The A-Rod Saga Continues

April 30, 2009May 23, 2010Danny Vinik 5 Comments

It doesn’t end. The New York Daily News reported today that in Selena Roberts’s upcoming book, Roberts reveals that Rodriguez took steroids while he was with the Yankees and in high school. Shocking news? Not really. None of that surprises me. His news conference a couple months ago was filled with contradictions so finding out that he lied doesn’t exactly blow my mind. What surprises me is that it is no longer my personal opinion, but is now an fact-based report. Roberts’s book, entitled “A-Rod”, is scheduled to be released on May 4th and I am looking forward to reading it.

A-Rod may have the most fragile ego in the world, as he constantly needs to be reminded of his skill. How’s he going to feel being scorned by every fan in baseball? Will Yankee fans even accept him back? The guy has given “heart felt” interviews with Katie Couric and Peter Gammons and LIED in both of them. He gave an emotional press conference while surrounded by his teammates and LIED to the world. He can’t refute these claims, because his name is so tarnished. Roberts original report about A-Rod using steroids was true so why should I not believe these new allegations? There are quotes from former high school teammates and statistics of his workout regimen. The evidence adds up and I trust Roberts. I am amongst many. I do want to read the full book before making a final decision on who to believe, but as of now, these allegations seem awfully truthful. So how can A-Rod rebound from this? Continue reading “The A-Rod Saga Continues” →

Steroids: The Aftermath

June 12, 2008May 23, 2010Danny Vinik Leave a comment

As I look at the statistics in MLB this year and compare them to certain stats over the past couple seasons, the effect of steroids (or lack of steroids) is clearly visible. In 2005, the average number of home runs per American League team was 182 while this year the average number of home runs per team is 149 (adjusted for 162 games). That is a drop of 33 home runs per team, nearly a 500 home run drop in the entire league.

Whenever I have a simple chat with someone about the effect of steroids in baseball, the same point is made consistently: Steroids were more prevalent amongst pitchers than batters. Well that may be true, but the stats clearly don’t support that supposition. Over the past couple seasons, pitching has dramatically increased while hitting is in decline. For instance, the average team ERA in 2006 was 4.56 in the AL, while in 2008, the average team ERA is down to 4.16. Each team is giving up nearly 1/2 a run less per game, a total of 64.2 less runs per team for the entire season. If there were more pitchers using steroids than hitters, wouldn’t batting increase as players stopped using steroids? The fact that the opposite has happened, that pitching has increased, indicates that more batters used steroids than pitchers. Having said that, it could also indicate that steroids help batters more than pitchers and not that more batters used steroids more than pitchers. Continue reading “Steroids: The Aftermath” →

Daily Sports Roundup 1/7/08

January 7, 2008June 15, 2012Danny Vinik Leave a comment

Big day in sports today as Clemens filed a lawsuit and the BCS National Championship game is tonight among others

Clemens Files Suit Against McNamee: The saga continues as Roger Clemens filed a defamation lawsuit against former trainer Brian McNamee. The suit alleges that at fifteen different points while speaking to George Mitchell, McNamee said things that were “untrue and defamatory”. McNamee has responded, through his lawyer of course, that he will file a counter-suit against Clemens, claiming that Clemens’s remarks in his “60 Minutes” interview are a “total lie”. Clemens also released a tape of the phone conversation between Clemens and McNamee. From my perspective, this is a great move by Clemens. Taping and releasing the conversation makes it seem as if the phone call was not to speak about the situation, but rather to catch McNamee in a lie. McNamee never admits to lying about Roger using steroids, but does say “Tell me what you want me to do. I’ll go to jail. I’ll do whatever you want”. Remind you of someone? Greg Anderson, Barry Bonds’ former trainer, has sat in jail cell for months for refusing to speak with federal investigators. This situation is different though, as McNamee would go to jail if he said that he lied to George Mitchell in his investigation. If McNamee takes the stand and says that he injected Clemens with steroids, he doesn’t go to jail.

After waiting a month to really take a stand, Clemens did it today and this story is not going to go away. The greatest pitcher of my generation is accused of using steroids. I have tried to stay as partial as possible while looking at the evidence. After originally believing that Clemens used steroids, my opinion is changing and I now believe that Clemens is innocent. Apparently there aren’t many people like me as in an ESPN SPORTSNATION Poll, more than 57% believe that Clemens used steroids, 25% believe Clemens is innocent, and the final 18% are undecided. The congressional hearings that will be held on January 16th will be extremely interesting in seeing if either person changes his position. After todays’ whirlwind of news, I doubt that either is going to adjust there stance. The one other question I am wondering is whether Chuck Knoblauch and Andy Pettitte, both asked to speak in front of congress, will risk going to jail. If Clemens used steroids, I believe that both of those players saw it. Steroids weren’t exactly being hidden in clubhouses. If both Knobluach and Pettitte take the stand and say Clemens is innocent, that is only going to increase my belief in Clemens. Continue reading “Daily Sports Roundup 1/7/08” →