Comments on: Baseball cannot, and will not, punish A-Rod any more than any other PED offender

By: snowbirdgothic

snowbirdgothic — Fri, 01 Feb 2013 06:39:46 +0000

Gammons…got better?

By: cur68

cur68 — Fri, 01 Feb 2013 02:27:02 +0000

@bh192012: I have read the Times article and read the Deadspin articles, too. The most telling thing? This: “He was always talking about A-Rod,” says one former employee who asked not to be named. “We never saw any athletes in the office, so we didn’t know if he was just talking bullshit or not. But he would brag about how tight they were.”
The “he” is Anthony Bosch. Same guy who was given to writing about himself like this: “Dr. Tony Bosch is recognized as an international educator and world-class leader in bio-identical hormone replacement therapy,” reads one description, which also praises him as a “pioneer in orthomolecular medicine” and calls him a “molecular biochemist.”

Yeah. That’s him writing about himself. See any problem with believing what this guy has to say?

Until this information is vetted by MLB and/or The Feds, its a lot of smoke and nothing else. Rodriguez deserves the benefit of the doubt.

By: bh192012

bh192012 — Thu, 31 Jan 2013 22:59:21 +0000

@cur68

Did you read the Miami New Times article? Or the follow up article with pictures of Gio with his strength coach who’s also implicated in the article?

It’s more than just notes, they already have eye-witness accounts that this doctor perscribed steroids…. (to the baseball player Alex Rodriguez, the doctor bragged about it to co-workers.) This ‘doctor’ has previously been under investigation by the DEA.

You seem like you really want to believe it’s not true, but honestly there seems to be quite a bit of evidence in that 7 page article.

By: alexo0

alexo0 — Thu, 31 Jan 2013 20:32:00 +0000

I love how Keown asks baseball to declare ARod ineligible for the HOF. I’m pretty sure the writers have already done that.

By: historiophiliac

historiophiliac — Thu, 31 Jan 2013 19:32:52 +0000

It certainly sounds ouching.

By: historiophiliac

historiophiliac — Thu, 31 Jan 2013 19:30:24 +0000

I’m guessing Ray Lewis plays football?

By: cur68

cur68 — Thu, 31 Jan 2013 19:26:00 +0000

Mary Swanson lost her briefcase and Lloyd Christmas wanted to give it back to her. Its a ouching and lovely story about 2 buddies on a quest.

By: historiophiliac

historiophiliac — Thu, 31 Jan 2013 19:18:57 +0000

Who are Mary and Lloyd?

By: DJ MC

DJ MC — Thu, 31 Jan 2013 18:59:35 +0000

I’d like to make a “turn the sportswriters into newts” joke, but too many of them–even otherwise respectable ones–are already acting like that would be an improvement.

By: churchoftheperpetuallyoutraged

churchoftheperpetuallyoutraged — Thu, 31 Jan 2013 18:14:16 +0000

If idiocy were a suspendable offense for ESPN writers/reporters, there’d be no one left to write anything.

Wait a sec, that doesn’t sound like a bad idea…

By: dlf9

dlf9 — Thu, 31 Jan 2013 18:13:02 +0000

No. There is direct on-point precedent from the 1980s cocaine cases (e.g. Steve Howe, Willie Wilson, Willie Aikens, etc.) where courts and arbitrators told Uebberoth that ‘best interests’ was constrained by explicit provisions of the CBA.

By: churchoftheperpetuallyoutraged

churchoftheperpetuallyoutraged — Thu, 31 Jan 2013 18:12:01 +0000

No, there’s a CBA and zero precedent for him doing anything like this. As Craig has mentioned like 130203 so far this week, drug punishments are covered specifically by the JDA. The best MLB can do is give him a 50 game suspension, which unless some serious smoking gun appears, is highly unlikely.

By: paperlions

paperlions — Thu, 31 Jan 2013 18:07:59 +0000

Which part do you think is sad? The ARod witch hunt or the Ray Lewis worship?

By: cur68

cur68 — Thu, 31 Jan 2013 18:07:23 +0000

It actually makes a lot of sense to do it this way. Everyone is hunting for Rodriguez like he’s the Snipe. Meanwhile the others are flying under the radar, nearly completely out of the public eye.

Next time I screw up at work I’m going to write “Alex Rodriguez” in the notes and see if no one notices that it was me that did it.

By: cur68

cur68 — Thu, 31 Jan 2013 18:03:56 +0000

Did you know that if Mary and Lloyd got married she’d have been “Mary Christmas”? When I realized that I laughed long time.

By: historiophiliac

historiophiliac — Thu, 31 Jan 2013 18:03:23 +0000

Or, if they rely on the feds to finish first, in 5 years when his contract is over.

By: sabathiawouldbegoodattheeighthtoo

sabathiawouldbegoodattheeighthtoo — Thu, 31 Jan 2013 18:00:18 +0000

Agreed. I still think it would be sheer brilliance if it turns out some of the other guys were actually buying PEDs from this doctor, but paid him to write AROD in the book to act as a lightening rod in the event of a scandal. It would be a perfect play

By: historiophiliac

historiophiliac — Thu, 31 Jan 2013 17:59:59 +0000

Santa Claus. Which one of you killed Santa Claus?

By: jdrew506

jdrew506 — Thu, 31 Jan 2013 17:52:07 +0000

Can ESPN suspend Tim for being an idiot in even suggesting this.

