The Mets Police

Good read:  The Big Lead

It's a list of players with alleged ties to trainer Angel Presinal.    There are some interesting names dropped in the article.  At least two will catch your eye.

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With the Ortiz/Ramirez revelations coming out, I can't help but think of steroids this morning.




I find myself thinking of other players on the 2003 Red Sox and how some players with alleged steroid ties such as Clemens or Bonds were already good before they started taking.   I think about how many players who allegedly took steroids were awesome for a few years and then broke down.  

I think about what numbers the Mets might retire and I encourage them to be careful about one particular number.   At least with 16 and 17 we know what their sins were, and they've payed their penance.  Not everyone has.

I think about the column I'm going to write some day asking Mets fans if deep down they were really shocked that player x was on the list.   It's going to be a sad day for the franchise.   That's just one man's opinion, and who I think it is I will keep to myself, but to quote Darth Vader, "Search your feelings.  You know it to be true."  

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The folks over at Rootzoo dropped us a note and asked us to link to this.  We happily do so.



Mets Police has benefitted form other sites linking to us, so if you've got a blog and think you have something you'd like to share with the audience that visits the site I'm happy to link - send it to shannon@metspolice.com

We also welcome guest columns, and some of the best stuff on this site has come from readers.  If you have something you'd like me to post drop me a line at shannon@metspolice.com.   Just let me know that you'd like it posted to the site as part of your email.

We still welcome pictures (pictures@metspolice.com) of obstructed and unobstructed views.  I recently took a bunch of pics at both new stadiums and will be doing a fair amount of picture posts the next two weeks.

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Yahoo Sports...one of the most widely read things on the internet asks...

Did Piazza Bail Early To Avoid Questions About Steroids?

"He wasn't looking for any attention," Jay Horwitz, the Mets' vice president for media relations, said when asked why Piazza did not want to talk.

"He said, ‘I'm a private person now, I have a family, I'm raising my kids, my wife's having a baby and I want to stay in the background.' "

I don't want to be attacked by Metsdom (criticizing some players seems to draw wrath), so I will stand by my previous statement that it's seems to my eyes that one of the 2000 Mets was on steroids.  Y'all can decide for yourself who it might have been (if anyone).  I have no proof other than my eyes.

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From the Stamford Advocate:

Swineford and some friends have created a Web site called "Baseball Fans Give Back," the digital catalyst behind a one-day event they hope will become an annual tradition of community giving. It was prompted in part by their disgust with the effects of steroids on today's game.

Swineford is asking fans to donate $13 to a charity of their choice -- or one of the 13 listed on the Web site. "That's half the price of the average ticket to a game," he said. It's also Rodriguez' number. 

April 17 was chosen because that was the day Roberto Clemente made his major league debut with the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1954. The Hall of Famer was known not only for his stellar baseball skills, but his humanitarianism. In 1972, Clemente was accompanying a planeload of relief supplies for Nicaragua earthquake victims when the plane crashed. Clemente and four crew members perished.

Read more here.




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I missed this yesterday, and didn't catch it in the blogoverse but former Met (current Diamondback) Scott Schoenweis admitted some past steroid use.

RISK, REWARD, STEROIDS

Inside a Tempting World of Easy Steroids 

By MICHAEL S. SCHMIDT

Published: April 12, 2009

Several players’ accounts offer rare insight into the widespread use of steroids in baseball from 2000 to 2004.

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Gary Sheffield is hardly the player he used to be. He is 39 and in spring training he was hitting under .200 On the flip side he did hit 5 homeruns this spring and the Tigers arepaying him $14 million a year.

That's $14 million guaranteed.

You don't drop a player earning that much unless you know something.

So what do the Tigers know?

Well, what do we know about Sheffield. We know he admitted to using the steroid laden "Cream" from Barry Bonds' trainer in 2001. Sheffield has stated that he stopped using it when he found out what was in it and never went back to the stuff.

What do the Tigers know?

I have nothing to base this on other than pure speculation, but maybe Sheffield' name is on that 2003 list of players who tested positive for steroids. If it is, that's 2 years AFTER he said he had stopped taking it.

What do the Tigers know?


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Folks never get tired of pics:  Here's 150 pics of the New Yankee Stadium and Tons of Pics of Citi Field including some Obstructed Views at C-Field and these ones of Dying Shea  that we shared in December.

For what I believe is the first time people are starting to use the words Piazza and steroids in the same sentence.

I spelled his first name wrong and a bunch of people rightfully called me on it, but now that I know how to spell Jon Matlack people enjoyed reading about him here and here.



