Mitchell Report

The conspiracy theorist in me is starting to kick in now that it's been 24 hours. Selig, Mitchell and Fehr are all savvy business men who it seems knew quite well how rampant the steroid use was in MLB before this 'report' went down. For example, if the Dodgers are commenting internally about Lo Duca's steroid use before trading him, I believe that's probably the MO for all the teams. At least the 'smart' ones. If notes like Lo Duca's are floating around, and copies of checks are being kept, there is more to this story than is being revealed now.

Selig, Mitchell and Fehr also knew each other on a personal and business level before Mitchell was appointed by Selig to conduct this investigation. This all smells fishy to me. I am getting the feeling that this list is just to satisfy the public bloodlust since the Barry situation boiled over. Beyond Clemens, the list has very low impact in terms of star power. Gagne, Tejada, and Pettite had their time as dominant players, but are no-where near that level anymore. Tejada just got traded to Houston where there will be very little negative backlash on him. Gagne hasn't been able to pitch well for the past 4 years, and Pettite will never inspire the public to hate him. He's too low key. Especially how his particular situation was spun in the report. "He wanted to get back to help his team as fast as he could..."

Beyond those players, the rest are/were average players. Matt Franco? David Segui? Even Lo Duca. None of those guys were headed to the hall. They are now officially the 'fall guys.' Congratulations MLB.

I saw Mitchell interviewed by Jeremy Schapp, and what Mitchell stressed made me angry, and Schapp's unwillingness to challenge Mitchell's claim made me furious. Mitchell states that the REAL victims need to be considered and 'not forgotten' in this whole situation, and those victims are the 'vast majority' of MLB players who don't use Performance Enhancing Drugs and are forced to decide: Do I stay at a competitive disadvantage or do illegal drugs to keep up?

That's right sports fans, the biggest victims in this whole situation are the other baseball players, not the fans that have been duped by big business MLB for the last 12 years into thinking Selig and his cronies actually give a crap about anything besides making craptons of money. Or how steroids trickled down into college and high school ranks in large part due to the MLB's(and other pro leagues) blind eye to steroids over that period of time. Or how the magic of 'McGwire vs. Sosa' was between two juiced up freaks being lauded as heroes. Complete with an image of President Clinton clapping from the stands.

I do agree, the players who have not used drugs are a victim of this trend, but they should not be considered the biggest victims as Mitchell and Selig and Fehr want you to believe. All of their speeches dripped with spin, and the media challenged none of it.

When I opened the report, as a Mets fan, I Control-F'ed the names of Piazza, Wright, and Reyes. Luckily none of them came up. But that relief only lasted until today. When I look at Wright's forearms, and think of Piazza's dominance during an age where the league leaders were all juiced up...how could they not be as well? I hope I'm wrong, but as many others are saying, there was no A-Rod on this list. No Piazza, no Pujols, no Josh Beckett, no John Smoltz(Sorry Neil). There is a level of protection here that I am picking up on, and it all adds up to a smoke and mirrors job by MLB and the Honorable Senator Mitchell. He brokered peace in Ireland...he wouldn't lie to us, right?

Anyway, that's my loooooong two cents. This report and subsequent coverage has made me awful angry. As a baseball fan, this is the time where honesty has to come to the forefront. But it seems they're playing a game of 'two truths and a lie.' Bud Selig stinks.


sermotion:angry