Tag Archives: Steroids

The Aftershock of Michael Chavis

Michael Chavis has tested positive for a banned substance dehydrochlormethyltestosterone (an anabolic steroid) and has been suspended for 80 games. Chavis was the Red Sox’ number one position player prospect their farm system. Chavis was ranked 80 in the Majors prospects, so lasting effects can be evident.

Michael Chavis Background

Who exactly is the top positional player for the Sox? The 5’10” Georgia native was acquired in the 1st round of the 2014 draft from Sprayberry Senior HS. The 22 year old third baseman struggled in 2016 after posting a .244/.321/.391 slash in 312 plate appearances. 2017 seemed to be the season where he took his young career to the next level. He produced a .282/.347/.563 slash between Portland, Salem, and Peoria. His home run total rose from eight in 2016 to 31 in 2017. It’s easy to project when Chavis began a regimen for anabolic steroids. Seeing that his average never really impressed until his 2017 season proves that his value is close to unreliable. Combine that with his average defending and we have ourselves a bust in the making.

Chavis was known for his strong arm but choppy footwork at the hot corner. It would make sense for his eventual transition to first base. The uncertainty of first base at the Sox’ Major League level is probably what made Chavis such a pivotal part of their farm system.

Aftershocks on the Farm System

So with Chavis’s eventual demotion in the farm system rankings, which players are left in the top 10? Well, everyone knows Jay Groome, the southpaw hurler reigning from Barnegat Township, New Jersey at number one overall. However, excluding pitchers, it is evident that the Sox don’t have a whole lot of youngsters. Sam Travis is the next positional player to take the top spot after Chavis’ suspension, and even that isn’t much to brag about. In 33 games playing for the 2017 Sox, he posted an underwhelming .263/.325/.342 line.

His below average scouting report highlights his lack of power. It really works against the height of his ceiling. This is the next best positional player the Sox have in their farm. The Sox can’t expect to keep Mookie Betts, Andrew Benintendi, Xander Bogaerts, and Jackie Bradley, among the other core youngsters. For a team that is about as “win now” as ever, this really hurts the Sox more than people may realize. It would be different if this happened to a team with a deep system (see: Braves, Yankees etc.). But it’s not ideal for a team that will owe Chris Sale a Brinks truck to keep him around.

Major League After Effects

You might already know that Dave Dombrowski is a very trigger happy executive. The Red Sox seem to be at a loss when it comes to production out of the bullpen so far in the 2018 season (except for Kimbrel and Poyner). The writing on the wall will point to possibly using Chavis as a trade piece to upgrade the bullpen to the likes of the Yankees or Indians. Now that Chavis is suspended, I cannot see a major trade going down for the Sox the rest of the season. The ball club was probably one big trade piece away from being an even bigger championship contender than before.

The Bottom Line

Let’s be real for a second: The Red Sox are still putting an elite team on the field night after night. They have a major league roster with an average age of 27.9 (6th in 2017) and a starting rotation that has had an excellent first week of the 2018 season. This comes without the contributions of Drew Pomeranz, Eduardo Rodriguez and Steven Wright. With Devers panning out to be the future third baseman of the Red Sox and Mitch Moreland locked up until 2020, it seemed pretty hard for Chavis to make any noise in the Majors, barring an amazing minor league performance.

Does this really hurt the team in general? Yes and no. Yes, as in it negatively affects his value but no, as in the Sox never really had to rely on Chavis during their championship years anyway. It’s too early to tell how the bullpen will pan out in 2018. A team can never use too many arms, however, and do not forget that Andrew Miller is available as a free agent at the other side of this season. Chavis messed up, but Sox fans should not worry.

@ELJGON

Barry Bonds Needs to Be in the Hall of Fame

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Barry Bonds belongs in the Hall of Fame. Whether you believe he is the legitimate home run king, or you hate how he helped make a mockery of the game, or you think he is a jackass, he remains one of the greatest outfielders to ever play the game. He was one of the best all-around players in the game without steroids and was already a slam dunk for the Hall.

