A-Fraud

Gabe Hammad's blog. Gabe was a member between 2002-2015 and again in 2017. During his tenure, Gabe won the NL East in 2005-06 and the 2006 IBC Championship.

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Mets
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Post by Mets »

You look at the value of draft picks & prospects now, and MLB's promoting of young stars such as Granderson, Wright, Joba, Longoria, etc...coupled with guys like Abreu, Manny, Dunn, etc still on the market and it all makes sense.

Say what you want about the economy effecting deals, but the fact is that MLB also used steriods. They used it to climb out of the strike, build the sport back up, and then used it as a scapegoat while passing blame on the talent brought baseball back into popular appeal.

I hate steriods, I hate the players that used it. But why doesn't anyone talk about how MLB is just as much to blame? I don't want to hear about the players union. MLB knew about steriods, they knew that HR's would make the sport popular again. And they knew that they would eventually have to face the problem.

I wonder how incidental it was that A-Rod's name got leaked from records that MLB was supposed to destroy after their random survey was compiled?

To me, MLB is taking a page from Vince McMahon's P.R. strategy, creating good guys and bad guys in the sport, and trying to market dramatic storylines.
2008-2023 Mets: 1,054-1,223...463%
2006-2008 Rockies: 242-244...498%

IBC Total: 1,296-1,467...469%
2022: lost WC
2023: lost WC
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Post by Yankees »

Athletics wrote:After listening to A-Rod's interview in its entirety I'm quite convinced that he didn't tell the whole story. First of all, he says he doesn't know what triggered the test, but we do, and its drugs like Primobolan, which is a no joke steroid, not something you can just get at GNC (actually it was one of Governor Schawrzenegger's favorites). A-Rod's size has stayed pretty consistent, he himself acknowledged no major weight gain even when he was on the juice, so he's remarkably consistent size wise. Also, let's consider A-Rod's character for a second. He was off to New York, the biggest stage, and what this guy cares about the most is his reputation as one of the best ever. You really buy that he's going to risk his first year in New York on giving up the juice?
Actually, yes, because that's when they started testing. And he's never tested positive. I've known and been around people who have taken steroids and tried to cycle around testing - it's virtually impossible.
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Giants
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Post by Giants »

Oh please. There's no test for HGH, and any number of low testosterone supplements that give the same effect. Read this recent fascinating Will Carroll piece, and consider that Primobolan is something that a legitimate doctor wouldn't prescribe, meaning you'd need to go to just such a person as Dr X2 to get it.
http://www.baseballprospectus.com/artic ... cleid=8470
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Post by Royals »

There is a test for HGH, it's accuracy is a huge matter of debate. As Jake points out, there's loads of other stuff that can be taken that aren't tested for or aren't testable.
Also, I'm pretty sure that MLB wasn't 'supposed to destroy' the 03 results, or they were stopped from it by the feds.

MLB didn't need to make A-rod into a badguy, he was already seen that way by many, many fans. He's a spectacular player who just never seemed like a likable person.
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Post by Royals »

Submitted before I meant to...
The same thing goes for Bonds and Clemens. Bonds openly dogged it (not slacked off ala "Manny being Manny" for most of his time in Boston, but dogged it). Clemens screwed over every team he played for in one way or another.

MLB didn't have to make good guys and bad guys, MLB players are exceptionally competitive people, frequently with significant egos, chips on their shoulders and senses of entitlement playing for HUGE amounts of money. Good guys (Griffey Jr, Tim Wakefield) and bad guys (A-Roid, Clemens, Bonds, Hillenbrand) happen all on their own.
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Post by Giants »

Somewhere Shea Hillenbrand's mother is ecstatic that her son wound up on a list with A-Rod, Clemens, and Bonds. Saying Bonds is unlikeable for dogging it is like declaring the #90 prospect the reason not to consider a top 100 list. On the field "dogging it" is what you want to bitch about Bonds about? Just like how in Israel everyone you meet knows someone who was a victim of terror, if you go to the Bay Area everyone who's lived here any length of time knows someone who was wronged personally by Barry Bonds, but it's his play that made him a bad guy? We've got no complaints about Bonds on-field performance, Bonds didn't dog it the way Manny did. Manny quit because he was unhappy with his contract, Bonds slowed down because he was 41, had a bad knee, and was no longer on steroids. In his juicing prime at 39 (2003) Fangraphs even has Bonds as a +15 run defender in left field. Your claim that Barry Bonds is considered a bad guy because of his on-field performance has instantly vaulted to the dumbest thing you've ever said.
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DBacks
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Post by DBacks »

Sorry Jake.

Dumbest thing he's ever said still belongs to the whole 'it doesn't matter that the Pats didn't win the Super Bowl it was just nice to be there.' thing.
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Post by Astros »

No, I believe the wording was, "The Super Bowl would've just been iceing on the cake, we still went undefeated."
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Post by Royals »

Athletics wrote:Somewhere Shea Hillenbrand's mother is ecstatic that her son wound up on a list with A-Rod, Clemens, and Bonds. Saying Bonds is unlikeable for dogging it is like declaring the #90 prospect the reason not to consider a top 100 list. On the field "dogging it" is what you want to bitch about Bonds about? Just like how in Israel everyone you meet knows someone who was a victim of terror, if you go to the Bay Area everyone who's lived here any length of time knows someone who was wronged personally by Barry Bonds, but it's his play that made him a bad guy? We've got no complaints about Bonds on-field performance, Bonds didn't dog it the way Manny did. Manny quit because he was unhappy with his contract, Bonds slowed down because he was 41, had a bad knee, and was no longer on steroids. In his juicing prime at 39 (2003) Fangraphs even has Bonds as a +15 run defender in left field. Your claim that Barry Bonds is considered a bad guy because of his on-field performance has instantly vaulted to the dumbest thing you've ever said.
Actually, i mixed up malcontent juicing assholes, I was thinking of sheffield dogging it to get out of Milwaukee. my bad.

