OK, I'm going to get in trouble for this post - but here goes.
I think I am missing something in the whole Palmeiro debacle.
48 hours ago, he was a player that most media personnel would still vote for into the Hall of Fame.
It was established yesterday that, during an investigation, Raffy told investigators that "the stuff I took from Tejada" - the B-12 injection - could have caused the positive test.
Due to this, Raffy is persona non grata and no one in baseball wants anything to do with him.
I just don't see how people can get from "A" to "B" from just the info that Raffy pointed to Tejada.
This is an investigation. It is the investigators job to ask tough questions and try to elicit information. This investigation was formed to understand how and why this happened, right?
Well, these are the answers that we get. Raffy had two choices - stonewall and refuse to point any fingers, or try to say how/why he got a positive test. He truly believes that the B-12 he received from Tejada caused his positive drug test.
Don't we want Raffy to answer these questions? We didn't set up the investigation to have players say: " yep, I did it - but I won't give any more info on where I got it or how widespread it is". The investigation - because it is an investigation! - will cause names to be named and other people will be associated with this.
People were crying for an investigation - the Gammons, Kurkjian types - months ago. Well, now you have it, and you don't like that it is causing other players' names to be mentioned. What would you like Raffy to do? Sit stone-faced? Then you can crucify him for obstructing the holy investigation.
Now, if Raffy said that Tejada took steroids instead of the B-12, that's one thing. You don't lie (if it is a lie) about others. But he's not. He's saying what he thinks to the investigators.
To say that "Raffy shouldn't rat out his teammates" is ludicrous. Do you want an investigation or not? Do you want to get to the bottom of this or not? If you do - which I'm not sure Gammons et. al does anymore - then names will have to be mentioned and this is the by-product.
There is no more "secret code" anymore among ballplayers when federal/congressional investigations are going on. That's like saying you can't prosecute a frat pledge who died during hazing because the brothers don't talk about what goes on in the frat basement.
Sorry to bust up the secret club, guys - but you wanted an investigation, you got it. Now deal with it.
3 comments:
Raffy had to give them something, and this B-12 thing doesn't hurt anyone. You honestly believe that Raffy told the truth to the investigators? And do you really think that there wasn't major pressure from the MLB and the labor union on Raffy not say a word on implicating any additional players? I'm sure they gave him a good example of what happens when you talk, by referencing Jose Canseco.
Everyone knows that B-12 had nothing to do with Raffy testing positive, since Raffy tested positive for a known steriod, not a vitiam supplement. This means nothing to me and I'm surprised that the media isn't calling the MLB and the players union out for such a soft investigation.
Also, he should have gone to Tejada before dangling such a possibility if not a tacit accusation before the investigators. If Tejada had told him it was a B-12, at it appears to have been, what right did Palmeiro have in muddying his name without even asking him more firsthand. Maybe he did and thought Tejada was lying to save his own bacon, but it's still a cruddy thing to do a teammate absent concrete proof. Perhaps Palmeiro thought Tejada would just lie, and therefore knew the only way to exhonerate himself would be to have the investigators catch miguel redhanded.
Additionally, I'm not saying there should be some sort of honor among thieves, (say the way both millar and schilling never give out their secret hair dye formula) but if he was indeed suspicous of what Tejada gave him, he certainly should have asked when he took it, or more significantly when he decided it was one of the more likely causes of his positive test.
Does b-12 make you give away 3 runs to the sux in the hottest pennant race in 30 years?
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