Jeffress at it again, suspended 100 games; Latest -- Agent Audio Link

[jackalope02ca]

I wouldn't be to nervous with him being high pitching to. So the guy is a little more calm and focused on the mind.

That's like suggesting you drive better after a couple of rounds of tequila shooters. Come on.

 

And addictions to pain killers are a serious problem world wide. In many cases it's as bad as being addicted to recreational drugs. Has the same affect on family and your life. People lose jobs, homes, families and their lives.

[CheezWizHed]

...I like to think that people gave me a chance to reform myself and it worked out, thanks to that opportunity....

If being addicted to Uecker is wrong, I don't want to be right!

[temke]

There was also another player who pitched a no hitter while on drugs can't remember the name right now.

Dock Ellis

 

http://www.snopes.com/sports/baseball/ellis.asp

[BKBucky_2_2]

If I go to work high, I no longer work.. no different.. In fact, MiLB is more lenient.

Do you even know how a drug test works? There's absolutely no reason to believe that he was going to work high.

 

On a different topic: Why do people separate legal drugs like pain killers and alcohol from weed, cocaine, and other illegal drugs? They are all drugs. Marijuana is no more of a gateway drug than alcohol except for the fact that it shows someone is willing to do something illegal to get high. If weed was legal I don't think it would have a stronger correlation to cocaine/heroine/crack use than alcohol.

 

I agree it's foolish to smoke weed when you've tested positive in the past and are going to face tests in the future, but linking it to PEDs is a huge failure on the part of MLB.

[strawbossisevil]

Jeffress is beyond stupid on this. He knew the consequences yet toked his future millions away.

 

For all those who say Weed is harmless, maybe you should come down here to Mexico and live down here for a while. Live among the families of the tens of thousands killed this year alone, killed by people who are funded by those who "harmlessly use weed". While weed remains illegal, people who buy and smoke weed are supporting the killing of thousands upon thousands of Mexicans.

 

Just tonight, a family that was touched by the violence asked me why Americans ignore the violence and continue to smoke weed as if it harms no one. I was left speechless about what to say to them. I finally decided to apologize for my fellow citizen´s stupidity and lack of consideration for anyone but themselves.

 

Now, if it is made legal, that could all change and weed could be bought without it turning into "blood money". But while it remains illegal, people should not be using it. Those who continue to do so are responsible for the violence that is taking lives down here (the metropolitan area of my city alone, a city about the size of Milwaukee, has 27 murders a day so far this year). (Not so harmless, when you take all that into consideration).

 

It´s mindblowing, how some can care so much for animals, or how their actions effect global warming, but ignore how their seemingly "harmless" actions are leading to the deaths of thousands of human beings. Fathers (just like yours dieing because of money made from weed). Mothers (like yours). Sons (like yours). Daughters (like yours). All dieing because of a "harmless" habit.

[sbrylski]

Straw, like you hinted at, the violence is a byproduct of marijuana's illegality, not marijuana itself. So the violence argument actually supports the argument of the legalization crowd.

 

However, you are correct in that its hard to justify purchasing weed from Mexico knowing what kind of activity you are supporting. That said, I believe a lot of the marijuana sold in WI is from Canada.

[yount19.u]

These "rants" are not silly or irrelevant, they are quite serious, this is a serious topic, because there are MANY people in jail for nothing else but simple possession, or selling it, or whatever.

The problem is these rants should not be in this thread. I agree with much of what you say, but this thread should be about Jeffress and not the politics of weed. I think a new thread should be started in the Off Topic section as we are talking way too much about drug laws here, and not enough about Jeffress and his future with the team.

[SeriesFinale]

All of the rants of how safe and harmless pot is and how it should be legalized are a little silly and quite irrelevant to the situation. MiLB has rules, and Jeffress is either too stupid or too addicted to stick to the rules. I sure hope he either wisens up or gets the help he needs while he's out, it'd be a darn shame and a waste of talent.

Unfortunately, I have to agree that in this particular situation, the question of whether or not pot should be tested for in MiLB (much less should it be legalized, whether it's addictive, etc) is ultimately irrelevant.