Pre-Steroids

Barry Bonds’ career began in 1986. By 1990 he had broken out and won the MVP Award. He then proceeded to win two more MVPs and finish 2^nd in the other vote over the next three seasons. Bonds presumably played clean through the 1998 season. At that point he already had three MVPs, eight Gold Gloves and seven Silver Sluggers. Bonds had also slugged 411 home runs and stolen 445 bases, making him the first player ever to hit that many homers and steal that many bases. Oh, he was also 34 years old and at the top of his game. He had plenty of time to add to those stats. He had achieved all-time great status, a shoo-in for the Hall of Fame.

Not even going back to his days in Pittsburgh, the picture on the right is Barry Bonds circa 1996. The one on the left is in 2007.

Steroids

Bonds’ ego probably led to his steroid use. With McGwire and Sosa chasing home run records and getting all the attention, Bonds likely looked at them with disgust thinking “I’m better than those guys.” Bonds was also coming back from injury that season, missing the season’s first couple months. He could have taken some substances to come back from injury faster. That season, turning 35 in July, Bonds posted his best home runs per-at-bat ratio of any season during his career. During each of the next six seasons he posted an even lower HR/AB ratio. Steroids made guys like McGwire and Sosa and others home run machines. Barry Bonds had reached all-time great status; steroids made him a video game character. From 2000-2004, Bonds batted .339 and averaged 52 home runs per season. His 174 walks per season aided in giving him an outrageous slash line of .535/.781/1.316. That’s just absurd. In 2004, at the age of 40, he racked up a .609 on base percentage. He really did make a mockery of the game and the record books, but he illustrated the problem with steroids and what it can help guys accomplish.

Barry Bonds of the San Francisco Giants hits his 714th career home run, tying Babe Ruth for second place on the all time home run list. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

Conclusion

Would Bonds be the all-time home run king if he had played clean? No. Would he have a .444/.607/1.051 slash line? Again, no. But during the first nine years of the 90s he had a .438/.600/1.038 slash line while averaging 36 home runs and 36 stolen bases per season. And those seasons I bet he played clean. He would probably still own 500-500 club solo, while winning plenty of awards along the way. I don’t think he gets in this year with such a crowded ballot. However, the Hall of Fame exists for the greatest players to ever play, and you cannot have that without Bonds.

Should Roger Clemens Make the Hall of Fame?

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Scott’s Argument Supporting Clemens

Clemens clearly used after leaving the Red Sox so his stats and awards are greatly inflated by the help of foreign substances. Over his final four seasons with the Red Sox he had a 3.77 ERA and 8.7 k/9. In the next two seasons he had a 2.33 ERA and 10.2 k/9. He was 34 years old in 1997 and struck out a career high in batters. I mean, come on. There is no argument about what he did. The argument comes over what to do with him and the others. Honestly, there is no wrong answer, and that is the problem. It is an individual’s opinion over how to treat steroid users, and many people have differing opinions. As a result, guys like Clemens and Barry Bonds have been stuck in ballot purgatory.

Steroids

Steroids very clearly affect statistics in a huge way. Two people have ever hit 60 home runs in a season, and then it happened six times in four years during the height of the steroid era. It hasn’t been done since. The record book was left in shambles. It’s a shame. All of these players have better stats due to using, but some of them were Hall of Famers anyways, and that’s where my argument for Clemens (and some others) comes into play. I could care less about the character clause quite frankly. The Hall of Fame should be a place to celebrate the greatest players to play the game, everyone has faults.