The headline is actually more exciting than reading that the Yankees have a new cap , but it is accurate.

I'm on a Meet the Mets and Curly Shuffle kick.

Did stayng with the Mets cost Rusty a shot at 3,000 hits?  No, but it's fun to explore.

Finally, it's time to let the Islanders die.

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Enjoy this fine Newsday comment before Cablevision starts charging for content and we all just go elsewhere. (Maybe when they give up on that dream they'll use the nice simple embedding technology that 95% of the world is using rather than this oversized version they use.) Here's how easy it is for your cousin Yuri to buy steroids in he DR. www.metspolice.com

I was chatting in the hallway about A-Rod being picked up by his cousin.   A theory was floated:

A-Rod IS trying to be stupid.

As he made clear during his steroid defense, he was young and stupid.  And naive.  And stupid.

Now, in an effort to prove that he is stupid, he does stupid things like having his cousin pick him up.

It's brilliant!  Now when he says he was young and stupid, we will see that he's middle aged and stupid, so it makes sense.

Well played Alex, well played.

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So I was reading my own blog tonight and I see an ad for Human Growth Hormone!

Google is selling steroids on my blog!  Yes I allow advertising on my site and some of the ads come from Google - but HGH?!!!    I've noticed that the ads are selected based upon what we've been writing about - so I blame A-Rod!    I'm offended at myself!  As soon as I figure out how to get them off I will, in the meantime I will just try to shame Google Adsense.

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One thing I've learned is that where there is smoke there is fire.

If you hear A-Rod was at the zoo with three unicorns and a zebra, there might not have been unicorns but it's likely A-Rod and some animals will be involved.  

Jose Canseco is looking for an apology from baseball about his steroid allegations a few years back.   That will happen after hell freezes over for the second time (after global warming melts the first freeze).   Not a chance.

However, he probably deserves to be less crapped upon that he has been.  There is not much honorable about Jose but he did correctly name a few names in his books including A-Rod.   Canseco's version doesn't include a mystery cousin and a trip to the DR, but he did name the name.

Maybe he got lucky.  Maybe baseball is so messed up I could pull five baseball cards out of a hat and be right about three players.   Maybe Jose does know what he's talking about after all?


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I know nobody around these parts cares about NASCAR but it's bigger than hockey, regularly draws over 100,000 people to races and it's 100% steroid free!

There are three racing series in NASCAR (think majors, AAA and AA for you newbies).  Drivers were tested for performance enhancing drugs.  All passed.

The penalty if caught?  Indefinite suspension.

Read more here:  USA Today


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The Captain said those words I needed to hear today:

I've never taken performance-enhancing drugs, I've never taken steroids.

Awesome, that's what we need more players to say.

Jeter also said:

"One thing that's irritating and really upsetting is when people say everybody was doing it," Jeter said. "No, that's not true. Everybody wasn't doing it." 

Sorry Jeets, you'll have to blame half your teammates for that.  Don't look at me.

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Almost lost in the media frenzy of A-Rod's admission to using steroids - and potentially a much bigger and more far-reaching problem - is the role that Gene Orza and the MLB Players Association had in the 2003 testing, results, and subsequent testing.

At almost the same time as A-Rod was addressing the media at Yankee camp yesterday, the MLBPA was distributing memos to all of its members - either directly or simply leaving them in lockers.

The memo - from union head Donald Fehr and the union's head lawyer Michael Weiner, - directs players to be careful when discussing the 2003 tests and gives them a series of questions they may face with suggested answers they should give. Among them is one specifically about Gene Orza allegedly tipping off players about 2004 testing.

The union is facing heavy criticism, both for its actions and inactions during the steroid era. Clean players are beginning to break ranks, calling for harsher penalties then the union wants (David Ortiz called for a 1 -year banishment for a first offense).

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Mark McGwire can't get elected.

Pete Rose and Joe Jackson are banned.

The way it looks now, Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, Sammy Sosa, Rafael Palmiero, and Alex Rodriguez won't get in either

MLB and the BBWAA want to maintain the "purity" of the Hall of Fame.

