3:00pm: The Nationals issued a statement with regards to Zimmerman’s involvement in the documentary:
“Ryan Zimmerman has been an integral member of the Washington Nationals family for the past 11 years. During that time, he has been the model for all that we ask our players to be – contributing to his team, to his community, and to the game of baseball.
We do not find Al Jazeera’s report – which has already been recanted by their source – to be credible.
Ryan has unequivocally stated that these allegations are false. The Lerner family and our organization fully support him. We are confident Major League’s Baseball’s investigation will show that the allegations levied in the report are unfounded.
We fully cooperate with MLB, and refer all questions to them at this time.”
Major League Baseball also issued a statement (via Twitter links from Jon Morosi of FOX Sports)
“[MLB] was not made aware of the allegations until yesterday and was provided no information other than what has been reported,” the statement read, adding that the league intends to “conduct a thorough investigation.”
10:30am: Ryan Howard, Ryan Zimmerman and Taylor Teagarden are among the athletes named as allegedly having received banned PEDs in an undercover news documentary from Al Jazeera television (YouTube link).
Al Jazeera conducted a month long investigative report on PEDs in global sports, sending British hurdler Liam Collins undercover. The PED claims come from Collins’ undercover conversations with a former pharmacy intern named Charlie Sly, who says that he previously worked at an Indiana-based anti-aging clinic called the Guyer Institute. Sly told Collins that he sold Howard and Zimmerman a hormone supplement known as Delta-2, which is both specifically designated to evade drug tests and included on Major League Baseball’s list of banned substances. Teagarden, meanwhile, is shown in an undercover video discussing how he took PEDs in the previous season.
MLBTR has a statement from William Burck of Quinn Emanuel, the attorney for both Howard and Zimmerman:
“It’s inexcusable and irresponsible that Al Jazeera would provide a platform and broadcast outright lies about Mr. Howard and Mr. Zimmerman. The extraordinarily reckless claims made against our clients in this report are completely false and rely on a source who has already recanted his claims. We will go to court to hold Al Jazeera and other responsible parties accountable for smearing our clients’ good names.”
In one of his conversations with Al Jazeera’s undercover athlete, Sly went into some detail about the drug regimen that he has laid out for Howard. Sly specifically claims that Howard has taken Delta-2 (“D2”) and says that Howard felt that he had “more explosiveness” as a result.
“He is somebody that you cannot overwhelm with stuff,” Sly told Collins. “You just make sure you have like everything in bags. He knows to take stuff twice a day. Usually I just have him like teach it back to me.”
Sly also opened up about his working relationship with Zimmerman, a player whom Sly claims to have known for “probably six years.” “I worked with him in the offseason. That’s how I get him to change some stuff,” Sly said. Sly went on to answer in the affirmative when asked if Zimmerman has used D2 and also indicated that he has noticed an increase in power as a result.
Teagarden, meanwhile, actually crosses paths with Collins while the two are waiting in the lobby of Sly’s apartment building. When the three men are in Sly’s apartment, Teagarden gets rather specific about his use of Delta-2.
“I used it last year, I was very..I was scared to be honest with you,” Teagarden said. “I took it for like two weeks and I had a test four weeks after my last administration of it. Nothing happened…And I was also taking peptides too but they were all urine tests, no blood tests…Once a year, maybe twice at most.”
Howard and Zimmerman denied using the drug when asked to comment by Al-Jazeera, and several NFL players named in the report (including such notables as Peyton Manning, James Harrison and Mike Neal) also denied using PEDs, as highlighted by our sister NFL site, Pro Football Rumors. Sly himself told Al-Jazeera that his prior statements (or, at least, the characterization of them) were “absolutely false and incorrect.” Sly added that the recordings were made “without [his] knowledge or consent.” In comments made to ESPN, Sly says he was a student intern at the Guyer Institute in 2013, rather than 2011 as alleged by Al Jazeera. Sly told ESPN he was “trying to pull one over on Collins to see if he had any idea of what he was talking about,” dropping names of athletes who were not actually clients.
None of the three baseball players have ever been suspended for PED use or failed any known drug tests. It is yet unknown how MLB or the NFL may respond to this documentary, if at all, though if the allegations are proven, Howard, Zimmerman and Teagarden would presumably be subject to the 80-game suspension given to the first-time offenders of MLB’s drug policy.
Tim Dierkes and Zach Links contributed to this post. Travis Waldron and Ryan Grim of the Huffington Post first detailed some of the documentary’s major news points after watching an advance copy. Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
And the bomb is dropped
The bomb ? Are you people that narrow minded ? What proof do you have, or Al Jazeera, have…. AL JAZEERA ? Are you kidding me ?
The source is backpedaling faster then an NHL defenseman and you people are treating this like it’s a done deal. SMH
Don’t be so naive. Look at the players that have been mentioned in the report. Now guess why no American network would run this? Conflict of interest?
You can bet the people recanting their story are doing so because of the threats have been made.
Just think about it. You’ve been secretly taped discussing all the clients you have worked with – names that are marquee within their sport. What do you expect everybody to do?
You always deny to see if your legal team can spin it. In this case, they go after the source(es) and try to discredit. Straight from the playbook.
If anybody thinks these guys are playing clean then I’m pretty sure you still believe in Santy Claus.
I give credit to Al-Jazeera for running it. Leave it to the a foreign network that isn’t heavily funded by American pro sports to run it.
Delta-2 may not be for you!
I guess you believe in the Easter Bunny then if you think Al-Jazeera doesn’t have an agenda as well. They are nothing more than a puppet media outlet for the Qatar government (which owns the network). They run extremist programming on that network throughout the middle east..
