CALL IT WHAT YOU WANT, BUT IT AINT 'ROID RAGE!

One thing about being a Yankee fan...we always have a lot of crap to endure from baseball fans in general. If it's not the generic "Yankees Suck" comment, it's a comment about how we have 26 rings and a pocket watch but we aren't relevant anymore. Or, our team is a bunch of dinosaurs and we are cheaters. I can go on and on....we've all had these debates. It's tough being a Yankee fan, we wear our own uniforms and battle gear too.

So old news, but last Monday night Mark Teixeira had a meltdown. You can read more about that HERE if you need to but now it is as Joe Girardi puts it a "non-issue" in the organization. As far as the fans and Yankee haters go it is FAR from over. So after the picture of Teixeira beating up a trash can surfaced next my cell phone starts to light up like a Christmas tree, and my Facebook and twitter got private messages on them. Yes, let it be known I am a Mark Teixeira believer but seriously, can't these people antagonize someone else?

::Red Sox fan:: Hey Jee! I told you that SUCKteira guy you like so much is a jackass. That is disrespectful to his team.
::Me:: I will be sure to tell him next time we talk.
::Red Sox fan:: I am serious! Carrying on like that is unprofessional.
::Me:: What do you have a problem with exactly? Yelling at the Coach or the trash can?
::Red Sox fan:: The trash can and his temper tantrum. Get a grip Paul O'Neill wannabe.
::Me:: Yeah, because David Ortiz never beat the heck out of a phone in the dugout before.
::Red Sox fan:: Well....that's different.
::Me:: How convenient....get outta here!

Or how about this one?

::Yankee hater with multiple "favorite" teams:: GET THAT MAN A PED's TEST!
::Me:: Right....because a reformed Gluten free .259 hitter is on the roids! That is a ground breaking idea right there.
::Yankee hater with multiple "favorite" teams:: Well Asprin doesn't cause that.
::Me:: Asprin....not a bad idea right now with how many of these messages I am getting.
::Yankee hater with multiple "favorite" teams:: Well you guys like your steroids.
::Me:: Oh that's right....Yankee players are the only ones that take PEDs.
::Yankee hater with multiple "favorite" teams:: Maybe Alex Rodriguez hooked him up.
::Me:: Yeah, maybe he knows Tony Bosch!

But this one is my personal favorite, especially after today's breaking news of Jenrry Mejia second failed drug test this year, read more on that HERE.

::Mets friend:: Check your boy, that is Roid Rage no doubt about it.
::Me:: Did he share it with Mejia?
::Mets friend:: What are you talking about? He served his time. He's back.
::Me:: Check the news homey.
::Mets friend:: LIES!
::Me:: Ok, if that is what helps you sleep at night.

So no people...the Mark Teixeira is on Roids is not funny and in fact, my friend the Mets fan was living under a rock. It's called PASSION people. That's right the stoic Mark Teixeira himself showed some emotion. The world must be coming to an end. I don't know what to do with myself. This temper tantrum changes everything.....except the amazing score last night and the leader in the AL East.

Keep searching haters. Carry on Yankees!


   

--Jeana Bellezza, BYB Senior Writer and Editor
Twitter: @NyPrincessJ 





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AROD'S COUSIN IS SENTENCED & THAT'S THAT

Yuri Sucart, cousin to Alex Rodriguez, and one of the Biogenesis frontmen was sentenced Thursday to seven months in prison.

Of the eight accused, including Tony Bosch, Sucart was the last to be sentenced. Included in his sentencing will be six months home arrest after his seven months prison time, and a $5,000 fine. There is also the potential of deportation.

Sucart had been the personal assistant to ARod for some time. But it seemed that their relationship had been less than amicable of late. There were some questionable reports from Sucart and his wife about ARod, and a letter from Sucart's lawyer demanding that ARod pay him for his silence in the case.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Shorad Motiani said Sucart was one of the most important players in the Biogenesis case (HERE). Not only did he recruit ARod, but other MLB and high school ball players. He'd supplied these players with steroids, and was paid for these services. Sucart made a poor attempt at an apology by saying he did it "out of ignorance and necessity."

