Swisher takes his hacks
Posted by: Peter Abraham - Posted in Misc on Feb 10, 2009 
Print This Post
| 
Email This Post
Here’s a shot of Derek and Jorge and one of a clean-shaven Nick Swisher in the cage.
Advertisement
Sponsored by:
Search
Advertisement
Follow
Mobile
Read The LoHud Yankees Blog on the go by navigating to the blog on your smartphone or mobile device's browser. No apps or downloads are required.
LoHud TV
More Videos
Advertisement
Place an ad
Call (914) 694-3581
Monthly Archives
- September 2010
- August 2010
- July 2010
- June 2010
- May 2010
- April 2010
- March 2010
- February 2010
- January 2010
- December 2009
- November 2009
- October 2009
- September 2009
- August 2009
- July 2009
- June 2009
- May 2009
- April 2009
- March 2009
- February 2009
- January 2009
- December 2008
- November 2008
- October 2008
- September 2008
- August 2008
- July 2008
- June 2008
- May 2008
- April 2008
- March 2008
- February 2008
- January 2008
- December 2007
- November 2007
- October 2007
- January 2007 - Part 1
- December 2006
- November 2006
- October 2006
- September 2006
- August 2006
- July 2006
- June 2006
- May 2006
- April 2006
- March 2006
- February 2006
Man, that’s nice to see….
Good to see some pics of the upcoming baseball season. ARod wasn’t perfect in his interview, but he admitted that he took roids, let’s move on. We’re never going to get the full picture on what happen in baseball so let’s just talk about what we do know.
Looking good
Now that’s a sight for sore eyes… baseball.
This is what the Yankees needed this past years….Players like Swisher and Gardner…..Players who may not have the most talent in the world but work their butts off….It would not surprise me if by the end of the end the 2 of them become house hold names in the Yankees Universe
I will be down in Tampa for ST March 8-12 anyone else?
are these workouts open to the public? i know you used to be able to walk around the back of the complex to this field. watching players in this kind of informal setting to me is always one of the joys of spring training.
Sure looks nice down there. Wish I could go…..
dude from baseball prospectus gives the yankees an a+ for the offseason and picks them to win the east with 96 wins, 2 games ahead of the socks!
The Rays reminded us last year you don’t need everyone to have a lot of power, just need speed throughout the lineup.
“what if every time a woman had Rohypnol put in her drink, the police arrested her for illegal use of a drug ?
seriously, how do players prevent something being in their food going into them that’s illegal ?”
from previous thread
randy l,
That is a good question with no solid answer. There are, in fact, many stories of NBA players coming down with food poisoning from food on the road. It would follow that anything could be done to sabotage. Of course, Ben Johnson did eventually acknowledge the truth. But, there is no real way for anybody to know beyond a shadow of a doubt what is really in their food/drink.
BTW, what is Rohypnol?
Ah I can smell the freshly cut grass……Hear the crack of a baseball being hit….The joy of Spring Training is almost upon us……….
Is DJ holding an aluminum bat on one of those pics?
Who’s leaning on the bat next to Jeter in the second pic?
Well, Alex is being picked apart this morning, at least by Evan Roberts and Kim Jones. I don’t know why, but Jones is just really annoying……maybe it’s because she covers the Yankees and she’s going to be all over the place with them. Ugh. T
In any case, it’s not enough that Alex confessed. Ok, they don’t believe he stopped using, yadda yadda yadda. God, I hate the media. They wanted him to confess, he did, and now it’s not good enough. They are all sanctimonious, self-righteous dweebs. I don’t care about the stupid details – he admitted his steroid use (wow, ok, he used the term “banned substance” intead) beyond the 2003 season and the media still wants their pound of flesh.
I shut them off and now I’m perfectly happy. I didn’t read the papers and I’m perfectly happy.
Pete, do you think the Yankees will just do what they did with Andy last year and have one, final session for the media to take their shots? I think we all want to get back to baseball – I can’t imagine how the Yankees are feeling now.
Nice to see players trickling in. This will be a big year for Phil in AAA – I’m anxious (and eager) to see how he does. Wang? I’m a bit nervous with him – is he fully recovered? I honestly can not WAIT to see CC and AJ; when are they expected to report? I think one of my favorite players is going to be Swisher – I just have a good feeling about him. Whew – sorry for babbling, but it seems like forever since we have discussed baseball
I don’t think so Drew. It’s just the gloss on his black bat making it shine so much.
