Balta1701

QUOTE (fathom @ May 7, 2009 -> 09:14 AM) This is an awesome article by Bill Simmons today http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story...mp;sportCat=mlb Wow.

QUOTE (G&T @ May 7, 2009 -> 09:08 AM) An LA sportswriter had a great comment. Manny is going to be pouty and mad when he comes back because he won't get his big pay day next year. He won't be happy Manny anymore and probably won't help them much. I think we really need to stop putting so much thought in to Manny's moods. Manny's mood supposedly helped him have that dominant stretch late last year, but it also looks damn likely that he was on a steroid regimen. I don't believe any more his mood had anything to do with it other than whatever the hormones he was taking did to his mood. Manny might not help them much when he gets back...because he might be being extra careful to avoid the next steroid suspension that would cost him 100 games and $15 million, and thus might not be the player he was while juiced.

QUOTE (G&T @ May 7, 2009 -> 08:58 AM) Gammons has back tracked on his comments from earlier. He won't take a position on it now. The talk of exactly what it was he was on likely played directly in to that.

QUOTE (G&T @ May 7, 2009 -> 08:55 AM) ESPN has a special and a doctor from NYU is on. The question could he go 15 tests without being positive. He didn't have sure answer but said that HGC can mask some effects of steroids depending on the test used. MLB has no anti-doping oversight so he couldn't say for sure. Nothing we didn't already know. Just because he didn't have a masking agent in his system this time doesn't mean he didn't have one there the other 14 times.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ May 7, 2009 -> 08:48 AM) Forgot about Gary Sheffield...there's another name that will draw a lot of scrutiny, and he's sort of the Jim Rice/Eddie Murray of this generation of baseball players anyway. Sheffield has been directly implicated in the BALCO case and admitted he took "Flaxseed oil" supplied by Bonds, IIRC, aka the clear.

R2K/Daily Kos polled this state the correct way. Other more specific issue questions at link. The key information they made sure to get was the undecided/no opinion columns for each candidate. Basically, the story is...Specter whomps everyone right now, but look at the 37% definite Specter and the 56% no opinion for Sestak...That's all room to grow for a strong opponent. If Specter had to fend off a primary challenge, he's in danger...so he needs to start working to make sure that doesn't happen.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ May 7, 2009 -> 08:28 AM) The next question: does David Ortiz come under investigation? Youkilis? Pedroia? I mean, it is pretty suspicious an organization as adept at judging talent with Terry Ryan letting Ortiz go quite easily, then he morphs into a Hall of Fame type player like that magically by playing in Fenway. There's not going to be any special Red Sox investigation unless something happens like the McNamee case, where the trainer is found and starts naming people or something crazy like that.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ May 7, 2009 -> 08:19 AM) Trevor Hoffman You can't possibly include Hoffman in a list and not note Rivera.

QUOTE (ZoomSlowik @ May 7, 2009 -> 08:00 AM) Please. They allow absolutely no contact now, players used to be able to body up to guys as much as they wanted. If you fart in the general vicinity of Lebron or Wade they call a foul. Lebron has also had I believe less than 1 foul called on him per game in the playoffs so far.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ May 7, 2009 -> 08:08 AM) So which position players from the last 20 years are still going to make the HOF? Griffey, Jr. Thomas Thome Biggio Bagwell??? (there have to be some questions about him too) Captain Jetes. Ichiro. Maybe Pudge Rodriguez, he's in that gray area though.

QUOTE (Chisoxfn @ May 7, 2009 -> 08:10 AM) Ya, but ED is also a relatively common thing for people his age or at least I'm led to believe that given all of the commercials on TV. But the commercials also say that women shouldn't handle the pills for a reason. The hormones for each sex are completely different. The only reason for Manny to be taking a female's product is if he's coming down off a steroid cycle, as far as I can tell (anyone can correct me if they know more).

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ May 7, 2009 -> 07:59 AM) ESPN....Quinn, writer for LA Times I think. He's going to get into a really messy explanation of his private/sex life and/or there's a direct connection to coming off a steroid cycle, which is how HCG is normally perceived as being used in the performance-enhancement/"muscle" community. In the court of public opinion, there's not going to be much recovery from this IMO. The other way to look at it...if this is what Manny tested positive for, he wasn't just an "I tried it once and realized what I was doing was wrong" kind of guy. He was a serious abuser who went through at least a full cycle and was in a position where he or his doctors knew exactly what he was doing well enough for them to have a schedule for how long he can stay on it and how to come down effectively.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ May 7, 2009 -> 07:55 AM) Nope, it was for HCG. (See detailed explanation above). Ok, so here's the question then...is there any legitimate reason why a doctor would have proscribed this stuff for him?

One more point in my back-from-the-gym flurry of posts...Manny Ramirez had an incredible 2nd half last season. Most people wrote it off to him being motivated. His numbers surged, he hit like .400. There's another totally logical explanation for why his performance would surge like that; a cycle of doping.

