What A Difference A King Makes
December 12, 2007Brownie Bites
December 12, 2007
For those who are baseball fans, tomorrow is poised to be a flurry of information. The Mitchell report, now in the hands of Major League Baseball, is expected to be released Thursday. Would it surprise me if one of the major media outlets got their hands on it early? Of course not. But everyone will have access when it is released.
I’m usually not a Howard Bryant (ESPN columnist) fan, but his story about the Mitchell report is must read if you are interested at all in what will happen after the report is released. I warn you, it is a long read however. My favorite part of that piece is this-
While much of the emphasis regarding steroid use has focused on West Coast teams such as Oakland, San Francisco and San Diego, three players who admitted to using steroids — Canseco, Jeremy Giambi and Paxton Crawford — spent time with the Red Sox. Another, the former American League MVP Mo Vaughn, admitted that in 1998 he used Pro-HGH, an oral form of human growth hormone. In 2000, Boston police found steroids and syringes in a car owned by shortstop Manny Alexander that had been loaned to the team batboy.
I have written before, and make no apologies for the fact that I am openly rooting for a dozen Red Sox players to be named here. Including MVPapi himself. But seriously, do you think Mitchell will allow that to happen? According to this ESPN report, there will be 60-80 player names in that report. With that many players, we would have to assume that nearly every team will have someone represented. Though some teams might escape, seeing as how California labs and the Mets clubhouse attendant seem to be major players in the report. You would think that an AL Midwest team like Kansas City might escape scrutiny, but then they go and sign players that have already tested positive. After the jump, fun with the Mitchell report scoreboard!
So while I doubt any of the current Boston stars will be named, I’ll tell you who I would be nervous for. How about former Red Sox players? How about guys that were around for the first World Series title, but not the second. That’s right, if I’m Trot Nixon or Johnny Damon I’d be a bit nervous today. Especially if they had actually used something in the past. Even if it was prescribed. Especially if the Red Sox knew it was prescribed.
So here at Halftime Adjustments we figure to have some fun with the responses to the report. Let’s face it, if you are a player named there are really four options for your response. 1. I did it. (That will be a short list.) 2. Didn’t do it, don’t know how they got my name, I’m ticked. 3. It was prescribed, and I did it under a doctor’s supervision. 4. No comment. So after the names are released and the press begins to hound these players for their reaction, we’re going to keep a little running scoreboard in the side bar. We’ll move players’ names from the no comment section to the appropriate response once we see their reactions in the media. You can help too. Send us a note with a link when you find a player’s reaction and we’ll make sure to credit you for the find. It’ll be fun.
9 Comments
Buster Olney said something interesting about that 60-80 number this morning on Mike & Mike. He said the number of players the MLB knows used steroids already is 64, so if a lot of those 64 names show up in the Mitchell Report, it could be a real dud.
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To put it into perspective, if the estimated 60 – 80 players number is accurate, I would suppose that at least some percentage of them are bound for the Hall of Fame.
And, if we can all agree that the use of “performance enhancing steroids” can make a player capable of things natural talent can’t do alone (it’s right there in the title), then I suppose it’s also fair to say that the players named could have altered the outcome of their games.
Where am I going? If just one of these cheaters gets into the Hall, then Budhole Selig has to put Pete Rose in, too! More deserving than most on the Mitchell list by far.
WAR PETE IN THE HALL!
Players who say “no comment” are going to be categorized with those who have not responded at all? That doesn’t seem right.
No, players who haven’t made any comment will not be classified until they do. And you must have a big yacht if your dinghy is 10 meters.
I have reached a point where the report is meaningless to me. Basically it is going to say a lot of players were cheating bad boys and the executives were busy averting their eyes. No big surprise. Cheating has been around as long as money has been involved in professional sports. This is just another in an ever growing list of cheating events. Clean it up and get on with the game. And any executive that goes ohmy!, is most likely a hypocrite. The probability is that they would promote such usage as long as they can find a legal way to do so.
When a sport/industry exists for a long time – there are going to be changing stories within its history/legacy. You are never going to have a static or unchanging competition for a long period of time. Variables are going to pop up, you are going to find people who want to have an advantage over others. It’s natural.
So it’s not a surprise, it’s more of a disappointment, because that is when a 3rd party (MLB) is supposed to step in and keep things as steady as possible.
It’s like leaving the Prison to the criminals. You NEED authority, yet Selig offered none.
Bud Selig = worst commish EV-ER.
Well the report is out and I am searching but have yet to have found any reaction from Mike Piazza on the Mitchell Report’s inclusion of Roger Clemens. I didn’t need a 20 million dollar report to know that the bat throwing incident of the 2000 World Series was nothing but a case of ‘Roid Rage! Roger Clemens disgusts me!
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