Did David Ortiz use steroids?

看板RedSox作者abc12812時間15年前 (2009/05/29 18:39)推噓8(8推 0噓 9→)

留言17則, 12人參與討論串1/1

http://mvn.com/outsider/2009/05/david-ortiz---a-juicer.html Sometimes these things just write themselves. The other day I wrote my weekly Stock Market column. In the "falling" trend section I wrote the following about Red Sox slugger David Ortiz: Big Papi is looking a lot like Big Mami this year. Ortiz has not been himself for a while now, is batting .195 and has hit 1 homerun in 2009. Consequently the Red Sox are going to drop him in the batting order -- although that move has actually been temporarily delayed -- while also scheduling him to have a meeting with private trainer Jose Canseco. They're hoping that Canseco can inject some life into Ortiz's stroke, causing growth to his offensive numbers. This would give Red Sox fans a further excuse to needle Yankee fans about the success of Ortiz, whether they see them at the ballpark, in a pub, or even a juice bar. Steroids. That paragraph elicited the following response from a reader named Gerry: Your yellow journalism speculations on David Ortiz is way over the line, and way beneath your standards. Making such an accusation REQUIRES proof, otherwise you are smearing the character and reputation of a good guy. The problem with internet bloggers vs. vetted journalists is they have neither the ethics nor compunction to write responsibly. Ouch. Stiff words. Apparently the debate about whether or not Ortiz had been using steroids is a hot one among Red Sox fans. I know that ESPN Sox fanatic Bill Simmons has voiced musings on the subject in some of his columns, but go and read that I wrote. I'll wait. Actually I won't wait -- I'll quote the relevant section again instead. Keywords in bold. "...while also scheduling him to have a meeting with private trainer Jose Canseco. They're hoping that Canseco can inject some life into Ortiz's stroke, causing growth to his offensive numbers. This would give Red Sox fans a further excuse to needle Yankee fans about the success of Ortiz, whether they see them at the ballpark, in a pub, or even a juice bar. Steroids." First of all, unless you are so oversensitive that you have been desensitized, I'm sure you realize that whole tangent was a joke. Secondly, to turn all grammatical for a second, if you notice the tense of the comment in question you'll see that the supposed "steroid use" is intended to occur in the future. I'll say it more clearly to convey obvious meaning behind my joke: Ortiz is not using steroids. His offensive numbers are so bad that the Red Sox are going to get him connected with the biggest-known steroid user in baseball history. Drum-roll! Canned laughter! Curtain drops! End scene! In other words, I have never said that Ortiz has used steroids. But people are so sensitive to the issue that I can't even joke about a player needing to start using steroids without people posting -- with their lips quivering the entire while, I'm sure -- comments like "only a blogger," "yellow journalist," and so-on. So let's take a closer look. What are the chances that David Ortiz did in fact use steroids at the height of his offensive prowess? Well, I'm hardly an investigative reporter or anything but a 10-second Google search netted me the following results According to our friends at the Bleacher Report: David Ortiz had to have taken steroids. Their reasoning is as follows: before coming to Boston and teaming up with caught-user Manny Ramirez, David Ortiz had played in 455 games, were he'd hit 58 homeruns in 1,477 at bats. That's a rate of 1 homer every 25.5 at bats. Then, after arriving in Boston, Ortiz took off like a rocket ship. From 2003 to 2008, Ortiz played in 846 games, where he hit 231 homeruns in 3,154 at bats. That's a rate of 1 homer every 13.65 at bats. Granted, the Bleacher Report didn't actually spell all that out. Typical bloggers, they yellowed their way right through their piece even though they did strike on a very interesting point. Ortiz's sudden, prodigeous power burst certainly seems suspect. Not to mention the fact that Ortiz has suffered with bouts of injuries the past 2 or 3 years. From an irregular heartbeat (trusty Google notes that Steroids Can Cause Irregular Heartbeat) to various musculoskeletal injuries (Google says Steroids Linked to Musculoskeletal Injuries), Ortiz has had multiple negative symptoms -- and has displayed positive results -- that can be connected to steroid use. However, so far this is all circumstantial. Ortiz would not be convicted in a court of law based on any information that I've presented here. But wait, there's more! On or around May 8th, 2007, the Boston Herald reported that David Ortiz himself has