That said... Jesus you're dumb sometimes. You want a comprehensive list of Bonds offenses when I say he's an asshole? It's an example, just like Tazawa and Nelson are examples, do you really need a comprehensive list of offenses? How about for Clemens? And A-rod? They're douchebags, everyone knows that, you don't need to list every offense for that to be clear.
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Post by Royals »

Bonds is an asshole a liar and a cheat who broke the most treasured records in the game. That's why he got pounced on by the press. Get off his jock.
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Post by Giants »

It's not that simple since the press crap happened long before Aaron's record was in sight, but that's a subtle distinction I don't expect you to be able to pick up on.

On a lighter note, this advice for A-Rod made me laugh out loud today. Especially the Full House one:

Danny would enter A-Rod's room, where he would be sitting on the bed, looking sad. Danny sits down next to A-Rod. Cue sappy music.

Danny: “Alex, I think you did a pretty rotten thing. You can’t cheat, no matter who else is doing it.”
A-Rod: “ I didn’t mean to hurt anybody. I’m sorry.”
*Hug*
Danny: “I’ll always love you. As long as you keep this room clean!”

Enter Joey (in a Popeye voice): "A-Rod you don't needs any PEDs to be strong like me. Alls I needs is my spinach. A-gah-gah-gah."

Enter Jesse: "Yeah, and that stuff will mess up your hair."
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Royals
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Post by Royals »

The full house thing was definitely pretty funny... does he turn into a slut like the olsens now or a religious nut like the other girls from that show? Oops, too late, he was banging Madonna, gotta be slut.
Before Aaron's record was in sight, Bonds broke the single season record. The vitriol increased as he approached Aaron's record, and deservedly so. Just get off the guy's jock, admit you were homerrific and move on.
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Post by Giants »

I understand that you don't do subtlety and it's a subtle point that I'm making, so I'm gonna stop banging my head against the wall. If you feel the need to get in one more last word then go for it.
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Post by Royals »

Your point isn't subtle. Your point has been that Bonds was treated unfairly. Your point is plain as day and you're just as plainly wrong. You haven't even bothered to take the trouble to try to provide a reason WHY he was treated unfairly, if you want to claim injustice or that a wrong has been done, there has to be a motive.
I know you're not done banging your head against the wall because you'll keep going back to try to find some way to defend this sorry excuse for a human being every time it comes up, which is pretty sad.
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Post by Cardinals »

I'm biased obviously, but if anybody has been treated unfairly in this whole steroid thing I still think it's Big Mac. He never was an asshole, and was gracious and courteous for the most part, did a lot with charity etc. Baseball rode his and Sosa's backs to bring baseball back into the national spotlight and get fans into the seats. Did McGwire juice up? Probably. Is there evidence that he did anything more than andro? No, there isn't. I'm not denying that he did steroids, I would be that he did. I'm not an idiot. That said, the fact that Selig and the MLB and the writers have been so quick to throw him under the bus is disgusting after he helped bring the sport back onto the map. Lets not forget, before his biceps were the size my torso, he set the home run record for rookies when he broke into the league when he hit 49 in 151 games. He didn't help himself by saying I'm not here to talk about the past, but he didn't look like a complete clown by pointing his finger and lying to the country like Palmerio did. Mac should be in the Hall of Fame and it's disgusting to me that he's not. Like Selig didn't know what was up when he was huge. Come on.
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Post by Royals »

Oh, and nice effort with the "I don't have a leg to stand on so I'm going to dare you to get in the last word and then i either get the last word in or I claim moral high ground because he responded". That wasn't at all cowardly.
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Post by Royals »

Pirates wrote:I'm biased obviously, but if anybody has been treated unfairly in this whole steroid thing I still think it's Big Mac. He never was an asshole, and was gracious and courteous for the most part, did a lot with charity etc. Baseball rode his and Sosa's backs to bring baseball back into the national spotlight and get fans into the seats. Did McGwire juice up? Probably. Is there evidence that he did anything more than andro? No, there isn't. I'm not denying that he did steroids, I would be that he did. I'm not an idiot. That said, the fact that Selig and the MLB and the writers have been so quick to throw him under the bus is disgusting after he helped bring the sport back onto the map. Lets not forget, before his biceps were the size my torso, he set the home run record for rookies when he broke into the league when he hit 49 in 151 games. He didn't help himself by saying I'm not here to talk about the past, but he didn't look like a complete clown by pointing his finger and lying to the country like Palmerio did. Mac should be in the Hall of Fame and it's disgusting to me that he's not. Like Selig didn't know what was up when he was huge. Come on.
I think compared to Bonds, Mac HAS gotten off easy. Ditto Sosa. And I think that is partly in recognition for what they meant to bringing back the sport and the fact that they weren't douchebags like Bonds. Mac simply doesn't belong in the Hall, too much of his career worth is tied up in his homeruns and there's too much questionability about the legitimacy of his HR's. If you just consider the accomplishments pre-roids, Bonds is a HoFer, Mac isn't.
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Post by Giants »

Perfect timing for A-Rod, now he can courageously play through the hip injury, and then when his numbers drop off he has a built in excuse. Well played, sir.
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Post by Royals »

Y'know, a little HGH and he'd be back on the field in no time...
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Post by Mariners »

I'm just wondering how much Alex loves Manny right about now? Talk about a perfect time for him to come back, geez!
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Post by Royals »

yup, though the release of that book should start the shitstorm again. Juicing in HS? This guy's whole careerhas been a freaking cheat.
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