OK. David Ortiz and Manny Ramirez are "cheaters". Or to whatever degree that naiveté carries you in todays professional sports lets just set the record straight. Anyone who thought the Red Sox or any other team for that matter were free from this dirty little mess be it called, Andro, HGH, the Cream, the Clear, be it injected in the buttocks by a trusted "friend", taken with your protein shakes, or whether we're all "not here to discuss the past..." that we are really "here to be positive". We all knew. We have always known. So please lets box up the "i told ya so's" and the big bad BIG MARKET team BS.
Tainted Titles? Look I loved the 2004 Boston Red Sox story. Who didn't? And then the White Sox the following year. But this revelation that somehow because of yesterdays report of Ortiz (a "surprise") and Ramirez (NOT suprising) being on the so-called LIST thus making that year "tainted" is ridciulous. Folks, there are 103 players on that LIST. And guess what, they weren't all Red Sox players.
OK. Here are the names we know Alex Rodriguez, Roger Clemens, Andy Pettitte, and Miguel Tejada were "confirmed" last year. And now we have Manny Ramirez, David Segui, and David Ortiz. Other names NOT confirmed but rumored are Roberto Alomar, Ivan Rodriguez, Juan Gonzalez, Francisco Rodriguez, and Gary Sheffield. Here is the list as published by ROTOworld as the "suspected test failures" and the teams they were on at the time of the test by division (** indicate PITCHERS)(BOLD indicates team was Division Winner/Wildcard winner):
American League East
1.Nomar Garciaparra (Boston Red Sox)
2.Manny Ramirez (Boston Red Sox)
3.Johnny Damon (Boston Red Sox)
4.Trot Nixon (Boston Red Sox)
5.David Ortiz (Boston Red Sox)
6.Shea Hillenbrand (Boston Red Sox)
7.Derek Lowe (Boston Red Sox)**
8.Pedro Martinez (Boston Red Sox)**
9.Brian Roberts (Baltimore Orioles)
10.Jay Gibbons (Baltimore Orioles)
11.Melvin Mora (Baltimore Orioles)
12.Jerry Hairston (Baltimore Orioles)
13.Jason Giambi (New York Yankees)
14.Alfonso Soriano (New York Yankees)
15.Raul Mondesi (New York Yankees)
16. Aaron Boone (New York Yankees)
17.Andy Pettitte (New York Yankees)**
18.Jose Contreras(New York Yankees)
19.Roger Clemens (New York Yankees)**
20.Carlos Delgado (Toronto Blue Jays)
21.Vernon Wells (Toronto Blue Jays)
22.Frank Catalanotto (Toronto Blue Jays)
American League Central
23.Kenny Rogers (Minnesota Twins)**
24.Magglio Ordonez (Chicago White Sox)
25.Sandy Alomar (Chicago White Sox)
26.Bartolo Colon (Cleveland Indians)**
27.Brent Abernathy (Tampa Bay Devil Rays/Kansas City Royals)
28.Jose Lima (Kansas City Royals)**
29.Milton Bradley (Cleveland Indians)
30.Casey Blake (Cleveland Indians)
31.Danys Baez (Cleveland Indians)
32.Craig Monroe (Detroit Tigers)
33.Dmitri Young (Detroit Tigers)
34.Alex Sanchez (Detroit Tigers)
American League West
35.Eric Chavez (Oakland A's)
36.Miguel Tejada (Oakland A's)
37.Eric Byrnes (Oakland A's)
38.Jose Guillen (Oakland A's)
39.Keith Foulke (Oakland A's)**
40.Ricardo Rincon (Oakland A's)**
41.Bret Boone (Seattle Mariners)
42.Mike Cameron (Seattle Mariners)
43.Randy Winn (Seattle Mariners)
44.Ryan Franklin (Seattle Mariners)
45.Freddy Garcia (Seattle Mariners)
46.Rafael Soriano (Seattle Mariners)
47.Scott Spiezio (Anaheim Angels)
48.Troy Glaus (Anaheim Angels)
49.Francisco Rodriguez (Anaheim Angels)**
50.Ben Weber (Anaheim Angels)
51.Alex Rodriguez (Texas Rangers)
52.Juan Gonzalez (Texas Rangers)
53.Rafael Palmeiro (Texas Rangers)
54.Carl Everett (Texas Rangers)
55.Javy Lopez (Texas Rangers)**
National League East
56.Gary Sheffield (Atlanta Braves)
57.Mike Hampton (Atlanta Braves)**
58.Ivan Rodriguez (Florida Marlins)
59.Derrek Lee (Florida Marlins)
60.Bobby Abreu (Philadelphia Phillies)
61.Terry Adams (Philadelphia Phillies)**
62.Fernando Tatis (Montreal Expos)
63.Livan Hernandez (Montreal Expos)**
64.Hector Almonte (Montreal Expos)**
65.Tony Armas (Montreal Expos)**
66.Dan Smith (Montreal Expos)**
67.Roberto Alomar (New York Mets/Chicago White Sox)
68.Cliff Floyd (New York Mets)
69.Roger Cedeno (New York Mets)
70.Jeromy Burnitz (New York Mets)
National League Central
71.Moises Alou (Chicago Cubs)
