Alex Rodriguez: Hall of Famer?

Were people saying the same thing about Raffy a few years ago?

I actually tend to agree with you about Thomas.

With Pujols and Cabrera, I kind of feel like it's just a matter of time. I'd be very happy to be wrong.

 

Not before Olerud.

 

Assuming Braun plays for another decade, his suspension guarantees that we'll still be having the PED discussion 15 years from now when his name shows up on the ballot.

I think that bothers me more than anything else...

 

PED users can have my HOF vote when they pry it from my cold dead fingers. Thing is, their fingers will be cold and dead before mine, given chronicled impact on life expectancies.

 

WHat are your feelings on greenies and other enhancements?

 

I'm still tickled at how someone who pitches with a ligament taken from a cadaver is celebrated, while someone who injects a few chemicals is dammed.

 

Pete Rose will be in the Hall of Fame before Alex Rodriguez.

 

I completely understand and respect those who say they will never vote for anyone who is widely believed to have used PEDs.

If I had a vote, I would vote for Bonds and Clemens. I would base that on what they did early in their careers. I don't really think there's anyone else out there who people think was clean for a decent portion of their career, maybe Ivan Rodriguez...

I think it may be easier to keep all of them out, and I certainly understand that.

 

I completely lose respect for anyone who says there is some kind of way to tell whether they're right or wrong about their suspicions. Bonds and Clemens and A-Rod and Sosa and McGwire did, Piazza and Bagwell didn't? Or maybe they did too because we just know it? But we know Frank Thomas and Jim Thome and Derek Jeter didn't?

I'd love to know how people figured out those answers. Maybe Joe could tell us who did and didn't do steroids and clear it all up.

 

I do not believe any of the Balco drugs were illegal in technical terms, on account of nobody knowing they existed in the first place. Not sure how Biiogenesis in specific or HGH in general fits into that picture.

 

I had a discussion with a friend who is a voter in January and he said "The people who are voting know who used and who didn't..." I thought that was kind of dismissive... I know people have said that Piazza has admitted doing PEDs off the record, but did Bagwell do the same? What about Schilling?

The whole thing just seems very complicated and it seems like a lot of assumptions are being made. That's not to say the assumptions aren't accurate but... I don't know...

 

Have PEDs helped or hurt A-Rod?

To what degree can you attribute his recent injuries to PEDs?

(And, I'm not trying to make any larger point, just curious what kind of numbers he would have put up without them.)