What’s Next - No Flintstones Vitamins for America’s Pastime?

Call it a knee-jerk reaction from the entire Mark McGwire/Andro fallout. Anything that can be perceived as more than a multi-vitamin will be scrutinized by a performance-enhancing drug paranoid Major League Baseball. The latest to take the fall are pitchers J.C. Romero and Sergio Mitre, who claimed to have taken nothing stronger than 6-OXO and Halodrol, respectively.

Maybe one or both of them did use something more than what they have claimed. That remains to be seen, especially if what triggered the positive tests can be the result of more than one substance. But on face value, MLB handing down two 50-game suspensions for what has been described as a “trace amount of a substance prohibited under Major League Baseball’s joint drug prevention and treatment program” smells of overkill.

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Lefty Reliever Should Just Come Clean Following Second Positive Test Since 2006; Leave Race Card Out

How convenient has the “I just used a supplement from GNC” become for professional athletes getting caught using steroids? It’s getting a bit redundant and now add two more to the list - lefty relievers J.C. Romero of the Philadelphia Philles and Sergio Mitre of the New York Yankees. Both were handed 50-game suspensions by Major League Baseball after testing positive for a still-unnamed banned substance.

Mediocre at best, both of these guys have no excuse not to do everything to enhance their performance, including hitting the juice. Neither of them will ever be mistaken for Victor Martinez, so one has to surmise that whatever they used was not a bulk builder.

The funny part about this is that it was only a few years ago that Romero tested positive for ‘a precursor of testosterone,’ which he promptly blamed on it being a fertility supplement that he and the missus were taking. No punishment was handed down back in 2006, but MLB has to be saying, ‘Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.’ Another thing Romero should do is avoid pulling out the always-ready race card, which he sunk to doing pursuant to the suspension being handed down.

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SI Players Poll Reveals Some Eyebrow-Raising Results

If prisoners in a random federal penitentiary were asked what percentage of them were guilty of their crimes, how many would be honest and admit that all or the vast majority of them deserved to be behind bars? It’s merely human nature to put any type of blame on your own shoulders and deflect criticism.

With sports and steroids intertwined so much today - and the ridiculous negativity that it has spawned - asking a professional athlete if he feels his brethren are using is not a true test. After seeing the results of the recent poll in Sports Illustrated, you will feel that it is more comical than accurate.

320 NFL players were surveyed and 32 percent said that zero to four percent use performance-enhancing drugs. Only 12 percent said what most of us would surmise - that 30 percent or more are using. From this group, the highest according to position were defensive lineman, who had 23 percent avoid their noses growing.

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Banned Diuretic Case Still Lingering; Next Up on Dec. 22

At some point, the five NFL players who used Star Caps are going to have to pay the piper. The NFL is going to have to enforce their anti-doping policy, as flawed as it may seem. In this day and age of ‘act before react,’ the league is going to have to make an example out of someone.

By having a Minnesota judge extend the injunction on the mandatory four game suspensions, the five players (Kevin and Pat Williams of Minnesota; Charles Grant, Duece McAllister and Will Smith of New Orleans) were able to participate in this past Sunday’s games and next weekend. The next court date is December 22.

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Players’ Union and Commissioner’s Office Reach Agreement

Now that the obvious has been admitted, will it mean that baseball’s home run king will return to the game? It was blatant that collusion took place last summer as offenses struggled and Barry Bonds was sitting home. No team had the guts to sign him or go against their brethren by doing so, even if the addition of his lefthanded power would have made a difference for a postseason berth.

If his case is proven, will that open the door for someone to give Bonds a look next spring? It will be difficult to admit a conscious group effort to keep a person out of the game and then have it happen again.

Recently, the Baseball Players’ Union has proven through evidence that teams acted in concert to leave Bonds without a job. They then reached an agreement with the commissioner’s office in delaying the filing of an official grievance, no specific date being set. One has to surmise that nothing will be done until after the World Series is completed. Continue Reading »

Former Slugger and Current Author Practices What He Preaches

Although he hasn’t played a major league baseball game since 2001, Jose Canseco is still taking care of his body, at least in the way he has spoken about in his two ‘tell-all’ books. Perhaps even the once-rich and famous are having issues obtaining performance-enhancing drugs in this day and age of mass hysteria.

Attempting to smuggle in a supply of human chorionic gonadotrophin, commonly known as HCG, through the Mexico/San Diego border, Canseco was held by immigration authorities for 10 hours after the substance was found in his vehicle.

Although a fertility drug, HCG is used in combination with anabolic steroids, either during or after a cycle to return testosterone production and size in the testes. So, in reality, Canseco had his balls busted as a result of trying to limit the shrinkage.

It appears that the 44 year-old is still using performance-enhancing drugs and would have no other reason to take a trip to Mexico and bring back HCG. A commonly-used post-cycle therapy substance, it is popular amongst bodybuilders and used either separately or in conjunction with Clomid or Nolvadex.

Perhaps Canseco wanted to take the bull by the horns, or so to speak, and get his hands on his own stuff. Paying the middle man can jack the price up, but the alternative is what happened to him.

I-Rod a Shell of His Former Self; Fills Catching Hole After Posada Injury

A day before the Major League Baseball trading deadline, the Bronx Bombers made a bold move, which shored up their catching situation following a season-ending injury to Jorge Posada. Middle reliever Kyle Farnsworth was sent to the Detroit Tigers in exchange for 14-time All Star Ivan Rodriguez, who has went from being the elite at his position to very average amidst numerous allegations of him using performance-enhancing drugs.

Rodriguez, 36, has been in the big leagues since the young age of 19 and is still looked at as one of the better defensive catchers around. The problem has been his hitting, which was a superstar-status .332 with 35 home runs and 113 RBI in 1999, when he won the American League MVP. His production has fallen off considerably since then, with his long ball totals being 27, 25, 19, 16, 19, 14, 13, and 11.

Although Rodriguez is batting .295 in 82 games, his power numbers being a dreadful 5 home runs and 32 RBI. He has also struck out 52 times with only 19 walks. A far cry from the height of his career, which just so happens to be when the suspicions of his steroid use began. 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 »

Subway and Freeway Series’ Finales Both Gems

For all the things wrong with Major League Baseball’s Interleague play, weekends like this past one can make them all go away and give the fans what they want. The purists of the game will say that it’s all for money, and while that may be a part of the reason, pleasing the fans was the main objective. These are the games that they want to see, and the last scheduled date for Interleague match-ups was filled with rivalry contests for the ages.

Out at Shea Stadium, the Mets took the battle of New York, four games to two, with a solid 3-1 win over the crosstown Yankees behind lefty Oliver Perez. Out on the left coast, the Angels were able to make a 1-0 lead stand after being shut out in the previous two games. Not to be undone, the Chicago Civil War came to a close with the South Siders sweeping after being swept. 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 »