I'm one of those people who thinks the bulk of players in the 1990s were cheating, that players used steroids well before the supposed "steroid era" began, that players can and still are beating drug tests and that no one has ever gone from being a scrub to a star because of PEDs. I don't like the cheating, but I certainly understand it and I think a lot of it balanced out; there's good reason to think an even higher percentage of pitchers than hitters were cheating.
So, while I didn't expect to see 16 Manny Ramirez-related emails in my inbox while checking the old Blackberry this morning, I wasn't exactly surprised. There isn't a name that could come out that would surprise me now. Maybe Tony Pena Jr.'s. Steroids must be of some actual use, after all.
If ESPN's sources are right, then Ramirez was cheating and likely had been for a while:
Two sources told ESPN's T.J. Quinn and Mark Fainaru-Wada that the drug used by Ramirez is HCG -- human chorionic gonadotropin. HCG is a women's fertility drug typically used by steroid users to restart their body's natural testosterone production as they come off a steroid cycle. It is similar to Clomid, the drug (Barry) Bonds, (Jason) Giambi and others used as clients of BALCO.
Now what everyone is going to want to know is when he started. Are Boston's championships tainted? (Yes, the Red Sox almost certainly had cheaters on their 2004 and 2007 clubs. As most likely did all of the clubs they were competing against. Deal with it.) It's entirely possible that he's cheated his entire career, maybe even dating back to high school.
However, I also wouldn't be surprised to learn that he started up about a year ago.
I thought Ramirez was done as a superstar last May. His OPS dropped all of the way from 1058 in 2006 to 881 in 2007. He homered once every 12.3 at-bats in 2005, once every 12.8 at-bats in 2006 and once every 24.2 at-bats in 2007. The home run bounced back somewhat in the first half of 2008, but he finished the first three months at .286/.377/.514. It'd be a great line for the typical corner outfielder, but it wasn't typical Manny.
It wasn't just the numbers, though. Right-handers capable of throwing in the mid-90s and unleashing quality sliders were making quick work of him. Ramirez really is about as smart of a hitter that there is in the game, and he was still feasting on mistakes. But to my eyes, the quality pitches that he used to line for doubles were instead resulting in swings and misses. Ramirez was always a guy fans wanted up at the end of close games. However, that's when teams usually have their best pure arms on the mound and Ramirez just wasn't having any luck against them.
Ramirez had to know he wasn't catching up to fastballs like he once did. Maybe that's when he decided he needed a boost. A month or two to kick in, a trade to the easier league, a happier situation… the perfect storm?
Anyway, it's just a thought. It probably didn't go down like that at all. Nothing is going to surprise me.
Leave a Comment:
Saving...
"Manny Being Mental"
He quit on the Sox last year. This couldn't have happened to a better player or a better team. Good luck La La Land!!
The way I see it, it's karma. He intentionally under-performed for the Red Sox so he could leave Boston and now his actions and choices are coming back to bite him in his !@!. He deserves everything that's happening. And as far as him being sorry, he's only sorry he got caught.
The way I see it, it's karma. He intentionally under-performed for the Red Sox so he could leave Boston and now his actions and choices are coming back to bite him in his !@!. He deserves everything that's happening. And as far as him being sorry, he's only sorry he got caught.
The article makes some interesting points about Manny's 2007 and 2008 stats. Although it is theoretically possible that he has been doing this as far back as high school, many players start when they notice a slowdown due to age. He was at the age where diminished production is to be expected. In the pre-drug era, most sluggers were on a slippery slope by age 35.
Anyone else notice how contract expiration affects performance? Take a look back at just about ANY player who changes teams via free agency. The stats for their "walk" year are usually fabulous, and seldom repeated except in contract expiration years. Is the PED crisis linked to contract expiration? In some cases, I think so.
Next, consider the arrival of Boras as Manny's agent. Manny's contract with the Red Sox was so large that he had the luxury of being clean if he wanted to be. He could have simply played it out and retired. Since the arrival of Boras, Manny's priority has been the pursuit of a new contract. But there was a problem: Manny's 2007 and 2008 stats were not consistent with a $25M+ deal. I think it's fair to assume Boras knew this by mid-2008 at the latest. The question is: what (if anything) did he DO about it? Now consider A-Rod trying to get out of Texas in 2003. Was that his motivation to try steroids? I wonder.
There were 100+ players caught in the 2003 so-called "anonymous" test program. I assume 200 more were dirty but somehow evaded detection. 300 players means an AVERAGE of 10 per team. Manny and A-Rod were not alone. I find it hard to believe that ANY team was clean in 2003 or today for that matter.
Perhaps the best we can do is to assume the problem was rampant in the past and we can direct our energy into severe punishments for those who are CURRENTLY dirty. By that standard, Manny is dirty and everyone else is as good as their last drug test.