This Biogenesis case has been on going for nearly two years. The sentencing of Sucart brings the entire thing to an end...we hope.

--Erica Morales BYB Senior Writer 
Twitter: @e_morales1804

   



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ANTHONY BOSCH SENTENCED

Anthony Bosch, the owner and operator of the defunct Coral Gables Biogenesis Clinic, has officially been sentenced to four years in federal prison reports ESPN.

Bosch, who posed as a doctor and supplied steroid injections and other performance enhancing drugs to professional baseball players and high school athletes, had sought leniency. He cooperated in the investigation in hopes of a lowered sentence, but US District Judge Darrin Gayles refused. "The defendant was the most culpable in this conspiracy," the judge said. Gayles seemed to take particular issue with the steroid injection of high school athletes. "He was the master mind," Gayles said. "He was the one who recruited others to assist him."

Bosch, who plead guilty in October, is the sixth person charged in the Biogenesis case. Both he and Alex Rodriguez are expected to testify if Yuri Sucart, and ex-University of Miami pitching Coach Lazaro Collazo, go to trial.

Guy Lewis, Bosch's lawyer, did try for a lesser sentence. The aim was under three years, but Gayles refused. Lewis' argument was that Bosch had been cooperative throughout the investigation. Along with his four year prison sentence, he will get three years supervised release.

--Erica Morales BYB Senior Writer 
Twitter: @e_morales1804

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AND THE WINNER IS...

On Wednesday, owners met in Baltimore to vote for the new commissioner. It's kind of the MLB's version of electing a Pope. Owners convened in a ballroom until at least 23 of them agreed on the new commissioner. They vote until they could come up with the perfect replacement for Bud Selig. Which, considering the mess he has created with the MLB, shouldn't be all that difficult. Just today, BYB's own Alexis Garcia wrote BASEBALL'S NOT BETTER BECAUSE OF SELIG... IT'S WORSE. I definitely agree. I have said it a million times in discussing Alex Rodriguez, and steroid.

And the winner is...

I guess it should come to no surprise that Rob Manfred was voted the new commissioner, Thursday afternoon. He will be the sports 10th commissioner. Manfred, MLB's chief operating officer, was Selig's right hand man. Especially during the Biogenesis debacle. He authorized the payment of some $105,000+ for the stolen documents that helped bring down Tony Bosch's clinic. I wrote about their knowledge of the purchase in MLB KNEW WHAT THEY WERE PURCHASING. Funny enough, the majority of Alex Rodriguez's suspension was due to obstruction of evidence.

I guess I cannot fairly judge Manfred by the sins of his predecessor. Most of his actions were done under the direction of Selig. Maybe he will be different.

Honestly, I want to give Manfred the benefit of the doubt, but after Selig, I really don't have much hope or trust in Manfred. The game has lost so much integrity, and Manfred played a hand in that. I cannot forget that. It almost feels like he was serving King Joffery. Seriously, how much loyalty, and confidence do you give a guy like that?

Anyway, congrats to Manfred! I don't except you to instantly clean up the mess that Selig made, just please... try not to be as big a disappointment, and hypocrite.

--Erica Morales BYB Senior Writer 
Twitter: @e_morales1804

 
  

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BIOGENESIS: ONE YEAR LATER & STILL NO END

It's been one year since the Biogenesis scandal broke. One year since we were told that 90 MLB players have been named on a list provided by Tony Bosch, the former director at the South Florida anti-aging clinic. Jhonny Peralta, Francisco Cervelli, Jesus Montero, Melky Cabrera, Ryan Braun, and Alex Rodriguez. There were others, of course. Players who weren't suspended and names that weren't released to the public.