By: deep64blue

deep64blue — Thu, 31 Jan 2013 17:43:54 +0000

He didn’t say he was worth the money – he said that ARod would be an upgrade for a lot of teams, a fact that your stats just confirmed!

By: cackalackyank

cackalackyank — Thu, 31 Jan 2013 17:32:32 +0000

I think an interesting comparison here would be Melky Cabrera. Last year Cabrera WAS caught, and served a 50 game suspension. If after a TRUE, THOROUGH investigation it is proved that he continued to purchase and use banned substances this would be a theoretical “second strike.” Since Melky is a) not Alex Rodriguez and b) no longer with the Yankees, it would be interesting to see how many ask for his head on a spike and ask for a forced end to his career. Another interesting thought about “guilt by association”; when with the Yankees, Melky and Robinson Cano were pals, and as far as I know they still are. It is interesting that despite their friendship, I have not heard a rush to paint Cano with the “he must be using too” brush. I do think there was a disproven rumor of a failed test at the end of last season, though. Given Cano’s reported contract dreams, this could be an interesting story line, depending on how this investigation develops.

By: sawxalicious

sawxalicious — Thu, 31 Jan 2013 17:31:16 +0000

I think a full, thorough investigation by MLB is warranted. If in fact A-Rod did take banned substances last year, maybe the investigation can wind down around this fall when A-Rod might be ready to take the field again. Them give him his 50 game suspension so he can’t serve it on the DL.

By: geoknows

geoknows — Thu, 31 Jan 2013 17:11:46 +0000

I’m not advocating this by any means – in fact, I’d be totally against it – but couldn’t Selig do whatever he wants, up to and including a lifetime ban, by invoking the “best interests of baseball” clause?

By: yankeepunk3000

yankeepunk3000 — Thu, 31 Jan 2013 17:00:18 +0000

I agree. 50 game suspension and that’s about it.

By: cur68

cur68 — Thu, 31 Jan 2013 16:59:47 +0000

Ah, they won’t squirm. They lack the integrity to squirm. If Rodriguez comes back from the pumpkin patch and is his old self, everyone that’s been hammering away on the guy will scream about him being on the PEDs again. In the minds of some performance = enhancement and Rodriguez’s performance ALWAYS = steroids. They never apply this logic to Mike Trout or any of their favourite players of course.

This mess has put me in a really peculiar spot. I’m defending a player I loathe on a team that I loathe. I detest every single person that’s put me in this spot but at the end of the day I can’t get behind a witch hunt based on published handwritten notes and I don’t care who’s handwritten notes they are or who else they name. This is not evidence. This is the grounds for an investigation, and, at this time, THAT IS ALL. Based on the available evidence, the press should not be urging MLB to toss the guy out of his livelihood, defame him him to the land, and, just to top it off, publicly urge a baseball team and player to commit insurance fraud.

By: cur68

cur68 — Thu, 31 Jan 2013 16:48:05 +0000

This has been my point all along. These are allegations based on handwritten notes published in a newspaper. That’s it. When the evidence is eye-witness accounts, voided cheques, credit card transactions, fingerprints and/or confessions and its all vetted as authentic by MLB/Federal investigators then we can start assuming guilt (this includes everyone named in those notes). If this was any of the people so ready to throw Alex Rodriguez under the bus and it was their reputation and livelihood at stake they’d be screaming “due process”. Somehow, because its THIS guy, its all “Fuck Alex Rodriguez Over” all the time. Whatever happened to a fair process?

By: alang3131982

alang3131982 — Thu, 31 Jan 2013 16:06:53 +0000

He is pretty damn entertaining to me, in a pure baseball sense. He is one of the greatest players of my lifetime. He’s a bit odd and doesnt understand the public, but that factors little into baseball for me. I’ll enjoy watching him play in the swan song of his career the same way i enjoyed watching Cal Ripken wind down.

Remember, AROD was the one who forced call to SS in Ripken’s last AS game. AROD moved to third when he joined the Yankees even though most people knew he was a far superior defender to jeter (ask MY if he would do that). I’m pretty sure AROD would purchase/give clothes to Yankee call-ups who were light in the wallet (cant find citation now). AROD has never been caught driving drunk, he’s never killed someone, never raped someone, never kicked a puppy. He isnt evil incarnate.

He made a choice to do something at least 50% of people in his situation would do, good lord people.

By: snowbirdgothic

snowbirdgothic — Thu, 31 Jan 2013 15:49:36 +0000

So if A-Rod weighs the same as a duck, he’s made of wood, and therefore…

By: churchoftheperpetuallyoutraged

churchoftheperpetuallyoutraged — Thu, 31 Jan 2013 15:43:43 +0000

but his on-field skills over-rode that for a long time. Now he has neither.

Arod hit .272/.353/.430 for a 112 OPS+ last year or 114 wRC+. That wRC+ puts him 8/18 qualified 3B in all of MLB last year. Is he worth the $25M+ that he gets, no, is he not worth playing at all, you’re out of your mind.

By: sabathiawouldbegoodattheeighthtoo

sabathiawouldbegoodattheeighthtoo — Thu, 31 Jan 2013 15:36:47 +0000

God I hope he wins the MVP next year. Just destroys everyone else who is even close. Leads all of baseball by like 2.5 WAR. I am not betting on it happening, but it would be glorious to watch these unwashed sports “journalists” squirm in discomfort.