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More PED busts coming

gunnarthor

By gunnarthor
in Other Baseball

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gunnarthor All-Star

gunnarthor

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http://espn.go.com/espn/otl/story/_/id/15458724/more-ped-busts-coming-major-league-baseball-soon

 

Apparently no big names.  The article is pretty interesting though as it explains how and when players use.  

 

"The updated testing also could help explain why the recent positive tests turned up in spring training, which seemed odd to anti-doping experts. Players know they'll be tested in spring training, so it's rare for a player to have anything in his system when he reports to camp. Because testers found a metabolite of the drug and not the parent drug itself, they know those players probably used Turinabol more than a week before they were tested. The players have all denied knowingly taking the drug, but if their use was intentional, it would make sense that they stopped more than a week before reporting, with the belief that the drug had cleared their systems."

 

Hopefully, no Twins will be listed.

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Vanimal46 MVP

Vanimal46

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Right now the rewards are far greater than the risk for players to keep on doing this. Until the players are hit where it really hurts in the check book, or the league allows more injury recovery steroids to be used, it's going to be the same results over and over and over again. 

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Otto von Ballpark All-Star

Otto von Ballpark

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Right now the rewards are far greater than the risk for players to keep on doing this.

Not so sure about that.  I think the performance-enhancing effects of PEDs are probably more psychological than physical, in most cases.

 

Remember, there is also a sizable contingent of MLB players who believe wearing certain necklaces improves their performance too.

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gunnarthor All-Star

gunnarthor

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Not so sure about that.  I think the performance-enhancing effects of PEDs are probably more psychological than physical, in most cases.

 

 

I'd be very, very surprised if PEDs impact was more psychological than physical.  I suspect the reason NFL lineman can approach 400 pounds and run faster than me has a lot to do with massive improvements in drugs.  I'm sure it also makes them feel like they could run through a wall but being physically able to actually do it is probably a bigger thing.  

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biggentleben GCL Twins

biggentleben

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I'd be very, very surprised if PEDs impact was more psychological than physical.  I suspect the reason NFL lineman can approach 400 pounds and run faster than me has a lot to do with massive improvements in drugs.  I'm sure it also makes them feel like they could run through a wall but being physically able to actually do it is probably a bigger thing.  

 

Or it could be the very select genetically gifted able to handle 300 pounds of muscle while still being athletic due to doing basically nothing but working out 24/7.

 

Mark Schleroth and Jeff Hartwick have had very good articles after their retirement about how quickly they lost weight after leaving football due to the simple fact that they were only hitting the gym a few times a week instead of a few hours per day. Hartwick went from a guy who carried 300+ pounds his whole career to 185 in a matter of 18 months. Schleroth lost about 100 pounds when he left football and has stated that he stays about 100 pounds under his playing weight, give or take 15-20 pounds, ever since leaving the game.

 

I have been losing weight and got back into power lifting as part of getting into good, healthy shape as I lose that weight. I had dropped 80 pounds quickly, and I've gained some of that weight back already while still losing fat content in my body just from doing roughly 3-5 hours a week of power lifting workouts. These are guys who typically spend that many hours PER DAY in the offseason adding muscle and refining muscle on their frame. I was the heaviest and leanest in my life when I was working out with the Gophers, getting near 300 pounds for the first time in my life, but having the smallest waist size since I'd hit puberty. I needed no illegal enhancement for that, just a controlled diet that encouraged muscle growth in my body.

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James GCL Twins

James

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Considering there's only 1 Z, it's also an impossible one.

Not impossible if someone is foolish enough to leave that z exposed to a super open board and that is the common letter.

 

If you really want to be a stickler for scrabble rules, you should mentioned the fact that proper nouns are not allowed.   :)

 

 

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Otto von Ballpark All-Star

Otto von Ballpark

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I'd be very, very surprised if PEDs impact was more psychological than physical.  I suspect the reason NFL lineman can approach 400 pounds and run faster than me has a lot to do with massive improvements in drugs.  I'm sure it also makes them feel like they could run through a wall but being physically able to actually do it is probably a bigger thing.  

I don't doubt there can be some physical effects.  But those effects are probably reduced given the functional skill set of baseball players, and those effects are quite possibly washed out by the workout regimen they require to be effective anyway, as Ben alluded to.  And diminished further by testing, as players can't really go all "East German Olympic athlete" in their PED use.

 

I think the edge that players actually get from PEDs, today, is quite likely more psychological than physical.  Hence, the actual rewards probably don't outweigh the risks.