said he's unsure if he's taken steroids. Unfortunately the article in question is no longer available online, but it's referenced in several different places on the net. I especially like the reference made on Talk Sox as they have posted two pictures of Ortiz. One is of him as a slim-looking 26-year-old in 2002 and the other is of him as a hulking he-man in 2005. Odd how his body changed so much so quickly. He must have been working out. Here are some interesting quotes made by Ortiz: Tuesday, May 8, 2007 David Ortiz Unsure if He's Taken Steroids Red Sox slugger, David Ortiz admits hes not 100% sure that he has ever taken steroids. "I tell you, I don't know too much about steroids, but I started listening about steroids when they started to bring that (expletive) up, and I started realizing and getting to know a little bit about it," Ortiz said Sunday. "You've got to be careful. . . . I used to buy a protein shake in my country. I don't do that any more because they don't have the approval for that here, so I know that, so I'm off of buying things at the GNC back in the Dominican (Republic). But it can happen anytime, it can happen. I don't know. I don't know if I drank something in my youth, not knowing it." These comments come after Ortiz's recent comments about Barry Bonds and his supposed use of steroids(Ortiz goes to bat for Barry). Supporting Bonds, Ortiz explains that hitting a baseball is much harder than taking some steroids "To hit the frickin' ball, the guy makes it look easy, but it ain't. I don't know how you can have that swing, consistently. I don't know how steroids can do that," Ortiz said. "There are supposed to be guys using steroids in the game, and there's nobody close to Barry Bonds. What's that mean? He was using the best (expletive)? Know what I'm saying?" In baseball these days suspicion alone (even without evidence) is damning. Ortiz has never been found guilty of steroid abuse. He's never tested positive. But in case you've already failed to notice it, I'll point it out to you now: on the list of the most prolific homerun hitters of the last 15 years -- and it's a long list -- only a few come up clean of positive tests or heavy suspicion. Whether they've tested positive directly -- Barry Bonds, Raffy Palmeiro, Gary Sheffield, and the list goes on -- or they have had a string of suspisious injuries -- Frank Thomas, etc. -- or nobody in their right minds thinks they got their numbers the clean way -- Mark McGwire, Sammy Sosa, practically nobody is scott free of being suspected. Really the only two or three guys we've never heard anything about are Ken Griffey Jr., Jim Thome, and Vlad Guerrero... and even those guys have had odd injuries over the years. Does that make Ortiz guilty? No. Contrary to what Gerry thought he read, I do not know that David Ortiz is guilty of steroid use. Actually, before Gerry made his snarky and off-base response I hadn't given it too much thought nor had I formed much of an opinion. But based on the evidence found by a couple of quick Google searches -- from the way his power numbers doubled to the string of injuries he's had that could be steroid related to his backhanded confession that he may have used -- it looks like David Ortiz was a probable user. Or Maybe Not But here's the one hang up I have about that. If he was a user, and if he stopped using and saw his numbers plummet this badly, then why wouldn't he start a new cycle? Has baseball cranked up the testing that much in the past year? Are there not designer drugs out there that would be masked from a positive result? If he has used then why would he be unwilling to now? Did he have a Come-to-Jesus Moment in the past year? The one other thing I'll say in defense of a Clean Ortiz is that ordinary hitters tend to peek between the ages of 27-32. There's about a five year window in which physical prowess combines with increased smarts resulting in optimal performance. Ortiz had his booming years in a baseball park with a short porch between the ages of 27 and 32. His drop-off his mysterious, at least to me. It's very unusual for a hitter to completely lose it in such a short span of time. But it has happened now and in the past and it will surely happen again. The difference is that, now, any career year will be tainted and any drop off afterwards will be suspected. And no matter how red your socks are, no matter how much man-love you have for David Ortiz, you have to acknowledge that there's plenty of reason to suspect the guy. From his injuries to his production to his own words, Ortiz is unclean -- even, ironically, if his body always has been. -- ※ 發信站: 批踢踢實業坊(ptt.cc) ◆ From: 140.112.5.3

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