Ozzie disputes steroid suspensions with Lilly

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Ozzie disputes Lilly on steroids issue

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February 16, 2009

BY GORDON WITTENMYERand JOE COWLEY Staff Reporters

 

MESA, Ariz. – Ozzie Guillen’s suggestion of a one-year suspension for first-time offenders for banned substances drew sarcasm and skepticism from the Cubs’ players union representative.

 

"Well, whatever Ozzie says, that should be what we should do," said pitcher Ted Lilly, who was asked whether something like that would be a good deterrent and good for the game.

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Ted Lilly, who is the Cubs' players union representative, doesn't like the way steroid news has been leaked out to damage the game. And he doesn't like Ozzie Guillen's proposal.

 

(AP)

 

 

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"I don’t know," Lilly said. "Is there any possible chance that there could be some mistakes in the testing along the way? That would be a bummer if that happened to you. ... Is there any way possible or fathomable that there could be some corruption? I don’t know."

 

Guillen, who was told about Lilly's comments by a second-hand source, wasn't thrilled with the perceived sarcasm.

 

“First of all, I was a player rep and in the union before Lilly was even in the game," Guillen said on Monday. “When I was talking about that one-year [suspension], I was talking to baseball. The only way we’re going to get people to believe and get the fans back on track is if we do something really, really heavy duty. We have to show the fans we’re trying to do something.

 

“I felt bad when I heard about [Alex Rodriguez’s admittance]. I was a fan of the game before Lilly was. That’s my opinion and I hope people respect my opinion. They don’t have to agree with what I say. But if Lilly is trying to say that people have to listen to me, no, they don’t have to listen to me. You should at least respect what I say, though."

 

Lilly, who became the Cubs’ player rep last season, said he thinks people are tired of hearing and reading about the issue of performance-enhancing drugs and leaked information about players linked to steroids or positive tests, such as the recent Rodriguez revelations.

 

"What if people stopped paying attention?" Lilly said. "I guess, unfortunately, there are enough people that are interested in hearing about things like that and hearing what Britney Spears is doing with her personal life. It’s too bad. There are a lot of other good things going on out there."’

 

Guillen said he understood that Lilly and the rest of the players are tired of talking about the steroid subject, but warned them that jamming their heads in the sand and hoping it will go away isn’t good enough.

 

“If Lilly thinks this cloud is going to blow out of here quick enough ... no it’s not because we haven’t done enough to make it better," Guillen continued. “If he’s looking at me now as being on the other side because I’m a manager and not a player, well I spent a lot of money – I was in the union for 17 years. I went through three strikes and lost a lot of money because of the union and never complained. If the players want to do a year suspension or not, I don’t care, but they better understand how the fans feel.

 

“I respect what he’s saying. I know as a player that he might think what I’m saying is arrogant or ‘You don’t give a [heck] about us anymore,’ but the only way to get this behind us is we need to do something drastic. All these 10-game suspension, 50-game, they don’t do anything. Lilly didn’t hear what I was saying. I said all the stuff that happened in 2003, ’05, ’08, throw it all away. It’s too late now to worry about that. We have to worry about 2009, 2010 and beyond and make sure we put this behind us. Doing something drastic would do that. That would clear things up real fast where players could say, ‘Oh now they’re serious.’"

 

Rodriguez was one of 104 players who tested positive in 2003, when major league baseball conducted survey testing without punitive measures included.

 

Lilly said he’s not interested in seeing the 103 other names and isn’t sure there would be any positive reason to reveal the full list – even if it meant ending some of the speculation surrounding some of the guys not on the list.

 

Those who tested positive that year reportedly were informed of their results, and Lilly said it’s possible some are concerned about the results becoming public.

 

Does he know the identities of any of the 103 who have not been revealed. "Well, if I did, I probably wouldn’t tell you anyway," he said.

 

"At the end of the day, I want the game to have a good name," Lilly said, "and for people to focus on all the good things that the players are doing. And there’s a lot to pay attention to.

 

"Whoever’s involved in getting all this negative information out there, I think they’re probably a lot of the same people that say they love the game and they want to clean it up and they want good things to happen. So I’m trying to understand how that’s going to help. To me it brings negative attention to the game"’

Guillen wasn’t angry when he was discussing Lilly’s comments, but did seem agitated that his opinion was being met with what seemed to be sarcasm from the Cubs' hurler. And while he restrained himself from getting personal with Lilly, well, Ozzie is Ozzie.

 

“I was player rep before Ted Lilly," Guillen added. “I respect his opinion and I don’t know why it sounds like he doesn’t respect mine. Tell him to worry about winning games for the Cubs and winning games for Lou, not what Ozzie thinks or says."