Alex Rodriguez tested positive for steroids in 2003?

[flambers]

Like others have mentioned at least A-Rod has come clean, the others should follow suit and do the samething.

A-Rod's stat's should all have an "*".

[moon]

Originally Posted by flambers

Like others have mentioned at least A-Rod has come clean, the others should follow suit and do the samething.

A-Rod's stat's should all have an "*".

The thing with A-rod is that he only "came clean" after it was already shown that he had cheated. I am not sure we are going to see guys come clean when there is no evidence out there against them.

It would take a lot more "guts" to do that then to be like A-Rod and "admit" to using after it is clear to everyone that you did use.

I think it was the smart move by A-Rod to admit it but I am not sure he did anything that special by doing it after the fact.

[Sylvanfan]

If you see the Delgado who first played for the Jays and the 2001 Delgado who crushed everything and what every other player in Baseball was like...I don't think you can say with any certainty that he was clean. Especially since guys like Canseco and Fulmer had been around the Jays just a couple years earlier.

It's sad to see players who were Hall of Fame Calibre still use this stuff to try and put up gaudier numbers. I have a hell of a lot more respect for a guy like Ken Griffey Junior now who's body type didn't change and who's production followed a natural path and who actually had a tough time overcoming injury. He took a lot of flack for that while others put up these monster numbers. Now he'll be the only slugger from his generation that anyone belives.

[malcolmk14]

It is sad. Even guys like Barry Bonds who belonged in the Hall of Fame before the entire steroids thing. He had a very impressive career before 2001, when he hit 73 home runs.

494 home runs, 1405 RBI, 3-time MVP, 9-time All-Star, 2,157 hits all before he allegedly took steroids. That's a hall-of-famer to me.

[Sylvanfan]

Originally Posted by malcolmk14

It is sad. Even guys like Barry Bonds who belonged in the Hall of Fame before the entire steroids thing. He had a very impressive career before 2001, when he hit 73 home runs.

494 home runs, 1405 RBI, 3-time MVP, 9-time All-Star, 2,157 hits all before he allegedly took steroids. That's a hall-of-famer to me.

Well I think he started juicing up before the 2001 season. My guess would be that in 1999 after a tough year and injuries. Ultimately I think he was jealous of guys like McGwuire and Sosa and the hype that was created in 1998 with their home run hitting and didn't like not them getting talked about while he wasn't. Which I think was tough for him to take since he never was a very popular guy league wide and always had a certain amount of dislike attached to him. So when he was no longer being looked at as a great player while these other guys were...he joined in. Ultimately the owners not having any type of policy made this mess. They liked the rewards it gave them and the players were taking all the risk by juicing up. Players made the choice to take roids, but owners might as well have been handing them out with a big bag of cash as an incentive to take them.

[habernac]

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=3902907

geez, I hate Selig. He should be getting criticized as much as the players who have been caught cheating.

"What Alex did was wrong and he will have to live with the damage he has done to his name and reputation," the commissioner said Thursday, three days after the Yankees star admitted using banned substances from 2001-2003 while playing for the Texas Rangers.
"While Alex deserves credit for publicly confronting the issue, there is no valid excuse for using such substances, and those who use them have shamed the game," Selig said.

You and Fehr share equal blame for the shame. None of these clowns cared when Sosa and McGwire were hitting out bombs and filling stadiums. They're full of crap if they say they recognized nothing out of the ordinary there. Shame on you, Selig.

[rubecube]

Originally Posted by Sylvanfan

I have a hell of a lot more respect for a guy like Ken Griffey Junior now who's body type didn't change and who's production followed a natural path and who actually had a tough time overcoming injury. He took a lot of flack for that while others put up these monster numbers. Now he'll be the only slugger from his generation that anyone belives.

I still think Junior will get into the hall and be widely regarding as the most naturally gifted athlete that baseball has had in the last 30 years. It's too bad the guy will probably never get a ring.

[rubecube]

Originally Posted by habernac

You and Fehr share equal blame for the shame. None of these clowns cared when Sosa and McGwire were hitting out bombs and filling stadiums. They're full of crap if they say they recognized nothing out of the ordinary there. Shame on you, Selig.

Exactly. What a jerkoff. He didn't seem to mind when reporters uncovered a bunch of andro in McGwire's locker.

[Sylvanfan]

Originally Posted by habernac

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=3902907

geez, I hate Selig. He should be getting criticized as much as the players who have been caught cheating.