Same guy who reportedly gave illegal medication and treatment to Peyton. It’s a shame on all counts, can’t really blame them. You’re paid on performance, if you can improve, I’m sure they’d be tempted just as we would – although we don’t have millions of dollars in the Ryan’s case – I’d imagine that’s in the hope of regaining their pre-injury form.
Teagarden is more understandable.
It finally come out, football players take steroids too, and they have been taking them long before baseball players. The top players of this generation took PEDs so it’s time for the writers to realize it and let the best players in the HOF.
Old argument but here we go.
Roughly 10 players hit 50 + home runs in a season in 80 years. Then PED’s come along and we have 20 players hit that level or higher (setting a new season record by 14) over the next ten years. New testing invoked and how many 50 homer seasons in the 10 years (I can think of two (c.davis, Bautista) but there are probably a couple more ?
But you think the cheaters should be in the HoF !!?? What life lessons are you teaching your children ??
Ortiz or manny got to that mark one year if I recall.
Ortiz did in 2006, but not Manny.
Cheaters are already in the HOF. What are you smoking?!
You shouldn’t let MLB teach your kids anything. MLB is about nothing but money and performance; greed and win at all costs. Of course guys take steriods or anything else they think will help them succeed.
Tell me again why nobody cares that players took amphetamines for years, but everyone gets so worked up over steroids. They’re all PEDs. What about the guy who smashes five Red Bulls before a game, is that cheating? How about getting lasik eye surgery? What about corticosteroid injections that allow injured players to stay on the field; those are harder on your body than most anabolic steroids, where do you draw the line?
If it goal is simply to keep the athletes as healthy as possible, then all of the above should be banned. And they should eliminate take out slides altogether. And limit pitchers innings and enact strict pitch counts. And require each player takes a certain number of days off per month.
But no, the fans would riot and boycott if they paid money to go see their favorite player and he simply had the day off. It all comes back to money and getting every ounce they can out each player. So why not let enhance their performance. Certainly, the McGwire and Sosa HR race in 1998 saved baseball, and brought millions of fans back to the game after the strike sent them away. So you COULD say steroids deserve to be in the HOF since they saved the game when it was on life-support and in real danger of going away….
Ortiz might have had the 50HR season but Manny had the 165 RBI season.. 14th highest all time for RBI in a season. Not to mention he did hit 44HR that season and came in 3rd place in MVP voting that year(99′). I think it’s pretty clear A LOT of players used HGH in the middle 90’s-00’s.
What about anything at GNC? Modern players use that stuff all the time and Mickey Mantle never had a chance to use it. For that matter, what about antibiotics? The players in the early 1900s didn’t have them. They had to deal with a lot of sickness that today’s players never had to worry about. The game evolves, but so does medicine and supplements and exercise programs, Everyone gets so worked up about sabermetrics and how old-school thinkers didn’t know what they were talking about, but modern supplements somehow hurt the integrity of the old game that they didn’t know how to properly analyze. Irony thou art a heartless b***h.
It is not cheating if it wasnt against the rules. NFL didnt ban HGH till 2011 and didnt start testing till 2014…HGH wasnt added to the MLB ban list until 2005…..Some forms of Steroids have been banned in MLB since 1991….The issue is this…there are players in all HOF’s of every major sport that used some form of a PED(by today’s standard) ….Simply as you could walk into a GNC or other stores and buy things off the shelf that WAS NOT banned in the early and mid 90’s that ARE banned today….that does not make them cheaters…..The policy IMO was founded as to not allow any player(s) an unfair advantage if it is a supplement and it can be purchased off the shelf at stores nationwide then it DOES NOT give any one player an advantage since it is LEGAL and readily available to not only every professional athlete but every citizen as well…
I agree it’s time they get in the HOF enough of this uppity stuff when it’s not proven anybody can ruin someone name. Not fair to them and just like most people tired of it.
These particular cheaters exceeded standards and pinnacles established over the course of roughly 100 years by USE OF A NEEDLE/PILL. If YOU can not understand the implications, you have much bigger issues than debating with someone on the internet. Look in the mirror, look deep with in….
Don’t forget Gatorade. Drinking that instead of water helps.
You are conveniently ignoring the fact that well over half of the people caught using PEDs were PITCHERS! How does your home run totals account for that?
BTW, I use baseball as a pastime and diversion from life, not as moral lesson for children. Why anyone would think of people hitting a ball for a living as moralistic role models is beyond me. They are entertainers and as long as they entertain me and my family, I don’t care what they do in their personal lives or to their bodies. Quite frankly it is none of my (or any fan’s) business. If they want to gamble with their long term health in order to play ball a little better, then so be it.
Then watch the WWE instead? Baseball won’t be doing a 180 on their stance within any of our lifetimes. Even if they wanted to they wouldn’t. The publicity fallout from reversing their course would make the Mitchell report look like nothing. Just because you may be okay with it doesn’t mean the majority are. Baseball can’t afford to alienate that much of their fanbase.
Even more so when (and it’s a when) the first high school baseball player has a serious complication with a PED. Baseball will get blamed for it.and the fallout will happen all over again.
In a business as big as baseball every course has to be plotted carefully. They have enough marketing people within the sport to know that doing a 180 now is a horrible idea.
It was a dumb argument when it was trotted out back in the day and it is a dumb argument now.
I believe Prince Fielder hit fifty one season with the Brewers. Not positive though.
It finally come out… that the “source” in the story admitted he made everything up. The only thing truthful in the entire documentary was Teagarden’s confession,. Joke is on you, buddy!
Time to rename the Hall or create a special wing… Hall of Shame, Hall of Cheaters. How long before bionics are ‘understood’?
Not understandable if you’re a catcher at AAA hitting over .300 and Teagarden gets the call.
