Quick squawk this morning. Everybody and his brother has suggestions for what Alex Rodriguez can do or say to fix this steroids accusation.
My answer? Nothing. There's nothing he can say or do to clean up this mess. He doesn't have the personality, or the media savvy, to turn fans on his side. Now that he has been tainted by steroids, his image will not quickly recover.
The only thing that might help him is if the other 103 names are quickly revealed, and they include some other big names. That's about it.
I don't need a court of law to tell me that he's guilty of using steroids. I just need his lack of response to the Sports Illustrated allegations to tell me that it's all true.
But what do you think? Leave us a comment!
It will be interesting to see if Clemens is one of the 103 others that failed. The other question: if 104 tested positive, how many and who tested negative? If Clemens, per chance, was tested and was negative that would strengthen his case against McNamee.
ReplyDeleteWhat can he do?
ReplyDeletePlay baseball in Japan. Antything, except stay and play for the Yankees
I agree Lisa, there really isn't anything he can do. Pettitte was able to admit it and move on, but I don't think ARod will be given nearly the slack that Pettitte was. He is seen as a fraud and has been disliked by so many for the last several years. I really don't know how he will handle it, but it is sure to be a circus for the Yankees. I would love to see who else is on the list.
ReplyDeleteLisa, I agree 100%, release the so called "secret list", let the media, management, the union and the players involved take a stance or not. Is A-Rod guilty, probably yes, but he is not alone by a long shot. He was and is a talented baseball player, some say the best overall in baseball(IMO that is not true) You are 100% correct, he does not have the smarts or media savy to comment on this. If baseball is truely interested in cleaning up the game and its image, release the list, let the chips fall where they may and return to real baseball. Personally, I always thought the opting out game he and Boras played with the Yankees was a shame and well planned by Boras, the Yankees were played and have A-Rod for the next 9 years like it or not. How did we ever win those world series with a plain, average 3rd baseman like Scott Brocius!!!
ReplyDeleteGazette: Putting A-Roid in Japan would put him far away from New York, but the Japanese place a high value on honor. They wouldn't take him.
ReplyDeleteMaybe we can learn something from them.
Anon: The reason it was different with Pettitte is because Andy never acted like a 24-and-1 guy. He was friendly. He was a good teammate. He was accessible to the media. He never threw his teammates overboard. (That's what we said before you kids started saying, "threw them under the bus.") Andy may have been the best pitcher in baseball on many a given night, but he never acted like it. Although he often talked about being strong in his faith, that faith did guide him to not say, "Look at me! Ain't I special?"
With A-Roid, everything he did said, "Pay some freakin' attention to me! Don't you know who I am? I'm Gumby, dammit!" (Sorry, got carried away there.)
And it's not just that the Yankees won three World Series with Scott Brosius. They won one with a reduced Wade Boggs. They won two with Graig Nettles: Great glove, good power, but a .247 lifetime batting average and struck out too much. They won two with Clete Boyer: A glove roughly equal to Nettles' and some power, but also not much of a hitter. They won five with Gil McDouglad: Good player, but hardly a great one, except in October. They won three with Billy Johnson, who was rather ordinary. They won six with Red Rolfe: Great fielder and a good hitter, but not much power. And they won three with Joe Dugan, who summed up his team's hitting like this: "Combs walks. Koenig singles. Ruth hits one out of the park. Gehrig doubles. Meusel singles. Lazzeri triples. Then Dugan goes in the dirt on his can." (Because pitchers weren't afraid of him.)
Things like this are why Abbott and Costello put "I Don't Know" on third base.
Then there's the Mets and their history of third basemen... but that's a story for another time.