Will Grunge Look and Muscles Also Make a Return?

The Yankees declining Jason Giambi’s 2009 option came as no surprise, but the fact that he may end up back in Oakland can be viewed as a mild one. The slugging first baseman’s former guru with the Athletics and Yanks, Bob Alejo, has been brought back by the A’s as director of strength and conditioning. Can this spell the return of the former American League MVP?

Giambi’s relationship with Alejo goes back to 1993 and after he was banned from the Bronx Bombers’ clubhouse in 2005, Giambi could not have been thrilled. Rekindling that relationship has to have some value to Giambi, who paid Alejo $125,000 (including a 401(k) plan) to leave his position as Oakland’s strength and conditioning coach in 2002 to become his personal trainer. Continue Reading »

The Ramblin’ Freak Speaks his Mind About Steroids in Sports

The following article will appear in the October 2008 issue of New York Sportscene magazine. (www.nysportscene.com)

At Arm’s Length

Gregg Valentino Flexes his Opinion About Steroids

The old saying “Don’t throw stones in a glass house,” doesn’t apply to Gregg Valentino. When he talks about anabolic steroids and performance-enhancing drugs, people listen. It’s sort of like that old Payne Webber television commercial. You see, Valentino has no problem admitting to steroid use that would probably eclipse every baseball clubhouse in the late 1990s.

“I was up to 4,000 milligrams of testosterone a week, and that’s not even counting the equipoise,” he said, not bragging but just being truthful. When you inject such high quantities of juice in your body, it should come as no surprise that Valentino laid claim to having the largest biceps in the world. At one point during the height of his usage, his arms were an astronomical 28 inches. Continue Reading »

SF Giants One Light-Hitting Bunch Without Bonds

When the calendar shows that August is closing out in one week and your team leader in home runs has 12, it’s fair to say that small-ball is your style. In San Francisco, Aaron Rowand is the only player on the roster with a double-digit total in long balls, which is not easy to do at this juncture of the season. Even players that hit one out rarely approach the 10 to 15 total. With only 71 total at the time of this writing, the Giants are on an anemic pace for production.

In 2007, Barry Bonds hit 28 home runs, leading the way by a wide margin. The next up on that team were third baseman Pedro Feliz (20) and catcher Bengie Molina (19). Rowand, who played for the Phillies a year ago, hit 27. As a team, the Giants hit 128 during Bonds’ farewell season in town. Continue Reading »

Agent Calls it Like it is; Home Run King Offering to Play for Minimum

As the second half of the baseball season is upon us, teams that are making playoff pushes start to separate themselves from the second-division clubs. The trading deadline is still two weeks away, and general managers across the league will be adding to their cell phone bills two-fold.

There is one number that hasn’t received any calls all year, even though what waits on the other end has some attributes that fit most teams’ needs: veteran player with playoff and World Series experience; averaged 128 games the last two seasons; is a free agent and will not cost any players or prospects to acquire; will play for peanuts and…is the all-time major league baseball home run king.

With the good come the bad, and with Barry Bonds, that is no exception. Yes, anyone who signs him would be also bringing along a circus created, caused and pumped up by the media. The BALCO steroids scandal will never go away and will be magnified if Bonds ever plays again. But it is hard to argue that his bat wouldn’t be able to help at least one team out there, and since when did sports organizations put anything ahead of winning? Continue Reading »

Baseball’s Feel-Good Story is Clean in More Ways Than One

If there ever was a perfect ‘back from the dead’ story, it occurred last summer. An outfielder that was out of baseball and presumed finished lit up the sky with a miraculous comeback and breathed life into himself and his team. There was nothing that could burst his bubble, except for an unexpected slip-up.

That came in the form of a report that the player used performance-enhancing drugs, something that he didn’t deny. This player, of course, is former pitcher Rick Ankiel of the St. Louis Cardinals, but judging by the first paragraph, it could easily have been Josh Hamilton, who had his own feel-good story in 2007. There was no slip-up (in Hamilton’s case, cocaine) and he has taken it to the next level this year. Continue Reading »

Mitchell Report Sampling Can Go Either Way

Perusing the telephone book commonly known as ‘The Mitchell Report,’ it is hard to say if the baseball players that allegedly used performance-enhancing drugs benefited or not. Going by the raw numbers, some did and some didn’t.

Now keep in mind that the report included only the time frame that there was some type of allegation and/or documentation when these players began using. They could have been on the juice long before that, as well. Take Jason Giambi, for instance. He is one of the BALCO boys and has already publicly apologized (still not exactly sure what he was trying to say that day, but at least he appeared as if his conscious was bothering him). His section in the report has 2001 as when he was first reportedly taking the stuff, a year in which he hit .342 for the Oakland A’s, with 38 home runs and 120 RBI. But if you are believing that this was Giambi’s first dabble into steroids, the prior year should have been lighter, huh? Well…not exactly. In 2000, he went .333/43/137. Continue Reading »