Howard and Zimmerman, though I’d REALY like to think otherwise, did just come off injuries…
I would REALLY like for you to take a spelling class…
Believable, isn’t it?
Yea, and Papi came from the same area as Sosa, so he took them too. There are people in both the football Hall of Fame and baseball who have taken some kind of PED, whether it was Amphetamines or something else. Put the best players of that time period in the Hall, and quit trying to be judge and jury. Players have cheated all the way back to the spitball, amphetamines were ramped in since the 60’s,
Thank you! I totally agree. Unless there is an investigation under way to clear every HOF player of any wrongdoing whatsoever, speculating about who did what is pointless. Guys have been cheating since the sport was invented.
what an entitled ,spoiled rotten brat point of view you have. the HOF is a private entity that can elect whomever they like whenever they like for whatever reason they like. Our opinions mean absolutely nothing.
Just because players have cheated before doesn’t mean you look the other way now. What a horrible precedent to set..
Oh boy, here we go again.
I’m not making any judgements. If they did it, shame on them, but I’m kinda of desensitized to it all now. Early reports seem kind of shady though.
Teagarden if he did in fact take PED’s should get a refund, he got jipped. Unless of course he said “doc I wanna be a journeyman backup catcher, nothing more”. Really he certainly didn’t play like he took PED’s.
Considering about 80% of the names on the Mitchell Report were journeymen or worse, then he did actually play like he took PEDs. Perhaps people might finally realize that just because good players used PEDs doesn’t mean that you can get baseball talent from a pill or a shot.
I was mostly speaking in jest, I wasn’t doubting his guilt. I also have to wonder what he was thinking, like red flags wouldn’t be raised if a journeyman backup catcher becomes a beast?
Melky being a prime recent example
No, because Melky was a good player. I’m talking about the guys like Paxton Crawford, Adam Riggs, and Chad Allen. The fact that they took them and had very mediocre careers proves to me that PEDs do not affect baseball talent, just recovery from injury. To me that puts PEDs on the same level as TJ surgery or any other modern medical technique that old time players did not have access to.
I wouldn’t call pre steroid Melky a good player at all
Marvin Bernard FTW!
Look man, I’ve seen people use FTW all the time. I can always figure out what these internet lingo abbreviations mean. But not FTW..
My best guess is you/they are spelling What The F**k backwards?
FTW stands for “for the win”.
For the win.
I have seen for the win or f**k the world
Smartest thing to do is let the best players in the game in the Hall. This will end this madness. Everyone is tired of this subject, and this is the only way to end it.
No, it isn’t the best thing to do.
Great argument.
Seriously, though, it’s absurd to just leave out an entire period of history in the HoF just because some people “cheated.” Baseball turned its head and covered its eyes on all different kinds of performance-enchancing substances, but steroids and HGH are where we draw the line?
The purpose of the Hall is to preserve the history of the game. To ignore some of the biggest producers of the era (and all-time) is an insult to said purpose. Whether you care about PEDs or not, it happened, and there’s nothing anyone can do about it. Take the best players of this generation and give them plaques in Cooperstown. Every era has flaws and problems, and to decide that NOW is the time to put a foot down based on morality is ridiculous.
I agree 100%. Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens were great players that probably took drugs . They were not great players BECAUSE of drugs. Many other great players have had drug problems. Mickey Mantle was a serious alcoholic. Orlando Cepeda went to prison because of pot. A lot of the 60s and 70s players took greenies like they were M&Ms. A big chunk of 70s and 80s players were coke fiends. For that matter, a lot of the early 1900s guys used cocaine as well because it was legal then. For that matter, Cap Anson and Ty Cobb were two of the most miserable human beings ever. And yet they are Hall of Famers, so don’t give me the “character spiel” to keep them out. Every player has vices and to expect otherwise is just ridiculous.
I’m thinking that if Howard, Zimmerman and Teagarden used the stuff they are alleged to have used, it can’t possibly be considered “performance enhancing.”
Maybe he would have played worse, not taking someone else’s position.
And just when we thought domestic violence would be the only offseason scandal… boom, major steroid allegations.
Yes, this keeps the Hot Stove fire burning, but it smells like Newark in the 60’s.
Not this crap again. Can’t we just enjoy sports without all this other drama?
It’s schadenfreude. We all take some natural pleasure in watching celebrities fall.
Not all of us. I think the human race as a whole suffers whenever someone’s secret misdeeds come out. We would all be better off if all of this stayed secret. Most of my childhood heroes have been tainted by the media and I really hate the idea that the next generation’s heroes are going to go through the same thing. People still need heroes, but no one is perfect and they should not be held to some idealistic standards that no one could possibly live up to. But I do agree that most people do build people up just to watch them fall.
Are they really heroes if they cheated? Do we as society have an obligation to hold celebrities to a higher standard?
That’s up to the individual, and no celebrities don’t deserve to be held to a higher standard. I think we as a society have an obligation to not be so concerned with celebrities. They are only people, and it’s sickening that people obsess over their every decision.
No of course we don’t.. Everyone is human and capable of making a bad decision. I would put many professions, like police officers, judge, politicians, preachers, doctors, teachers, and many more on the list of “I expect more from you” ahead of celebrities.
Think of it this way. Did you mother or father ever get a speeding ticket or a parking ticket? They broke the rules of the road and theoretically put others in danger. In other words, they cheated the system. Would that really affect whether or not you consider them a hero?
