If Alex doesn’t reply, any of Sandy’s other misbelievers want to take this bet?

The Steroids Era will NEVER go away….

It has moved to the point counterpoint part of the program but it will remain with us forever…

Think or it in the same way as Virus/AntiVirus….

Someone invents a problem and makes a ton of money, Someone invents a test to find it, original someone finds a new way to do it to get past testing, a new test is created, Etc…etc….

This is a war that will go on pretty much forever until such time as they allow them and they are accepted or a test is created that will immediatly test for elevated levels of hormones that can be administered every day and before every game.

It’s become a Technological war now and it will continue because the money involved it too much to resist. Both for the manufacturers of the PEDs and the Doctors who administer them and the Players who can add 5-10 Million or more to thier contract if they take them and get away with it.

And the war to keep them out will only ever be as good as the testing is….
And we know the Union will never let it happen enough to stop the practice.

Until such time as the UNION decides to eradicate it as their members are the main VICTIMS of it when you get right down to it…PEDS will be part of this game!

The stakes: The loser has to abstain from posting here in any way shape or form for 2 weeks starting with the day after the last day the Mets play an official game in 2013 — whether that’s the regular season or postseason.

Bet or no bet?

We need more black cats.

And my pet peeve, with this type of list, is the tendency to only look at the new (inflow) and not the old (outflow). So yes, Atlanta added 2 Uptons (though I would not be so sure that BJ is a “premium talent” nor was it a reasonable price). And I would be real happy if they were both out in the Mets OF right now.

but, they gloss right over the fact that they lost Chipper, Bourn and Prado. So to a large extent, they were just replacing guys, so you really have to look at the net difference.

The fact that the Miami News Times, the paper that broke this story, refused to give MLB the documents because of their failures to correctly handle steroid speaks volumes to how little of a handle baseball has on the steroids issue.

The players have too much power in the game, but this is something that MLB can’t afford to waver on; they need to take back the game.

And players are getting caught, unlike before — Manny, Braun, Melky, Byrd, Romero, Mota, Ruiz, to name a few. These players all got caught through the testing procedures that didn’t exist in the past. So yes, testing works.

Is it perfect? No. Nothing is perfect. There will always be attempts to circumvent current PEDs testing procedures. But for the most part, I have confidence in the stats players are putting up these days. Prior to PEDs testing, I didn’t and there was no way to tell with certainty what was real and what was chemically induced.

So even if you want to nitpick, MLB’s program is mostly a success. It’s cut out most of the heavy cheating. And the playing field is much more even than it was when Bonds and Clemens played.

players have been cheating since the beginning to get an edge. And probably always will be looking for a loophole to exploit, or a rule they can get away with breaking.

the real test will be as more of these guys age, and we see what starts happening to them physically. Some already have broken down and developed serious ailments. That might be the only thing that gets through to some of these guys.

I like this one better:

http://www.beyondtheboxscore.com/2013/3/19/4117534/2013-team-preview-new-york-mets

2013 Team Preview: New York Mets

‘Bold Prediction: The team starts off hot, Wheeler and d’Arnaud join them mid-season and catch fire, and the team pushes itself into the playoff race. A swift move for an outfielder coupled with some Orioles-luck, and the Mets end up in the Wild Card play-in game.’
************************************************

Thanks SRT

http://www.nypost.com/p/blogs/baseballinsider/offseason_winners_and_losers_national_56p1f5J3tjIvGrNZMaIXyJ#axzz2O0FdTmKs

Well done, indeed.

I still believe MLB has no one to blame but themselves for this embarrassment. They let it build for a decade or more to the problem it is today. Then want to come in and play at being all indignant now, claiming they will straighten it out??

Much like anything else, it’s probably going to take just as long to clean up as it did to reach these proportions.

Off topic: Seriously, who lights a cigar like that?