72.Sammy Sosa (Chicago Cubs)
73.Corey Patterson (Chicago Cubs)
74.Carlos Zambrano (Chicago Cubs)**
75.Mark Prior (Chicago Cubs)**
76.Kerry Wood (Chicago Cubs)**
77.Matt Clement (Chicago Cubs)**
78.Antonio Alfonseca (Chicago Cubs)**
79.Juan Cruz (Chicago Cubs)
80.Aramis Ramirez (Chicago Cubs)
81.Craig Wilson (Pittsburgh Pirates)
82.Kris Benson (Pittsburgh Pirates)**
83.Richie Sexson (Milwaukee Brewers)
84.Geoff Jenkins (Milwaukee Brewers)
85.Valerio de los Santos (Milwaukee Brewers)**
National League West
86.Benito Santiago (San Francisco Giants)
87.Rich Aurilia (San Francisco Giants)
88.Barry Bonds (San Francisco Giants)
89.Andres Galarraga (San Francisco Giants)
90.Jason Schmidt (San Francisco Giants)
91.Felix Rodriguez (San Francisco Giants)
92.Jason Christiansen (San Francisco Giants)
93.Matt Herges (San Francisco Giants)**
94.Paul Lo Duca (Los Angeles Dodgers)
95.Shawn Green (Los Angeles Dodgers)
96.Oliver Perez (Los Angeles Dodgers)
97.Adrian Beltre (Los Angeles Dodgers)
98.Eric Gagne (Los Angeles Dodgers)
99.Guillermo Mota (Los Angeles Dodgers)
100.Luis Gonzalez (Arizona Diamondbacks)
101.Todd Helton (Colorado Rockies)
102.Ryan Klesko (San Diego Padres)
103.Gary Matthews (San Diego Padres)
So what does this LIST tell us? Well first, it actually says alot. Though here is what it doesn't say first: The truth of the names, the drugs involved, the dosages found (level), and the dates of the test itself. These are ALL UNKNOWN/UNCONFIRMED. But lets take it as a barometer of the depth of the "problem".
1. Every team but two had at least one player and most had more than one (The Chicago Cubs led with 10, including most of the starting pitching staff). The two having none? The St. Louis Cardinals and the Houston Astros. OK, before you anoint them with congratulations lets remember a couple of things. First, each them held top-dawg status of the steriod era in the wake of two of the poster children of the Steroid Era being key members of those teams: Mark McGwire and Ken Caminiti (though his best days were in San Diego). Secondly, each has subsequently gone out and signed suspected "tainted" players that have served as key cogs to further successes, most notably the Astros with Roger Clemens and Andy Pettitte. The Cardinals had Fernando Vina in '03 who was linked to PED's in the Mitchell Report and also, though languishing in the minors for his notable mental "hiccups", Rick Ankiel.
2. the LIST is just ONE list of many. The depth of this list is DEEP but it is really something to see in this great MATRIX OF LISTS for an eye-opening look into how far this really goes.
3. Big market, small market. Hitters, pitchers, Good teams, bad teams. They ALL had these guys. And they cover every cultural enclave. Though it would appear the ever surging list of minor leaguers in Latin American Leagues getting suspened or linked to trainers like Angel Presinal (nice hat in the photo BTW) are indicators there are some tremendously shady folks lurking outside the borders of the MLB that are taking advantage of young Latinos starry-eyed at the prospect of prosperity.
So please, spare me the "GIVE BACK YOUR TROPHY" march on Washington garb. There are no innocents here. There are no "clean" teams ready to take the tainted trophies off the glass-cased shelves.
And folks....if you watch, root, or just follow sports.....its the bed we've all made together. We watched salaries increase exponentially over the years and paid the ridiculous "entertainment" prices to watch them. We are guilty too. We hold athletes up to hero status as though what they do is really meaningful beyond these moderate metaphors of life. We demand greatness on a level that puts athletes in a position of having to inject themselves to "survive".
So buckle up. There will be plenty of "bad news" to come. Whether its overcoming 86 years of "suffering" as Red Sox fans or Lance Armstrong's 7 titles in cycling's premiere event or those heady days of the Steel Curtain of the 1970s to the Patriots of the 2000's, Olympic (False) Glories fading to shame. We asked for this. And they have given us what we asked for.
Bon Appetite.