ARod or ARoid?
The big baseball news over the weekend was the story about Alex Rodriguez having failed a steroids test in 2003. This story, though certainly big, is being blown out of proportion by the media.
There has been speculation for several years about Rodriguez and whether his numbers were more ARod or ARoid. I don’t think there is any question that roids or not he is one of the most talented players to play the game in our era. But would he have led the American League in home runs and be named there MVP if he wasn’t juicing? We’ll never know for sure.
There are some important things to keep in mind about this revelation. Firstly, there were no penalties in Major League Baseball for steroids use at the time. This was the year they tested to study the extent of the steroids problem. If Rodriguez did test positive for steroids then he is not subject to discipline. The bigger issue here, in terms of the validity of the testing system, is that Rodriguez was allegedly tipped off to another test. If he was alerted about a test then this would breach the public’s trust in a system where the players are not supposed to know when they will be tested.
Secondly, as mentioned above there have always been questions about ARod with regard to steroids use. Though I was hoping he didn’t juice I had a feeling that he did. A player like Rodriguez didn’t need the extra edge to push him over the top as a player. But I could certainly see a situation where a player at the top of the game sees other player juicing to get better and may feel a little pressure to juice to keep his distance from those that may close the gap on him.
Curt Schilling has called for the revelation of the other 100 or so names on the list of failed tests together with ARod. I guess he’s thinking that in the absence of other names the story has less credibility. Though I am curious about the other names I don’t think other names are needed to give credibility here. I mean, this really isn’t a surprise. It was just a matter of time until a strong allegation like this would come out regarding ARod.
ARod has been smart enough to keep his mouth shut about this story until he has had a chance to talk with his people about it. A smart thing to do would be to fess up to this allegation since there is no penalty beside breach of public trust. The obvious question will be asked of him: had you taken steroids before or have you taken steroids since this incident? This is the tricky question for him and I can understand wanting to talk with his people about it first. Whether he did or didn’t take steroids during any other part of his career the way he answers this question will go a long way to deciding the public’s acceptance of him going forward in his career.
If his denial is very strong and a later positive test comes out positive then he is done. And if he admits to having taken during other periods of his career he’s likewise done. He’s got to choose his words very carefully.
I’ll be very interested in what he has to say next.
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