use PEDs to act out a script like wrestlers.
If the last 20 years were an era of PEDs, then the best players of that era are still great players.
“I don’t believe for a second that Arod stopped using after 2003. I just don’t.”
g. love-
testing was starting. that could be a motivation to change behavior.
i don’t love alex as a player. i did not think he was the best player in the game.
but i hope he’s telling the truth that he’s been playing clean since 2004 on.
he has a chance for redemption.
aside: on mlb network ,did bowa just admit to taking greenies as a player without meaning to?
Fran,
Its simple. What they want (the talking/writing heads employers, that is) is more money from advertisers, the advertisers want more money from you.
Its not enough that he came clean. To end the story there means nothing more for the talking/writing heads to do thus, no more money.
(yawn) Its all about money…
Isn’t there baseball in a few days? I have been waiting, along with all of you, for actual field action for many months. I do not intend to let any steroid issue ruin it for me. Alex confessed. Let’s move on to something fun. That is why we are fans.
Now, how about remaining free agents to bring to spring training? Nomar? Aurelia? Surely, for a million or less we can improve on Berroa or Ransom as utility IF. I din’t mind RAnsom’s bat, but his glove was a bit scary. I think we need someone who can cover the middle infield if an injury occurs.
jim kaat on mlb network
I will now buy an ARod jersey tomorrow!
Michele,
You said it doesnt give you more bat speed or better vision. Im not a doctor or in the medical field, but how can you not have better bat speed when you are getting stronger? And from getting stronger and better bat speed you can sit back and wait a little longer for a pitch. You can also hit what was before a pop fly into the seats. It cant better you vision, but like i said it can give you that little extra time to swing. My beef with Alex and Barry is they were already HOF material before getting into this. What a waste.
“I don’t understand why people are praising Arod for telling the truth. He had no choice, given that the tests are positive. What was he going to do? Claim the tests were wrong?”
You’re listening to Fatcessa. We’re not saying hes a god and came out on his own, we are praising him more because he didnt try to hide anything or be stubborn which he could have done. He helped us avoid pain.
Betsy –
The qualifiers in his speech make people wonder if he is being totally truthful.
For example
At one point Gammons asks if the time period was from 01-03. ARod says that is “pretty accurate”.
“Pretty accurate” could mean 04, or 05. He doesn’t know when he stopped taking them, exactly? Was it “after I got traded to the Yankees”? Was it “Right before I got traded”?
Those kinds of vague answers make me think he’s still not being 100% truthful. Answers like that make me think that the answer really is “I never stopped doing them, I just have enough money to get the stuff they can’t check”
saucY –
but after thinking about all the info i’ve read and taken in so far, i have to wonder what more can be said about the people in charge ignoring the issue for so long?
who knew there was this random, anonymous test in 2003? i for one, didn’t.
further, this test was the basis to decide whether they needed future testing in the game or not? seriously? this was their litmus test to see if this was a real problem or not? gee whiz! talk about tip-toe-ing through the issue. the leadership really does need to change in all areas.
——————————————–
This was public knowledge.
kaat said he used to cheat . kaat tells story he was told by an umpire that he was using a foreign substance on the ball.
kaat told him it wasn’t a foreign substance because it was made in no carolina.
randy l -
Love Jim Kaat.
Randy l -
Is Jim Kaat the most honest man in America, or what?
Would he have ever admitted it without being outed? No.
But there are still over 100 people sweating knowing that list can be leaked at any time.
Alex cleared his conscience. I am looking for him to have a monster season a la 2007.
Rus – “he didnt try to hide anything or be stubborn which he could have done.”
You mean like Bonds? Clemens?
Yes, A-rod did the right thing, but the press will never let it go. At least not in the short term. Too much $$ to be made off the holier-than-thou crowd.
How is that expressing high hopes for melky by saying that it is definitely a competition and gardner will get a long look? Sounds more like they each have a good shot and the winner will be whoever has the better spring training.
I dont understand why andruw jones would not accept a minor league deal to the yanks and then, is debating taking a minor league deal elsewhere. Is there any other decent players willing to sign a minor league deal outside of some backup catcher?
The joba statements are no surprise whatsoever. The only thing is the yanks cannot expect him to pitch out of the five spot all season and never reach 150 innings. tHERE IS the playoffs to consider in which he might need to pitch up to 20 plus innings. He can NOT go any more than 70 innings over last years total number. Even going more than 50 over last year is asking for trouble. I would pitch him 130, then, move him to the pen. No reason to take a risk especially if hughes is ready to go by then and dominating in the minors. Kids who pitch more than 60 innings over the previous years total notoriously do horrific the following season. The yanks need to watch out for that as it appears they are poised to let him go forever this season sacrificing next season in the process for joba.
ANdy was a crucial signing for the yankees – i was saying that ALLL off season. So many people said he was a luxury but they were wrong – andy was necessary. We did not have enough starting pitching without him at all.
Ajax should not be brought up at all this year unless it is a september call up. He is not ready and he wont be in 2009 at any point. Keeping swisher and nady right now is the smart idea. Whoever is in the market for a solid hitting corner outfielder at a decent cost is going to get abreu. That same team has no incentive to give up quality players for nady or swisher. And nady/swisher is more of an asset to the yanks than anything they could get in return for them at this point. There is no reason to force a trade right now as we certainly could use the depth and while it might be a decent thought to try to trade our excess in the corners for a solid hitting centerfielder, there is just no moves that could logically be made to net us that kind of return right now. I think those two could be more valuable than a year of cameron at 10 million. We certainly cant get anyone much better or cheaper than that so why should we?
