This. Changes. Everything.
What else can you say… A-Rod changes the entire landscape of the game. Haven’t heard yet? From Sports illustrated:
In 2003, when he won the American League home run title and the AL Most Valuable Player award as a shortstop for the Texas Rangers, Alex Rodriguez tested positive for two anabolic steroids, four sources have independently told Sports Illustrated.
To me, this is bigger then Barry Bonds. Bigger then Mark Mcguire. Bigger then Jose Canseco. Why? Because we all knew they were juicing — deep down we came up with excuses, but there was no explanation for why a 37 year old would have the greatest power numbers in the history of baseball. What did we tell ourselves? “Alex Rodriguez doesn’t need them; he’s a _specimen_. He’s a man among men.”
Honestly, the owners don’t care. They should though. Why? I think Mike Illitch should ask himself, “how did I let my team compete against the Yankees, with a giant payroll, and with a serious number of players on the Mitchell report?”.
What will come out of this? Probably nothing. Congress’ last involvement with baseball, I felt, was quite wag the dog-esque. Its probably not the time nor the place for government intervention against baseball players. Oh, the media will have a field day with it… the same media that admittingly let the players slide in the 90’s (and apparently, in 2003) with rampant steroid use. Does it matter? Not really. Maybe to guys like Alan Trammell and Lou Whitaker and Jack Morris, who will never see the hall of fame because of the numbers put up by players that followed them… players who were obviously juiced up. Sorry guys, enjoy your time on Magnum PI.
Where does that leave us? Its too early to tell. This is as bad as it could have gotten for major league baseball. This is basically the equivalent of Lebron James getting caught with steroids for the NBA. Its back to the beginning for MLB owners and players; ground zero. Game over.
For me? I couldn’t be happier. In the long run, none of this really matters. It puts enough question on any player that put up abnormal numbers over the last 15 years. It _should_ start to make all of the statistics make sense again; players age, they should decline. It makes running a baseball team much easier. I also think it reduces the chance Gary Sheffield hits 30 home runs this year — lets not buy into this hype again.