 

However, I disagree that it's silly to discuss it--these issues can't help but be lashed to the topic at hand.

[strawbossisevil]

Straw, like you hinted at, the violence is a byproduct of marijuana's illegality, not marijuana itself. So the violence argument actually supports the argument of the legalization crowd.

 

However, you are correct in that its hard to justify purchasing weed from Mexico knowing what kind of activity you are supporting. That said, I believe a lot of the marijuana sold in WI is from Canada.

Agreed, to an extent. If those who use actually care about those people in Mexico, they would be best served to refrain from smoking it until it is made legal. In the meantime, they can pour all the time and money they´d spend getting high on working toward that legalization. But to say how horrible it is that this is happening because it is illegal, and then purchasing it and smoking it anyway (trying to pass off all the guilt on the government) just doesn´t fly because one is responsible for one´s actions and the outcome of those actions.

 

As far as where the marijuana sold in WI comes from, I´d want to be 100% sure that it was from Canada and not from Mexico. Any amount of doubt would (and should) plague my conscience. But then again, can anyone be 100% sure where it comes from if they didn´t grow it themselves? Better to be safe, and not risk supporting countless murders, than to not consider it and be guilty of supporting those who are killing countless people.

 

I agree that legalization makes sense (to a certain extent) when it comes toward reducing the violence here in Mexico, however I can´t and won´t personally be in favor of such legalization for moral and religious reasons (which is for another thread on another board).

 

And considering the fact that Jeffress is living in Huntsville and Brevard County (and not in Wisconsin), is there any doubt where his weed is coming from? And what the money he´s paying for it is going to support?

[logan82]

Probably grown down the road in Alabama.

[YoungGeezy]

I wouldn't be to nervous with him being high pitching to. So the guy is a little more calm and focused on the mound.

That's like suggesting you drive better after a couple of rounds of tequila shooters. Come on.

 

And addictions to pain killers are a serious problem world wide. In many cases it's as bad as being addicted to recreational drugs. Has the same affect on family and your life. People lose jobs, homes, families and their lives.

To clear the record there is no close comparison to drinking and driving and pitching high..... at all, not ever close. Plus i highly doubt that he pitched high in the first place. Most likely bored in the hotel with nothing better to do, thats my guess.

 

Next I know that pain killers are a serious problem and that is why I related Brett Favre to Jeffress. To me pain killers are worse than weed beause it damages your health a lot more. You sat here talking about what you would tell your child if Jeffress was pitching in the majors so what do you say about Brett Favre and his old addiction to pain pills? Or Lawerence Taylor and coccaine? Then Josh Hamilton who has outdone what Jeffress has by 100x what do you say about him? If he was to make it to Milwaukee it's because he grow up and fixed the problem like all those other guys did. So I wouldn't focus on the bad when talking to a young child about players but the positive like about how he worked hard and overcame addiction so become a very good player.

[twobrewers]

If I go to work high, I no longer work.. no different.. In fact, MiLB is more lenient.

That is actually not true.

 

If you get fired for being high - you just have to claim "addiction". In the United State "addition" is recognized as a disease. You cannot lose your job because of a disease.

 

They will suspend you without pay. But, assuming you get treatment, you can get your job back upon completion.

[SeriesFinale]

And considering the fact that Jeffress is living in Huntsville and Brevard County (and not in Wisconsin), is there any doubt where his weed is coming from?

Actually, yes, there's plenty of doubt. There isn't some Mason-Dixon (Cheech-Chong?) Line that indicates whether someone purchased marijuana grown and sold out of Mexico or Canada, and those are far from the only places in this hemisphere (in this country) alone where it's grown and sold from.

[jackalope02ca]

People keep referring to Josh Hamilton on this site. For every Josh Hamilton there are thousands of others who end up dead, in jail or homeless. So really what is your point. I have a better chance of winning the lottery than Jeffress does at truly turning his life around. For his sake I hope Josh Hamilton has turned his life around. Time will tell. You don't have to be with it to be a major leaguer or pro athlete either. Does anyone really think Milton Bradley or Elijah Dukes for example have it all together. I doubt either will last very long in he real world once their playing days are over.

