[Curll]

Source | ESPN.com

ESPN.com said:

FORT MYERS, Fla. -- David Ortiz says players who test positive for steroids should be suspended from baseball for the whole season.

No direct quote given. Interesting, albeit more ST fodder. I suppose this would cast further doubt on the theory that Papi used 'roids at any point in his career. You know, unless he's pulling an A-Rod, Telada, Bonds, and Rafael Palmeiro.

Anyway, I am in complete agreement here. In fact, I've wanted the Olympic Standard (2 year/lifetime).

A side note, however. Some of the banned supplements are getting absurd. The NCAA recently added a few substances and a few of them can be found in Vitamin Water, so the basketball team at my school now has a list of sports drinks they cannot consume. A number of MLB players have stated that they were suspended for banned substances, but not steroids. MLB does not release the exact results of the testing to the public. That should be changed.

[RedSoxAnni]

I had posted the ProJo account of Ortiz's comments in the News Links a few hours ago...

Boston.com just posted Nick Cafardo's observations here

Ortiz was asked whether it bothered him that the 2003 confidential test was made public in the case of A-Rod.

"Like I said, this game has been hurt, a lot," said Ortiz. "This is not a players' game, this is not a team game, it's a family game. We have a lot of families that live for this game. We have a lot of families that enjoy these games and people who bring their kids to watch these games. And I don't think this game can take any more. More than 80 or 90 percent of the players [are] playing clean [now]. We're going through a tough situation all the way around, our soldiers fighting in Iraq, and this game is a distraction for people and the American family. I would like to see some changes and let us just play the game. Guys like myself, I will do what ever it takes to make this game get better. But not everybody's on the same page, you know what I mean? The game has changed a lot. Just play the game. The game is tough enough. These things we heard from Alex, that was the last thing you want to hear about the baseball game. The guy came out -- and he didn't wait until they took him to the Congress and all that. He was honest."

Ortiz said that he believes players are clean because testing is quite invasive, and if they test positive now, they should be thrown out of the game for the rest of the year. He said that players and whole teams should be tested "three or four times a year, that's it" which he thinks would give a good reading on who is or who isn't on steroids.

"I think you clean up the game by the testing. I test you, you test positive, you're going to be out. Period," Ortiz said. "If I test positive using any kind of banned substance I'm going to disrespect the game, my family, my fans and everybody. And I don't want to face the situation so I won't use it. I'm sure everybody is on the same page."

While Ortiz thinks "80 or 90" percent of players are now clean, he said "from what I've seen right now from the testimony that Alex gave, I would say it was very low the percentage that wasn't using it. Like he said, that's what was going around the league at the time. What else do you want? But in 2004 when they came out with the testing, I guarantee the percentage has been going down."

[Baystater]

Baseball's leadership (if you want to call it that) obscures the whole steroids issue by not disclosing their testing procedures--who is being tested and how often. The result is the fans are in the dark about steroid use. They don't know, for example, if Ramirez was tested last fall when he was hitting out of sight (even for him) for the Dodgers. And they don't know if ARod has been tested since 2003 with the Yankees.
Heaven forbid if a Yankee player ever gets caught. Or a Red Sox player, for that matter.

[ScottyB]

Curll, on 16 February 2009 - 03:13 PM, said:

Source | ESPN.com



No direct quote given. Interesting, albeit more ST fodder. I suppose this would cast further doubt on the theory that Papi used 'roids at any point in his career. You know, unless he's pulling an A-Rod, Telada, Bonds, and Rafael Palmeiro.

Anyway, I am in complete agreement here. In fact, I've wanted the Olympic Standard (2 year/lifetime).

A side note, however. Some of the banned supplements are getting absurd. The NCAA recently added a few substances and a few of them can be found in Vitamin Water, so the basketball team at my school now has a list of sports drinks they cannot consume. A number of MLB players have stated that they were suspended for banned substances, but not steroids. MLB does not release the exact results of the testing to the public. That should be changed.

I may be way off base here, but instead of being angry with MLB for not disclosing testing, substances, and results, you should be angry at the players' union who is keeping us in the dark about these matters.

[RSJ]

Holy random thread revival, Batman!

[BigSlick]

Baystater, on 16 February 2009 - 05:40 PM, said:

Baseball's leadership (if you want to call it that) obscures the whole steroids issue by not disclosing their testing procedures--who is being tested and how often. The result is the fans are in the dark about steroid use. They don't know, for example, if Ramirez was tested last fall when he was hitting out of sight (even for him) for the Dodgers. And they don't know if ARod has been tested since 2003 with the Yankees.
Heaven forbid if a Yankee player ever gets caught. Or a Red Sox player, for that matter.

Mods, Baystater didn't write this. I did. Please don't ban me.

[rominer]

BigSlick, on 23 November 2009 - 04:02 PM, said:

Please don't ban me.

They can do that?

I just lost a little bit of respect for you.