Looks like Posada
one thing you do is eat in places where you know the owner/manager.
iv been a restaurant manager for years and believe me, if arod was my customer, id be making damned sure nobody got anywhere near his food. and id make sure my people in the back were paying attention.
having customers like arod is a license to print money. you think toots shorr let anyone touch dimaggio’s food?
Betsy -
I’m going to hide my head in the sand on “that issue,” from this point on, as much as I am able.
Why is Soriano is this picture? *You got some splainin’ to do LoHud*
http://jukebox.lohud.com/photo.....;offset=32
Man, I miss grass… at this point, I’ll even take brown grass.
Peyton, I will be there March 6-12th! Perhaps Ill see you down there?
posada is in the first pic. who is in the gray shirt in the bottom pic?
just blew up second pic. looks like kevin long. could be wrong.
Mark in Tampa,
Rohypnol is a sedative associated with “date rape” crimes.
For the scenario Randy describes to take place, a restaurant worker would need to break the law by acquiring a controlled substance (assuming he had no legitimate access to it already), and then break the law again by placing it in a player’s food. Of course, the worker would need to know in advance that the player was going to eat at his restaurant, have the drug ready, make sure it got into the food for that player, not be afraid of going to prison for committing what are probably multiple felonies, and be confident that the player wouldn’t detect anything strange about his food.
All in all, it’s a scary scenario but I doubt it’s ever happened.
Michael Kei (Igawa)-Kenny Lofton wore #12 in 2004.
The other picture leblanc. I know Posada is next to Jete in the first picture.
lol,
I was testing you all
The other picture leblanc. I know Posada is next to Jete in the first picture
Kevin Long.
Don’t think it’s Long. I think he’s the guy rocking the blue jacket in this pic….
http://yankees.lhblogs.com/fil.....15fa4.jpeg
And holding the clipboard.
hmm it would appear you are correct.
BASEBALL
What are these long sticks they are carrying?
And what do they do with them?
I think I knew once, but it’s been so long, I forget!
Rebecca,
Don’t be silly.
Those are clubs for frightening Selena Roberts away.
Roberts will never visit the Yankee clubhouse because she loves candy.
im going to try to explain why people like me have such problems with what he said. we can certainly agree to disagree, and people i have mondo respect for in here disagree with me, but i just want to try to explain it.
yes we all lie sometimes. i lie. i break laws. i dont cheat in sports (my golf friends call me the scoring nazi) but i understand why people do.
using steroids isnt murder and this is baseball not home/family/job stuff.
here’s the thing. when you get caught lying, cheating, whatever and the crap hits the fan and you have to fess up to your lies, the one thing you absolutly cannot do is lie in the telling of the lies. it completly undermines the entire excersize. nothing else that is said can be believed as sincere or honest when you are obviously continuing to lie.
like i said, i would have been fine if he copped to using from high school until last week if i thought i could believe everything that he was saying.
if i could have believed him, i would have led the parade in his honor!
if i could believe him, i’d be wearing his jersey right now!
instead, im back to not believing a word he says.
ill still root for him, he’s a yankee, and he didnt kill anyone, but im tremendously dissapointed for him as well as the yankees and baseball in general that when it came time to tell the truth, he continued to lie.
i just cant get past that.
Jeremy: Oooh! Right! I can’t believe I forgot about that! Please forgive me!
Chien,
Maybe he didnt juice in high school.
“This is what the Yankees needed this past years….Players like Swisher and Gardner…..Players who may not have the most talent in the world but work their butts off…”
I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but Swisher is rumored to have been juicing while he was in OAK. Some say that’s part of the reason he had such a bad season last year.
A-Rod lied about steroids.
We hate to be lied to.
Of course we never lie.
We fret and we say “what will the kids think”…
that “steroids are an acceptable avenue
to improve your chances to meet
fame and fortune?”
For many, venom and indignation levels
are at an
all
time
high.
But we don’t mind that
the kids
see
promisuity and sports
go
hand in hand;
infidelity
or booze
or pot
exist on a regular basis
in many of our lives.
What will
the kids
think
?
Me thinks there is a great inconsistency.