In risking getting kicked off this board I'll state I'm no fan of Brett Favre either whom is also mentioned on this thread often enough. Never have been. Tremendous talent but just look at him now. Can't cope with the real world so he turns a great hall of fame career into a soap opera. It's becoming really pitiful to watch.

[twobrewers]

I have a better chance of winning the lottery than Jeffress does at truly turning his life around.

Just a gross mathematical inaccuracy.

[jackalope02ca]

Never said which lottery did I.

 

My point being is he's a complete right off. I think it's fair to say Mr. Jeffress = worst pick in the history of the Brewers, taking into consideration he was a first rounder, the expectations, the fact we are no longer in the Sal Bando era (did we really expect much back then?) and the fact it wasn't injuries that did the guy in, rather character.

[JJHardy7]

My point is he likely never will. And if he ever does it will be several years from now with another organization anyways. What kind of example does this set for the rest of our legitmate prospects?

Sorry to knock your posts...but you're just missing some major points. Missing a year of baseball (more or less) is a huge deal. It's not like JJ is in the majors tossing no-hitters. He's still developing. It sets a pretty damn good example for the prospects. If you do something you're not supposed to, you won't play. How does that not set a good example? A player throwing 100 mph is gone for a year...and like it's been mentioned the Brewers probably could move him to the 40-man or other manuevers to have it benefit the team. I do also think that if this is a serious problem (again...he didn't test positive at all last year during the season and some here are totally dismissing that fact and treating him like a hardcore drug addict...we don't know) the team probably knew about it. I'm going to guess teams have and will find ways for talent to keep playing despite drug testing. Let's face it...it's minor league drug testing and I'm going to guess it'd be pretty easy to screw with the test. The simple fact is all we know it that he's been suspended 100 games for substance abuse...that's it. This isn't at you, but can we please, please, please stop the 'he was pitching high, etc'. How is that anywhere near true? I'd like to know the source or some links to that. I personally have never had to take a drug test at the places I work, but I've heard weed stays in your system for 30-days (no clue if that's true). So let's say when he had a day off he smoked/did whatever drug he tested positive for...woke up the next day and didn't touch the stuff for a few weeks...then tests positive. This is not being high on the mound or doing something in the dugout. That should be more than clear and it's a joke it keeps getting brought up.

If he was going to figure it out he would have the 1st time. Unless I'm wrong this is technically his 3rd offense already. Didn't the Brewers catch him on there own as well?

So they should release him and move on...why? There's not point. The money on JJ has been spent. I don't know if you have a 401k or anything...but it sucked for a bit...should you just pull everything out and put the money under your mattress? Again, these are failed drug tests. We don't know anything more than that. Is he addicted, dumb, etc? We don't know and to be posting things that aren't facts like facts is dead wrong IMO.

This is the one case where I couldn't care less if he caught on with another team and made it. He's not much of an example for kid's to look up to. What am I supposed to do if he's up with the Brewers someday. Lean over to my kids and say quit cheering for our team for a minute while this idiot pitches? Not the type of conversation I want to be having at a ballpark.

So are you the most perfect person in the world? Come on...most people make mistakes...that's a fact. If you have never and will never make a mistake of any kind big or small and want to sit on top of the mountain, I'd just suggest not having your kids watch sports, tv, or any movie. I'd also recommend not going out in the public...there are far too many people who have made mistakes...that'd be a terrible thing for your kids to see.

People keep referring to Josh Hamilton on this site. For every Josh Hamilton there are thousands of others who end up dead, in jail or homeless. So really what is your point. I have a better chance of winning the lottery than Jeffress does at truly turning his life around. For his sake I hope Josh Hamilton has turned his life around. Time will tell. You don't have to be with it to be a major leaguer or pro athlete either. Does anyone really think Milton Bradley or Elijah Dukes for example have it all together. I doubt either will last very long in he real world once their playing days are over.

Have you ever read anything on Josh Hamilton? I could go on here, but my guess is that you haven't. I'd suggest doing a little research on him and learning a thing or two before you comment more on him.

[jackalope02ca]

I'm very well aware of the Josh Hamilton story but the point being missed here is it doesn't matter your background or how you came through things the chances of long term success aren't good. I hope he can stay on the straight and narrow the rest of his life. Few that have been through what he has succeed long term.

