Talk about MLB teams not getting the message: the Oakland A’s have re-hired Bobby Alejo as their strength and conditioning coach. Alejo previously held the same post with the A’s from 1993-2001.
All along, I’ve been arguing that the players have unfairly borne the brunt of fan, media, and management criticism over the steroids issue when, in fact, all of those aforementioned actors deserved their fair share of the blame.
By hiring Bobby Alejo, more famously known as the personal trainer for Jason Giambi, the Oakland A’s are basically saying “eh, who cares” to the whole issue. I would bet just about anything that Commissioner Bud Selig doesn’t say a word about this hiring and that the whole issue is forgotten in just a few days’ time.
I grant that Bobby Alejo was not named in the Mitchell report. I grant that Alejo’s name did not surface in any of the BALCO grand jury testimony. But I refuse to believe that a personal trainer of any reputation wouldn’t have known that his main client – Jason Giambi – was using performance enhancing drugs. I refuse to believe that the other players in his charge that were on the A’s during this era – Mark McGwire, chief among them – used steroids without his knowing about it.
I am not offended by steroid use in baseball. I am offended by the hypocrisy and the clear double-standards that exist surrounding the steroids issue. The Oakland A’s shouldn’t have been allowed to bring back a guy that had even passing knowledge of what was going on in the A’s team gym.
Sadly, this is more of the same silence from Bud and MLB. It’s why I don’t believe the steroids era is truly over, it’s just been swept under the rug.
All along, I’ve been arguing that the players have unfairly borne the brunt of fan, media, and management criticism over the steroids issue when, in fact, all of those aforementioned actors deserved their fair share of the blame.
By hiring Bobby Alejo, more famously known as the personal trainer for Jason Giambi, the Oakland A’s are basically saying “eh, who cares” to the whole issue. I would bet just about anything that Commissioner Bud Selig doesn’t say a word about this hiring and that the whole issue is forgotten in just a few days’ time.
I grant that Bobby Alejo was not named in the Mitchell report. I grant that Alejo’s name did not surface in any of the BALCO grand jury testimony. But I refuse to believe that a personal trainer of any reputation wouldn’t have known that his main client – Jason Giambi – was using performance enhancing drugs. I refuse to believe that the other players in his charge that were on the A’s during this era – Mark McGwire, chief among them – used steroids without his knowing about it.
I am not offended by steroid use in baseball. I am offended by the hypocrisy and the clear double-standards that exist surrounding the steroids issue. The Oakland A’s shouldn’t have been allowed to bring back a guy that had even passing knowledge of what was going on in the A’s team gym.
Sadly, this is more of the same silence from Bud and MLB. It’s why I don’t believe the steroids era is truly over, it’s just been swept under the rug.
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