I like Nelson Cruz.
I have a special place in my collector's heart for Nelson Cruz because my son had a personal encounter with him.
I don't want to believe that Nelson Cruz would be stupid enough to take PEDs.
That said, if it's true, I say throw the book at him and the others. No more kid gloves. I know it would never get by the player's union, but if these morons are stupid enough to take PEDs in any form, I would fully support a lifetime ban. Make the ban Pete Rose got look like a slap on the wrist. Wipe their stats from all official MLB records. Make like the CIA and get rid of any records that show they ever existed in baseball at all.
At some point, MLB needs to legalize all of it and let the players sentence themselves to a life of inflated heads, shrunken balls and early deaths or make the penalty a career killing death sentence. I'm not proposing the lifetime ban for people like Bonds and Clemens because they played in the era of PED acceptance in locker rooms and front offices (even if team execs claim they didn't know what was happening), but I think you need to tell these kids in adult bodies that it won't be tolerated anymore.
Of course, I may be wrong. It could be that I'm just extremely disappointed to see one of my guys implicated. Again.
Sad if true. I really hope it isn't for some of these guys. A-Rod I really don't care about I'm not a huge fan of his or those Yanks. I feel the same sad way about Gio Gonzalez that you do for Cruz. For Gio they say the stuff he is linked to are NOT banned substances, but still to have your name linked to these things is awful. Even if these guys are innocent now that the story has broken many fans of the game will forever see them as bad guys.
ReplyDeleteWell said...
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure what's worse... players cheating to enhance their game or the fact that I'm tired of hearing about it every other week. As a sports fan, I should care... right?
ReplyDeleteI agree with you on this, and not just because there weren't any Cardinals on the list, lol.
ReplyDelete"Suspension" of playing time isn't really a good punishment at this point, they still get payed; and A-Rod could spend his entire suspension on the DL. It's like when they suspended Hamels for 5 games for beaning Harper, he only missed what? One start? How much of a deterrent is that? Really?
MLB needs to stop being a friend, and start being a parent. Until they implement more severe penalties, there will be players who continually try to push the envelope.
I was watching Harold Reynolds on MLB Network and his thoughts seem like the best course of action. Do what you can to take the money away. Institute clauses to allow teams to sever the contract if caught. Take large chunks of salary away. When you reward people like Melky with a raise after coming back from a suspension, there's no deterrent. Hit their livelihood hard first, then ban them next.
ReplyDeleteHere's hoping Cruz and Gio are both found to be clean.
--Jon