Alex Sanchez's Unbridled 'Roid Rage
With all of the noise
made in baseball’s recent congressional hearings about steroids and
their usage by several major league stars, there’s one thing we didn’t
hear. We’ve all heard about Mark McGwire’s refusal to say anything
“about the past,” about how Rafael Palmeiro didn’t bulk
up until he met Jose Canseco in Texas, and how Barry Bonds needs an asterisk
next to everything he’s ever done. What no one heard, however, was that
Tampa Bay Devil Rays outfielder Alex Sanchez is on the juice. He’s using,
man. He’s bulking up to take those 95 mile-per-hour fastballs over the
fence.
On Sunday, April 3, 2005, major league baseball announced Sanchez as its first
positive steroid tester. Commissioner Bud Selig had finally released the crucial
information everyone had been waiting on pins and needles for. Sanchez, upon
learning of his conviction and upcoming ten-day suspension, denied knowingly
taking any sort of performance-enhancing steroid. He claimed that he only
used over-the-counter muscle relaxers and supplements. Whatever, Alex Sanchez.
He’d better be worried now, because if he tests positive again he’ll
receive a 30-day suspension. A third time would mean 60 days, and a fourth
would translate to a year off without pay.
Alex Sanchez, now 28, has hit all of four major league home runs in his 1,351
at bats. So once every 337.75 at bats, Sanchez is going deep. That’s
a fact you can count on. Major League Baseball was feeling the heat from Congress,
the fans, and even some of the players. They had to show that they had a quality
testing program that would produce results. They needed names, and they needed
them fast. So what Bud Selig and company did was make sure that the general
public saw just what a façade Alex Sanchez’s career really has
been. All four of those home runs are now heavily in question. Since no one
knows precisely how performance-enhancing steroids help a baseball player,
or how much added power they might give, it’s anyone’s guess how
Sanchez would be faring without the steroids he obviously uses. Would he still
have those four home runs etched in his career statistics, or would that number
look a little more like three? Or even… two? There’s really no
way to tell.
If the home runs don’t give it away, let me share some other telltale
numbers with you, the first being .364, Sanchez’s career slugging percentage.
This mark, .364, fits in quite nicely alongside the following: .611 (Bonds),
.545 (Sosa), .540 (Giambi), and .517 (Palmeiro). He’s clearly on whatever
the more publicized sluggers are. That’s not even taking into account
Sanchez’s mammoth size. Sanchez stands a towering 5’10”
and weighs a Ruthian 180 pounds. I’ll put it this way: with that kind
of size, he’s not a guy you’d like to meet in a dark alley.
Maybe it’s not Sanchez’s glimmering numbers that caused Major
League Baseball to expose him as the first player to test positive for steroid
use. Maybe it’s his high profile situation. Selig wanted to show he’s
no coward. He’s not afraid to tarnish even the game’s greatest
players. He’ll come out with guns blazing (no pun intended with Sanchez’s
python-like biceps), ready to convict anyone, their media image be damned.
Even if it’s a high-profile slugger like Alex Sanchez on a high-profile
team like the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, Bud Selig isn’t afraid to point
his quivering finger.
“Who’s next?” you might ask. Will it be Barry Bonds, or
Sammy Sosa? Could Rafael Palmeiro be exposed as the user of a different performance
enhancing product? Well, from the looks of it, none of that will happen. We’re
more likely to see Wilton Guerrero or Luis Castillo called into question.
Or what about Angels starting pitcher Bartolo Colon? He weighs more than Bonds,
after all. Bud Selig is sending a clear message to all of major league baseball:
watch out! Anyone could be next! Stay tuned for more exciting big-name convictions
and accusations…
Thanks
to the tough new steroid testing policy, more blatant cheaters like Alex
Sanchez will soon be living off of bread and water.