 

I'm not going to say anything more on this subject because it's obvious a lot of people just don't get it. He's 21, he's just a kid, forgive him I here. Whether it's fair or not he's a pro athlete and they are held to higher standards. Jeffress obviously isn't up to it and for anyone to suggest he is, is absurd.

[JJHardy7]

I'm very well aware of the Josh Hamilton story but the point being missed here is it doesn't matter your background or how you came through things the chances of long term success aren't good. I hope he can stay on the straight and narrow the rest of his life. Few that have been through what he has succeed long term.

Based on your comments...I don't think you are.

I'm not going to say anything more on this subject because it's obvious a lot of people just don't get it. He's 21, he's just a kid, forgive him I here. Whether it's fair or not he's a pro athlete and they are held to higher standards. Jeffress obviously isn't up to it and for anyone to suggest he is, is absurd.

Well...nobody is saying he should smoke weed everyday and blow his career. I am saying that if you have a problem taking your kids to see him pitch you have a problem with almost anytype of entertainment. Nobody is perfect...there's no need to release the guy and also, again, no need to make up stuff without knowing the facts.

[BrewCrewForever]

Chances of Jeffress ever pitching a Brewers uniform seem to have gone down dramatically. Hopefully Braddock, Rogers and Butler can continue to develop so we can get them here soon.

[TooLiveBrew]

My point being is he's a complete right off. I think it's fair to say Mr. Jeffress = worst pick in the history of the Brewers, taking into consideration he was a first rounder, the expectations, the fact we are no longer in the Sal Bando era (did we really expect much back then?) and the fact it wasn't injuries that did the guy in, rather character.

 

Not even close to being the worst draft pick ever.

[Katuluu]

it has been shown that most people who have problems with drugs much more severe than marijuana (cocaine, heroin, etc.) started with marijuana, and when the high of marijuana (or the lure of making money from selling it) wasn't good enough for them anymore they moved on to bigger and more dangerous things.

 

Not sure if this was covered or not, but this is actually untrue. The vast majority of marijuana users exclusively use marijuana. Alcohol is a far more frequent gateway drug. Also, you can test positive for using marijuana as much as a month after smoking it, and possibly even longer.

 

Other interesting notes, one third of the US population has smoked marijuana. 20 million smoke it a year. 2 million smoke it every day. Almost 100% of all marijuana sold in the US is grown in the Midwest, and it is estimated to be the largest cash crop in the US by a wide margin (estimated worth of $25 billion, compared to $19 billion for corn. For further comparison, estimated worth of apples? $1 billion.). Marijuana is also one of the few things that you can be tried simultaneously at local, state and federal level, meaning you can get three separate convictions for one incident. Also, 700,000 people are arrested every year for marijuana possession. That's more then any other drug.

 

All these facts and more can be found in the trio of essays called Reefer Madness by Eric Schlosser (author of Fast Food Nation). I highly recommend reading it.

[YoungGeezy]

People keep referring to Josh Hamilton on this site. For every Josh Hamilton there are thousands of others who end up dead, in jail or homeless. So really what is your point. I have a better chance of winning the lottery than Jeffress does at truly turning his life around. For his sake I hope Josh Hamilton has turned his life around. Time will tell. You don't have to be with it to be a major leaguer or pro athlete either. Does anyone really think Milton Bradley or Elijah Dukes for example have it all together. I doubt either will last very long in he real world once their playing days are over

Jackalope reminds me of those rediculious above the influence commercials. I still don't think you understand yet that it is only weed. Now if Jeffress was hitting the crackpipe, taking a few lines, shoting up with some herorin, taking hits of PCP or puking drunk every night then I will start to worry and think wow his life is going down the drain. This guy really needs help to kick some serious addictions (real addicting drugs). But it is only weed, yes some people consider it a gateway drug and an "addicting drug" but that is something they tell in health class to scare you away I think. If you look at all the drugs that he could have a problem with, he sure picked the best one of all all them. Does less damage to your body and health, is the safest to be on, and its not addicting. So to right the kid off and claim he isnt going anywhere in life because he smoke weed thats crazy. I'm a college kid who drinks does that means I'm going nowhere in life? You are a million more times likely to die from alcohol than from weed.