Most of this does stay secret. Athletes fail drug tests all the time. It’s not supposed to come out, because of the appeals process. If they win their appeal, it never comes out. We never would’ve learned about Ryan Braun’s failed test had it not leaked to the media. He won his appeal on a technicality. Had Braun’s case played out the way it was supposed to–complete privacy and silence until after the appeals process is concluded–no one would’ve known he took PEDs. It’s not like he’d admit to using PEDs after winning his appeal. But stories like this only come out when you have star athletes attached. We still turn a blind eye. No one doubts David Ortiz has used PEDs, and possibly still uses them. He had one of his best statistical seasons in 2012 while only playing 90 games. .318 BA, .415 OBP, .611 SLG, 1.026 OPS. Looking over his numbers, there isn’t much evidence of a decline. Maybe Ortiz is the rare exception to the rule. I doubt it. But until there’s evidence of PED usage, Ortiz’s fans wouldn’t question him hitting 50 home runs next season.
That said, I’ve made my peace with PEDs in professional sports. PEDs have always been in pro baseball since its inception. Hank Aaron, Mike Schmidt, Willie Mays, and Mickey Mantle all used amphetamines, which give more of an edge than HGH or steroids. Look at Ken Griffey Jr.’s numbers and you notice a power surge at the height of the steroid era, then in 2001 they “normalize” to today’s standards, where the top sluggers are hitting 20-30 home runs (and this was also around the time MLB implemented stricter drug testing). Still, he was one of my favorite players growing up. I’d love to see him in the Hall of Fame.
Or maybe Ken Griffey Jr.’s numbers fell off because he was constantly injured from 2001 on, Pretty reckless to smear him with absolutely no proof of involvement with steroids. None.
the “greenies are the same/worse than roids” argument fails under cursory statistical analysis. There are no “double peaks” during the greenie era, there was no huge bump in league OPS or homers until they lowered the mound. If your claim was true there would be statistical deviation to back it up, there isn’t. (unlike steroids which DOES have a marked statistical deviation from the mean showing it’s impact)
NOT TAYLOR TEAGARDEN!!! My childhood is ruined.
I bet the Phils are hoping that the allegations on Howard are true, an 80 day suspension would save them 1/2 a year’s salary on his bad contract, same as the Yanks saved a year on A-Rod.
Something tells me the Phillies aren’t hoping that a franchise icon that helped win a World Series was doping in order to save ~10M
But if that is in fact the case, the money saved wouldn’t hurt right?
Nope. They just hope he gets abducted by aliens, so they never have to see him again. He sucks.
Arod was suspended for an entire season. Not quite the same savings.
Teagarden is soooo done. He admits to doping in the documentary
Like he honestly wasn’t done before? He might have tried to cling on a few more years but he doesn’t have much utility anymore.
I believe this report. I’ve been saying for awhile now that most of the MLBers who are juicing are using PEDS that cannot and do not show up on blood tests.
Only interesting thing is that unlike other past cases, all 3 players mentioned have maintained very steady, consistent stats their whole careers. Howard always had the power, even in the minors. Zimmerman was picked 4th overall and was expected to be very good. And Teagarden has always had consistently weak stats. Teagarden is the key piece here of proof because of the video, but I don’t know if it has been released to the public. I can’t find it.
The report has yet to air. 8pm central time Sunday. Channel 347 on DirecTV.
Ch 347 for Comcast customers too? Or only for DirecTV customers?
I hope its false. The last thing Philly needs right now is to be kicked right when the Phillies just start to get up.
I don’t think this would hurt the Phils. If anything ti would give them a good excuse to cut ties with Howard.
Not only would it not hurt them, it would actually be helping them if get gets suspended, as they can spend the money they’d be paying Howard over those 80 games he’d be suspended on someone better.
Is anyone surprised by anyone being linked to PED’s anymore? And frankly, it seems like the usual protocol is still to deny, deny, deny!!
Why not, they told A-Rod to tell the truth and what happened to him. This is a joke, most players will do anything to be successful. They are just a mirror of our society.
Sadly you’re right! 🙁
Don’t you people sleep?
Sleep is for the weak.
Build it and they will come.
Why does anyone care what this Qatari owned, terrorist sponsoring channel talks about? Does anyone even watch it, or think it speaks the truth about anything to begin with?
Why do you think this *scoop* got buried on this ragged channel to start with? Maybe because nobody else would give it the time of day??
Forget about it, it’s hot air, just like everything else Al Jazarri says, or ever will say and same thing previous owner of the channel Gore did to for that matter.
My thoughts exactly. Why are we listening to some Middle Eastern media outlet reporting on sports in the United States? I would believe a story I read on The Onion before I would believe that Al Jazeera could nab the inside scoop on U.S. sports. They should stick to what they know, which is reporting on that third world dump they call the Middle East. Thanks. This story has ZERO credibility.
For what it’s worth, Al Jazeera’s Investigations Unit is entirely made up of white people from the UK and the United States, and those people have a history of winning Emmys, BAFTAs, and so on.
Right.. This is the channel which thinks CAIR, Hamas, Hezbollah and especially the PLO are mainly charitable organizations that promote humanitarian causes and not sponsor terrorism, contrary to facts which actually exist.
If those certain “non-arab” investigative people they employ would defy their terrorist supporting owner-master, Qatari owners and report facts (if they wanted to that is) they would see that, especially with the daily, sometimes 2-3 times terrorist attacks by arabs in Israel sponsored by the PLO , Hamas and Hesbollah, which Al-Jazeera either spins away their culpability, or denies.. Much like mainstream media another’s culpability in this country.
Lies in the media are common. Arab media makes a mockery of it.
Newsflash – massive media/broadcasting corporations are misleading no matter what country you’re in.
There’s a reason why I can flick over to a US news channel (I don’t live in the US), and it’s as comical as the Comedy Channel I’ve just switched from. Only in ‘murica.
Anywho, even though there’s hot air everywhere, there’s often fire where there’s smoke. Some would say Al Jazeera is more reliable than the garbage that US citizens get fed on the daily.