Me thinks we are the pot calling the kettle black.
Me thinks the world view applauds all these behaviors.
Insanity is defined as doing
the same things
over and over
yet expecting
different
results.
I have a sneaking suspicion that I know what song they will play prior to all of A-Rod’s road at-bats…
giambi stood next to his agent and when a question came up that there was a legal issue with he looked at his agent and said i cant talk about that. if the agent didnt give him the shut up sign, he just told spoke from the heart. no lies, avoid what you cant talk about. thats how you avoid lying in this situation.
thats why people believed giambi and dont believe arod.
Vase, see here’s the thing. I know there are people who still think he lied about things, but there are also people who believed he came clean. So it’s as hard for those of us who believe him at this point to understand why you don’t, as you who don’t to figure out why we do! (if you know what I mean.)
I know that size and bulk doesn’t necessarily correspond with steroid use, though more often than not it does, but if you look at pictures of Alex from high school through his time with Seattle, that definitely isn’t the prototypical picture of a steroid user.
Anyway, I wish you peace in finding a way to get beyond this because I know that when I first heard about it, I was pretty much inconsolable as a fan. I think a big step in my own healing was to hear him both admit and to say that it was three years as opposed to three times.
We are all fans of that awesome team and of its legacy, and we want it to be nothing but upstanding. I personally had difficulty each time a Yankee player was accused of being a PED user. I wanted Giambi’s head on a platter and wanted him drummed out of the Yankees – until he came out and apologized and (basically) admitted he had used. I have afforded the same to any player who has admitted to using. I reserve my total “unforgiveness” to players like Bonds and Clemens. And so I am welcoming Alex back into the fold for at least stepping forth and admitting what he did and as much as he did. I am hoping it is all of it.
Kim Jones -sheesh, talk about defensive. This guy calls WFAN and (very calmly and rationally) is trying to explain why Selena Roberts should have obtained the other 103 names on the list. Jones got obviously frustrated and told the guy – “well, it’s because she’s writing a book on Alex”. Now, what kind of ridiculous answer is that? That tells me that Selena Roberts cared only about getting the dirt on Alex. If she cared about getting “the truth” out, she would have dug harder to get the other names.
Jones then proceeded (after the caller was trying to explain his position) to get all hissy and called his comments a “crock” (literally). She snidely asked him if he was a Yankee fan – when he responded he was, she then proceeded to tear him a new one because, naturally, being a Yankee fan means that the only object he would have is to see Sox names on the list.
I just lost all respect for Kim Jones (if I had any). It seems to me that she is simply backing up her fellow reporter and is not interested in hearing any other viewpoints. I’d rather hear from Sweeney Murti than her, and I don’t like Sweeney Murti.
Ugh – ignore the lines please.
Chien-Ming,
We can’t know whether ARod was being honest about the timeframe of his using PEDs because we don’t know when he used PEDs.
We can assume that he used PEDs before 2001 or after 2003, but we have no evidence to back it up. In fact, we have evidence that he didn’t use after 2003. He has never tested positive since then.
Smart people here have said that if he doped through 2003, there’s no reason to believe he stopped in 2004. But there are two good reasons why ARod might have stopped: baseball’s institution of random drug testing in 2004, and ARod’s trade to the Yankees, whose locker room probably had a different attitude toward PEDs than did Texas.
I think your concerns go beyond ARod to a much bigger question: did the Steroid Era really end in 2004, when testing and punishments began? Or did the juicers just go on doping with undetectable drugs?
If ARod continued doping after 2003, his interview with Gammons is completely besides the point. He would be guilty of something much, much worse than giving a false apology.
Betsy,
I had to be the bearer of bad news but Sweeney Murti and Kim Jones live together and have been dating for about a year
Selena Roberts a stalker: http://deadspin.com/5150385/is.....od-stalker
We ought to have a contest to predict when the list of 103 will be leaked in its entirety.
Wow -
Betsy – when we can’t even find some kind of solace among those who cover the team we root for, what is there to say?
86w183
February 10th, 2009 at 11:27 am
We ought to have a contest to predict when the list of 103 will be leaked in its entirety.