 

I personally don't like weed and much rather drink but it drives me nuts when people try to make it so much worse than what it really is. Only a really conservative, closed minded, uneducated on drugs person can sit here and try to claim that a 21 years old career and future is doomed and over because he gets high. The NBA has many success players and I'd be willing to bet that a lot of those guys are getting high as soon as they leave the locker room. Hell Santario Holmes was pulled over with four joints right in his middle compartment all ready to be smoked and I'm not going to lie he is a pretty good player. Just do some research that is not done by above the influence or some conservative or religious nuts. You will see that his life is over. I tip my hat to you for being a perfect human being and never doing anything wrong but I for one can admit I have made plenty and will continue to make them.

 

Brewers, get smart and test the kid constantly. The best way to solve this is to give him 1 or 2 test randomly a month and if he does fail one, keep it quite and bench with a "injury" You can't not test a guy who continues to screw up. If he knews that he is only going to be tested once or twice a year he is 100 times more likely to smoke thinking that he will be fine. If he knows that at anytime he can be tested. He will get a hell of a lot smarter.

[UeckerAddict]

...I like to think that people gave me a chance to reform myself and it worked out, thanks to that opportunity....

If being addicted to Uecker is wrong, I don't want to be right!

Awesome, CheezWizHead. Though I was actually referring to my previous addiction to Pat Hughes.

[TheCrew07]

I'd be a hypocrite if said none of my friends ever smoked pot and such. I personally never tried it because I know I have an addictive personality, so I tend to keep myself away from anything that could lead me down a path I don't want to go down. As far as it being stepping stone drug, it was for small portion of my circle of friends when I was living in MN. They started with weed and eventually went looking for a better high, I'm not sure if they were emboldened by how easy it was to smoke up or what, I never cared to ask them, I just listened to them talk about it. Cocaine started out as a birthday present for one of the guys, and it sort of took off from there. Once it escalated to cocaine for that segment of my circle of friends, our group sort of split into 2, those guys going a different way than the rest of us.

 

Is weed a stepping stone in every case? No, not in my experience, in fact it was a rather small percentage of a pretty good size group that moved on to bigger drugs at the time. Gradually I've lost contact with all of those guys as we spread out across the states, I have no idea what happened to most of the rest of the guys. As for the guys who started snorting... that was a world I wanted absolutely no part of and it was an easy decision to go a different way, I simply made a personal choice. I've heard arguments on both sides about weed and I tend to be cynical about reports of studies from either side that seem to have an agenda from the start, so in the this case I prefer to go off of my limited personal experience.

 

The political rants and whines... irrelevant to the discussion, I'm not interested in justification of stupidity. Personally, the weed in itself isn't a big deal to me, but a 2nd positive test is, because it hints at character and commitment issues. I want players that are committed to becoming major league ball players and have the mental fortitude to stay the course. On the job, when people do things that are against the rules, generally speaking the job doesn't mean very much to the employee, they don't care enough about it to follow the rules. What the rule states is immaterial, we've all seen people who didn't care about their jobs do stupid things and get fired. It doesn't matter to me if it's weed, breaking curfew, sex with a female employee (fraternization), whatever relatively minor infraction... If they are willing to repeatedly risk their career for fleeting pleasures then how committed to their careers were they in the first place? Whining about the rules, how ever frivolous they may be, is a poor excuse for failure. The rules, which are a condition of employment, are known to all up front, and either you follow them or don't, but you aren't entitled to keep job regardless of what you do.

 

I have a hard time believing he got down on himself and started smoking again over despair from his demotion... chances are he wanted to start smoking again and thought he could mask it somehow, maybe he was masking it all along, maybe his circle of friends he spends time with in the off-season are big smokers... the variables here are pretty litmitless... the point is that Jeffress seems like a bright kid in his interviews, so to think that he'd just light up without considering the consequences seems like quite a stretch to me. I could be wrong, but my gut impression is there's more to the story than a kid who made a couple of poor choices, this wreaks of deliberate intent to me.