Exactly Cam! No different than these people who rely on Faux News or MSNBC
At least you can rely on both of those networks if you remember to take whst they say with a grain of salt. Not the same with Al Jazeera where they blatantly lie not just over state/emphasize facts like Fox or MSNBC.
You believe EVERYTHING you hear on FAUX news?? What’s the difference??
Btw… Manning’s Lawyer admitted that the Wife Ashley “received” HGH shipments for her own “Personal” use. Guess that part wasn’t HOT Air
Media likes to bring down the top players, it’s makes them feel powerful.
Didn’t Roger Clemens’ wife “do” the same thing? Man, these juiced wives need to be tested too!!
I wouldn’t read too much into this just yet fellas. Do A little background on this Collins character and you’ll find that he was heavily in debt to multiple creditors at one point and appeared on America’s got talent in some disco routine or whatever. Not only that, but Al Jazeera English is more obscure than the obscure and would love to smash the world with this story.
Not saying it isn’t true, but the I total reports seem shady
I’m don’t know if this is true or not, but I am going to need more proof than a report form Al Jazeera. I don’t trust anything that comes from Qatar. This is a country that uses slave labor and is under Sharia Law. Sorry, I’m not believing that. I need a more credible source than this.
If you thought Phillies fans wanted Howard gone before, that documentary will multiply that desire ten fold (if it’s accurate).
Who thinks Chris Davis heads to the Phillies if Ryan Howard gets suspended?
PEDs do not help players hit curve balls or throw a nasty slider. They might extend a players prime and add a little strength but that is it. The media has dubbed them “performance enhancing” in an attempt to make them out to be something they are not. They might enhance the performance of stamina driven sports like cycling or swimming but they don’t do much with getting hits in baseball. I wish this blemish on the sports world would fade away. The media refuses to allow it to happen. One drug that should be considered performance enhancing is adderall. Fortunately, for players a therapeutic exception can easily be achieved.
PED’s enhance your ability to concentrate, help you recover, for one. Increased bat speed/Strength can turn a warning track fly ball into a HR, also they can MPH’s to your FB. You are absolutely wrong by trying to pass PED results off as a myth.
LOL! They do not enhance you’re ability to concentrate. Get out with these made up facts, extra testosterone has actually been shown to give people lack of focus making them susceptible to needing focus related drugs because of over abudnance of energy.
Amphetamines are the things that help guys concentrate, steroids and other testosterone related enhancers basically help a guy swing a bat quicker because of added strength and bat speed is oh so important in generating power. That’s basically the only thing steroids do to effect your skills,
Aren’t Amphetamines PED’s?? Reading is fundamental, Dude
You need to stop typing guy. You just contradicted your self and made everything else you said useless.
Amphetamines, do a few things, decrease reaction time, make you alert, give you a feeling of euphoria,
Yea, check Chris Davis numbers on or off Adderall.
Wel, there goes any chance Taylor Teagarden had at the Hall of Fame..
Teagarden….I knew it! I just knew it. You don’t just come along and hit .202 without something strange going on.
He hit over .300 at AAA causing another catcher to not get his chance.
Taylor Teagarden? Noooooooo.. Wasn’t that they guy who… oh.. no that was not him.. hmmph. Oh. he was the guy in the playoffs that… wait. no.. Who is this Teagarden guy? obviously the PEDs were just candy cause he has never done anything of value.
He played in the Big Leagues didn’t he? So I guess it worked after all.
Played is a very suggestive term. existed may me more correct.
Did you ever exist at that level, PED’s or not??
No. It’s not a profession I chose. and one he should not have chosen either. Please detour from starting to argue with me. I am the wrong person because I could care less. Let’s just love one another. Life is too short to do anything else…Friends?
Oh I understand, I just to say I went to be a professional athlete and I will become one.
I meant to say, so I just have to say I want to be a pro athlete, and then I will become one?
Just my opinion here……But……
Teagarden – PEDs would “increase his own ability”……..not necessarily turn him into Mike Trout. Most players who take PEDs simply do so to raise them into the next tier, so they can “get noticed”. Everyone is looking for an edge…..some guys want it quicker
Howard and Zimmerman were struggling to heal, so they could play. It’s very plausible that they were “trying things” to accomplish that, but at this point we have no evidence that supports that. Neither experienced “a miraculous recovery”.
Al Jazeer and Huffington post. Hahahaha. Yeah. I’d be more inclined to believe the National Enquirer.
I bet you swear by FAUX news, though. Pot meets kettle
Be careful, don’t let the year 2004 catch you using their lame joke
This is all a fabrication.
Almost every athlete uses drugs, most are just smart enough to cover their tracks.
I cant’t how misinformed people are about PED’s. With millions on the line, athletes would be pretty dumb to not use them. And obviously you’re gonna get the moron who says “they passed all the drugs tests” who has no idea about half life of drugs. HGH can only be detected within a few hours; Insulin, IGF1, and MGF cannot be detected; most Sarms cannot be detected; most peptides cannot be detected. Testosterone Suspension can only be detected within 48 hours, etc.
I really hope this is not true, but where there is smoke there is fire. The same Al Jazeera report links Peyton Manning to the HGH use, and Peyton has flatly denied it. But so did Roger Clemens a few years ago – and continues to deny it. Not suprised that injured players like Manning, Zimmerman and Howard may have used HGH, but very much hoping not.
Why are you hoping not? I don’t know if he took something or not, but perhaps without HGH, Peyton Manning would have had his career end in 2011. Why are we against something that can allow one of the greatest players ever continue to play? And Ryan Howard and Ryan Zimmerman were two of the best baseball players of this generation until their injuries. Why do we not want them to get back to where they were before at least in part? If they were taking it, it’s not like they were taking it for an unfair advantage, they were recovering from career-threatening injuries. Why is this a bad thing? We shouldn’t let bad luck or freak injuries decide when star players have to stop playing.
why shouldn’t you be able to kill annoying people? I mean, you are making the world better right?
because it’s against the law. end of story
Yeah, because that’s basically the same thing.