It depends on how many Red Sox players are on the list… The Red Sox own Selig
jeremy-
i’m assuming you haven’t met any of the kitchen staff in downtown bahhston restaurants
the kitchen staff most certainly can know when food they are preparing is going to a particular yankee table. how hard would that be? everyone in a restaurant would know if jeter or another well known yankees came in.
i think it’s a given that some staff works out in gyms.
it’s likely some use steriods.
the dots could be connected.
i agree it’s a 1-10,000 kind of thing.
but what if it happened? in the drug testing program, how much weight should be placed on one failed test?
i made up one scenario. there must be many more where there are false positives or other some other thing. stuff ends up in peanut butter and milk that aren’t supposed to be there in our food system. with supplements, who knows what could end up in some of them?
i just think that testing should be frequent enough that it catches pattern of use rather than an isolated use.
one of the problems with the legal system in general is that it protects the majority, but not necessarily the individual. the few people that are unjustly punished just sound guilty when they complain.
this is obviously not the case with arod, however i think the PED testing system needs to be worked on both to catch and also to protect innocent people being tested.
jeremy, we have a very good reason not to believe him. first becasue he lied about it in the past and second because we he quite obviously lied in his apology, so he has no credibility.
credibilty is the crux of the problem.
as i said above, you absolutely cannot lie in the telling of the lies or nothing you say can be believed.
after the discloser of the test, i could have accepted any apology from him that didnt contain obvious lies in it. he didnt give me that.
one thing i will point out to all of you. he will have to face the press in the next couple of weeks and he will be asked this:
did you KNOWINGLY use ped’s?
and you watch, he will not admit that.
does anybody here believe that he didnt knowingly use ped’s?
Betsy if you have the energy I wrote a reply to jen on the “Waiting on ESPN” thread here, about three threads back. It outlines my entire view on Selena Roberts. I definitely concur with your take.
86 i said we should have a on the list/off the list pool.
Betsy, I couldn’t agree more about Kim Jones.
You know what really disturbs me though? On a Sportscenter poll today 53% of respondents said they believe A-Rod when he says he stopped taking steroids after 2003 to 47% who said they didn’t believe him. To me that is STUNNING. First of all, when asked about the accuracy of that time frame – A Rod’s initial response in the interview itself was “That’s PRETTY ACCURATE.” PRETTY, accurate…. I sympathize with people who want to “move on and put this behind them” but that is not done by simply accepting A Rod’s so called admission (which was essentially an apology for taking “a banned substance” which could be HGH, could be steroids, could be something you used to be able to get at GNC – followed by a intricate weaving-in of emphasis on how sorry he was for “being naive, stupid, negligent.” If you were really listening to what A Rod was actually saying you wouldn’t feel like he’s done much more than take a very bold – if sadly incomplete and insincere – first step. Word choice matters folks. Politicians often say things like, “I apologize IF I UPSET YOU” and the like. That is not in any way shape or form a sincere apology for one’s actions and an acknowledgment that they did something wrong.
“In fact, we have evidence that he didn’t use after 2003. He has never tested positive since then.”
No we don’t. So long as there’s no test for HGH, there will never be such evidence.
Doris, I definitely buy more into the crazed stalker version than the innocent reporter just trying to give Arod an opportunity to make a statement. Especially when that same “innocent reporter” is in the process of writing tabloid-worthy tell all and had the unmitigated gaul of making her way through the gates of a protected community to show up at Arod’s home – a violation of his privacy if ever there was one.
There are respected reporters and then there are slimy people who get paid to write for a living. I definitely put Roberts in the latter category.
Randy I,,,Earlier there was a brief discussion about the traits and wonders of Sring Training..I mentioned the fragrence of freshly cut grass…Do you recall tghe crunching sound that your spikes would make on the packed dirt ….I can still hear and feel that…Man I’m glad it’s time for Spring Training
on the contrary we have reports that he was tipped to a test in 2004, which suggests but by no mean proves continued usage.
Some of us found sincerity in his apology, including Peter Gammons who sat directly across from him.
It’s okay if you didn’t. I did. I’m good to go. As some us have pointed out, and I used the analogy to faith: for those of us who are okay with it, no further explanation is necessary; for those of you who are not okay with it, no further explanation is enough.
We’ll all continue to live and breathe and thrive and root for our favorite team, and the earth will continue to spin on its axis. The one who will continue to live with the fallout from last night’s interview will be Alex Rodriguez.
