Mailbag: Giambi a Juicer? Who Knows?
by
Keith Glab,
BaseballEvolution.com
July 5, 2006
Gregory Pratt -
How's your brother? I've written him of late -- I'm a friend of his -- but haven't heard back from him. He's still alive, right? Will you tell him to contact Sir Gregory Royal Pratt?
And second: you're kidding me when you say this: "But since we have no reason to suspect Giambi of HGH use more than we do anyone else (if a crappy middle reliever had used it, who couldn't have?), we have to give Giambi his credit as one of the top 100 hitters of all time. And he's not all that far off from entering the top 50."
Oh, really? First reason to suspect him more than anyone else: he's got himself a known history of cheating. You don't erase the past, and old habits are hard to break.
I've got an article for you:
Pee No Evil, from Slate, by Jeff Pearlman, formerly of SI. I'd like to hear your thoughts. It's, essentially, my second reason not to believe him.
Keith -
Good to hear from you again, Gregory.
Before there was testing, everyone suspected players who gained a lot of muscle mass in a short period of time of juicing. But testing has shown that the Ryan Franklins, Rafael Betancourts, and Alex Sanchezs of the world are just as likely to be cheating as the musclebound guys.
I don't know what your background in nutrition and health is, but you can weight train to look bigger or you can weight train to get stronger. Just because a player doesn't look noticeably bigger than he did last year doesn't mean that he didn't get a whole heck of a lot stronger through weight training/supplements or whatever. Likewise, putting on "20 pounds of muscle" over a couple of years is absolutely possible without using foreign substances. I know this because I've done it.
But if you want to research guys that have flown under the steroid radar, take a closer look at Vladamir Guerrero's listed weight now versus ten years ago. You may need to bring a calculator with you. Vlad's limbs are just so long that his muscles are dense and not bulging, so no one notices.
As someone who regularly interviews ballplayers, I'm of the opinion that asking tough questions is what makes a good reporter. But what's a player going to say if you ask him whether he juiced or not? "Well, Tom Verducci, I wasn't going to say anything until you asked, but yes, I do in fact use illegal substances." I don't think that's very likely. Sure, occasionally someone slips up and says something he shouldn't have (wave to the people, Ken Kendrick), but I'm of the opinion that reporters are asking questions, just not getting answers. They don't print it every time a player says "no comment" to a steroid-related question. And I think after getting a dozen or so uninteresting responses about steroid questions, "the right thing to do journalistically" is to move on to a better topic.
As for Giambi's history, I think that getting caught frightened him, and makes him less likely to cheat again. He's already had to endure constant boos from fans and scrutiny from the press, plus there are some pretty harsh penalties in place now that make it even less attractive to get caught. Although when I look at someone like Ontario Smith in the NFL, I do see your point about repeat offenders.
And that's where you should really look for in terms of guys flying under the radar. No one has developed a foolproof test for HGH yet. I don't doubt that lots of baseball players are doing it, but I bet you that twice as many football players are. I mean, the smallest football players are the same size as the largest baseball players; you do the math. Why isn't anyone bitching at the NFL for not having a better testing policy, or at NFL reporters for not asking every player what illegal drugs they are using?
Other updates: Asher's still convinced that the White Sox shouldn't have traded Rowand for Thome. As for Scott, he's as alive as ever. ~Insert Joke Here~
~Keith
Disagree with something? Got something to add? Wanna bring up something totally new? Keith Glab resides in Chicago, Illinois, and can be reached at keith@baseballevolution.com.
Tired of defensive stats that are misleading, arbitrary, and compicated?