So will he be forgiven?
February 9th, 2009 by Cliffy
ARod owns up:
http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20090209&content_id=3811116&vkey=news_mlb&fext=.jsp&c_id=mlb
So…. will he be forgiven?
4 Responses to “So will he be forgiven?”
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February 9th, 2009 at 5:04 pm
Forgiven is not the right term… there are certainly some Baseball Writers with HOF votes who will never forgive him (i.e. vote for him), but I have little doubt that the general public will forgive him. Obviously he has learned through watching the difference between Bonds/Clemens and Giambi/Pettitte. Apparently, it is much worse to lie about it than to do it in the first place. In AROD’s defense he did it at a time when it was basically legal to do so (or the chances of being caught were near zero), and he was on a team where everyone was doing it…. Pudge, Juan Gonzalez, Palmiero, Velarde….
I apploud AROD for coming clean, but in reality he didn’t have a choice…… so it is very hard to give him any credit.
The most interesting item for me regarding steroids is Chad Curtis. He was also on that team, and was very vocal about the inequity of those who use and don’t use. He went to the union in 2001 and asked Fehr to address the steroid situation, and Fehr told him to piss off and that it wasn’t a problem.
February 9th, 2009 at 6:08 pm
A-Rod (and Bonds) is an interesting case - they have their supporters and detractors, and I think this event will not convince his backers to change course, and will give detractors just another bullet point (same for Bonds, even if he is convicted of lying).
They will both get into HOF, simply because they would have w/o PED’s. Maybe they will get “slapped on the wrist” and not get the coveted “first ballot HOFer” moniker, but they will get in eventually.
While I loathe to give him any credit in this, at least he admitted to all 3 years, and not just 2003 (then again, to be a cynic - he probably did that only becuase he knew someone had the dirt on all 3 years, and he didn’t want to get caught lying again later on). Then again, who knows how long if/when he has taken PED’s that are currently not testable.
What I want to know is - who has the list of 104 names, and how much longer until THAT becomes public? Tim Kurkjin (sp) said it could be soon. I hope so.
And if there is any justice in the world, Clemens’s name will be on it, and he will be forced to stop his stupid charade once and for all…
February 9th, 2009 at 9:55 pm
I find it very difficult to get worked up about this, and though I think ARod is generally a very unsympathetic figure, in this case it seems like he’s gotten hosed by being the only one of 104 names to be disclosed. I’m not totally convinced playing for Texas even counts as major league service, so it seems churlish to hold him to major league standards during his tenure there.
February 11th, 2009 at 4:21 pm
Another take on ARod:
http://joeposnanski.com/JoeBlog/2009/02/10/a-something-part-ii/
Essentially, the author is not overly upset that he actually took them (like nearly everbody else in the sport was at that time) - but very upset with the “apology” that ensued. I have to say… I think I’m in line with Joe Posnanski on this.
I am disappointed ARod took steroids, but not surprised. Ken Caminiti (before he died… um, obviously) suggested usage was over 80% of the league. He was scoffed at when he said that. Personally I’m thinking it’s much closer to his estimation than Canseco’s 50%. Thus, I’m not surprised by any name that comes out. I would like some of the all-time greats who played in the last 10-20 years to actually be clean - and I admit I was pleased at the prospect of (clean) ARod overtaking (dirty) Bonds [who’d overtaken (clean) Aaron… if you ass-ume Henry took no greenies… oh wait, we’re not morally outraged by *that* drug abuse… my bad.]. Thus, my disappointment.
But it’s like someone else said (and it’s been said before), “Are you sorry for what you did - or sorry you got caught?” ARod is clearly the latter, despite what he said… and that’s very annoying to me. Fine - he “gave up” that he took for three years when he could’ve gone the Pettitte route and claimed “only once”… er, then “only twice”. But as Tank notes, who the hell cares that he took ‘em for three years in Texas. It’s all just too neat: I took ‘em when I signed the big contract, but stopped right before I got to my current team in my current town with all my marketing opportunities… oh, and the kids are important.
Gag me with a spoon. I would’ve been impressed if ARod (or any of them) came out when this broke and the *first* time they were asked, *then* they came clean. Otherwise, as Joe P. suggests, it’s the Pete Rose Gambit. I’d respect him more if he didn’t (again) try to fool us all with some convenient story but rather said, “I’m sorry I got caught - but I’m not admitting to anything more than I was already caught with.” Sure… he’d get lambasted for that - but at least we could be certain he was speaking “truthfully”.
I have no doubt he took them outside of the nice tidy 3-yr Texas window - and I don’t really care that he did… but I’m aggravated that he can’t admit to something other than what we already know he did.
I’m not sure any other “info” will come out detailing ARod’s usage outside the 3-yr Texas window - but just don’t be surprised if it does… all I’m sayin’. And if/when it does, we’ll be treated to another “oops… I misremembered” interview about as genuine as the proverbial three-dollar bill.
Okay… I’m done now.
P.S. The Boston Globe’s Michael Smith was on “Around the Horn” last night, and made this point: “It’s no longer about ‘clean’ and ‘dirty’… it’s about ‘got caught’ and ‘didn’t get caught’.” That’s not to suggest that every ML player was taking ‘em during the Steroids Era - but it is to point that we don’t know who took ‘em… and won’t, until they get caught. Rich Garces name hasn’t come up yet - but I can’t ass-ume then that he was clean… I can only note that he hasn’t gotten caught (yet). [For those who may be unaware, Rich Garces was “El Guapo”… a middle reliever for a few years with Boston who’s physique wasn’t as defined as that of the Pillsbury Dough Boy. He was a cult hero as a result… cuz every Beer League softballer looked at him and saw themselves… in worse shape.]