"many players start when they notice a slowdown due to age"
How do you know this? So far many of the players named were already past their primes, but what about A-Rod? I'm sure their are others, too, even if I'm drawing a blank now. The reason for steriod use seems to me not to be to outperform one's self, but to outperform one's peers.
That's one of your speculative and unsubstantiated comments. Most of the rest of your post is the same (200 more dirty but evaded detection? Really? Where did you get 200? Why not 400? or why not 0?). When you look at the so called "steroid era" and the media around it, it becomes obvious that there are plenty of opinions, not so many facts. Invariably, however, more facts are coming out. I'll wait for these before making sweeping judgments or unsubstantiated allegations.
Great analysis, hg1234. Dead on & I wouldn't be surprised if you are 100% correct. The Minimum Performance Level needed needed to stay in the Bigs probably kept shifting all over the place & was getting higher & higher with each year during the "Steroid Period". So, what's a poor "non-superstar" player to do? Silly question, rabbit. Answer: Whatever it takes to stay in the bigs. One of the best stastical anomaly of the period: Luis Gonzales, D-Backs. He just about doubled his home run count from 2000 to 2001, 31 to 58, then back to 28 in 2002 & never before or since did he hit over 30 home runs. The stats of so many player show such swings that it's possible that the majority of players from 98 - 03 were playing with enhanced bodies. Of course, if you look at the 1930s, they were playing with enhanced baseballs. I'd love to see how the stats of the players in the 1930s spiked in a similar manner. Hack Wilson with 190 RIBs? Oh, come on. I'd do what Ford Frick threatened to do with Roger Maris. I'd put an astrick next to Ramirez, McGuire, Bonds, Clements, etc. records for those years. What's a poor boy to do, anyway?
I want to thank Manny....for Jason Bay!
am i the only one who doesn't care? i mean... if an idiot ballplayer wants to stick a needle in his butt, does it really change anything from a fan's perspective?
it taints the numbers of players in past generations is the popular argument... this is 2009. everything is different. why aren't we griping about players having access to a weight room 24 hours? certainly if ruth and mayes and aaron and the likes of them would have had this kind of access, they would probably have hit a thousand homeruns.
how about motion capture swings? professional players now a day can map their swings through a computer in order to find that "perfect" consistent swing. certainly the players of generations past would have benefitted from such technology? noone is griping about this.
things change, generationally. baseball needs to pull itself off of the throne they've created with their overinflated egos (america's pass time?) and realize that their drug policy is ridiculous. the chemicals that players inject don't make them better ballplayers. it may add 25 feet to a fly ball out to center and make it a homerun. but it still takes an incredible amount of talent and dedication to reach the level that these guys do. no YMCA softball player is going to start shooting up and turn into ken griffey jr. overnight.
if a juiced up pitcher is throwing a ball to a juiced up hitter, how does either gain an advantage and how does it hurt my experience?
From the fan's perspective, you are correct. Let 'em use whatever they want. No doubt about it; steroids work. Not for just anyone, you still need talent.
The problem is there are serious long-term side effects from steroid use. And when one guy does it and his performance goes up, others are pressured into doing it if they want to stay in the majors. Pretty soon, you have to start juicing in the minor leagues in order to make it to the majors. And before long, you have to start juicing in high school and/or college just to get drafted. There are some people who claim it ALREADY works this way. More than a few high school players have been caught with steroids. How low does the problem go? Little League? If we don't stop steroid abuse in the majors, it will be impossible to keep it under control at lower levels.
i'll bet when ballplayers start dying by the hundreds in their late 40s because of steroids, a lot fewer of the younger generation will consider steroids as a viable option.
but baseball has done absolutely nothing to repair the part of the equation that you mention hg. baseball has placed itself on a throne and thinks that the steroid issue only exists within the confines of their stadiums. if young players were educated equally about the dangers of steroids as well as the benefits, there would be a significant decrease in cases of kids using steroids.
i would also point out that not everything on baseball's banned substance list comes with life threatening risks. this is another part of the problem, baseball has made this discussion about anabolic steroids, which isn't always the case anymore. manny, for example, was not caught using a steroid, but rather a substance that helps your body recover from the steroid cycle. baseball's drug policy needs major review. i understand steroids are bad, but how about something like creatine? perfectly legal in any gym in america but illegal in baseball. some energy drinks can't even be consumed by players. some salad dressings in restaurants can cause a negative drug test result in the majors. it's ridiculous. i understand the health effects behind "steroids", but there is so much more on the banned substance list that comes with little or no long term risk. kids have shunned these products in favor of anabolic steroids because of the glamour attached with them, specifically by baseball's handling of the situation.
I remember going to Dodgers' batting practice as a kid and seeing a guy named Billy Ashley. This kid was huge--probably on steroids. In warm-ups he would hit the ball a mile. I'm talking like out of Dodger Stadium. Come gametime, he couldn't hit the ball at all. My point being, anyone can take steroids and become a giant (no pun intended). Still doesn't make them a good ball player.