CENTER FIELD :: Completely Unsubstantiated Rumormongering: Steroid Style

« Beckett Is Pure | Main | Soundtrack to a Championship »

Completely Unsubstantiated Rumormongering: Steroid Style

Haven't had your fill of steroids-related allegations? How about a rumor with no evidence to back it up -- and not even a name to attach to it? An allegation that is so generic it could refer to almost anyone on a World Championship team? And how about if that team is the 2004 Red Sox?

Well have I got the rumor for you!

Steve Lombardi from the Yankees blog Was Watching reports that when he was listening to XM Radio's The Show yesterday, co-host Kevin Kennedy in discussions about the Mitchell Report mentions seeing some steroid use first-hand. Quoting Steve's report:

In wanting to make a point about the Mitchell Report not being the all-inclusive bible of naming PED users, Kennedy said that a current colleague of his, who was with the Boston Red Sox in 2004, told him that he (the colleague) witnessed, for a fact, a member of the '04 Red Sox injecting himself in the buttocks with a needle full of PEDs. Kennedy said that the user is no longer a member of the Red Sox - but, he was a player on the team that won the ring in 2004. As per Kennedy, his colleague said that the "user" was giving a demo (to the "colleague") on how to do the injection.

So there you go.

A sports broadcaster making an allegation like this on air (thrown out almost as an afterthought at the end of a show), and naming a specific World Champion team but not the player he is actually accusing -- is the absolute worst tactic. It casts a direct shadow over every former Red Sox player from the '04 team, and invites open speculation about a very small subset of players. It's simultaneously a very general, and yet very specific, accusation- the most dangerous kind.

I'll be interested to see if and how Kennedy is called out to back up what he said, and if the "colleague" steps forward to back up what he said.

Comments (7)

[ Mandalay ] says:
on January 11, 2008 5:11 AM

Why do I have a sneaking feeling that the "former member" of the Sox is now a current outfielder for the Yankees?

[ Margaret ] says:
on January 11, 2008 7:54 AM

I have that sneaking feeling too...

What I guess also surprises me is that this "former member" talks about this sort of thing so openly. I almost don't believe it because from everything I know, players don't expose other players like this casually.

Maybe I'm wrong.

But it had to be the '04 Red Sox too-- an emblematic team. The comment means more if that's the team we're talking about-- it has symbolic value. So if more than one player can be suspected, it casts a shadow over the whole team, and therefore the whole meaning of their victory. He specifically took a group of heroic figures, and directly challenged their collective status, rather than just one figure. Which is a crappy and cowardly thing to do.

Basically, the point of this was to say "I hate the Red Sox, especially the 04 team, and you should too."

(Of course--if this user is no longer on the Red Sox--probably had no hand in the 07 win.)

[ beth ] says:
on January 11, 2008 10:11 AM

yes, because unlike the mitchell report, kennedy is not biased at all.

typical yankees assholes. whether players or fans, it's always been their MO to counter any criticism with, "wulll, the Red Sox...!" sooner or later they may figure out that "well i'm rubber and you're glue!" isn't a good defense tactic.

bottom line is, yankees players have been named with supporting evidence in an official report. other aholes are walking around saying they THINK the red sox do it too. somehow the latter is on a par with the former? i don't think so. deal with your own team. assholes.

have i communicated that they're assholes?

[ The Omnipotent Q ] says:
on January 11, 2008 11:24 AM

To Kennedy: Name names. Otherwise, don't waste my time.

[ Julia ] says:
on January 11, 2008 2:22 PM

Wow...classy report, Kennedy.

On the other hand I'm slightly delusional at the moment and the image of Sox players showing each other their buttocks definitely made me laugh. I am that mature.

[ Liza ] says:
on January 11, 2008 6:33 PM

Why can't people either say specific names of people who did do steroids, come out and say they did if they did, or just make it February already so we can have something to talk about OTHER than steroids?

[ Piney61 ] says:
on January 12, 2008 12:59 AM

I'm guessing colleague refers to something in the same vein as "someone who works in the media" since Kevin Kennedy is basically in the media and such. So I'm thinking of players/coaches who may or may not have been responsible...

Dave McCarty -- NESN postgame analyst but he doesn't work really that often(though I think he does a great job but then again everybody is great compared to Jim Rice)

Bill Haselman -- interim first base coach(I think) with the Red Sox in 2004. He currently works with Mariners postgame radio. And given that radio peeps stick together and Kennedy does up a show with XM Home Plate, this one could hold some water

Let's keep in mind he never said "ON" the team with the colleague bit. He said "WITH" so I'm guessing that it's probably Haselman, also because he was on the Red Sox during Kennedy's rule in 1995 and 1996. So this actually sounds rather legitimate. (well I think he said "WITH")

As for the person who used it...well automatically Timlin, Ortiz, Manny, Tek, Youk, Schill, Belli, and Wake all check out. So we are down to a big handful more because let's remember that everybody and their mother won a damned ring in 04 so let's think....

If Bronson Arroyo used steroids then I'm the queen of Scotland so that checks out because I'm not royalty at all and I'm not even Scottish....Lowe's drug of choice was more in the realm of alcohol and what good would steroids be for a sinkerball pitcher?....I don't see Haselman and Petey being all chummy....Bill Mueller, I just don't see him being a user of steroids...Cabrera hit like 3 or so homeruns or some stuff? Those are some crummy steroids if so...Foulke doesn't strike me as a steroid user. He's mostly an offspeed pitcher anyway...

Guys I can see though are Alan Embree, Trot Nixon(as much as it sucks to say), Johnny Damon(a popular choice and he'd be stupid enough to say that) and as strange as it sounds, Kevin Millar. I mean Millar is a fringe guy at best in some respects and I mean fringe guys, as evidenced by the Mitchell Report, are more likely to be taking these PEDs than others because they're just trying to stay in the game. Also, Millar would be stupid enough to do that.

I'd probably make my rankings as likeliness:

1) Millar
2) Damon
3) Embree
4) Nixon
5) Bellhorn

online