SI: Alex Rodriguez tested positive for steroids in '03...

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2009/baseball/mlb/02/07/alex-rodriguez-steroids/index.html?eref=T1

 

Wow. Not that this is totally unexpected, but this is going to be a huge story.

Been hearing this for years, like most of you, I'm sure.

Boom, care to dig up various Verducci stories singing the praises of a clean A-Rod?

 

Not surprised at all. And another one bites the dust.

 

Not doubting the veracity of the reporting.

But four sources, all suddenly leaking sealed evidence to SI?

 

I'm beginning to wonder if any of the best hitters from the mid-90s to early 00s were clean. I'm thinking the distinction is more of who's been caught and who got away with it, instead of who was using and who not.

 

How did A - Rod get past the stringent Mitchell investigation.

I am more interested in how many Red Sox are on that list.

A Fraud carries new meaning now.

 

A fair point, but what if they've been chasing this for two years, and got four sources over that time period? We don't really have a time line here of how the story was put together or what finally let them go forward with it. I think if you're going to make this kind of claim against the best player in the game, it's probably the kind of thing you need to be airtight before you go forward. Maybe SI editors said they needed four sources to go with it. And they finally got the fourth this week.

 

I almost wish we could just get a positive test for Pujols now so we could give up this fantasy that anyone was the noble saint, doing it all clean in an era of cheaters.

 

I know that steroids is Absolutely The Biggest Issue There Absolutely Ever Was Ever, but this passage is troubling.

"...there were no penalties for a positive test in 2003. The results of that year's survey testing of 1,198 players were meant to be anonymous under the agreement between the commissioner's office and the players association. Rodriguez's testing information was found, however, after federal agents, armed with search warrants, seized the '03 test results from Comprehensive Drug Testing, Inc., of Long Beach, Calif., one of two labs used by MLB in connection with that year's survey testing."

First of all, any player who trusts any investigation into this area is completely crazy at this point.
Second, why did the feds raid this lab? As part of the BALCO investigation? Please. My guess? This is old Jeff Novitzsky playing fast and loose with due process again. Fuck him and his crusade.

 

You can't assume anyone is clean, including pitchers.

 

Oh that A-Rod. Always has to be the center of attention.

I'm sure if this is true, Verducci will never mention that he identified A-Rod as clean as a whistle less than 15 months ago. (hi Boom!) http://vault.sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1114004/index.htm Money quote: "In A-Rod they trust."

Interesting probably only to me: Wasn't it the first Saturday of February five years ago that the news of the trade to the Yankees broke?