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Twinsbar107 College Ball

Twinsbar107

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I don't doubt there can be some physical effects. But those effects are probably reduced given the functional skill set of baseball players, and those effects are quite possibly washed out by the workout regimen they require to be effective anyway, as Ben alluded to. And diminished further by testing, as players can't really go all "East German Olympic athlete" in their PED use.

 

I think the edge that players actually get from PEDs, today, is quite likely more psychological than physical. Hence, the actual rewards probably don't outweigh the risks.

If they didn't work. They wouldn't take them, and it wouldn't be an issue. If it's all in their head there are other ways to get positive reinforcement.

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biggentleben GCL Twins

biggentleben

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If they didn't work. They wouldn't take them, and it wouldn't be an issue. If it's all in their head there are other ways to get positive reinforcement.

He never said they don't provide SOME benefit, just not the monstrous physical benefit many believe. Green tea helps your focus, and after a lecture on the benefits of green tea for concentration, focus, and even recall, students in a class were provided a green tea shot and then asked to take the same exact quiz as they'd taken before the lecture about tea on the subject of the class (it's a repeated study done in multiple classes now - math, biology, psychology, and economics are ones I know of). The students scored better on the second quiz in spite of no questions being repeated between the two quizzes, well beyond any true physical benefit the tea could have possibly given.

 

By far the most powerful muscle in the body is the mind. Telling a guy that a sugar pill right before lifting will help him left more will cause gains in strength due to the lifter typically adding more weight in anticipation of the benefit and forcing the body to catch up and build more muscle, which ended up giving the strength gains sought after anyway because of the more challenging exercise.

 

Not saying these do nothing, but their benefits are typically nowhere near in line with expected benefits.

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Vanimal46 MVP

Vanimal46

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Sounds like a guy who was trying to hang on to a major league contract well beyond his expiration date. Oh well. He'll be lucky if people remember his career 5 years from now. 

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Teflon First Round Pick

Teflon

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Saying that the impact to performance from steroids is a placebo effect is about as accurate as saying you only have to think you have sunscreen on to keep from burning at the beach. Muscle is increased through the healing of micro tears that were caused by exercising and lifting. There is limit to the extent of micro tearing and a minimum recovery time required for a person to build muscle optimally. On steroids, the same person can recover from greater micro tearing and recover much more quickly allowing for longer, more frequent workouts which significantly enhance muscle building. Identical twin A not on steroids would never be able to work out as long or as frequently as Identical twin B on steroids - regardless of what he thought he was taking. 

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jud6312 First Round Pick

jud6312

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Let's not jump to conclusions about being happy if no Twins make the list.

 

What if Jepsen is on there? Or Perkins and that rippling mass of whatever it his he has going on? Hughes, Zuke, Dozier, Plouffe, Nolasco ... it could be a great day for this organization.

 

Selfishly I'd also like to see Grossman on there so Arcia can actually sniff the field.

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Kwak First Round Pick

Kwak

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Let's not jump to conclusions about being happy if no Twins make the list.

 

What if Jepsen is on there? Or Perkins and that rippling mass of whatever it his he has going on? Hughes, Zuke, Dozier, Plouffe, Nolasco ... it could be a great day for this organization.

 

Selfishly I'd also like to see Grossman on there so Arcia can actually sniff the field.

I would be shocked beyond belief if Perkins was ever accused of using PEDs. 

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Otto von Ballpark All-Star

Otto von Ballpark

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Ha ha, it just occurred to me that Cleveland very well may have called up Robbie Grossman out of AAA had Byrd gotten suspended last month instead.

To be fair, Byrd himself was signed during spring training largely to replace the suspended Abraham Almonte (who should return in a month).  So it's not like Byrd was their Plan A, and Grossman Plan B.  More like, plans B & C.

 

And even with those suspensions and Brantley on the DL again, assuming they recall Tyler Naquin to replace Byrd, that will give them 4 active outfielders hitting roughly league average or better this season, so they're not too desperate at the moment.  (Albeit one of those outfielders was supposed to be their utility infielder, and he might be better served subbing for Uribe at 3B...)

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Marzen2016 Prep Ball

Marzen2016

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Let's not jump to conclusions about being happy if no Twins make the list.

 

What if Jepsen is on there? Or Perkins and that rippling mass of whatever it his he has going on? Hughes, Zuke, Dozier, Plouffe, Nolasco ... it could be a great day for this organization.

 

Selfishly I'd also like to see Grossman on there so Arcia can actually sniff the field.

 

What confidence do you have in throwing Arcia back into the mix?  He has been downright terrible in the field and at the plate.  

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