The long and tortuous arbitration hearings of ARod that took all winter a constant reminder of all the things that are wrong with baseball. All the ways that Bud Selig failed to do his job as Commissioner. All the ways that he allowed the steroid problem to run rampant with players like Barry Bonds, Sammy Sosa and Mark McGwire. He sat back and did nothing when steroids put butts in the seats. The home run race was good for business. It wasn't until he had his retirement to consider that he started making examples of players. A 162 game suspension is unheard of for a first time offender, without a positive drug test... unless that player is ARod, and Selig is retiring.

One whole year....

and still we're no where near over this.

In case you didn't know, Bosch has been arrested, along with nine others. According to USA Today he was charged with "distributing illegal drugs to professional and high school athletes." Yes, you read that correctly, high school students. It's bad enough this guy is distributing drugs to professional athletes. Adults, even if they made terrible choices. But to distribute to children? And this is the guy that the MLB protecting? These are kids between 15 and 17 years old. How is no one else outraged by this? Isn't this some sort of child abuse?

Now, with the DEA involved, it's not clear how much the MLB investigation will matter. There are probably more than a few players afraid that their names will be released, but the DEA probably doesn't care as much about the user as they do the supplier. It's like a Hydra. You can't just cut off the heads, because new ones will grow in it's place. You must burn the source of the regrowth. In other words, why go after Jesse, when we can take down Heisenberg?

I need the MLB to understand how stupid they look protecting Bosch. To say that they would testify for him is ridiculous! I understand that he cooperated, and that is good, I guess. But you are putting the reputation of the league on the line, order to come to the defense of a man that distributed drugs to minors? It really reflects poorly on the MLB. Though, I suppose a league run by Selig cannot possibly stoop any lower. That is NOT a challenge, Selig! Please don't get any lower.

I know I sound angry, and bitter. I am! Very! Look, I love the sport. Baseball will always be part of me. But the handling of this entire Biogenesis ordeal makes them seem like such a joke. It's been an entire year, and nothing has been achieved, or changed. Bosch deserves to be punished, along with anyone who aided in supplying steroids to high school children. It's despicable! Selig needs to own up responsibility for the role he played in the deterioration of baseball. The play at innocence and subsequent hero doesn't cut it for me. The use of illegal substances in sports has to end. This game deserves some integrity. Let's start working towards that.

I'm sure this has just begun. Stay tuned.

--Erica Morales BYB Senior Writer 
Twitter: @e_morales1804

 
  

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THE PLAYERS ASSOCIATION WILL DROP THE HAMMER ON MLB

Look, there are dirty players in Major League Baseball.  We know this.  There are players that have admitted guilt, such as Melky Cabrera and Bartolo Colon.  There are players that were on a list that have denied any knowledge of what they were accused of and there are players that were told they failed a test, denied it, fought it, won,  only to come out later and admit to wrongdoing and taking illegal substances and wasting everyone's time.  That was Ryan Braun.  Then... there are guys like Alex Rodriguez... the lightning rod. The one that offers something very black and white when you look at him.  Half the world hates him. The other half like him.  Whatever Alex Rodriguez did, he did.  I remember when he admitting doing substance from the D.R., talking to Peter Gammons and trying to set the record straight.  After he came clean, life went on and ARod came back, just in time for the Yankees to win the 2009 World Series.  Many of us thought the mess was over.  Many of us thought the guy cleaned up and matured and "became of Yankee." I was one of them.  Then came Biogenesis... and the dark cloud came back, not just over Alex, but on several players who showed up on a list.

A list. A list of names and no direct proof that we know of when it came to failing any test.  Now yes, a list of names in a lab that is connected to illegal substance is critical evidence, but doesn't a player need to fail a test to be suspended for 50 games? Isn't that part of it too?  Now look, I'm not defending ARod here.  This situation stinks to high heaven.  I'm very disappointed in what has happened to this great game, to my son's heroes that I'm not going to even tell him about 60 minutes tonight.  It's sad, it really is... But much like when Bud Selig went on David Letterman and told the world during an "active investigation" that he knew ARod's fate, what in the hell was Major League Baseball thinking speaking out on 60 minutes 1 day after the suspension was handed down?

