Remember: Alex Rodriguez is just one of a rumoured list of 104 players who tested positive in '03.
The bigger the name, the easier the target. That's why the 'outing' of Alex Rodriguez as a past steroid user was so sexy to the media.
The highest paid player in the game was a cheat between 2001 and 2003, or so he says. Apparently the pressure of his 10-year, $252 million dollar contract was too much to handle and he had to inject performance enhancers to get the job done. I guess when he moved to New York in 2004, was asked to change positions from short to third, under the everyday microscope that is the Big Apple the aforementioned pressure dissipated.
Whatever, big guy.
But this is not about piling on A-Roid; Lord knows he does a good enough job on his own. Instead, it's about the other 103 players that tested positive back in 2003 (and why they were not asked to sit down with ESPN's Peter Gammons and explain themselves.) This is also about the majority of the players that played 'clean', yet are now painted by the same brush.
Those names that were caught cheating should be made public. Between Opening Day and the end of August, when a team can only have 25 men on their active roster, 750 players/pitchers can call themselves major leaguers. Subtract the 103-plus-A-Rod cheaters, and that leaves 646 players - roughly 86.1 per cent - who were, hypothetically, clean.
Now, if I was one of those players I would certainly want some answers from the Don Fehr and the Players Association, especially the Union's No. 2 man Gene Orza who was, reportedly, tipping off A-Rod and others about upcoming tests. Apparently, not everyone is equal even if they pay the same union dues.
What has come out of this whole era in this great game of baseball is that some of the greatest players were flat out lying, and the names of the players caught, or named in the Mitchell Report, roll of your tongue like they were being introduced at the All-Star game. Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, Alex Rodriguez, Rafael Palmeiro, Jason Giambi, Andy Pettitte, Eric Gagne, David Justice, Chuck Knoblauch, Paul Lo Duca, Mo Vaughn, Mark McGwire, Sammy Sosa, Miguel Tejada, Ken Caminiti, Jose Canseco, Lenny Dykstra, Juan Gonzalez and Gary Sheffield -- MVPs and Cy Young Award winners. And yet, a blind eye was turned towards all this, all in the name of cold, hard cash.
This is modern sports. Everybody closes ranks and no one speaks up out of fear that they will cast out by the others in the brotherhood. Until this stops, in all sports, no one can be taken serious ever again.
TIME TO READ BETWEEN THE LINES?
The Globe and Mail's baseball columnist Jeff Blair made an excellent point while being interviewed on the Fan 590, Toronto's all-sports radio station on Monday by Sportsnet's Rob Faulds when he wondered aloud if the biggest reason that the Blue Jays' payroll was slashed this off-season was to position the ball club to be sold, especially since the passing of principle owner Ted Rogers back in December. Sure the failing economy -- coupled with the falling Canadian dollar -- handcuffed the team and caused the payroll to be slashed by close to 20 per cent but, as Blair pointed out, this has all the earmarks of eliminating any massive overhead to make the team more attractive to potential buyers. It was something that I hadn't thought off before but it makes perfect sense when you think about it.
SPRING TRAINING NEWS & NOTES
It is good to see Aaron Hill taking part in all the drills and workouts with the Blue Jays in Dunedin. Nothing against the other middle infielders that picked up the slack while Hill recovered from his concussion last season, but the Jays are a much better team - both at the plate and in the field - with Hill in the everyday line-up...
From early indication, Matt Clement has been throwing the ball free and easy as he tries to land a spot in the Jays' wobbly rotation this spring, after having not pitched in the majors since June 14, 2006. If he can take a regular turn without having any setbacks, it will take a lot of pressure of some of the youngsters who are currently pencilled in to eat up a lot of innings this season...
If Mike Hampton didn't have bad luck, he wouldn't have any luck at all. The 36-year-old left-hander is trying to catch on with the Houston Astros after missing parts of the last four seasons with a litany of ailments. A recent physical revealed an irregular heartbeat. As of Tuesday, As a result, Hampton has been cleared to resume all baseball activities ...
While I'm a huge fan of the World Baseball Classic, with the number of players that have begged off participating, I'm starting to wonder if shutting the game down for a couple of weeks around what would normally be the All-Star break might be better for this tournament. That way everyone involved would be in mid-season form and representing your country a little more palatable. The NHL does it every four years for the Olympics and it's a rousing success, so why not MLB? Unfortunately the words 'change' and 'baseball' are rarely spoken in the same sentence. Perhaps a new, more contemporary commissioner might be needed get this ball rolling...
