[ThePundit]

Is there anyone out there who doesn't think that Luis Gonzalez didn't take steroids? He hasn't homered in 166 at bats. Sean Greene is more questionable but he also has had a major power drought the last couple of years. He's now a punch and judy hitter...

[EmpireWF]

Isn't Luis Gonzalez one of the guys who everyone believes juiced years ago? However, he's as nice a guy there is in the sport so the media is likely to be less intrusive to him.

As for Shawn Green, he always had some pop in his bat. 4 seasons of less than 20 HRs, 3 seasons of 20-30 HRs and 4 seasons of 30-50 HRs. He was never a huge guy either, skinny and lean. I wouldn't suspect him.

[legend]

Gonzalez-First 11 years in the majors, his high season for home runs was 31-he had never hit more than 15 in his first 8 years. In 2001, he hit 57; since then his high year is 28. He has hit over 30 homers twice.
Shawn Green hit 49 in 2001, has hit over 40 3 times.
Both would be high on my list of suspects, Gonzalez more than Green in that he took so long to become a home run hitter and had the one abberation of a season that sticks out like a sore thumb when you look at his numbers.

[Gotham Dark Knight]

Originally Posted by ThePundit

Is there anyone out there who doesn't think that Luis Gonzalez didn't take steroids? He hasn't homered in 166 at bats. Sean Greene is more questionable but he also has had a major power drought the last couple of years. He's now a punch and judy hitter...

Come on ...now everyone with one big break out year is a candiate...Sean was a legit raw talent and high draft pick in the draft.

Gonzo had one big break ou year...but look at Brady Anderson and his 50, or go to 1961 and look at Norm Cash, or Jim Gentile...are we now going to question every single big jump?...Gentile and Cash never got close to their career years but it was 1961...so no juice...it can happen. I really want to see proof before we have A McCarthy like Witch hunt.

[MJHMarc]

Shawn Green is one of my top-four favorite outfielders, as you probably already know. He is an extremely nice guy and I am almost sure that he never took steroids. I am not 100% positive, but he would not be the kind of person to take them. To tell you the truth, he was never such an incredible power-hitter. He may have had the homers but he still had minor struggles. Now with Arizona, Shawn Green has struggles but he has made bold returns. I would currently consider him a top candidate for the batting-title because of his amazing comeback earlier this season.

Luis Gonzalez is another story for another day.

[Racquetball]

Originally Posted by ThePundit

Is there anyone out there who doesn't think that Luis Gonzalez didn't take steroids? He hasn't homered in 166 at bats. Sean Greene is more questionable but he also has had a major power drought the last couple of years. He's now a punch and judy hitter...

I never thought about it before now. It is harder and harder to know who the true talents are in the game right now.

I have strong doubts that Albert Pujols is hitting on pure talent.

The only player I believe is pure talent is ARod.
And even he I don't think deserves 25 mil a year. He should be the highest paid player no doubt but NOT 25 mil a year. He was able to take advantage of all the other ballplayers that were taking steroids.


Manny

[desertrat]

Speaking of an aberration of a year, how about Roger Maris? Sure he did it before steroids and all, but those making accusations based on one year HR binges should examine history a bit closer before making any conclusions.

[Gotham Dark Knight]

Originally Posted by desertrat

Speaking of an aberration of a year, how about Roger Maris? Sure he did it before steroids and all, but those making accusations based on one year HR binges should examine history a bit closer before making any conclusions.

Maris at least was an MVP coming into that season....Nrom Cash hit out of mind that year as did the Orioles Jim Gentile...1961 on the whole was a fluke year.

[legend]

1961 was what it was because of the expansion of baseball. The Senators moved to Minnesota and became the Twins, and the Angels and the new Senators were created. 1961 was the first year that the AL had a 162 game schedule-that and the diluted pitching because of the expansion draft caused abberations like Maris and Mantle combining for 115 home runs, Norm Cash hitting .361,Gentile's 141 RBI, Rocky Colavito's 40 homer-140 RBI year, and the White Sox with 4 guys over 80 RBI. However, all of these guys were established players, and most of them were very good who had serious power numbers in the past.
Players like Luis Gonzalez and Brady Anderson, whose 50 homer seasons are so much higher than anything on their resume, must be looked at in a suspicious light. Guys like A-Rod and Ken Griffey Jr., who have put up these type of numbers for years, have no such "spike" in their stats to make one think they used performance enhancing drugs.

[ThePundit]

Originally Posted by Gotham Dark Knight

Come on ....are we now going to question every single big jump?..

The answer to your question Gotham is yes. This is the problem with this whole steroids issue. It puts a cloud over everyone whose numbers have gone way down - even if they're not guilty.

[Gotham Dark Knight]

Originally Posted by ThePundit

The answer to your question Gotham is yes. This is the problem with this whole steroids issue. It puts a cloud over everyone whose numbers have gone way down - even if they're not guilty.

That's insane...as a society we are jsut waiting to pounce on someone...oh, very well...go ahead Pundit lead the way...

[desertrat]

Originally Posted by legend

1961 was what it was because of the expansion of baseball. The Senators moved to Minnesota and became the Twins, and the Angels and the new Senators were created. 1961 was the first year that the AL had a 162 game schedule-that and the diluted pitching because of the expansion draft caused abberations like Maris and Mantle combining for 115 home runs, Norm Cash hitting .361,Gentile's 141 RBI, Rocky Colavito's 40 homer-140 RBI year, and the White Sox with 4 guys over 80 RBI. However, all of these guys were established players, and most of them were very good who had serious power numbers in the past.
Players like Luis Gonzalez and Brady Anderson, whose 50 homer seasons are so much higher than anything on their resume, must be looked at in a suspicious light. Guys like A-Rod and Ken Griffey Jr., who have put up these type of numbers for years, have no such "spike" in their stats to make one think they used performance enhancing drugs.

I seem to remember expansion being blamed for the HR jumps of Brady Anderson the year he hit over 50 as well. There were 4 new teams added in a period of 3 or 4 years with Tampa Bay, Florida, Arizona, and Colorado. Because this expansion occurred during the steroids era, expansion no longer serves as an excuse as it did in 1961?

[MJHMarc]

Luis Gonzalez and MLB reporters might be reading our forum, or it might be a coincidence.

This is an article excerpt posted on ESPN.COM, courtesy of AP (Associated Press).

PHOENIX -- Arizona left fielder Luis Gonzalez reacted angrily Thursday after the Diamondbacks' top executive told a newspaper there have been "whispers" about whether the five-time All-Star used performance-enhancing drugs.

To read the rest of this excellent article, please visit:http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=2486240

[desertrat]

Originally Posted by MJHMarc

Luis Gonzalez and MLB reporters might be reading our forum, or it might be a coincidence.

This is an article excerpt posted on ESPN.COM, courtesy of AP (Associated Press).

To read the rest of this excellent article, please visit:http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=2486240

I read that story in the local paper here in Phoenix a couple days ago. I was shocked that this comment was made by a DBack official. With the team struggling recently, this is sure to hurt any chance of them pulling together.

[legend]

Arizona and Tampa Bay came into baseball in 1998. Anderson hit 50 homers in 1996, with 110 RBI. His 50 were 26 more than his next highest year. Besides that, he looked like Adrian Adonis all of a sudden. The obvious lack of quality pitching does contribute to a lot of these homer totals, but that is simply too big a jump to ignore.