One thing that bothers me about the accusations against Ryan Braun is his motivation. He was 27 in 2011, the peak age for a player, the age he should need PED help the least. Secondly, he already signed two long term contracts, so he was secure in his position on the Brewers. So the motivation comes down to:
- After a great 2009, Braun’s production fell a bit in 2010. However, it was still an excellent year, as he hit .304/.365/.501, but that didn’t prevent the Brewers from signing him to a huge contract extension.
- With Prince Fielder leaving for free agency, Braun saw this season as his last chance for a while to win a World Series.
- He felt he needed to use the drug to recover from a calf injury. However, at the time no one thought the injury was serious.
If #2 is the reason, it seems a high risk for something that is often random anyway. His lack of motivation makes me put a little more credence on his claims of innocence. Then again, professional athletes are so driven to win that any edge might be worth it.
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4. To win a bet with a teammate who said he couldn’t hit .330.
5. To impress a girl who said he couldn’t hit 40 homers.
6. Because he watched ________ take drugs all last year and not get caught: “If *that guy* can stay in the league with PEDs, just think what they’ll do for me!”
7. So when he walks down the street, people will say, “There goes the greatest hitter who ever lived.”
Just a few thoughts. He’s set for money, as you say, so he needs other goals. I’m not sure you or I can guess those goals.
Well A-Rod’s self-confessed reason (which we can certainly doubt) for PED use in Texas was that he felt the need to perform up to his historic contract. But until the appeal process runs out (& I’d like a second test, asap) I’m going to withhold judgement.
rbj » Right, but there was no suspension regime in place at that time. The risks were not as high.
The reasons for using PED’s are well known. I used to work out in a gym in the 80’s where virtually everyone used steroids for no other reason than to lift more than others and to be as srong as you could be. Some MLB players do it for the same reason, plus the financial incentives and the fact they have a big audience to impress.
To me the real question is, assuming the PED testing is known by players to be effective and w/o any known loopholes, is why he would think he could use PED’s during the season/playoffs and not be caught?
I think the reason is players have found a way to test negative in the ratio test, using the same methods as the Balco drugs by using a drug which is a mixture of exogenuous and natural teststerone. Only when this test is positive is the more reliable (when done properly) carbon isotope test used, as this confirms the use of exogenuous testosterone.
So perhaps players like Manny and Braun were unlucky, or were using an inappropriate mix which may need to be adjusted from time to time to avoid triggering the ratio test. Or perhaps they were one of the few who triggered a false positive (up to 9% of non-steroid users will test positive, up to half of steroid users will test negative depending on genotype) in the ratio test which led to the conclusive carbon isotope test.
Regardless, steroid use may still be more prevalent than most think. The positive test among steroid users in MLB may be the exception rather than the rule.