Marlon Byrd suspended for 162 games for PED use

[tmwiese55]

In the media's attempt to "clean up" the game by demonizing any player who has ever even thought the word steroids in his brain, they've ruined a whole generation of players and fans. My high school kids that I coached this spring talked about baseball more than any group I've ever had before which really impressed me. However, on one bus trip I overheard them talking about their favorite players and impressive stats/records, every time followed by, "Well he's on steroids, so...". I thought the whole thing was kind of funny till someone brought up Ichiro, and it was of course followed by "He's on the roids," and a general agreement by all involved. It just then kind of hit me that PED's have been made to be such a huge deal by the media and some fans that these kids think there is zero integrity in baseball. When Ichiro (who may very well have taken PED's, I don't know for sure) is mentioned as a steroid guy, you know the issue has jumped the shark.

 

Very well said. And besides the media, MLB itself has perpetuated it by going so wild west in trying to catch people. The way the whole Miami scandal was investigated was very shady. It's like MLB wanted more negative attention for themselves.

 

Even if MLB does actually care about a clean game they need it to appear that they are doing something about it because they let things get out of control in the first place.

 

Yes, that's for sure why they've done it and I get the logic. I just don't think it was the right move to keep this negative story around even longer. You already instilled the strictest testing, now let the attention get back to the game instead of that dominating the news.

[logan82]

I don't believe PED's are the reason for the stats jump. I don't believe the game is cleaned up. The guys now are just way better at masking their PED use.

[remfire]

Byrd seemed to be an obvious PED user. Suddenly at ages 35-37 he was hitting more HRs than he ever did in his career. Do people still want to argue that there is no correlation between PED use and power numbers?

 

Because guys never develop more power as they age....

 

http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/m/molitpa01-bat.shtml

 

Highest ISO seasons at ages: 30, 33, 36, 37, 34, 38

 

http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/a/aaronha01-bat.shtml

 

Highest ISO seasons at ages: 39, 37, 35

 

Probably not the most popular statement here, but who's to say Molly and Hank didn't take steroids.... My biggest fear of the Mitchell Report was seeing Ripken, Nolan Ryan, and god-forbid Yount's name on it. It would have ruined baseball for me and many others.

 

Here's an interesting read on Hank Aaron and steroids

 

http://www.blowoutcards.com/forums/baseball/20406-hammerin-hank-aaron-he-roids.html

[Patrick425]

I don't believe PED's are the reason for the stats jump. I don't believe the game is cleaned up. The guys now are just way better at masking their PED use.

 

 

I believe the exact opposite of everything stated above.

[clancyphile]

PEDs played a part - but I think we can't quantify how much of a part they played.

 

There have been changes in a host of areas. Diet and training regimes have become more advanced. Hitters can videotape their at bats. Computers have replaced paper charts. Oh, yeah, baseball's expanded to the point where the pitching talent's been diluted.

[tmwiese55]

The biggest reason HRs jumped is that the fences were drastically moved in from the early years of baseball. If I recall the old Yankee Stadium when Ruth played had a 490 ft centerfield and Fenway's center was originally 488 ft.

[tmwiese55]

I don't believe PED's are the reason for the stats jump. I don't believe the game is cleaned up. The guys now are just way better at masking their PED use.

 

This thinking is the result of the way MLB and media handled all this. Like I said earlier, they have the most advanced and strictest testing in any sport, yet people believe everyone is cheating but can mask it. It's as if people forget that during the boom of steroid use there was literally no testing at all, that's why it went so oveboard. But now with the most advanced and strictest testing they're still able to do it, just doesn't seem logical to me. But that's what the media wants you to think so they can keep getting clicks and views every time someone gets caught.

[logan82]

On the flip side MLB wants you to think they have the game cleaned up. Do you really think Braun only used one time and happened to get caught? What about all the other guys who they found during their investigation that never tested positive? The cheaters were ahead of the testers and still are.

[Ennder]

The steroids Sosa aged players used are nothing like what is in use today. Those were muscle building steroids, these are recovery based. Dee Gordon did not build muscles with his steroid use, he was able to play at 100% efficiency for much longer than others. Today's steroids don't make you hit the ball farther, it makes you play the game at peak performance more often. Both of those things will result in more power.