That post was for dave. Forgot to address it to him.
And if 53% believed him, maybe you who are in the 47% are looking for spies behind bushes here?
Can’t we say that about everyone? We know the names people want us to know (Canseco, Roberts etc) – we do not have a conclusive list of steroid users.
ANYONE could be using HGH, ANYONE can be tipped off to testing…
It is irresponsible or naive to think that A-Rod is the only one. Or that he should continue to have to be held to a different standard because he is who is is.
Don’t know if you were watching FirstTake this morning – I clicked by – a reason given for not wanting to out the full list was that there was “no bigger fish to fry than A-Rod”. GMAB. There are other big players “generational players” that should be considered innocent until proven otherwise, but to say that just because you are not the highest paid player in baseball we don’t care or need to know (if we need to know at all – which I contend we don’t) is ridiculous.
I know I don’t typically chime in on these types of topics – but all this fake “shock” and “dismay” is killing me.
Rish, what bothers me equally is that Canseco named a lot of people in his book (at this point anyone not believing Canseco is just silly) that have a free pass because nobody is questioning them. Maglio Ordonez is one. But because Roberts leaked one name – total bull it’s the only one she got; I know nobody is naive enough to buy that – that is the one who is taking it on the chin.
Oh well.
some of the nitpicking on the wording of his appology is just a waste of everyone’s time. let’s face it, ARod is a big jock (and a good one), not an freaking English major.
it’s why i’m thankful i’m not in a position where i’m subject to interviews and media interpretation…
Chien-Ming,
I agree there are problems with how ARod phrased his answers. I do not believe his statements about the extent of his knowledge of the drugs he took either.
That said, ARod being dishonest about his PED use from 2001-2003 does not mean he lied about his PED use from 2004-2008.
If he is still lying, my point is that we have bigger problems to worry about than ARod. If he is still doping, then PED use is probably still rampant in baseball because players have access to undetectable PEDs (other than HGH). MLB’s goal should be to find out whether that’s the case. ARod’s obviously not going to be much help there.
I still think that this will end up being a positive for the yanks- more fans will embrace arod than ever before and the “us vs them” mentality will only help this team in the long run. I am far less concerned about his legacy than I am about his 2009 season. He is a liar and a cheat but so was 80% of baseball. At least he is OUR liar and cheat
Randy,
I agree it’s not an impossible scenario. For that reason I’m sure Yankee players are very careful about where they eat in Boston, and vice versa. (Although I expect players are more concerned about getting something in their food that would just make them sick.)
I think a bigger concern is what ingredients are in over-the-counter supplements.
Something you’ve made me thought of is how much power a team’s sports medicine provider has over the players. A typical player has no medical knowledge and is completely at the mercy of team trainers and doctors to supply them with legal drugs and guidance as to what is and isn’t a banned substance. These trainers are probably responsible for 100% of the players’ knowledge of sports-related drugs. A trainer could easily abuse that position of trust for personal benefit.
Trisha,
Peter Gammons said he could feel an incredible amount of emotion in Rodriguez. It would be impossible to do what he did without emotion. Also, the idea that I’m in a camp of people who will never be completely satisfied is not true. If A Rod said – I fully acknowledge I cheated the game of baseball and knowingly ingested performance – enhancing drugs I wouldn’t even be having this discussion. All I am saying is I think part of the problem is the desire of fans to integrity to be restored to the game – and for the removal this cloud of suspicion is so strong that it has impaired our judgment. I agree to disagree with you, and I respect your point of view and I am happy that you were satisfied with A Rod’s confession. I guess I’m just so disillusioned with all the deceit and spin in the game right now that was intolerant of it when I perceived it in A-Rod’s interview.
I am in no way sympathetic towards A-Rod, but I have yet to see the media question Selena Roberts in regards to her role in the Duke Lacrosse story.
In my opinion, that is a huge stain on her reputation as a reputable journalist.
….i guess we cant expect any of her colleagues to question her past. can we?
“Who’s leaning on the bat next to Jeter in the second pic?”
It’s not Gardner, so my guess is Curtis?
Us vs Them worked/works for the Giants, good point!^^^
Triple post; I hope it is Colin Curtis. He is going to come up huge this season, whether it be with Trenton or SW-B