MLB, A-Rod and the home run record

Pitchers and catchers report today ... ahhhhh, spring is around the corner and soon we'll be hearing the dulcet tones of Don O. and the RemDog and seeing the Sox in all of their HD glory on TV ... excellent!

Meanwhile, A-Rod did the right thing and admitted that he did, in fact, take steroids from 2001-2003. Good for him for not denying it and owning up. Is he really sorry (as some in the press contend he's not)? Dunno, but at least he didn't deny it this time as he has in the past.

Word today is that MLB Comish Bud Selig is considering suspending A-Rod because, as Selig said, he sent a memo in 1997 that "made steroids illegal."

What?!? Selig has got to be kidding here. As I understand it, the 2003 report in which A-Rod's failed test results were listed was done to establish how wide-spread the problem was in MLB and the results were sealed. Steroids weren't "officially" banned until 2003 after that report was completed.

IMO, if Selig suspends A-Rod, then he's got to suspend the other players that are listed as positive in the 2003 report. How can Selig justify suspending only A-Rod ... just because his was the only name that was leaked?

I think the bigger issue here is that A-Rod's name was leaked, not that he tested positive. MLB has to find out who leaked A-Rod's name and really go after that person to make an example of them so that something like this never happens again.

In other Selig news, he says he's thinking of reinstating Hank Aaron as baseball's home run king in the record book given that Barry Bonds (who broke Aaron's record) is in a steroids scandal. Man, I would love to see that! While he's at it, Selig should take away Bonds' seven MVP titles, too.

A-Rod

Talk about a Hotstove season ... Sports Illustrated.com's revelation that NYY's Alex Rodriguez failed a steroid drug test is lighting up the internets almost as much as when Roger Clemens became the latest face of steroid abuse.

Of course, leave it to the New York Post to come up with the most outrageous headline for the story:

Look, anyone who knows me knows that I'm not a Yankees fan, so in many ways I can't believe I'm going to say this about this story but ... so what?

Let's take a step back and look at this objectively for once, shall we?

MLB tested players in 2003 as a way of gauging just how wide-spread a potential problem existed with steroids. Depending on that testing, MLB and the MLBPA would move forward with a test program.

Because of the nature of the testing, the results were (supposed to be) sealed because, at the time of the testing, using steroids in baseball wasn't illegal.

The results of the 2003 testing showed that too many players were using substances and therefore MLB went forward with devising a program. Four years later, the Mitchell Report was released which named known users and rightfully so. Steroids use had since been banned in baseball and a testing program was in place, yet players were still trying to use them.

So, this begs three very important questions:

1. Who leaked the results of the 2003 testing?
2. Who else is named on that list as testing positive?
3. Does this fact diminish his MVP season of 2003?

Whoever leaked A-Rod's name should be punished severely because the results were never supposed to be released. Again, there was no steroids policy in place at the time and the testing wasn't done to try and catch people ... it was done to ascertain how wide-spread steroid usage was at the time.

And parenthetically speaking, don't kid yourself in thinking that at least one Red Sox player isn't among the 2003 results. It's hard to imagine that no Red Sox player wasn't trying to help their performance.

I'm not an A-Rod fan, never have been and I was relieved that the Red Sox failed in their bid to get him a few years ago (even if he's probably one of the best players of his generation ... well, in the regular season, anyway) because I think he's more of a distraction that an addition in the clubhouse.

But, I feel for the guy in this case. It's too easy to pile on him (especially given the media's tendency to pounce on the famous) and thus far, his is the only name that has been released. Speaking of which ...

Here's another sentence I never thought I'd write: Curt Schilling is right when he says in his blog that if A-Rod's name is leaked, then the rest of the names on the list should be released. It just isn't fair to A-Rod that his be the only name that is now out there from the 2003 testing results.

And yes, before you email me or post to this entry and say, "Uh, Bry ... didn't A-Rod flat out deny using steroids?" Yes, he did deny taking them, but who wouldn't, unless you're Jose Canseco and want to sell books? Unlike Clemens and Barry Bonds (allegedly), A-Rod never testified under oath that he didn't take steroids, he just denied it in an interview.

I really hope A-Rod and his agent, Scott "The Anti-Christ" Boras" come to their senses and have Rodriquez publicly admit the test results, say that he regrets taking steroids and hasn't taken them since and point out that he's been tested since (as I'm sure he has) and that all those tests have been clean.

Never a dull moment in Gotham, is it?