Pre-Steroid Accomplishments

With 192 wins after 1996, Clemens’ win total wouldn’t have screamed Hall of Fame. At 34 he would have still pitched for a couple more seasons and gotten to maybe 220-230 wins? But that’s not the case for him. Clemens was already a three time Cy Young Award winner and an MVP winner by this time. Three Cy Young’s and an MVP get you in the Hall. He had led the league in wins twice, ERA four times, and strike outs three times. He also had two different games during which he had struck out 20 batters. No one else had ever accomplished this at the time. His career strikeout total still would have eclipsed 3000 and placed him in the top 15 of all-time in that category. If he had never touched anything and just played out what was left of his career naturally, he’d be enshrined. That is why I would vote for him.

Mike’s Argument Against Clemens

Roger Clemens is the greatest pitcher in Red Sox history. He should not, however, be in the Hall of Fame. Clemens is, as much as Mark McGwire or Barry Bonds, the poster child for the steroid era of baseball.

It is commonly accepted that the Rocket began taking steroids after leaving the Red Sox following the 1996 season. He was so offended by then-GM Dan Duquette’s “twilight of his career” speech that he committed himself to proving everyone wrong.

Like Bonds, many people will argue that the Rocket was a hall of fame pitcher before he left Boston. His 13 seasons with the Sox were indeed excellent and at least borderline for the hall. He finished with 192 wins, an ERA of 3.06, 2,590 Ks, three Cy Young awards and a league MVP.

In 11 seasons after leaving Boston, between the ages of 34 and 44, Roger compiled 162 wins, 73 losses, a 2.91 ERA, 2,082 Ks, and four more Cy Young Awards. A 2.91 ERA. Most telling about the immediate positive impact that steroids had on Clemens is the fact that in his final year in Boston he was 10-13 with a 3.63 ERA and 257 Ks. In his two seasons in Toronto, he went 41-13 with an ERA of 2.33 and averaged 281 Ks. He won the Cy Young both years.

Great Pitcher, Bad Guy

Source for the picture: https://sportanalyst.files.wordpress.com/2013/03/gal_front_12_14-745624.jpg

Clemens was more than just a juicer. He was a bad guy who in the second half of his career folded like a lawn chair in some of the biggest moments. In The Yankee Years, Joe Torre explained in detail Roger’s diva nature, his feigning of injuries when he was getting shelled in games, and his relationship with Brian McNamee.

Clemens not only took steroids for the better half of his career, he lied to Congress about it. The Rocket’s defenders argue that Clemens was found not guilty of perjury and that McNamee was a slime-ball witness trying to become famous. But nobody with any intellectual integrity believes that Clemens competed clean.

Roger Clemens was a great pitcher. He was a better science experiment. Everyone recognizes that this rocket was fueled by HGH, Winstrol, and litany of chemicals to extend and enhance his career. The question for Cooperstown voters is simply: do you care?

I believe that they do not. Clemens will eventually be elected to the Hall of Fame. That said, you cannot allow Roger Clemens and others like him in the Hall without opening the doors to guys like McGwire, Manny, A-Rod, and others. Voters cannot hide behind the façade of the Hall’s “character clause” to exclude players they don’t like while inducting cheaters like Roger Clemens.

Anyone interested in the real Roger Clemens, beyond the impressive stat line, should read American Icon: The Fall of Roger Clemens and the Rise of Steroids in America’s Pastime. This well-documented book by the New York Daily News Sports Investigative Team, published in 2009, puts his career and the entire steroid era into the proper perspective.

2018 Baseball HOF Ballot: The Hitters

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The Baseball Writers Association of America (BBWAA) released their Hall of Fame ballot yesterday. Over the next few weeks, Boston Sports Extra will make our case for who should and who shouldn’t, as well as who will and who won’t get elected. This is a follow up to the article covering the pitchers.

A Messy Situation

The Hall of Fame process has become a messy situation in recent years. Thanks to the steroid era, the ballots have been overloaded with quality players. There is a disagreement on how known steroid users should be treated in the voting process. This trickles down to other players who played during the steroid era. Just being a power hitter during the 90’s is cause for a little scrutiny, fair or not. To those who were clean during this era, their numbers have been overshadowed by those who were juicing. Some writers will vote for steroid users or ones under suspicion, others will not. Thus, those players are stuck in purgatory, too many votes to fall off the ballot, not enough to gain election. This has an unfortunate side effect on other players.