This is old news.
Who cares?
They are entertainers. Let them do what they want to entertain us.
The shock value is gone.
Because we live in a land of laws – if something is illegal and there are severe penalties involved we ( and certainly high profile athletes) shouldn’t be doing it . This isn’t the same thing as a minor speeding violation.
You know a minor speeding violation is illegal also, so it really is the same thing. In this land of laws, we have a police department and a legal system which determines crime and punishment. Let them handle it. This is nothing but a media witch hunt and a lynch mob by a portion of the fans.
But would the police have known about this if the media hadn’t done the work?
The police have known about it since 2003. How many players have been put in jail for using PEDs since then?
Unfortunately these kind of crimes are not necessarily tracked by the police. It takes media to break these stories – reference Watergate, Boston priests, baseball PED stories of the past decade.
But no one has gone to jail over PEDs. At least no one that actually took them went to jail. The suppliers may have gone to jail, but obviously you can find a new dealer if you still want to take them. The only reason they started doling out suspensions was because of people complaints because everyone knew and there were no suspensions before the story broke. The elephant in the room is that everyone is trying to protect the integrity of the game that actually has no real integrity. If they had integrity, Bud Selig would have suspended Bonds when his hat size doubled or at least would have tested him since PEDs were supposedly banned, but not tested for. Personally I don’t care if players shoot themselves full of horse hormones or ground rhino horn or liquid furniture polish. It’s their choice to risk their long term health to play a game. Just don’t talk about it and it won’t affect the kids in any way.
man, you really don’t have a clue how baseball works do you? The CBA didn’t allow them to ban players for roids as there was no union/league approved procedure to do so. NOW they have such procedures and thus players can be banned. (see how it works now mr apologist?)
Yeah government knows best right? Taking male hormones which prevent ED, help you look and feel better are bad for you and should be illegal but women can take estrogen to prevent pregnancies and get heart attacks.
Don’t forget about your friendly neighborhood doctor who tells you weed and steroids are bad but prescribe painkillers like candy.
Just copied this from another article. There is “SMOKE”
Ian Rapoport of NFL.com tweets that Peyton Manning has retained the services of former White House press secretary Ari Fleischer, who now does crisis management work. Rapoport spoke with Fleischer last night, and he was told that Manning has never used HGH, has never failed any league drug tests, and that the Al Jazeera documentary that created a media firestorm yesterday would not affect Manning’s status with the league. Fleischer did say that Manning’s wife, Ashley Manning, was a patient at the anti-aging clinic referenced by the documentary and had a prescription from the clinic, though Fleischer would not say what the prescription was for. “
Remember, Robinson Cano’s Charity Spokeswoman was buying drugs from Biogenesis. Guess he’s smarter than his buddies A-Rod and Melky, who went straight to the source.
The headline of this post should really be edited. Perhaps to something like: Documentary Reports Recanted Story Linking Zimmerman and Howard to PEDs. If the headline was the only thing a person saw, he might walk away thinking there was credible evidence of a link; whereas, a review of the article shows the link’s source never even made the claims the form the basis for the BS story. If I were Howard or Zimmerman, I’d be pretty angry if I read the headline on MLBTR when the underlying story is complete poppycock. But this is your website, so do what you want to generate more clicks…
link, verb: make, form, or suggest a connection with or between
That is what the headline says because that is what the report did. You really think we are handling this matter in a way that will generate the most clicks? Have you seen how this conversation is being had elsewhere? Have you read the post?
Mr. Sly doesn’t claim he never said those things. He claims they were not true statements when he made them. You can assess the credibility of that for yourself. I’m withholding judgment until the matter is investigated, and I think our post on the matter adopts that stance as well.
One minor quibble; The headline does imply that the documentary “links” Howard and Zimmerman in the same manner as Teagarden. So, if clips of Teagarden were displayed elsewhere, it could mislead someone into thinking that similar clips existed of Howard and Zimmerman. Perhaps a better title might be;
Documentary Links Taylor Teagarden To PED Claims while also citing Ryan Howard and Ryan Zimmerman along with NFL players.
I still don’t care one bit about PEDs in sports.
Al Jazeera, huh. I wasn’t aware they broadcast anything other than terrorist threats and such. Maybe this is their attempt at becoming a legitimate news channel.
Sly admitted that he made up the story……i hope Peyton and the rest sues Al Jazeera
How’s he gonna sue Al Jazeera when Sly on video LYING???
once again you demonstrate a complete lack of awareness of the law and how the world works . Media is liable for everything they print/show. If you choose to air a doc (or print a news story) that shows an individual making a false claim you AND they are both committing slander/libel. It is the responsiblity of the reporters/ producers to vet the information before airing it.
I hope this is either proven beyond all doubt, or revealed to be an outright fabrication. This is why I hate PEDs. The wondering. And the reading threads full of politickers.
While I can absolutely believe the content of this supposed documentary if it had come from a credible source, we have to consider the actual source. It is Al Jazeera, which was originally created as nothing but a propoaganda tool for the PLO. This is the same news source which has aired “scientific” documentaries showing all Europeans, Americans, and Isrealies as being descendants of demons. The same network which suggested that all of the Hamas rocket attacks on Isreal were actually ordered by the US in order to spark war, yet their lone source of evidence was a supposed journal of a man who had died nearly 20 years before the attacks began in 2007. It is the single greatest source of brainwashing the Arabic masses, and has less than 0 credibility.
