Comments on: Carlos Ruiz and performance-enhancing drugs

By: coloradogolfcoupons

coloradogolfcoupons — Thu, 29 Nov 2012 00:37:15 +0000

Adderall= (Dextroamphetamine and Amphetamine)

Speed (greenies) were the drug of choice for MLB LONG before steroids became popular. Players have to have a Dr.s diagnosis for ADD or ADHD to be able to take it and not get banned in today’s game, while players 50 years ago…and up until they were banned about 8-10 years ago…would eat greenies like M&M’s. It’s a long season, and methamphetamine and amphetamine gave players enough boost in focus and energy to survive, and keep up with their opposition, much like steroid users felt they had to keep up with the Jone’s use of steroids

By: stlouis1baseball

stlouis1baseball — Wed, 28 Nov 2012 21:27:59 +0000

Please explain why Adderall isn’t a performance enhancing drug.
If it allows you to maintain focus your performance IS very much enhanced.
I realize this is simplifying it. But it really is that simple.

By: Walk

Walk — Wed, 28 Nov 2012 20:25:55 +0000

I thought i saw an article for drugs like adderall for adhd being well over the national average. Doing a search for it though i got an article going back to 2007 and the rate was about 9% of mlb players get a doctors exemption for some type of adhd drug. That is slightly lower than the 10% national average.
http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/2009/12/02/a-couple-of-years-ago/

By: Cris E

Cris E — Wed, 28 Nov 2012 16:45:56 +0000

Baseball is very hard.

You can work hard to develop your skills, but at some point everyone runs out of talent and hits a ceiling: that’s as good as you can play. Sometimes players get injured and don’t reach their ceiling, and they eventually get old and can’t stay at that level. But by and large there’s a limit to how good everyone can be.

PEDs don’t change your ceiling, really. But they allow you work harder and longer to get to your ceiling, and they allow you to recover from injuries quicker, and to delay the effects of aging and stay near your peak longer. If you’re me you still won’t sniff an MLB roster, but it might have been enough to get Galvis or Mota a spot, and in the hands of a top shelf talent like Bonds with a decade of experience it can make the game look like some sort of Nintento replay.

Not everything is black and white. Matt’s no deep thinker, but at least he had the sense to post this in largely grey shades of possibility. Give grey a chance.

By: andyreidisthegoat

andyreidisthegoat — Wed, 28 Nov 2012 16:44:41 +0000

No one should be surprised by this. He went from ok to super human over night. And don’t think he was taking the adderall as a pick me up. This was being used to mask his steroid use. believe nothing and no one in baseball today. everything is fradulent.

By: tsi431

tsi431 — Wed, 28 Nov 2012 14:54:51 +0000

PED’s are not going to help you with your accuracy as a pitcher (Mota), but it will help with rehabbing from injury, and conditioning (Colon, Ruiz, and Cabrera).

By: stex52

stex52 — Wed, 28 Nov 2012 13:51:55 +0000

Silly comment. Of course it enhances performance. What’s your definition?

By: papacrick

papacrick — Wed, 28 Nov 2012 13:08:11 +0000

Adderall is the greatest ped of them all. I’ve been using it to excel at sports since the mid nineties. While the energy is nice, the focus and determination it gives baseball players and golfers is unmatched. If you’re a ten handicapper and start taking adderall you’re handicap will be no worse than a 4 after a year.

By: Glenn

Glenn — Wed, 28 Nov 2012 02:41:25 +0000

Let’s not forget that a lot of those journeymen probably extended their careers with PEDs. Taking them does not make one an all-time great, but if it makes one better, it is an edge – the difference from having a MLB job or not for many. When a superstar takes them, you get Barry Bonds. He was a comic book superhero come to life in those tainted years. I wish PEDs stayed out of baseball, but they didn’t (don’t) and Barry Bonds put together some of the most amazing sports spectacles on them.