[LouisEly]

On the flip side MLB wants you to think they have the game cleaned up. Do you really think Braun only used one time and happened to get caught? What about all the other guys who they found during their investigation that never tested positive? The cheaters were ahead of the testers and still are.

Testing is an inexact science. I'll let others in the scientific community chime in on that. If you want testing to be more exact you would have to draw a significant amount of blood on a weekly basis from every player, and that is just not feasible - both for the testing, and for the long-term integrity of the arterial tissue. That's why they do urine tests, which aren't an exact science.

 

If the cheaters are ahead of the testers, then how does anyone get caught? Wouldn't it be common knowledge what you need to do to not get caught? The reality is that you have just as much evidence to support your stance as someone does to support the opposite.

 

What do I think happened with Braun? He was on a team that had a legitimate chance to win the World Series, he was hurt, he wanted a shortcut to get healthy and help his team get to the World Series, and the testers were ahead of the cheaters. He was tested as much or more than any player in 2012; that is part of the collective bargaining agreement - if you test positive you get tested more often, regardless of whether you are found "guilty" or not. That's in the CBA. And he had perhaps his best season ever in 2012. Look at what he is doing this year. He is a great player, and always has been.

 

What I think happens is that there are guys such as Bosch and Conte who are looking to make money and try to convince players that "their science" can't be detected by testing. But, as we saw with Braun, they are wrong. It's the randomness of testing and the inexact nature of urine testing that contributes to not getting caught more than it is the cheater being ahead of the testers.

[BuckyBrewer61]

I continue to be perplexed as to where the notions come from that steroid use just "helps you recover" or "helps you train harder." No. Simply no.

 

The science of steroid use in athletes is clear - they make you stronger, more powerful. If we both do the same workout, but I take testosterone and you don't, I will gain more power than you. Yeah I won't just become Hulk by sitting around and doing nothing but steroids, but if I'm a professional athlete training regularly, I will yield better results for the same amount of work by taking steroids. That's the actual science behind it - it's been studied, not just thrown out there by a talking head on TV.

 

Whatever you think on top of that - to each their own. But let's be very clear on the fact of the benefits of steroids to an athlete. There is a good reason they were rampant throughout the league.

[tmwiese55]

But they really can't do real steroids anymore. They're using products that are available over the counter to every joe schmo. Read up a bit on what the recent people were busted for, Byrd specifically laid it all out there.

[Point Beer Is Best]

I continue to be perplexed as to where the notions come from that steroid use just "helps you recover" or "helps you train harder." No. Simply no.

 

The science of steroid use in athletes is clear - they make you stronger, more powerful. If we both do the same workout, but I take testosterone and you don't, I will gain more power than you. Yeah I won't just become Hulk by sitting around and doing nothing but steroids, but if I'm a professional athlete training regularly, I will yield better results for the same amount of work by taking steroids. That's the actual science behind it - it's been studied, not just thrown out there by a talking head on TV.

 

Whatever you think on top of that - to each their own. But let's be very clear on the fact of the benefits of steroids to an athlete. There is a good reason they were rampant throughout the league.

 

A couple of things. First, you seem to group all steroids together. That's an incorrect statement. A bodybuilder isn't going to take the same kinds of steroids that are used by professional cyclists as an example. As Ennder pointed out, the steroids that put on the kind of mass we saw with the McGwire/Sosa/Bonds era aren't used today. Those will typically compromise an athlete's flexibility if they aren't supplementing their workouts with adequate stretching/yoga routines. The steroids used today in baseball are likely geared towards endurance, not muscle mass.

 

Also, I'm confused why you would say that steroids will help you get stronger but not because they help you recover or train harder. That is EXACTLY how they work. If you have a twin brother of the exact same strength and one of you takes a strength-enhancing steroid while the other does not, and you do the exact same workout with the exact same weights and repetitions with the exact same frequency, you will likely get the exact same results. Where the steroid will help is that the tears in the muscle tissue heal much faster enabling that person to then INCREASE the frequency of their workouts and increase the weights used, resulting in larger gains. The steroid simply enables you to recover faster to increase your workout intensity, or to perform at 100% for a full baseball season.

[tmwiese55]

Take a look at what happened with Sharapova if you automatically think all these people are dirty dirty lying cheaters.