No one is sure he’s not hiding anything. I just finished listening to his interview on ESPN. I find it very hard to believe he didn’t know what he was taking. Any one putting stuff into their body would want to know what it’s doing. Also, he claimed he was under immense pressure to suceed and perform well every day – how would that pressure disappear after coming to NY? This city is much more critical of everything that happens and he was given a nice fat contract. I would call that pressure.
He lied before, so how do we know he isn’t lying now?
(And I’m sorry if I offended anyone; all this arod nonsense has ruined my mood)
kaat is saying he wouldn’t have cheated with pine tar if he knew he would be suspended for a year. he’s making the point that mlb is at fault to a large degree because it didn’t make the good choice easier for alex to make .
he’s saying the penalties should have been extreme and then players wouldn’t have been tempted so much.
interesting take by an old school guy.
I can’t wait for this A-Roid garbage to be over.
Jeremy,
I didn’t mean to imply that the games are scripted.
I just think back to Hulk Hogan in 80′s telling all the little Hulkamaniacs to eat their Wheaties and drink their milk and they could grow up and have 24” pythons just like him.
Now think about young kids who idolized Bonds, McGwire, Canseco, Arod…
They bought into a belief that these guys did it the honorable way. That they were supremely talented and hard workers.
Now it appears they were those things and oh by the way, they were taking drugs to make them more resilient and stronger.
What’s wrestling to me is the fact that these guys used drugs to make them money, make the game popular again, hit 500 foot home runs and not deal with getting nagging injuries, etc.
I truly didn’t think Arod used. I bought into the script. I was duped again and now it won’t shock me who is on any list.
I mean, from a fairness stand point; Is it fair if Arod hits 3 home runs in one game while using and we beat the snot out of the other team because of that AND on top of that the other team doesn’t happen to field a player or pitcher who also is using that day?
Or perhaps they do field a team of users but they aren’t as talented as Arod?
It’s not scripted. But the game is affected.
Jim Kaat just hit the nail right on the head.
He basically said that the real blame needs to be on the league and the players’ association for not addressing the problem. He admitted that if he saw other player’s taking something that helped them throw 98 miles an hour, he would have been 1st in line to take it too. He compared it to when he would load up baseballs with pine tar, and that every player naturally wants whatever competitive edge they can get and it is up to the league to stop that.
He also talked about comparing eras and that the players shouldn’t be penalized for playing in the steroid era if there was no penalty for using steroids. He said that if you could have been suspended 100 games for pine tar or scuffing a ball, he never would have done it, but that wasn’t the case. He also said that players knew cortisone was bad for you, but he couldn’t wait to get his shot to get rid of the pain.
Harold Reynolds makes a good point that baseball is a game of endurance, and that steroids changes that aspect of the game. I still agree with Kaat said, that players naturally look for that competitive edge.
doreen ,
jim kaat is a breath of fresh air.
mlb network is excellent at times when real baseball people like kaat are talking to other real baseball people.
jose cruz jr is on now. i used to shag balls with him when he would visit his dad from georgia tech.
good kid.his dad taught him well. jose cruz sr was a class act.
I believe at some point he was told what he was taking but it probably went in one ear and out the other, or surely he probably forgot after 6 years. I mean its not like the names are as easy as Advil or Bayer. Heck, sometimes I forget the name of Benadryl.
“mlb network is excellent at times when real baseball people like kaat are talking to other real baseball people.”
Randy, that’s why I tend to love league networks. Its just straight up game talk.
You know no one on NFL Network, while they may report it, will be dogging Jamal Anderson. They’ll report and move on. No psycho-babble.
To people upset with him not coming out until he is caught – has any active player ever had a revelation one day and admitted use before being linked? It is unfortunate, but I think the best we can hope for from anyone is at least not to deny once you are caught.
If I was being injected with something for three years, I would probably remember the name of it. Besides, testosterone is not hard to remember.
I feel like he is giving out just enough information to dodge the “he’s denying it” claim. He seems like he is holding back on a few thigns.
For anyone still asking about andruw jones, he chose texas because the homeruns fly out of there. a little harder for a right handed hitter to hit it out of yankee stadium.
kaat is right about pitchers like whitey cutting balls. i once warmed up a pitcher and his fastball was moving well. he showed me why , he had a tack sticking right through the pocket of his glove.
i also watched our pitching coach who later was a mlb pitching coach show a pitcher how to throw a good spitball.
al oliver was watching, and he said he was glad he didn’t know pitchers did that when he played because it would have been too much to think about. it was funny at the time.
You probably would remember the specific Yankee Fan, but doesn’t mean everyone would. It reminds me of the people (who aren’t pro athletes) say they would pay for free (when they hate hearing athletes complain about their money).
I, for one, don’t need to know the specific name because I know nothing about it and it would mean nothing to me. I’m sure he’ll be asked more questions.
Hey all you morally superior fans: Since A-rod isn’t going anywhere anytime soon, If you are deeply offended by him, you should find another team to follow. Maybe another sport, like football, or basketball, or maybe even hockey. Yeah, those sports teams are stocked with choirboys, no? How ’bout racing! No cheatin’ goin’ on there! lol…
Looking forward to A-rod holding down 3rd, hitting 40, knocking in 130, and ignoring the press!!! GO YANKEES!!!
A pair of shoes has been seen sticking out from a rock. The shoes belong to the pinata hiding under the rock . . . Bud Selig.
If A-Rod is smart he’d use ear plugs when he leaves the dugout for the on deck circle and pay strict attention to the signals of the base coaches, Rob Thomson and Mick Kelliher.
While at 3rd base, get signals for his positioning from the dugout and the infielders.
Be oblivious to crowd chants.