Thoughts on A-Rod and Steroids

As I was going out last night to pick up our Valentines Dinner (long story short, all 3 kids were supposed to go to the in-laws, enabling us to go out for a nice meal, but Mollie came down with a bit of a cold, so in we stayed) I was listening to WFAN. It occurred to me while listening to the FAN on this night, as opposed to all other nights, that these people who were calling in had to be the biggest losers in love, since it is a Saturday night, and rather than being out with their girlfriends, wives, or lovers, they were sitting at home calling WFAN to talk about A-Rod, or Pete Rose and the integrity of the Baseball Hall of Fame, which got me thinking.

As anyone who reads this space knows I have never been a fan of Alex Rodriguez. I cheer him now because he wears the pinstripes and plays the hot corner, just like I cheered for Mike Pagliarulo when he did the same thing. Until he hits a game winning HR or really comes through consistently in the clutch, then I shall continue to mildly tolerate him, even though he is one of the best players in the game. He just does not seem to bring anything to the team, does not make it more interesting or fun to watch. It is almost as if he is too clinical in his approach.

In case you have been under a sports rock for the past week or so, Alex Rodriguez was recently outted for failing a steroid test back in 2003, when steroids had been prohibited by MLB since 1991, but there was no punishment (or testing for that matter until 2003) for taking these chemicals. MLB and the Players Association agreed to provide random samples to help determine how prevalent steroids were and to figure out what the next steps in working to reduce this pox upon the sport. All told only 104 (between 5-7% of the total sampled population) player samples tested positive and were supposed to remain anonymous forever. Somehow, somebody leaked ARod's name as being one of those 104 positive samples.

Alex Rodriguez immediately did the right thing and had an interview with Peter Gammons on ESPN (which I have not seen in it entirety) in which he came clean and said yes, from 2001-2003, while with the Texas Rangers he did take steroids, but he has not taken any since then. I don't know whether to believe him or not, but to some degree it does not matter any longer, since this entire period is tainted and should be noted as such. He said that he fell under peer pressure to perform, in spite of being 29 years old at the time. This is what I believe to be ARods fundamental flaw, he is too worried about how he is perceived by the media, the public and his teammates rather than simply going out and doing the best he can and letting his actions on the field speak for him (read Derek Jeter)

As Adam the Bull, the host of WFAN said last night, there are a number of factors that have also contributed to this increased offensive era besides steroids; expansion of the leagues, thereby diluting the pitching pool; smaller ballparks making it easier to hit the home run; and changes in the manufacturing of the baseballs, making them livelier than ever. But I digress.

This leak of one name from the 2003 samples begs a few questions that have nothing to do with ARod:

• Why were they labeled in the first place if they were supposed to be anonymous?
• Why were they not destroyed in 2003 like they were supposed to be?
• Where are the other 103 samples?
• Why aren't the names associated with the other 103 being made public?
• Why does the Players Union continue to support those breaking the rules and those who are not?
• Why is Arod being singled out, when there could be other players that should be answering the same questions?

There is another group of individuals that are not being called out to the carpet by the sports media for this steroid era and that is the commissioner, the owners and managers. They have turned a blind eye to this crisis while the turnstiles have been spinning, ratings have been spiking and pockets are getting deeper.

By looking at the names on the Mitchell Report, you can possibly point to a few teams as having been the genesis of this problem, the A's of the late 80's (McGwire/Canseco) and the early 90's, the Giants during the Barry Bonds era, the Rangers (Canseco again) in the 90's and at the beginning of this decade. I am not saying that these players are solely responsible for this epidemic, since time may show that additional players and teams were also doing and dealing (it is suspected that the 1993 Phillies NL Champions, were very juiced), but some GM, or manager, or clubhouse attendant or scout or ballgirl must have suspected that something was a foot and to date no one has uttered a word of indignation on the subject. Nothing but classic denials or turning a blind eye from any inside the clubhouse.

However, everyone kept their mouths shut because they were all on the gravy train. They all saw how McGwire and Sosa in 1998 revitalized the game with their pursuit for Maris HR mark, and how it drove fans back to the game after the 1994 strike. How can Tony LaRussa or Dusty Baker (for just few examples) not have known what was going on in their own clubhouse? How could any manager (Joe Torre, Bobby Valentine, Art Howe, Grady Little, Buck Showalter, Mike Hargrove, Davey Johnson, Charlie Manuel, Felipe Alou, etc.) not suspected something was going on and not question it further? Makes you wonder if there will be some death bed confessions in the future, when all those associated with this era start to see that the end is neigh, and need this burden lifted from their souls and conscious

Even the media admits at times that they missed the signs and no one questioned the overgrown biceps and heads, and just chalked it up as working out all year round.

So maybe my friends, Adam on the FAN is correct, the answer is not to ban all those that are guilty, since that would be virtually impossible. Maybe we just officially designate this era the Wildcard era (less controversial for sure), which represents essentially the period when Selig became commissioner and the wildcard format began and performance enhancing drugs entered the game. McGwire, Bonds, and Clemens, should be given passage into Cooperstown, but their plaques should read guilty of using banned performance enhancing substances during the Wildcard era.

Which bring us back to ARod. He is obviously guilty of breaking a rule that by Baseball's own standard had no consequences when the rule was broken. Does this mean his statistics should be expunged from the record books? No! Does this mean he is now grouped with all the other players who have been caught cheating? Yes! Does this take anything from him as a player? No, since he was a great player in Seattle, before he allegedly took steroids and has been great at compiling statistics as a Yankee. This of course assumes that he only took from 2001-2003. I would also say that taking, did not seem to give him a better lift during that period than during any other three season trend during his career.

This is something that A-Rod will need to work through and because of his personality and how the media relishes making him stew, this is going to be a very uncomfortable spring training and put additional pressure and distractions on the entire Yankee squad this season. Is it insurmountable? No! He will just need to do his job, expect the abuse from the fans, in NY and elsewhere and keep a smile on his face. What will not help is for him to become sullen and withdrawn ala Barry Bonds.