It is also noteworthy that every single NFL pregame show has indicated that this man Sly has admitted to lying to Al Jazeera in regards to Peyton Manning. If this is the case (and Manning hasn’t paid him off, or his legal team hasn’t put the heat on him to deny all of this), why would it not be the case with these baseball players? In all honesty, it does sound like another attempt by a terror-supporting, terror-owned propaganda channel doing what it can to belittle America.
Though it makes you think, if they wanted to belittle America, why choose Ryan Zimmerman and Howard? Neither of them have been particularly relevant in current years.
Interesting. Who knows what’s truth or fiction anymore. Reading between the lines of the Cafardo piece, where he ostensibly talked to former players who were users who claim that half of MLB was on the juice–and Cafardo’s announcement that he would not consider it in his HOF voting, and this set of allegations, I think what you are beginning to see is the acceptance of what is probably a reality–you just don’t know absolutely who is not using. And, since every one of us has players who we admire who theoretically might be users, and, if you are a writer with an HOF ballot, and a local readership to satisfy, making hard rules regarding PEDS may not work anymore. Cafardo almost certainly is laying the groundwork to vote for players in the future who are not yet eligible who either failed a test or who he suspects were users.
Would I be shocked to find some extraordinary percentage of football players used? Not in the least–look at the size differentials in just the last three decades–that’s not all coming from people eating their Wheaties. And, in baseball, would it disappoint me if “my guys” were users? Yes, I think so, but I suppose if others were making it to Cooperstown with a needle in their backside, why should I judge my own guys more harshly?
But still, it feels like cheating.
No one will ever care about steroids in the NFL the same as steroids in baseball Football does not have sacred records, the 70’s steelers were openly juiced they are still revered as a great dynasty. The damage is already done in the baseball Hall guys who never used like Lofton have fallen off the ballot due to the backload of PED users, the only way to fix the baseball hall of fame is complete reform on the process.
I agree completely–it’s enormously unfair to players who (presumably) played clean and who’s accomplishments, in a different era, might have been valued as Hall-worthy. Perhaps the Hall can reopen the voting on players who have been bounced–maybe a supplemental ballot of passed over players, although, perversely, that would reopen the door to people like Palmeiro, who fell off the ballot, presumably out of disgust for his usage. In my opinion, MLB as a business realizes that it has to find a way to rationalize this era, and accept its responsibility for at least the first part of it, when it clearly tacitly accepted usage because it put fannies in seats. There’s no good way out of this.
The writers and owners are all hypocrites, I remember the McGuire and Sosa show. All the bio boys have done well without PEDs. End the madness, let them all in the HOF. There was a high percentage of players hitters and pitchers taking PEDs for the last 30 to 40 years. We are all sick of taking about it.
If I were a voter, I”d think about mentally adjusting users stats down. Players who are marginal HOF with the juice–I can’t see it. Not trying to stir things up, but compare David Ortiz’s numbers t0 Fred McGriff (not talking about post-season, icon-standing, etc–just numbers). very similar slash lines and counting stats with maybe a. slight edge to Ortiz., which, in my mind, is offset by the DH. McGriff has never been higher than 21.7% in HOF voting. Under those circumstances, and assuming you wanted to buy in to the idea that Ortiz failed and McGriff was clean, I”d vote McGriff before Ortiz, but maybe neither makes it. Carlos Delgado is another player in that same statistical category–and he was one and done this year–and he also hasn’t been definitely connected to PEDS.
Not Taylor Teagarden!
Al Jazeera? They are not a credible news source. I don’t think I’ll put much stock in this until a REAL news organization verifies it.
Al Jazeera is hardly a creditable source unless you are looking to blow something up up or kill non Muslims! Lots of noise nothing creditable here!
Sorry, you are wrong.
I am not going to say I believe any of this but how do you deny Teagarden? I wouldn’t be shocked if he made up Manning but if your gonna name drop why James Harrison? How did Teagarden come to meet this guy? There is some smoke but lots of questions for me right bi
I hate this crap.
All of the ad hominem comments about Al Jazeera are really disappointing, and the vicious anti-Muslim reactions are disheartening. Can we not find a way to discuss this without becoming our worst selves, getting irrational and nasty?
bootlicking al jazeera is not admirable. it’s disgraceful. this is a network that has openly supported terror groups killing american soldiers.
Ug,h, here we go again. I won’t be surprised if the reports are true, but a lot of shadyness coming out in early reports, I will stay tuned before making judgements. In Peyton’s case… without reading more, I don’t really blame him for squat if he used banned steroids to heal from his neck injury. For Howard… same.. but I gotta say as a Phillies fan… he should get his money back if he has been taking them since 2011.
I’m going to need a lot more credible evidence to believe it this time, since they already have refuting evidence against the report. Will see, but in the end. I really almost don’t care anymore. Is it wrong, absolutely, Does it happen, Absolutely, … Honestly, with the benefits of using them that one receives … the temptation is real, and with the pedastool that our society puts athletes on … well who’s fault is that. About time to show the “kiddies” who the real heroes are from day one, and stop glorifying professional athletes .
How this information gets to Al-Jazeera first, before any American or European media corporation just seems like an extraordinary isolated case, even bizarre, really. Years behind, actually, to the point of irrelevancy.
al jazzera was the ‘news agency’ doing the investigation
Al Jazeera has more integrity than most US media.
Al Jazeera may have a credibility similar to that of Jose Canseco.
At the very least, I give Al Jazeera high marks for a slick video production.
Watch the 50-minute report.
Were there any staged photos of dead children? That is what Al Jazeera is best at..
Probably not a lot of motivation for US MSM to do this story. They like their access to the leagues.
If Ryan Howard has been taking PED’s, he needs to go to his dealer and demand a refund.
