The Platoon Advantage

Continuing to put the "PE" in PEDs in...

2012-02-25T08:20:04.521-06:00
Continuing to put the "PE" in PEDs in quotes is juvenile.

In the absence of any meaningful evidence that there are drugs that actually enhance a player's performance in baseball, I fail to see how.

It can't be competently argued that Passan's take is right. As Jason said, it's not a loophole or a technicality, it's a provision specifically written in to a carefully-negotiated agreement, for the purpose of ensuring that the results are reliable.

I'm not TCM, but my own answer to the "why not" question is that there tend to be serious health risks related to many of these substances, and while the players are free to ruin their lives all they want to, I don't think the fear that condoning it sends a bad message to student athletes, etc. is a totally illegitimate one.

Which partially answers your last question; also, with the amount of hysteria and misinformation about "PE"Ds swarming among the general public, to ignore the issue would be tantamount to organizational...if not suicide, then severe self-torture.

It has nothing to do with this topic, but why wasn...

2012-02-25T01:31:58.769-06:00
It has nothing to do with this topic, but why wasn't that ball that bounced off Jose's head scored a four-base error?

Continuing to put the "PE" in PEDs in qu...

2012-02-25T01:28:02.988-06:00
Continuing to put the "PE" in PEDs in quotes is juvenile.

I am not shocked that this website chooses to take the "Braun is innocent!" tack, because if one is so cynical about PEDs that one cannot even accurately type the acronym, one will probably take pleasure in a player beating the rap. Nonetheless Passan's take seems a lot more valid to me than that of Thurm or The Platoon Advantage. Braun's lawyers did not argue that the test result was false. They didn't argue that the test result was true, but not valid because of some other cause like, I dunno, herpes medication. They argued on a technicality, and won. Fine. Don't pretend it was something it wasn't.

A while back when this website was comparing use of PEDs with wearing silly necklaces I asked why The Platoon Advantage ridicules concerns about PED use, and I was assured that no, The Common Man at least does not approve of PED use. What I still wonder is, why not? If you are so convinced that PEDs do not enhance performance that you feel you must use scare quotes, shouldn't you put your money where your mouth is and advocate for making them legal?

And for that matter, if PEDs don't enhance performance, is every governing body of every major sport stupid? Baseball, football, the Olympics, FIFA, the Tour de France--they all test for PEDs to some degree. Are they wasting their time?

Paul Richards also designed the over-sized catcher...

2012-02-25T00:28:06.203-06:00
Paul Richards also designed the over-sized catcher's mitt for catching the knuckleball, didn't he?

I grew up in the period where Wilhelm's success led to other knuckleball pitchers being used as relievers. Back then, relievers were not used nearly as much and it seemed much more exciting when there was a pitching change, especially with a knuckball throwing reliever.

"The manager is calling in the knuckleballer! And they're bringing out the big glove for the catcher!"

That's the way I remember it, anyway.

Fantastic column.

2012-02-24T14:58:28.175-06:00
Fantastic column.

After watching Braun's press conference, I won...

2012-02-24T14:01:52.604-06:00
After watching Braun's press conference, I wonder if the courier had a personal vendetta against him. Stick the sample in the microwave, leave it in the trunk overnight, mess it up somehow.

Also, to return to a theme of the entire "PE&...

2012-02-24T14:01:44.232-06:00
Also, to return to a theme of the entire "PE"D question, the burden of proof issue is important. It's not on the players to show that performance is not enhanced. It's on the people who want to punish someone for using them to show that performance is enhanced.

If MLB wanted to treat "PE"Ds like drugs of abuse, that would be one thing. They're substances that are unlawful to possess without a prescription, so maybe MLB wants to punish players for breaking the law. But that's, of course, not what MLB does -- they want to treat anabolic steroids or HGH or whatever else as something different (and worse) than cocaine and marijuana.

And to clarify: I'm not speaking legally about the burden of proof. It's a collectively bargained issue. But as a matter of the debate over how to treat "PE"Ds and people who use them, I think it's incumbent on those who believe that these drugs are special to prove that they are.

This site is pretty comprehensive, Anon: http://st...

2012-02-24T13:48:15.753-06:00
This site is pretty comprehensive, Anon: http://steroids-and-baseball.com/

What is the evidence that PEDs don't "EP&...

2012-02-24T13:44:37.773-06:00
What is the evidence that PEDs don't "EP"?

As certain administrative law professors are wont ...

2012-02-24T09:54:30.098-06:00
As certain administrative law professors are wont to reiterate, procedural and substantive lines are hard to draw because the procedural always bleeds over into the substantive. To echo Wendy Thurm, it's not about paperwork, it's about the accuracy of the fact-finding process. That accuracy, so it appears, has been compromised in this case.

good stuff :) i wonder if a study using ISO would ...

