The Alex Rodriguez Melodrama

For days all we've been hearing about is "Alex Rodriguez took steroids". The baseball world is in uproar that the man who was supposed to save the record books from the villainous Barry Bonds is nothing more than another casualty of the steroid debacle in Major League Baseball. Honestly, it doesn't matter that Alex took steroids for a three year period, because it wasn't yet against baseball rules. The problem at hand, is that his civil liberties were violated. I'm shocked that he has not yet filed a lawsuit against Major League Baseball for this monumental screw up.

In case you've been living under a rock, here's a little recap of what you've missed. Sports Illustrated reported that Rodriguez had tested positive for two anabolic steroids, testosterone and Primobolan, during his 2003 season playing shortstop for the Texas Rangers, the same season in which he captured his first American League Most Valuable Player award.

The information had been part of a government-sealed report detailing 104 major league players (out of 1200 players tested who tested positive for performance enhancers during a 2003 drug survey. Approved by the players themselves with the promise of anonymity, the survey was conducted by Major League Baseball to see whether a mandatory drug testing program might be necessary. The 2003 test results were supposed to remain anonymous and the samples destroyed. However, a coded master list of 104 players was seized during the BALCO investigation, turned up in a 2004 federal raid. So, because somebody dropped the ball, six years later, we find out that Alex was a juicer.

When he says that he only used steroids from 2001 to 2003, the statistics seem to support that. If you look at those three seasons, Alex's average season was a .305 batting average, with 52 home runs and 131 runs batted in. Looking at his numbers before 2001, his average season was a .314 batting average, 36 home runs and 115 runs batted in. Now, looking at his numbers since 2003, in his tenure with the Yankees, which he emphatically states is clean, his average season is a batting average of .303, 41 home runs and 123 runs batted in. The 5 years before and 5 years after his supposed timeline of steroid use, look very similar in home run totals and runs batted in, do they not?

For some people to think that he's been using steroids in his Yankee career is mildly absurd. Since the beginning of the 2004 season, there has been a rigorous testing policy, which Alex has never tested positive during. In addition to that, in 2006 he played in the inaugural World Baseball Classic, which has Olympic style drug testing, also a negative result. In a few weeks, Alex will be playing in the World Baseball Classic again, and I'm sure, once again, will test negative for steroids.