Why would a refund be justified? PED’s won’t help him if he can’t hit the baseball!
I see that some people have made the argument that steroids are akin to players in the 60’s taking amphetamines or the fact that anti-inflammatory or antibiotics are available to players for the modern players. And because of this progression in medicine and technology we should giver steroid users a pass. I don’t agree.
What happens when technology advances and the artificial limbs of today evolve into limbs that can throw the ball 150 mph or generate unheard of bat speed? What if some player has his arm amputated just for the purpose of getting a bionic arm so he throw 150 mph? Is that OK? (Of course, if MLB rules he is not eligible to play he will file a discrimination lawsuit). Yes, this is an extreme example. But what I’m getting at is that performance enhancement in sports must be a black and white issue because if it isn’t it will surely open a Pandora’s box in the future.
why is this even news? sly guy said he just threw out names
And did he hire a Taylor Teagarden impersonator to appear, just so he Collins would know that PEDs aren’t guaranteed to make you good?
If you are going to make stuff up you would probably pick players who are not has beens like Howard and Zimmerman.
There is very little investigative journalism in US MSM and they tend to protect their corporate sponsors or want to avoid any legal messes, , so I guess we have to read about this stuff in Al Jazeera.
Unlike Biogenesis which targeted players born outside the US for the most part, this one targets American born players. My money is it gets swept under the rug unless the Feds investigate
The football PED testing is a joke compared to the baseball testing. Just look at the size of the players, and tell me if they’re juicing.
Somehow, I don’t have a lot of faith in MLB doing an investigation. It took Congress putting a gun to their heads last time.
Should we boycott music and Hollywood because pretty much all the greatest movies and music were created by people who were stupid high on dope? Performance enhancing you could say. Should we strip Stevie Nicks and Ray Charles of all their awards and Grammys ? What you have here is A ridiculous double standard. Going on about and touting these guys as “role models” is laughable. I raise my child not some athlete. Y’all are Putting way too much weight into these guys who are nothing more than mere mortals,granted great at what they do but still humans that are just as capable of screwing their lives up as you and I are. This drama is garbage and is made to sell stories or used as click bait for advertising.
Who cares. I don’t get why people think that before this fairly recent steroids “epidemic” happened that baseball was a squeaky clean game. Hate to burst people’s bubbles but roids have been in professional sports since the 50s. To think that they stayed out of baseball until the 80s is pretty much lying to yourself. Then there is the plethora of other drugs players used in the past to get an edge. THEN there is the fact that it is perfectly ok to take steroids to help you heal faster and get back out in the field…. AKA, numb the pain……. and that’s perfectly OK, but taking roids to make yourself more powerful and just be in better shape….. somehow that’s cheating. Recovering from an injury at unnatural speeds because of steroids……. ok. Improving your strength and stamina with steroids…….. WHAT A FRIGGIN CHEATER!!!!! IT”S UNNATURAL TO LOOK LIKE THAT!!!! They say. Yet Albert Pujols breaking his wrist, getting it pumped full of roids and coming back in 2 weeks……. not cheating. Got it. The whole steroid argument has and always will be insanely ridiculous to me. Cortisone….. perfectly legal. Androstenedione…… What a deplorable friggin cheating SOB. It’s like the whole war on drugs in America on general….. more specifically, marijuana. Marijuana which is safer by most studies than alcohol is illegal……. yet alcohol is perfectly legal. Cortisone shots to artificially relieve pain and swelling to get you on the field quicker and do your job…… legal. Androstenedione shot in the ass to get you in better shape and become stronger (you know…. because you’re an athlete) so you can do your job better…….. illegal.
I mean where do we draw the line as to what is “performance enhancing.” Tiger Woods and other pro athletes have received lasik eye surgery and in some cases they see better than 20/20……. that ain’t natural. Some kids and especially college students take Adderall to focus better despite not actually NEEDING the drug. Performance enhancing? Damn straight. So Again, this whole steroid manufactured problem baseball has is and always has been a joke to me. It actually angers me because this crap went up to the governmental level…… that means US taxpayers paid for this stupid problem that really isn’t even a friggin problem. For starters, If EVERYONE is doing it is it really cheating? I just don’t get why people hold athletes to such high regards. I mean they get paid to entertain the masses. As a diehard baseball fan I am not afraid to admit that 15-20 years ago……. they were doing a WAY better job at entertaining me. Did steroids have a part in that? Likely. And why is it only baseball freaking out about drugs in their sport? Look at the NFL. I am willing to bet that damn near every NFL player right now has some questionable drug coursing through their veins at this very moment. Heck, I’ll say the same about college athletes. HELL, college football coaches OFFER their players a way to get their hands on steroids. It’s no secret. I mean do people just think the US is full of 6’6″ 270 pound lineman and linebackers…. NATURALLY? No. Just look at JJ Watt. Then google search “JJ Watt high school pic.” TELL me that dude has not taken an illegal drug in his life……. I friggin dare you. Yet he is going to likely go into the HOF, while players like 7 time MVP Barry Bonds and 7 time Cy Young winner Roger Clemens will likely NEVER see the baseball HOF……. or at least see it with their plaques on the wall.
there’s no crying in baseball. so stahhhhp
If manning really did take steroids it would probably make Brady the greatest qb of all time, I don’t like Brady at all, but deflating footballs and possibly looking at the other teams play books is on a lower level than taking steroids
I doubt there is a single football player alive today who has not taken steroids at some point in their development, and studies show the effects are long lasting so even if a player is not using today due to testing he still has enhanced muscle growth response to working out
The source in the Al Jazeera documentary has already recanted. So, how can we take this report seriously if the source isn’t standing by his story?
Yeah, right. When I want truthful journalism I run straight to Al Jazeera!