OK, I'll get on board with that. But if we really want to keep the Hall pure, then we have to do some house-cleaning. Time to weed out those who are "un-worthy." Let's start with 15 for now:

1. Babe Ruth - The man was a drunk and a womanizer. He openly violated federal law (prohibition). He also fathered a child by a woman other than his wife.
2. Ty Cobb - A racist and murderer. Also accused of fixing games
   
3. Tris Speaker - Accused of fixing games with Cobb
4. Cap Anson - Racist.
5. Pud Galvin - Steroid user
6. Enos Slaughter - Racist
7. Gaylord Perry - Admitted to using a spitball in clear violation of MLB rules
8. Kirby Pucket - Womanizer
9. Paul Molitor - Admitted drug user
10. Fergie Jenkins - Admitted drug user
11. Don Sutton - Admitted doctoring baseballs
12. Whitey Ford - Admitted doctoring baseballs
13. Rogers Hornsby - Admitted to cheating in a self-penned article "You've Got To Cheat To Win"
14. Ralph Kiner - Admitted to using amphetamines
15. Willie Stargell - Used Amphetamines
    

And I haven't even gotten started on the non-players in the Hall (you know Comiskey is at the top of that list).

Who else should we weed out? Or better yet, who will be left once we are done?

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Something I wrote for Examiner.com:

NY Sports Examiner: A-Rod admits to being young and stupid

Here's a free commercial for Outside Eyes, the crisis management team that Alex Rodriguez hired to help him with the latest news cycle.

The below is taken directly from their website.

You have one shot to answer the question "What do you do?" Does your answer leave a confident, memorable first impression? Outside Eyes prepares clients to say everything they need to say and nothing they do not. We make sure your "elevator speech" is concise, compelling, and effective.

We will train your messengers on tone, optics, presentation, persuasion, and crises communication.

• Develop compelling messages and use the most effective methods of delivery.
• Contrast your position with opposing ones, and respond forcefully and quickly to attacks and misrepresentations.
• Release information precisely when it will make the most news, and to the right members of the media.
• Research the opposition and anticipate the response.
• Monitor breaking news and manage news cycles in real time.

I didn't find the section of the website which reminds you to work in the words naive, young and stupid as often as possible.

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Driving home yesterday I was listening to The Michael Kay Show, and a caller brought up a very interesting question and hypothesis.

Just when did A-Rod know that he had tested positive?

Let's follow this time line.

2001, A-Rod signed a 10-year deal with the Texas Rangers that would take him through the 2010 baseball season.

2003 - MLB conducts random testing for steroid use. A-Rod tests positive, along with 103 others. The union however does not destroy the results.

2004 - The FBI seizes the 2003 test results in a raid connected with their BALCO investigation. At this point therefore some people know about A-Rod's positive test.

July 2007 - Jose Canseco says he is writing a new book on steroid use in baseball and says A-Rod will be in the book. Canseco calls A-Rod a "hypocrite."

October 2007 - A-Rod opts out of the final 3 years of his contract and negotiates a new 10-year deal with the Yankees.

February 2009 - With 9 years remaining on his contract, A-Rod admits to using steroids.

So here is the hypothesis. A-Rod and his agent Scott Boras knew his name was on that list. They also knew that once the FBI got a hold of that list, the names would eventually leak out. There were already rumors about A-Rod, when Canseco, riding the "I Told You So" train added his voice to the mix. The walls were crumbling.

If A-Rod hadn't opted out of his contract in 2007, next year would have been the final year of his contract. It is extremely unlikely he would have gotten anything close to the deal he did sign with the Yankees - both in terms of dollars and years. By conveniently opting out when he did, he guaranteed his continued baseball career and income well past the point where his steroid use would become known.

Given A-Rod's disingenous nature, it really wouldn't shock me if he and Boras were this conniving.

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Does anyone doubt that A-Rod's press conference will be a disaster?   He brought in a heavy hitter PR firm, which means this will be the most rehearsed non-honest conference in history.

During the Gammons interview he spoke as if he was trying to remember what else he was supposed to get it - "oh and I was naive.  I was naive and stupid.  And did I work in the word culture?"

Pettitte did it right.  Everyone forgave him in about two seconds.  Giambi too.  

I'm still waiting for an "I never did steroids" from the Captain.

Meanwhile, the commissioner just doesn't get it.  We need to buy him a "The buck stops here!" sign for his desk.     Check out Newsday today:

"I don't want to hear the commissioner turned a blind eye to this or he didn't care about it," Selig said. "That annoys the you-know-what out of me. You bet I'm sensitive to the criticism. The reason I'm so frustrated is, if you look at our whole body of work, I think we've come farther than anyone ever dreamed possible."

Please.  Y'all got rich on McGwire & Sosa.

The commish will be watching the press conference today:

"Let's just say I'm going to monitor that situation closely," he said. "I honestly don't know how anyone could have done more than we've already done."

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