A-rod reported to have used steroids with yankees and in High School

[adamb100]

Let the drama begin:

 

More details from Sports Illustrated writer Selena Roberts' book "A-Rod" were released Wednesday by the New York Daily News. The book alleges Rodriguez did not stop using steroids when he came to the Yankees and he might have been using as far back as high school, the Daily News reports.

Roberts broke the story that A-Rod failed a steroid test in 2003. Yankees teammates, Roberts writes, nicknamed Rodriguez "B---h T--s" in 2005 because he put on 15 pounds in the offseason which included round pectorals, a condition called gynecomastia that can be caused by anabolic steroids.

Roberts' book, which will be released May 12, also details Rodriguez's relationship with Dominican trainer Angel Presinal, who is banned from major league clubhouses.

Jose Canseco, a former teammate of Rodriguez, said in the book he believes Rodriguez has been using steroids since high school.

"Was he on steroids in high school?" Canseco said in the book, the Daily News reported. "I think probably so. I worked out with him when he was 18. He could lift almost as much as I could."

 

A-rod to have used steroids with Yankees and in High School

 

 

 

[Invader3K]

Man, it just gets worse and worse for that guy, doesn't it?

[Brian the Automator]

This can't be right. He said his steroid usage was confined to a period with the Rangers!

[kramnoj]

The title of this thread doesn't match the article. Alex didn't "reportedly" use in high school. Canseco speculated.

[MessiahRp]

Boy I am surprised. I knew this dude was a roider from day one.

 

Rp

[JoeH33]

In A-Rod's defense these are all second hand reports and speculation. There's no proof to back any of these claims up.

 

Edit: Grammar

[kramnoj]

The worst allegation in the article hasn't been mentioned yet:

 

"In one shocking disclosure, the book accuses A-Rod of "pitch tipping" when he was with the Rangers - letting a friendly opponent at the plate know which pitch was coming in lopsided games.

 

Rodriguez expected players he helped would do the same for him when he was having an off night and needed to get his batting average up and it wouldn't affect the outcome of the game."

[rluzinski]

What we knew before this "news":

 

1. Many professional atheletes in all sports have used and continue to use performance enhancing drugs.

 

2. 101% of the people that saw ARod's press conferance about steroids thought he was full of it.

 

So now we are going to highlight an old quote from Conseco's book, add it to speculation from a teamate and call it new information? It just seems like we are beating a dead horse, here.

 

Another round of articles and sports radio segments? Yipee.

[joepepsi]

Another round of articles and sports radio segments? Yipee.

Refusing to watch espn or listen to talk radio solves this issue.

[RightFieldCoder]

Refusing to watch espn or listen to talk radio solves this issue.

I've been doing that since about 6 months after finding this wonderful site.

[Tbadder]

The worst allegation in the article hasn't been mentioned yet:

 

"In one shocking disclosure, the book accuses A-Rod of "pitch tipping" when he was with the Rangers - letting a friendly opponent at the plate know which pitch was coming in lopsided games.

 

Rodriguez expected players he helped would do the same for him when he was having an off night and needed to get his batting average up and it wouldn't affect the outcome of the game."

 

If this is true even I will be shocked and dismayed. The whole steroid thing was kinda funny in a look-how-pathetic-humans-are sort of way. But this is truly heinous. To destroy yourself is one thing, but to actively work to hurt your own teammates--next to racism, this is the worst thing I've ever heard in baseball. And the frivolity of the whole thing; the dude is clearly screwed up psychologically.

[Thurston Fluff]

Should anybody be surprised he was using before and after Texas? It didn't add up that he only took steroids in Texas yet his overall level of play wasn't any different before or after Texas. When Bonds took it it was obvious in his performance. He went from a 40 HR guy to a 70 hr guy. A-Rod supposedly took steroids but didn't boost his performance accordingly? Just doesn't add up.

[kramnoj]

A-Rod supposedly took steroids but didn't boost his performance accordingly? Just doesn't add up.

 

Steroids aren't a magic pill. They won't have the same effect on everybody. Bonds was using a lab and a trainer that was working with the lab to get the best results. For Alex, we don't have a very good idea of how he used it, but it sounds like he had his cousin get some stuff from some random dealer. I don't find it that hard to believe that Alex wasn't getting maximum performance from whatever he was doing.

[TooLiveBrew]

What, you're saying a 20-y-o hitting 36 HR with a line of .358/.414/.631/1.045 is supposed to be a red flag?

