Gammons: 'Roids rampant in '90s A's farm system (POLL)

...what did Beane know about all this, and when did he know it? And what's his response to it now?

....can anyone explain to me why Griffey Jr. gets a complete free pass from Gammons (and others) when it comes to potential steriod use? Here's a guy who hit 56 home runs in back to back seasons in '97 and '98.

Not coincidentally, he has broken down physically art a very early age.

I just don't get why people whisper so much about guys like Sammy and McGwire, but they all give Griffey the benefit of the doubt.

Did I miss something?

"Players right now believe the percentage of pitchers who juiced -- as opposed to the pitchers, especially Hall of Famers, who cheated -- is higher in the last five years than position players. They began testing last year, and the home-run rate went up."

I still don't know how pitchers would be affected, but assume roids might help a pitcher add a few MPH to his fastball.

"There will still be a huge cloud of suspicion because they are not testing for Human Growth Hormone, and the little secrets that come out of the NFL about masking agents always being two steps ahead of the testing."

This is what's depressing.  This whole thing isn't over, and probably never will be.

I read and reread and reread the line again and I am not sure that Gammons is writing about just the A's system as being the laboratory.  I think it's fair to interpret it that there was a cohort group around a particular minors level that spans organizations that was called the laboratory.

The death threat to Jose is an another reminder of what goes on in illegal drug trade. We now have some very rich folks who could be exposed for what they are. Barry and the boys probably aren't above threats or hit men....there is a huge amount of money and reputation on the table. Big egos do not like this type of situation. For teams being tied to a drug scandal - well it will make taxpayer support for stadiums a hard sell. Amusingly, in California we have a Governor who used to endorse the use and refuses to be self critical about it - even though he has already had heart issues.
Bonds behavior in the press conference - was that a roid rage? If he had already pissed in the cup he is free to shoot up....but then he is probably using a newer secret desinger roid.
MLB officals - including Alderson who was at ground zero for Canseco's show are in denial...its is baseball's party line...from the top done.
Our Billy Beane was in the locker room with these boys as a player, and a scout after that. He laughed off any knowledge on Ralph and Tom's show last week by saying he was just a wallflower.
However, it is a republican run Congress and they may not want any of the investigation to show that Bushy may have had knowledge of illegal drug use. The democrats are pushing for them.
Amazing what MLB did to Pete Rose for gambling and what they have ignored in the drug field.

This is a trainwreck for MLB and specifically the Oakland A's. If you were Lew would you want to sink your cash into this? How many years before you are brave enough to ask taxpayers to support a "drug lab" team. This gives anti stadium folks a real bullet in the land of political correctness.

Now what really hacks me off is I have a 1989 world series ball signed by Jose, Mark and Rickey - it is pretty tarnished now. Run Rickey run!

...how scouts were complaining that nobody threw hard anymore, about how difficult it was to find anyone who could even hit 95?

Then, in the late '90s, all of a sudden almost every team -- except Oakland, obviously -- has these big, Clemens-esque guys in their organization who can bring serious heat. It's worth thinking about.

Clemens, by the way, is the guy who really interests me in this debate; he's famous for his brutal workout regimen, which us what steroids mostly help with, and he has the temper, etc.  

   The A's have received a lot of dubious publicity with this issue of steroids  and it is producing a "guilt by association" phenomenon. We all acknowlege the abusers, but the league wide investigation is really what is necessary.
   It's a naive approach taken by the media currently as they wait for confessors to come forward, such as the GM of San Diego. The fact is that a "herd mentality" by the media is being created with each new confession.
   This issue of steroid abuse will not die until MLB really makes the hard decision to potentially ban players who test positive. There will always be players looking for an edge to cheat the system. The good news, as I mentioned in my post is that the pressure to stay clean will have a ripple effect down to the collegiate level as testing in the minors has become extensive. Moreover, current players don't want their past achievements in the 90's to be questioned so they will do what players such as Ivan Rodriguez did this past off-season. They will claim that they underwent a vigorous off-season training program and thus have reported to camp 20-30 pounds lighter.
   Lewis Wolff shouldn't be weary of buying the A's because, BB has done a great job with his proactive approach to this team. Don't be surprised if he saw this coming 2-3 years ago. He knew and he also knew that he inherited the A's with all of this baggage and that it was a matter of time before he could transform the A's into his image of what they ought to be.
   Any attempts to take punitive damages against the A's will be for nought because all of MLB is guilty. Any discomfort we as fans feel along the way, won't disappear any time soon but we should feel good that we support one of the better franchises in all of sports and a GM who has rectified the situation, as we see it, in his own way.

...finally started doing was keeping all the test samples. Then, when a BALCO-like place that came up with a new steroid finally gets unmasked, they go back and test the samples again. If they find a positive, they strip the guy of the medal, even if it was 8 or 12 years ago.