It's the minor leagues......get over it

This article was so bad I couldn't help but give my two cents on it (even though its a few days old).

Pretty much, LA Times Writer/Around the Horn commentator Bill Plaschke incoherently rambles about how much of an atrocity it is that Manny Ramirez is allowed to rehab in the minor leagues before the end of his 50-game steroid/fertility pill suspension and how its such an outrage that Dodgers fans still have Manny Ramirez's back even though he got suspended for violating MLB's steroid policy

The biggest "highlight" of this masterpiece was:

I was here to find a Dodgers fan brave enough to boo him.
Surely it would happen, right? 

Alright  so he got busted doing fertility pills, not the smartest career move but if I was Dodgers fan I would not be booing Manny Ramirez. I would be counting the days until the end of his suspension [If God forbid, Braun and/or Fielder were to go through this, I would still cheer their return]. If you don't like that he does steroids, thats one thing but to treat him like a pariah because he messed up is another. Following this "logic" do you want to eradicate all the good he's done for the Dodgers. First of all, the dude has put up ridiculous numbers since being traded to LA and behaved himself  (for now). In other words, while Manny  has  done his share of selfish acts over the years, this behavior has regressed in LA. Furthermore, if not for Manny the Dodgers would still be the mediocre . 500ish team they were before coming to LA.

In plain mathematical terms it translates to the following, 

No Manny=No Playoffs

No Playoffs=Dodger's not winning first post-season series in 20 years

No Manny=Youngsters not gaining confidence by being around Manny and not holding on to that substantial division lead even during Manny's suspension.

No Manny=The Dodgers are likely hanging out with San Diego and Arizona at the bottom of the NL West.

Basically, in Plaschke's mind doing PEDs undos all these positives. Simply, with Manny Ramirez the Dodgers have become one of the elite teams in the national league. So even if you dislike steroid use, the critics have to at least see why Dodger fans are excited about his return.

Also, who cares....steroid use has been one of the most over-blown stories in the last 5-10 years. Seriously, NFL players are WAY more juiced than MLB players but when someone gets busted in the NFL the only people who care are the ones who have said player on their fantasy football team. Point being, he's not playing in the major leagues...he's not getting paid....and really who normally pays attention to those games in exotic locales such as Albuquerque and Lake Elsinore.........which begs the question, will Plaschke still have this self-righteous rhetoric if Manny being Manny brings the Dodgers a World Series crown.......

Also, will anyone even remember this fake outrage about Manny getting back into playing shape in a month? 10 days? a week? Even as it's going on now I could really care less.........but it's steroids.....its 2009.....the anger.....the outrage...............

The Obligatory Steroid Post: Sammy Sosa

As has been reported across much of the media, it was revealed that Sammy Sosa tested positive for steroids back in 2003, bringing up the obligatory talking heads talking about how past accomplishments are tarnished, these guys would be scrubs if they never touched steroids so on and so forth

In light of today's revelations, the time is right for me to discuss my take on steroid coverage and discuss my two biggest gripes with how it is covered by the media.

1)If preventing steroid abuse was a higher priority, this "scandal" would have broken in 1998 and not after Sosa and McGwire were past their respective peaks


To begin my argument about why I feel the "shock and horror" about players in the juicing in the 90s is not geniune can be traced back to the 1994 strike. Obviously, baseball struggled in the ensuing years after and needed something to draw the fans in....

Well to many this equates to players having the ability to hit a baseball long distances on a regular basis and wham! four years later Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa go on an epic chase for Roger Maris' single season home run record and baseball's popularity spikes big time.......

Now if MLB really didn't want players using steroids, we would have been hearing about all-star players juicing up before the home run records were being re-written.....not several years after the players involved retired.

2) The implication that the guilty parties would be scrubs NOT hall of famers if they did steroids......

Alright so juicing up may add a few years to your career, help you bounce back from injury hit a ball harder blah, blah, blah........what it does NOT do is give players better judgment on pitches to swing at, increase baseball IQ, know the difference between pitches, etc.......

How many of you people have heard about the exploits about juiced up players such as Manny Alexander, Chris Donnels or Jim Parque? Trick Question....you haven't heard about them b/c despite their steroid/PED use they were unable to attain substantial playing careers

I could list others who were juiced up but still did not reach the promised land...point being if some of these talking heads are to believed that steroids are some magical pill....these players would put up first-ballot hall of fame numbers.....However, since steroids are not some magic pill the only way these guys are getting in to the hall of fame is if they pay the cover charge......


Furthermore, while it was unfortunate steroid use was a product of the 90s....hitters were juiced....pitchers were juiced......so the steroid use likely balanced out on both sides......so yeah that's how I feel about steroid coverage and the end of my first (and hopefully last) post about steroids

Note: I found the player names (non-Hall of fame juicers) from the mitchell report page from http://www.baseball-reference.com/friv/mitchell-report-players.shtml


P.S. Artie Lange 1 Joe Buck 0

Also: I'll post my streak of the cash pick of the day tomorrow as the A's/Dodgers game is still in progress