"What Alex did was wrong and he will have to live with the damage he has done to his name and reputation," the commissioner said Thursday, three days after the Yankees star admitted using banned substances from 2001-2003 while playing for the Texas Rangers.
"While Alex deserves credit for publicly confronting the issue, there is no valid excuse for using such substances, and those who use them have shamed the game," Selig said.

You and Fehr share equal blame for the shame. None of these clowns cared when Sosa and McGwire were hitting out bombs and filling stadiums. They're full of crap if they say they recognized nothing out of the ordinary there. Shame on you, Selig.

Amen, Selig should go down as Baseballs number one problem for this era. It would be like if the NHL had taken Harold Ballard and made him commissioner. Who cares about the damage you do to the game so long as we make money has been Seligs MO. When people get on Bettman's case for ruining hockey they need to look at Selig and realize it could be a lot worse.

[JayP]

Originally Posted by malcolmk14

It is sad. Even guys like Barry Bonds who belonged in the Hall of Fame before the entire steroids thing. He had a very impressive career before 2001, when he hit 73 home runs.

494 home runs, 1405 RBI, 3-time MVP, 9-time All-Star, 2,157 hits all before he allegedly took steroids. That's a hall-of-famer to me.

I wouldn't really take these player's words on when they started doing steroids.

Here's a good article that looks at A-Rod's stats and comes to a pretty clear conclusion that if A-Rod started taking Roids in 2001 the only impact it had on his game was being able to play every day.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/200...rod/index.html

His stats actually declined during his alleged steroid period which were also the peak years of his career. Something doesn't add up with his claims.

It was also said that A-Rod wasn't a prime candidate for steroids because his body wasn't ballooned up to superhero dimensions. Anyone who's looked into the steroid issues knows this isn't the case. That's why it's hard to simply say that Bonds (and McGuire, etc.) started taking roids when their bodies started to change drastically. I'd say that's when they started to go overboard, not when they began.

[Sylvanfan]

^^^
That is an interesting article for sure. The reports suggest that the two Substances Rodriguez took IIRC were to help the body produce Testosterone to recover, and another one to help maintain a lean appearance. Being able to recover and play every day at a high level is pretty significant. Especially for a Short Stop playing in Arlington during those hot humid summers. It seems reasonable to me that Rodriguez didn't over do it and didn't start taking more and working out more feverishly as time went on. It was keeping him healthy and able to play every day at a high level and that was what he was after. Rodriguez can flat out hit, and I don't think his body shows any unatural looking changes. If he doesn't take any substance during his time in Texas, he probably still hits 45+ home runs a season.

Which is why it's disappointing a guy who was that good still had to go for that slight edge and now it will diminish his accomplishments. But from the other side, if it wasn't illegal or at least punishable within the game at the time and the sport wasn't testing for it, how can you fault athletes for looking for an edge or to maintain their place against those who were blantently abusing steroids. Players are the ones who generally have taken the brunt of the criticism, but owners and Selig should be shouldering at least half the blame for letting it happen and turning a blind eye to it. I have a lot of respect for the guys who played through this era without using any substances when it was very tempting and east to try it. Who those guys are...who knows I suspect Griffey is one, but even than...how do you say with 100% accuracy.

[Bertuzzied]

People who are complaining about Bettman should look at Selig and MLB. Total embarrassment.

Bettman is a million times better then Selig.

[habernac]

here's a shocker: Selig doesn't want to share in any of the blame:

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=3912702


"I don't want to hear the commissioner turned a blind eye to this or he didn't care about it," Selig told Newsday in a Monday phone interview. "That annoys the you-know-what out of me. You bet I'm sensitive to the criticism.

"The reason I'm so frustrated is, if you look at our whole body of work, I think we've come farther than anyone ever dreamed possible," he said, adding, "I honestly don't know how anyone could have done more than we've already done."

[rubecube]

Originally Posted by habernac

here's a shocker: Selig doesn't want to share in any of the blame:

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=3912702


"I don't want to hear the commissioner turned a blind eye to this or he didn't care about it," Selig told Newsday in a Monday phone interview. "That annoys the you-know-what out of me. You bet I'm sensitive to the criticism.

"The reason I'm so frustrated is, if you look at our whole body of work, I think we've come farther than anyone ever dreamed possible," he said, adding, "I honestly don't know how anyone could have done more than we've already done."