 

 

A-Rod is the new poster boy for 'Roid Rage: The Backlash. First McGwire, then Bonds, now Rodriguez... I wonder who the next uber-villain will be.

[Thurston Fluff]

Steroids aren't a magic pill. They won't have the same effect on everybody. Bonds was using a lab and a trainer that was working with the lab to get the best results. For Alex, we don't have a very good idea of how he used it, but it sounds like he had his cousin get some stuff from some random dealer. I don't find it that hard to believe that Alex wasn't getting maximum performance from whatever he was doing.

 

Maximum is one thing no discernible difference is quite another. It's also hard to believe he didn't have some sort of idea about weight training and such that would have helped his chemical diet. I would also assume a player who says he was doing steroids as a professional ballplayer because he felt he needed to perform to the level of his contract was in fact doing all the things he needed to in order to get maximum effect from his steroid use. If he didn't get the bump we know comes with usage then it stands to reason he must have help before his admitted usage point.

Steroids work plain and simple. If there is no difference between the player at a point in time where we know he was doing it and when he says he wasn't it is hard to believe he was telling the truth about how often and when he was doing it.

What is easier to believe, an admitted cheater who only admitted it when he was caught was the only person to somehow defy all the odds and didn't get any boost from his usage or he was using all along?

[homer]

Yankees teammates, Roberts writes, nicknamed Rodriguez "B---h T--s" in 2005 because he put on 15 pounds in the offseason which included round pectorals, a condition called gynecomastia that can be caused by anabolic steroids.

His name is Robert Paulson.

[berniebrewer4life]

I'd say i'm shocked, but i'm really not. The big allegation being overlooked here is the pitch tipping.

[logan82]

MLB players would never cheat. They are all clean. Let's move on.

[DougJones43]

The title of this thread doesn't match the article. Alex didn't "reportedly" use in high school. Canseco speculated.

 

It's in the article, so it's being reported. And there was more than the Canseco speculation:

 

Rodriguez put on 25 pounds of muscle between his sophomore and junior years. Former high school teammates told Roberts that A-Rod was using steroids back then and his coach knew it...

[phxMILWfan]

There is nothing surprising to the extended time frame that he used steroids but wow, tipping pitches? Thats different. I'm sure the pitchers on his team really appreciate that. That changes their numbers which could change whether or not they stay in the big leagues, the difference in a future contract. Bud needs to keep him from coming back. The boo's should be relentless when comes back.

[MJLiverock]

Rodriguez put on 25 pounds of muscle between his sophomore and junior years. Former high school teammates told Roberts that A-Rod was using steroids back then and his coach knew it...

I am not saying Arod didn't use roids but whenever I see claims of muscle growth automatically linked to steroids I tend to scoff at it a bit. I know most people don't like to work out but I dont' think they understand how unremarkable that muscle gain is, especially for a top athlete.

 

I went from a 150 pound football player as a junior to 175 pounds by my senior year without gaining an inch of height, 20 to 25 pounds of muscle isn't impossble, especially in high school or early 20's. I worked out 6 days a week for at most 2 hours at a time usually more like 90 minutes. I even got fat and out of shape during college and again at age 24 packed on 20+ pounds of muscle in less than a year all without steroids or a personal trainer.

[RU Rah Rah]

I am just baffled. Tipping pitches to opponents?

 

I am guessing that there has to be some video out there, somewhere. The Selena Roberts interview described how he did it, and I can't imagine that it would be too difficult to find some video of him doing it.

 

You have to get suspended for this, no? It clearly impacts the integrity of the game.

[craigharmann]

A-Rod is a jerk. Check.

A-Rod is a jerk who stretches the rules of baseball (pitch-tipping, yelling "Hey" on a pop-up). Check.

A-Rod is a jerk who may or may not have used steroids previous to his time with the Yankees? Given his track record, it's hard to give him the benefit of the doubt.

[T B0NE 10]

Is anyone concerned with the close relationship between Braun and A-Rod that I've heard of before?

[kramnoj]

Maximum is one thing no discernible difference is quite another.

 

Why is that so hard to believe? There have been plenty of baseball players who have tested positive for steroid use without us being able to see where the performance difference is.

 

It's in the article, so it's being reported.

 

That's one vicious circle. When anonymous sources say that Alex used, without any actual proof or eyewitness testimony, that falls in my definition of allegation. Others may not feel the same way.