Gagné says teammates used PEDs

[Dragonbait]

per ESPN:

 

Former Cy Young closer Eric Gagne alleges in his new biography that 80 percent of his Los Angeles Dodgers teammates were using performance-enhancing drugs.

 

Gagne, who set a major league record while converting 84 consecutive save chances, admits that he used human growth hormone over five cycles in a three-year period toward the end of his career.

 

"It was sufficient to ruin my health, tarnish my reputation and throw a shadow over the extraordinary performances of my career," Gagne says in the French-language book, titled "Game Over: The Story of Eric Gagne."

 

Gagne won the 2003 Cy Young while converting all 55 of his save opportunities and posting a 1.20 ERA. He had elbow surgery in 2005 and signed as a free agent with the Texas Rangers before the 2006 season. Gagne signed a minor league deal with the Dodgers in 2010, but was released during spring training and hasn't pitched in the major leagues since 2008.

 

Gagne first admitted publicly to using HGH in 2010.

 

In the book, Gagne does not provide any names of players he says used PEDs. Baseball began stricter testing in the spring of 2006. Players are subject to HGH testing during spring training and in the offseason, but not during the season.

 

"I was intimately aware of the clubhouse in which I lived. I would say that 80 percent of the Dodgers players were consuming them," Gagne says in the book.

[JohnBriggs12]

Ho-hum. Usage was rampant. That's really not news anymore is it?

[owbc]

So this means there's an 80% chance Matt Kemp is a cheater?

[torts]

matt kemp was on the dodgers pre 2006?

[Dragonbait]

Ho-hum. Usage was rampant. That's really not news anymore is it?

 

 

That was my thought too. But some might find it interesting, so I'd thought I'd share.

[jerichoholicninja]

...and the sky is blue.

[PrinceEatMeat]

80% of the players in baseball were probably using PEDs at one point. So this is really a non-story. Nothing earth shattering. I'd be interested if he named some of the players though. But I guess it's implied that it was all the big names on the Dodgers at that time, which doesn't surprise me.

[dlk9s]

http://i.imgur.com/fkB89.gif

[MJLiverock]

Which is why I say just put the best players of the generation in the Hall of Fame, I don't care that some have admitted using PEDs, they were so rampant that in relation to the competition in MLB the gain didn't matter.

[MNBrew]

Players of past eras using amphetamines & greenies, Gaylord Perry's blatant "spitters" & other doctored balls . . . Lots of those guys in the HOF.

 

The list of players who've "cheated" or taken things they shouldn't to gain a competitive advantage goes back for multiple generations. That the writers would suddenly apply "moral standards" to current players -- whether their actions are known or merely suspected (circumstantial evidence or not) -- without also applying it to players already in the HOF reeks of arbitrary-ness and double standards.

 

Some have argued that steroids are different because they were illegal at the time. Well, so was the upper -- cocaine -- taken by our beloved Paul Molitor and lots of his '70s & '80s peers who've since made the HOF, but that's not being held to the same standard, which again seems arbitrary or selective.

 

I'm one who readily admits with great frustration that the standards for right & wrong are often compromised or neutered in today's society. But I think there's so much contradiction -- and unknown -- that drawing ACCURATE moralistic lines is darn near impossible, & so when it comes to drugs/steroids/etc., all eligible guys whose play & career is deserving ought to be in.

[monty57]

Out of all the hullabaloo that is the "Steroids Era" of baseball, the only thing I really care about is that I think Hank Aaron should still be considered the Home Run King of baseball. Other than that, nothing is going to get resolved and I hope the TV "talking heads" don't have to argue the ins-and-outs every year as Hall of Fame time rolls around.

[Ennder]

If this is true it means steroids weren't a big deal because almost everyone used them so they didn't matter in the long run. Steroids are a much bigger deal if 10% of player used them than if 80% did.

[JimH5]

If this is true it means steroids weren't a big deal because almost everyone used them so they didn't matter in the long run. Steroids are a much bigger deal if 10% of player used them than if 80% did.

 

Perhaps in the micro, where dirty pitcher faces dirty batter, then the outcome may not be reliant on PED use.

 

But in the macro, where clean fringe guys can't make the roster because dirty fringe guys had better performance, that's a big deal for the clean guy.

 

And if fans were lead to believe someone was clean and he wasn't, that's still the same size deal it was before. To some, it's no big deal, to others it could be.

[RockCoCougars]

I saw this and immediately thought of this article related to a former Gagne teammate....definitely a '20 Percenter'.

 

http://www.theonion.com/articles/turns-out-craig-counsell-was-actually-best-basebal,6581/

[Ennder]

If this is true it means steroids weren't a big deal because almost everyone used them so they didn't matter in the long run. Steroids are a much bigger deal if 10% of player used them than if 80% did.

 

Perhaps in the micro, where dirty pitcher faces dirty batter, then the outcome may not be reliant on PED use.

 

But in the macro, where clean fringe guys can't make the roster because dirty fringe guys had better performance, that's a big deal for the clean guy.

 

And if fans were lead to believe someone was clean and he wasn't, that's still the same size deal it was before. To some, it's no big deal, to others it could be.

 

 

yeah that is certainly true. I was thinking more from the standpoint of how much the stats themselves matter. If 80% of players used steroids it means the stats themselves aren't all that corrupted. My guess is Gagne is full of it or the Dodgers were on the heavier end of usage and that less than 50% used so those stats are all tainted.

[JimH5]

The most surprising thing to me out of all of this is that some publisher thinks there is an audience for an Eric Gagne book.

 

It's written in french, it's not on Amazon--do they think they will sell even 1000 copies? How much money is there in this kind of project?

 

Can't wait to get my hands on the Danny Kolb tell-all where he drops dirt on Glendon Rusch.

 

Just because you have a story doesn't mean that I want to hear it.

[MJLiverock]

Well Jim I saw a stack of biographies at Barnes and Noble the other day about that guy called the "The Situation" from Jersey Shore. Granted they were in the deep discount bin but somehow a publisher thought he was a worthy subject. I almost bought one as a gag gift but thought better of feeding that hype machine.

[jerichoholicninja]

I think Gagne's still a big deal in Canada where he's from, hence the being written in French.

[Invader3K]

Gagne is currently the pitching coach for Team France in the World Baseball Classic, fwiw.