Bush, Canseco, McGwire, and the Giam-bust

Jose Canseco personally injected Mark McGwire with steroids...well that's the story in his new book anyway.

Canseco writes that he personally injected Mark McGwire with steroids and that he saw McGwire and Jason Giambi inject each other, according to the paper.

Tony LaRussa did not take kindly to the comments in from the book.

"I am absolutely certain that Mark earned his size and strength from hard work and a disciplined lifestyle," La Russa told the newspaper in a telephone interview. "When he was a kid in 1987, he hit 49 home runs. It's a real shame. For some people, this is going to put a stain."

"We detailed Mark's workout routine -- six days a week, 12 months a year -- and you could see his size and weight gain come through really hard work, a disciplined regimen and the proteins he took -- all legal," La Russa told The Times. "As opposed to the other guy, Jose, who would play around in the gym for 10 minutes, and all of a sudden he's bigger than anybody."

Canseco also implicates Pudge, Juan Gone, and Rafael Palmeiro to have used performance enhancing drugs and also said that President Bush "had to know". You know what I say? Who cares. Baseball had no specific rules against steroids so nobody was breaking the rules. Was it an unfair advantage? Absolutely, but was it all that different from using maybe better equipment than the next guy? One is clearly worse than the other in terms of an edge, but the common line of thinking is that no rules were broken. The players deserve some blame, but Major League Baseball still deserves the brunt of it. Steroids are not a new drug and we are talking about the new millennium here when steroids were still not banned. I'm not saying I'd do it if I were a ballplayer, but can you really blame them? Plenty of Hall of Famers and other players cheated when they played to get a leg up on the competition. Unfortunately it is part of the game and it is the MLB's job try and keep everyone honest.

The Yankees are now putting steroid clauses into all their new contracts signed.

The Yankees tried and failed to void Giambi's contract based on the contract clause that asserts a player must keep himself in "first-class physical condition." Giambi's use of steroids - and his failure to admit to such use while undergoing treatment for a tumor last summer - compromised his condition, the Yankees alleged.

Because that path got them nowhere legally, the Yankees now have the word "steroids" in their contracts for the first time. Any slippage in a player's condition, the agreement reads, "caused by or related to the abuse, misuse or use of steroids'' will allow the Yankees to cancel the contract.

I applaud them and give them the finger at the same time. I give them the finger because I hate them and I applaud them because it potentially leaves tens of millions of dollars on the table to be taken away from the player. You are hitting them where it hurts, and that is the wallet. Baseball does not want to take care of the problem themselves? The owners can take a dig into the problem by flexing some financial muscle. However, I am not fooled for second by the Evil Empire. The Yankees would only exercise that clause if the player was not producing. I'm sure they would be more than willing to turn a blind eye to a guy like Sheff while crucifying Giambi. It is a step in the right direction since baseball still basically has a slap a wrist to first timers. I think they upped the penalty to a ten game suspension at this point for a first time offender. It should be at the minimum 25% of the season without pay.

If MLB, the players, and the MLBPA are sick of getting dragged through the mud on this one, they need to show that they are serious about it. That is IF they want to fix the problem and at this point I've yet to see someone make a considerable statement about doing something. Most of the stuff we hear is rhetoric and damage control and until I see an Albert Pujols type player step up and speak out and say test me whenever you want and lay into the problem publicly, it's hard to believe anyone is serious about this. The MLBPA will keep coddling the issue and protecting it and if it's left to them, nothing will get done.

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The D-Backs traded the left-handed version of Aaron Heilman for Jose Cruz Jr. and solved their centerfielder hole. This move assures Mike Cameron of being a Met for the 2005 season.

A new clause the Yankees are also adding into their new contracts is one that takes care of stupidity.

Brown broke two bones in his left hand last September, putting him out of commission for three weeks, and the Yankees found themselves with limited disciplinary avenues.

So now the Yankees vow to void the contract of anyone who inflicts an injury upon himself, "including, without any limitation, striking any hard surface with any part of the body."

This could get silly.

From ChicagoSports.com:

The signing caps a successful off-season for Boras, whose six most prominent free agents received a combined $360 million in contracts: Ordonez ($75 million), New York Mets outfielder Carlos Beltran ($119 million, seven years), Seattle third baseman Adrian Beltre ($64 million, five years), Los Angeles outfielder J.D. Drew ($55 million, five years), Boston catcher Jason Varitek ($40 million, four years) and Cleveland pitcher Kevin Millwood ($7 million, one year).

Speaking of steroids, did wide receivers always look like this?

A good article on some more revenue talk.