Leave A-Rod Alone

It seems like from the minute that Mark McGwire faded into the background we have been on a witch hunt to find the man standing behind the curtains with a needle in his, umm, hand.  So far, through the collective efforts of the media, congress, and a few others, it would be fair to conclude that a great deal has been done to clean up the game.  Whether or not you agree with the tactics is a whole other argument, but the results speak for themselves.

We’ve shaken up the bushes, burst through doors, and pulled people out of jail cells  to find the culprits behind all of this, but at least in all of these instances there was a certain degree of evidence to justify action.  It’s been great for the media.  Nothing draws interest these days like a performance enhancing drug scandal.  It’s allowed one of the most improbable events in the history of the written word to occur when Jose Canseco landed atop the Best Seller list.  Who knew that a man with the literary prowess of a dyslexic fifth-grader could accomplish such a feat?  Even Miss Cleo couldn’t have predicted that.

With Bonds out of sight, sent to baseball purgatory before his time, well, at least before he was ready, and with the public interest in all things Mitchell Report waning, the steroid scandal can no longer be depended on.  Without a constant figure head to pin the blame and hatred on, there are no easy headlines; the golden formula no longer exists.  So instead of letting it die or doing some investigative reporting like Mark Finau-awada Game of asdf a;qkljkgg did at the beginning of this thing, naturally, the best move is to just find an easy target and lob the accusations in that direction.  It doesn’t really matter if any of them stick, or make good sense, as long as they can print a name, that’s all that really matters.

Over the last week Alex Rodriguez has found himself inserted into this whole mess.  For the last six months or so his name has been whispered a few times, and despite Canseco’s efforts to bring him into the fire, Rodriguez remained relatively unscathed or daunted from his accusations.  There were better stories at the time, this got a little play, but it wasn’t anywhere near the front page status that Mitchell Report demanded.  That is, until now.

I don’t really know where this came from, or why all of the sudden it has been unanimously deemed important all of the sudden, but it has.  I’m all for going after the bad guys, although, only when proof exists.  There is nothing, I repeat, absolutely nothing to go on here.  I’ll be the first to admit that Canseco has an amazing track record and I appreciate the work that he has done, but more than anything, I respect him greatly for getting the ball rolling on this whole issue.  In this case, the circumstances are different.  I just can’t help but to feel like he has some other purpose here.

A lot of people are quick to forget that his first book was a novella about the positive effects of steroid use that happened to name a few baseball players.  He was never this forthright and honest figure that wanted to stop others from making the same mistakes as him, nor did he care about the cleanliness of the sport.  In fact, one could concluded that he was encouraging others to follow his lead.  In other words, the guy is a scumbag despite the results that came from his first book.

The thing that completely dumbfounds me is that the book was supposed to be his steroid manifesto/tell-all, right?  So if anyone reading this can explain to me how you can be telling us everything, but somehow manage to leave out the name of baseball’s biggest star in the process, I’d greatly appreciate it.  It wasn’t like Rodriguez was irrelevant when Canseco penned the book in 2005, were talking about the $252 million man here, not some kid who happened to break out after book was released. 

It just doesn’t add up for me.  Some people have suggested that he might have withheld some information for the sequel, which would be a feasible idea, except for the fact that there were no guarantee’s here.  If Canseco was a successful author prior to Juiced, then maybe I would concede here, maybe, but in my mind this isn’t possible.  This guy went all in, he had too, he knew the only he was going to sell copies was by name dropping stars that people cared about; his ideals and story were basically irrelevant. 

Canseco might be a moron, but he isn’t an idiot.  He also knows that this is where his success lies.  Just by saying he has something on Rodriguez that will be included in his book will propel him to best seller status.  We don’t even know what that something is, and already, everyone is up in arms about it.  He could simply state that he heard a rumor from a clubhouse boy, or that he could say he saw Rodriguez talking to known dealer, and from what I’ve heard, that’s about all it is.

The only man that has seen what Canseco has doesn’t think it’s anything to get excited about.  Don Yaeger, Sports Illustrated’s former associate editor was asked to co-author the book, but he decided to pass after reading Canseco’s notes because he felt that there was nothing there.

“I’m passing,” Yaeger told the New York Daily News.  “I had a chance to review the Jose Canseco [material] that he provided me.  I don’t think there’s a book there.  I don’t know what they’re going to do.  I don’t think he’s got what he claims to have, certainly doesn’t have what he claims to have on A-Rod.  There’s no meat on the bones.”

This is coming from a man who makes his living writing books, and I’m sure that he realizes that A-Rod is the selling point here.  Every sports writer wants to pen the next Game of Shadows, and this could have been his opportunity if there was real evidence.  Yaeger recognized this coming into the meetings, and by his passing this should tell you all you need to know.

I’m definitely more inclined to take the side of the man that actually has knowledge about the situation over people that are blindly speculating.  You’d think that some of these reporters would take the time to interview Yaeger before jumping to conclusions, but then again, we are on a witch hunt. 

The other evidence that has been cited is just as ridiculous.   It comes from some occurrence that John Rocker supposedly witnessed while playing in Texas.  Excuse me for just brushing this aside, but come on people; this man is far from credible.

This brings us to the quotes from this week’s interview.  In case you don’t know what happened, Rodriguez was asked if he ever used performance enhancing drugs, and he said no, then went on to say that he passed ten drug tests last season.  There’s two things at play here, first, passing a drug test hardly proves your innocence since MLB doesn’t test for HGH, and two, it was clearly an exaggeration from an over eager player trying to protect his reputation while under unjust attack.

Some savvy reporter was quick to point out that only players who have failed an initial test would be repeatedly called in like that.  This story started a domino effect, and soon everyone in the nation was reporting this.

Like I said, the guy was just exaggerating.  It’s like when you are running late and you call and say you’ll be there in five minutes, when it’s really going to be more like 15.  He was probably tested a handful of times and exaggerated to prove a point.

We’ll never really know the truth, and I’m not saying that Rodriguez is innocent, nor am I suggesting that he is guilty.  The point is, until I have something tangible to wrap my mind around there will be no verdict from me.  There’s nothing there.  At least not yet.

I’m all for the scrutiny when someone has suspicious circumstances engulfing them.  But, it’s also not fair to jump all over a guy simply because he is putting up stellar numbers.  This isn’t anything new, though, Rodriguez has been performing like this since he was 18 years old.  The natural progression of things led him to this point. He didn’t have a spike late in his 30’s like some other players.

The truth is, baseball needs A-Rod more than A-Rod needs baseball.  We need him to be clean, and in the right state of mind.  We need him to hit homeruns.  The fact that he is on track to unseat Barry Bonds as the all-time home run leader was the only thing that got us through last summer.  I’m not saying that this should make him immune to any sniffing around, no one is above that, but when there is nothing there, there is nothing there.