Wouldn't the evidence and ruling speak for itself? Why did Rob Manfred and Bud Selig and even Tony Bosch ever agree to do an interview after the fact?  If I'm a player on that Biogenesis list, or just a player in general that heard Tony Bosch suggest that "all players do it", I'm not very happy right now... I'm pissed.  More importantly, if I'm the Player's union, I scream from the rooftops.  I almost feel like there's a violation of some kind here...  Am I wrong?

Now, luckily for me... as I was writing this tonight, the Player's Association released a statement in regards to both Rob Manfred and Tony Bosch appearing on 60 minutes.  It reads:

"It is unfortunate that Major League Baseball apparently lacks faith in the integrity and finality of the arbitrator's decision and our Joint Drug Agreement, such that it could not resist the temptation to publicly pile-on against Alex Rodriguez... It is equally troubling that the MLB-appointed Panel Arbitrator [Manfred] will himself be appearing in the '60 Minutes' segment, and that Tony Bosch, MLB's principal witness, is appearing on the program with MLB's blessing."

Good, at least I know I'm not losing my mind.   But what will happen next?  I'm sure they'll look into legal counsel, because this stinks.

More over, while watching Manfred tonight on 60 minutes, I found it unusual that he described a bank transfer that Alex made to Bosch's attorney. A transfer Bosch returned, but Manfred called it a "bribe." But doesn't the bribe go the other way too? Doesn't MLB paying for Tony Bosch's security, dropping their case against him and offering him protection to cooperate and take down 1 "big fish" the same thing?

Couldn't Anthony Bosch just say whatever MLB wants him to say even if there wasn't evidence to back it up? After all, they are cooperating to bring down Alex together. It's payola... a bribe, an exchange of some kind, isn't it? What makes Bosch the guy holding the evidence? Wasn't he the same guy who denied everything early on? What... now he's spilling his guts, but only because he's "afraid for his life"... hmmm.  A bribe is a bribe... that's my opinion.

I have always questioned this case, and while I don't get the see any true evidence, I found it strange that when 60 minutes asked Bud Selig point blank about what evidence he had against Alex, he literally couldn't answer.  This is what Selig said:

Selig: "In my judgement his actions were beyond comprehension. And I'm someone who's now been in the game 50 years."

Pelley: "Never seen anything like it?"

Selig: "I haven't. No."

Pelley: "And so you decided to make an example of him."

Selig: "I wouldn't call it an example. I think the penalty fit what I saw as the evidence."

Pelley: "What was it about the Alex Rodriguez case that was an outlier for you?"

Selig: "Scott, as I looked at everything on all the players... then I got to Alex Rodriguez. You put all the drug things on one side and then all the things that he did to my... impede on an investigation and really do things that I really have never seen another player do.  I think 211 games was a very fair penalty."

So what were the "things" he did?  And this list, with the "drug things on one side", was Alex the only one? I mean, I hate to keep bringing this up, but I will... Other players have been accused of drug use here too.  Francisco Cervelli, was for example,  and he'll be our backup catcher in 2014.   I mean, what did we learn from what Bud Selig said in that short interview?  I learned nothing.  I mean, if you're going to talk about all the bad things Alex did, we'd like to see it, or at least I would.

And let's go 1 further; clearly I'm not the only one that feels as though Alex is being made an example here.  Scott Pelley made a good statement suggesting Selig was making ARod an example.  It's true, it appears that way.

Now look, I don't know what will happen next.  Alex Rodriguez will try and fight this suspension on the Federal level. He probably won't get far, but I'm no lawyer. I'm a dad with a kid who's trying to understand who the real heroes are.  Luckily, my son loves Derek Jeter, but he also liked Alex.  Now there is too much to weed through and too much disappointment.

Hey, I'm tired. Tomorrow's another day. No doubt though, with the player's union now mulling legal action over the appearance of Rob Manfred and Tony Bosch on 60 minutes, it about to get crazy...

ARod news? Yup... it never goes away. 

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