QUOTE (Steve9347 @ May 7, 2009 -> 07:21 AM) Turico and Van Pelt say the drug was a women's fertility drug, commonly taken when coming off a "cycle" of steroids or PEDs. Is it considered an actual "Masking agent"?

QUOTE (JPN366 @ May 7, 2009 -> 07:37 AM) It always bothered me that George Mitchell, a diehard Red Sox fan, didn't find anything on any, at the time, current Boston players. How could they have been immune while at least every other team had someone on the list? Sounds like there needs to be a investigation into the validity of the Mitchell Report. I knew something was fishy about it then, now my suspiscions are confirmed. But, since the baseball media revolves around the Red Sox, it will be ignored. All the while Bonds, A-Rod, etc. will be villified as cheats, but Manny won't. [/color]Because as we all know, Manny is much more vital to the sport and as a role model to kids how to play the game. The problem with the Mitchell Report is that it was admittedly incomplete. Mitchell only had a couple sources and they all came from the Feds. He got Radomski's info because the Feds had him, he got the HGH network associated with Grimsley because the Feds had it, he had the BALCO info because the Feds had it. The problem is...he didn't have any ability to compel players to talk to him or to force them to give him information about others, thus, he couldn't get any info that wasn't handed to him on a silver platter. If guys were dealing with someone else, like that Dominican trainer that keeps following ARod around, or they were buying stuff from some other source, say out of the country, or Hell even through the internets with a false name/PO Box, Mitchell wouldn't have had any way of getting info about it.

Couple clarifications... People brought up PED's other than steroids, like amphetamines. The rule for speed is that the first one is still under the table with counseling, but the player would know. The 2nd one is what earns you a suspension. That's why Cameron got suspended; he tested positive twice. If It was not on the PED list, it would not be public unless he tested positive 2x, so it can't just be an amphetamine or something along those lines. Second, I believe Baseball's PED policy is zero tolerance. You can appeal but it goes no where. That's why Romero is suing the supplement manufacturer; it's his only legal recourse. The union basically ceded that right, correctly, to get congress off of the league's back.

So, for the couple Manny defenders in here...let's hypothetically assume Canseco is right again, and Manny's name is among the 104 from 2003. Any opinion change?

QUOTE (Kalapse @ May 7, 2009 -> 06:04 AM) He's also not a damn psychic, he doesn't know about every player in the game. A lot of his "outings" have been the result of hearsay and guess work. He's just willing to throw names out there because he truly has nothing to lose at this point. The problem is...he keeps being right. There keep being rumors about the right guys. Players aren't stupid.

QUOTE (whitesoxfan101 @ May 7, 2009 -> 05:59 AM) I can't argue with most of this, but saying he isn't known to have the greatest work ethic in the world is simply false. He's notorious for being one of the first guys to the ballpark and spending hours in the batting cage. He is a lazy defensive player and baserunner at times, but his work ethic isn't something that can be questioned. That doesn't mean s*** though, since Roger Clemens is known for his work ethic too and he was also on the stuff. The thing to remember about people's work ethics is that the steroids help with that. They enable you to work harder and longer in the weight room without having to give your body as much time to recover. We hear about b*tch t*ts's work ethic all the time, all the hours he put in at the gym, etc., ditto tetrahydrogestrinone's work ethic, always building up at the gym...they're able to do that in the first place because of the steroids, it's not just some side thing they're oding.

QUOTE (Kalapse @ May 7, 2009 -> 05:59 AM) If the NFL leaned as heavily on history, records and comparing players of different eras as baseball does then the NFL would be in bigger trouble. The NFL will take it at some point. Just watch. Either people will start dying or someone ridiculously big (like a Brady/Manning/Favre) will get caught and they'll just have their pants down. Or someone will write a Canseco style book, whatever.

QUOTE (G&T @ May 7, 2009 -> 05:58 AM) He seems to know the cleanliness of a lot of players he didn't play with. That's because there weren't all that many big time distributors. Look at Radomski...he's one guy working for 1 team but he's supplying like 50 people. That, and Canseco earns more money for each name he comes up with, so if he's heard a rumor or sees a guy with his shirt off, he can defy the other guy to file a libel suit against him and prove he was clean (which is virtually impossible.)

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ May 7, 2009 -> 05:56 AM) The docor excuse was authored by Scott Boras. Read Manny's apology and then listen to Manny speak and tell me they are from the same person. Its spin city. Why wouldn't Manny appeal which is his right? I'm not sure that MLB Players still have the right to an appeal for a PED suspension, I think that was a key part of getting Congress off their backs, anyone know more?

QUOTE (Hatchetman @ May 7, 2009 -> 05:52 AM) since when do doctors give out silly supplements with questionable effects? That's just Manny's doctor being Manny's doctor.

QUOTE (CanOfCorn @ May 7, 2009 -> 05:52 AM) Didn't Canseco and Thomas play together on the Sox? If so, I think Canseco would have said something. Canseco was signed in 2001 after Thomas hit the DL with an injury. The whole David Wells calling Frank out for not really being hurt a day before he went down for the season thing.