PERALTA VOWS TO MAKE IT RIGHT

I’m not a Jhonny Peralta fan.  I hated the fact that he was suspended for PEDs and had a 50 game suspension and returned just in time for the playoffs last season.  I found that to be incredible. How can you be punished for an illegal substance, but once over, be rewarded and able to play in the playoffs?  It’s the big stage, it’s what players who work hard naturally to play in. 

After the season, he was rewarded again signing a big contract with the Cardinals and at the time, the Cardinals game out and said that they’re not the "morality" police.  No, they’re not, but ethics, morals and common sense should come into the equation when signing a player who’s a 1 time offender.  I mean, even Matt Holliday is now "forgiving" Peralta, probably because Jhonny is now his teammate, but I find that hypocritical too considering he's running his mouth off about PED offenders the week earlier. I mean, which is it? Have we lost our mind here?  

Hey, maybe that’s just the dad in me. I’m not a GM. I realize that money drives the baseball industry, just like every major field, but for the integrity of the game, I was hoping maybe Peralta would be shunned, maybe like Alex Rodriguez for instance.  And I'm not picking on just Peralta... all of them.

It didn’t happen, and now we’re where we are at, Peralta is a Cardinal, a ton of money and years in his contract and I’m convinced that once you’re a cheater, you’re always a cheater.

But Peralta is doing something that the others really haven’t done. He’s vowing to prove to the fans and MLB that he can play the game naturally… you know, the way he’s supposed to have played the game all along.

Now look, I tip my cap for coming out and saying he wants to do this, I don’t really remember the other players doing this, other than say that they were “sorry”, like Melky Cabrera, after he was caught with a fake website by the way (and only 50 games for that I might add.)  Yes, it’s true, Manny Ramirez came out and said he wanted to be a role model, but any smart player knows you’re a role model after your first big league home run or win.  

Whether you like it or not, being a role model comes with the job, Manny.  Enter Jhonny Peralta, who would very possibly going about it the right way.

This is what Peralta said, courtesy of David Wilhelm of the Belleville News-Democrat: “I’m trying to put it in the past… I’m trying to look forward and forget about it. … I know I can play baseball naturally. I have to show people that I can do it and that I can help.”

The key words there are “I know I can play baseball naturally. I have to show people that I can do it.”

He needs to show people… like my son, a kid with a dream to one day play baseball on a major league level. Like Cardinals management, so they know he’s not a bad guy, but actually someone who made a bad choice, but is hoping to turn it around.

Will he? Can he? Who knows. I’d like to think I can trust these players.  I trusted Alex Rodriguez until he got wrapped up in Biogenesis. Francisco Cervelli disappointed me.  Bartolo Colon, Melky Cabrera… even Manny Ramirez.  Hey, even David Ortiz… you remember he tested positive in 2003.   

He’s still trying to find out why he tested positive… I’m sure we’ll find out soon. 

The point is, baseball has changed. Now, Peralta has stepped up and said he’s going to play naturally and prove to everyone he can.  

I believe him, but I’m holding him to it. More importantly, I want the others to do the same.

By the way, read another piece BYB did on Peralta when his signed his big contract after his 50 game suspension of PEDs... THE UGLY SIDE OF THE PERALTA SIGNING.


Thank you to all the Bleeding Yankee Blue readers for continued success.  You've made BYB the fastest growing Yankees fan site in the history of Yankees fandom.  Thanks for reading, sharing and enjoying. Follow me on Twitter @BleednYankeeBlu and join the group Bleeding Yankee Blue (Official) on Facebook, just type it in