Major League Baseball is investigating the accuracy of statements by Alex Rodriguez about his use of performance-enhancing drugs, according to people within baseball who were briefed on the matter.What's the point of this? MLB should stop wasting their time investigating Rodriguez and continue to try to figure out how to get PED's out of the game.Investigators have contacted several of Rodriguez’s associates to determine whether he used performance-enhancing drugs for a longer time than he has admitted, the people said.
The people spoke on the condition of anonymity because they did not want to be identified discussing a continuing investigation.
They said that the investigation began shortly after Rodriguez met with investigators March 1 in Tampa, Fla., because they had questions about his statements from that meeting.
...Questions about the truthfulness of Rodriguez’s statements were heightened among baseball officials last week after details of a new book about Rodriguez were reported by several news media outlets. The book, “A-Rod: The Many Lives of Alex Rodriguez,” by Selena Roberts, asserts that Rodriguez used several different steroids under the supervision of Presinal and had human growth hormone in his possession when he played for the Yankees in 2004. In 2005, the book also says, Rodriguez was mocked by teammates who suspected that he was using drugs.
On Friday, an investigator asked Roberts if she would cooperate with baseball’s inquiry. Roberts said she would not.
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Commissioner Bud Selig can discipline a player if he feels the player was not forthcoming or truthful in a meeting with investigators. But pursuing whether Rodriguez told the truth will be difficult for the investigators; unlike law enforcement authorities, they have little power to compel a witness to speak with them.
...Investigators can try to meet with former and current players, team officials and even Rodriguez. M.L.B. has no power to compel former players to talk, and it is unclear whether current players would discuss the actions of another player.
“There is not a lot of precedence to this, and especially what Selig could do if current players refuse to cooperate,” Gabriel Feldman, the director of the sports law program at Tulane University Law School, said in a telephone interview. “There is no specific language that requires players to cooperate with an investigation, but Selig could try and discipline them, and the union would likely appeal it.”
Feldman said it would be easier to persuade team officials, coaches or employees to speak with the investigators because they were not protected by the union.
Another possibility would be for the investigators to try to meet with Rodriguez again to ask questions related to the book.
“A lot of this is Selig appearing like he has the situation under control,” Feldman said. “The last thing he wants is for someone else, like the federal government or Congress, to try and intercede and take this matter out of his hands.”
Now, if this is all just being done to get Congress of MLB's back, like Feldman suggests, then I understand Selig's motives. The last thing the sport needs is another congressional hearing.
Either way, it would be counter-productive to punish A-Rod or any other player that might decide he doesn't want to talk about the past to MLB investigators in any way. Forcing those players to meet with invetigators will also look terrible for MLB and Selig. Doing either of these things will bring even more attention to this, and it would make Selig and his cohorts look even worse. Most people blame them for this whole PED mess anyway.
9 Comments:
One of the small things I found interesting, I read it off of yahoo, Selena Roberts wont cooperate with mlb officals if they do investigate.hmm maybe bc her story is all bs?
*Cartman
Here's Roberts' explanation for why she won't cooperate with investigators:
“I said that as a journalist, I cover M.L.B., and cooperating with them on this would be a conflict of interest, and he said that he understood the position that I am in,” Roberts, a senior writer for Sports Illustrated and a former reporter and columnist for The New York Times, said Saturday in a telephone interview.
Greg, dont mean to get off the subject but Fossum was signed yesterday, and i just came across Derrick Turnbow being released, wasnt this guy good with the Brewers? Its obvious they need all the help they can get.
I mentioned something about Fossum is a few of the minor-league report posts.
Turnbow was good back in '05 with the Brewers but really hasn't been the same since. Last year he was terrible. He had a 15.63 ERA in just 6.1 innings.
A-Rod being dragged through the wringer may be the deterant that finally gets the kids to stop and think about what they are doing when they decide to use enhancers.
Danny,
I wish that were true, but I don't think kids care about A-Rod. Kids always believe they won't get caught, or the negative side effects won't happen to them.
If a kid believes steroids will help him become a better player on his high school team and maybe get them a scholarship, they will still use steroids.
Greg is right. I played hs ball, then went to college. I was told I was a little to heavy to play. Which is a joke bc I was able to lift more then everyone on the team, I just didnt devolop cuts/ that ripped look. After the whole Arod fiasco and hearing about boli/primobolan, I started to do research and was able to find someone with it. i didnt use it bc I didnt know the side effects and didnt want to find out the hard way. but all the media exposure gives us ideas and maes us want to look into it more. one of my friends started to use after giambi was outted, bc he said "look, guy bats 240 with 30 homers and makes 25 million, i want that"
-Cartman
i still don't get why just ARod... what about the other 100+ other cheaters????
Good question Anon.
It's probably because he's the biggest name. I also really don't think many people in baseball like the guy, and that doesn't help his cause.
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