By: hackerjay

hackerjay — Wed, 28 Nov 2012 01:43:53 +0000

But Byrd and Mota were both definitely veteran Major Leaguers. And you say you’re not promoting a theory, but the article is definitely saying that hte theory that PEDs help is getting some more ammunition.

By: rickhigginshtbro

rickhigginshtbro — Wed, 28 Nov 2012 01:06:42 +0000

this would explain his batting average increase this season, but not necessarily his slugging or home run totals. Chooch over the past few years has just been clutch. Hit his HR’s and monster doubles right when it mattered, not just out of the blue like he did this season. If chooch hit this .325 over the last 4 years, his career totals for home runs and slugging would be in line.

By: howiehandles

howiehandles — Wed, 28 Nov 2012 01:04:42 +0000

Then I guess there are a bunch of professional athletes who’ve suddenly developed ADHD.

By: drewsylvania

drewsylvania — Wed, 28 Nov 2012 00:22:25 +0000

Cool, thanks. I missed that one.

By: davidpom50

davidpom50 — Wed, 28 Nov 2012 00:19:39 +0000

Here’s a start: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Major_League_Baseball_drug_policy

By: davidpom50

davidpom50 — Wed, 28 Nov 2012 00:18:27 +0000

Adderall is an amphetamine. It’s speed. It gives a serious energy boost, which is rather helpful during the long haul of an MLB season. There’s a reason why every team had bowls full of them in the clubhouse when they were still legal.

By: drewsylvania

drewsylvania — Wed, 28 Nov 2012 00:18:20 +0000

Where can I find a list of all substances that are banned by MLB? Google only returns players.

By: drewsylvania

drewsylvania — Wed, 28 Nov 2012 00:15:00 +0000

Let’s pretend for a minute that he does sound silly. He’s still less of an asshole.

By: drewsylvania

drewsylvania — Wed, 28 Nov 2012 00:13:51 +0000

Your handle belies your comment.

By: cosanostra71

cosanostra71 — Wed, 28 Nov 2012 00:12:29 +0000

How is Adderall not a performance enhancing drug? Isn’t the whole point of taking Adderall to increase focus? Or in other words… enhance your performance in tasks related to focus?

Not to mention, people take drugs for reasons other than what they are typically used for. If Viagra can be used by baseball players as a “steroid”/PED, I’m sure that Adderall could be, and likely is.

But at the end of the day, does it really matter? Ruiz was suspended for a drug that is banned by Major League Baseball. Regardless of whether it is a “PED” or not, it is a banned substance.

By: crisisjunky

crisisjunky — Wed, 28 Nov 2012 00:12:22 +0000

really focused ~ Chooch can work off his 25 days organizing the clubhouse, hooking up the spread, doing the laundry, folding towels, oxycleaning sanis, loading batbags..unpacking and setting up sunnies and bubblegum in the dugout….. polishing the plasticware……..folding and lining up the sanis……
refolding the towels……………….

By: brewcrewfan54

brewcrewfan54 — Tue, 27 Nov 2012 23:56:41 +0000

It may not physically make you better but people claim it makes you super focused. In a game most people say is played as much in your head as with your body it could be considered performance enhancing.

By: ame123

ame123 — Tue, 27 Nov 2012 23:37:33 +0000

Lazy and uninformed article. Adderall is not a PED. I don’t know why that is a difficult concept to grasp. A lot easier to learn about it than write a 500 word blog post and make yourself sound silly.

By: Matthew Pouliot

Matthew Pouliot — Tue, 27 Nov 2012 23:30:06 +0000

Not forgetting anything. It says “veteran major leaguers” right there in the article. And nothing in there is promoting any sort of theory.

By: ezthinking

ezthinking — Tue, 27 Nov 2012 23:12:48 +0000

Did you for get Grandal and then what about the three immediately before these three, Marlin Byrd, Freddie Galvis and Guillermo Mota?

Byrd, Mota and Galvis all suck so there goes that theory, Matt.