2012-02-23T15:10:18.905-06:00
good stuff :) i wonder if a study using ISO would provide similar results

I have no idea. We don't control any of that s...

2012-02-23T11:17:57.469-06:00
I have no idea. We don't control any of that stuff (maybe we could, but never have). Sometime soon, we should be moving to a new host and all that should be moot...

Just out of curiosity, how come I have to type two...

2012-02-23T10:42:03.788-06:00
Just out of curiosity, how come I have to type two verification words now? Can barely read one of them, never mind two. :)

I was going to write about how cool it would be if...

2012-02-23T10:40:45.327-06:00
I was going to write about how cool it would be if Moyer would make the Rockies, but with this great post, the work is done. Perfect.

I'm an Indians fan, and have been since I was ...

2012-02-22T14:49:09.203-06:00
I'm an Indians fan, and have been since I was 6. I managed to grow up with Kirby as my favorite player though, he was just that damn likable as a player, regardless of what team I was rooting for.

Like TCM, I was also forced by Puckett's post-career transgressions to reevaluate how I thought of my favorite players and athletes in general. I still admire what the great can do, but there's no idolizing left for me.

The double-whammy with Puckett has been that even just viewing him as a baseball player, advanced statistics have taken a mighty bite out of his accomplishments. Not only was he not as lovable a man as he appeared, he also wasn't quite as great a player.

Growing up isn't always much fun.

Good post. Unfortuantely, all the good posts about...

2012-02-22T13:35:09.302-06:00
Good post. Unfortuantely, all the good posts about this idiot are just feeding the fire.

You have to figure he's struggling and needs readers. Now he has them.

excellent tag "media freak out" ...glass...

2012-02-22T12:55:44.839-06:00
excellent tag "media freak out" ...glass houses, throwing stones, etc notwithstanding, this will probably be the most controversial piece of Manny's "return" to baseball

"Is it because Lueke, Cabrera, and Myers all ...

2012-02-22T12:08:44.841-06:00
"Is it because Lueke, Cabrera, and Myers all had the good sense not to do PEDs?"

Or get caught with them, at least.

Oh gosh, I love this post. Delicious.

2012-02-22T12:07:03.009-06:00
Oh gosh, I love this post. Delicious.

This sounds like it's going to be an awesome s...

2012-02-21T15:08:22.244-06:00
This sounds like it's going to be an awesome series, Chris. One quibble that has nothing to do with the point of your post, and that's with calling Rich Becker a "bust." He had a 3-4 win season, but his skill set (getting on base) was completely unappreciated by his team at the time, especially when he was essentially trying to replace a local legend in Kirby Puckett. Becker's subsequent downfall is less an indictment of him as a player/prospect and more on the organization(s) that didn't understand how he was valuable.

The guy on the radio is actually unlistenable (for...

2012-02-19T09:04:04.456-06:00
The guy on the radio is actually unlistenable (for me anyway). I just happened upon this blog recently. So I had known of the radio guy for years but never heard of you. Although you are very different from the radio guy, what were the chances that there would be two guys from MN called TCM? Turns out to be a 100% chance. After I read more of your posts I realized that you were also much younger than radio guy. Confusing at first though. Also I'm not suggesting that you change your handle, just noting my (as a Minnesotan) initial confusion.

This is my great uncle Howard. He passed away Frid...

2012-02-19T08:12:54.122-06:00
This is my great uncle Howard. He passed away Friday evening. He will be missed.

Yes, The Common Man is a native Minnesotan, DC, bu...

2012-02-18T13:57:13.790-06:00
Yes, The Common Man is a native Minnesotan, DC, but he also for all intents and purposes moved out of the state in 1997. TCM doesn't know whether the KFAN personality you're referring to was active back then, but TCM was not a sports talk radio guy back then (and, frankly, still isn't).

Thus, TCM had never heard of this other fellow (and in fact still has never heard his voice), who TCM is sure does a fine job at what he does.

Given that, the fact that TCM came to his relative prominence independently, and that TCM does something very different from what this other fellow does, The Common Man doesn't feel it's necessary or even right to change his handle. After all, how can one person own a cliché?

The thing I don't understand is that you seem ...

2012-02-18T12:53:42.626-06:00
The thing I don't understand is that you seem to be a Minnesotan and there's a guy on the radio here who calls himself The Common Man. Since you must know of his existence why confuse things with the same name?

I really enjoyed watching the clip of his last at ...

2012-02-17T09:31:29.887-06:00
I really enjoyed watching the clip of his last at bat. Along with his obvious joy, and the crowd's massive applause, I was also struck by Carey and Stone's happiness for the man and the moment, even though it put "their" team behind.

If that happened today, Hawk Harrelson would probably pout his way through the entire thing and complain that the umps had screwed the White Sox on some previous call.