Yes, Pitchers Use Steroids Too
Posted by Adam Graham in : BaseballA recent incident involving former Cardinals and Rockies pitcher Jose Jimenez brings home an oft-forgotten point in the Steroids debate:
SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic — Jose Jimenez, who threw a no-hitter as a rookie with the St. Louis Cardinals in 1999, was one of two Dominican athletes removed from the Pan American Games on Saturday after they tested positive for banned substances.
Jimenez, who had 41 saves for the Colorado Rockies in 2002, last pitched in the majors for the Cleveland Indians in 2004. He finished his career with 110 saves.
Jimenez, who tested positive for anabolic steroids, turned 34 on Saturday.
Now, we can’t say for sure that Jimenez used steroids (but when did that ever stop Mark McGwire accusers) but the fact is that we have more reason to believe he did than that his former St. Louis teammate did (for the allegations against McGwire we have the word of convicted felon Jose Canseco.)
Even if one concedes the point that steroids can make a player better. (And I’ve not seen evidence for it.) If pitchers were taking it just as much as hitters (which has been the case in the Minor leagues) it would seem to me that any advantage gained is made up by your opponents also using it. If anything, it would seem the steroid situation would cause us to give greater weight to the accomplishment of clean players who’ve not been implicated, such as two time Home Run Champ Fred McGriff, who retired with 491 career homers. Doesn’t he deserve credit for accomplishing that against juiced up pitchers? Even though it’s not quite 500, it would have been had the pitcher not been on steroids.
Comment by Cameron
I am a big McGriff HoF supporter. Unfortunately, while everyone seems to be on the “punish the cheaters” bandwagon, that hasn’t translated into giving more pub to those that didn’t cheat.
Comment by Adam Graham
It has always seemed to me that Fred McGriff was a Hall-of-Famer. Overall, he was really such a good, solid player. Even though he doesn’t have 500, he was really a great package in his average and overall team play. Maybe, he’ll be put in by the Veterans committee when they figure out how to actually elect someone.