Some very good players have been victims to this crowded ballot and failed to gain the 5% necessary vote to remain on the ballot. Kenny Lofton and Jim Edmonds are two names that come immediately to mind. They may not be Hall of Fame players, but they put up some very nice numbers, ones that deserved more consideration and argument. Due to the high number of players on the ballot and the Hall of Fame’s refusal to up the limit a writer can vote for from 10, these players fell off the ballot. There will be more ballot casualties in the future unless something is done to rectify the situation.

2018 Class of Hitters

Vladimir Guerrero of the Montreal Expos. Mandatory Credit: Brian Bahr /Allsport

This year’s ballot features 19 hitters. Nine of these are holdovers from previous ballots after surpassing the necessary 5% of the vote. Vladimir Guerrero is the one most likely to join the Hall of Fame ranks this year after receiving 71.7% of the vote last year. Edgar Martinez, entering his final year on the ballot, might be the most interesting case this year. Barry Bonds, Manny Ramirez, Larry Walker, Fred McGriff, Jeff Kent, Gary Sheffield and Sammy Sosa also will appear on the ballot again.

The 10 newcomers are headlined by Chipper Jones and Jim Thome, who are likely headed for enshrinement. They are joined by Scott Rolen, Andruw Jones, Johnny Damon, Omar Vizquel, Orlando Hudson, Carlos Lee, Aubrey Huff, and Hideki Matsui.

Rk	Name	YoB	% of Ballots	Yrs	R	H	HR	RBI	SB	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS
2	Vladimir Guerrero	2nd	71.7%	16	1328	2590	449	1496	181	.318	.379	.553	.931
3	Edgar Martinez	9th	58.6%	18	1219	2247	309	1261	49	.312	.418	.515	.933
5	Barry Bonds	6th	53.8%	22	2227	2935	762	1996	514	.298	.444	.607	1.051
8	Manny Ramirez	2nd	23.8%	19	1544	2574	555	1831	38	.312	.411	.585	.996
9	Larry Walker	8th	21.9%	17	1355	2160	383	1311	230	.313	.400	.565	.965
10	Fred McGriff	9th	21.7%	19	1349	2490	493	1550	72	.284	.377	.509	.886
11	Jeff Kent	5th	16.7%	17	1320	2461	377	1518	94	.290	.356	.500	.855
12	Gary Sheffield	4th	13.3%	22	1636	2689	509	1676	253	.292	.393	.514	.907
14	Sammy Sosa	6th	8.6%	18	1475	2408	609	1667	234	.273	.344	.534	.878
15	Chipper Jones	1st		19	1619	2726	468	1623	150	.303	.401	.529	.930
16	Jim Thome	1st		22	1583	2328	612	1699	19	.276	.402	.554	.956
17	Scott Rolen	1st		17	1211	2077	316	1287	118	.281	.364	.490	.855
18	Andruw Jones	1st		17	1204	1933	434	1289	152	.254	.337	.486	.823
20	Johnny Damon	1st		18	1668	2769	235	1139	408	.284	.352	.433	.785
23	Omar Vizquel	1st		24	1445	2877	80	951	404	.272	.336	.352	.688
26	Orlando Hudson	1st		11	648	1319	93	542	85	.273	.341	.412	.752
29	Carlos Lee	1st		14	1125	2273	358	1363	125	.285	.339	.483	.821
30	Aubrey Huff	1st		13	806	1699	242	904	37	.278	.342	.464	.806
31	Hideki Matsui	1st		10	656	1253	175	760	13	.282	.360	.462	.822

The Holdovers

Edgar Martinez hit the ball so hard his bats caught on fire.

With Vlad likely to make the Hall of Fame this year, will any other holdovers join him? Edgar Martinez is getting some strong support entering his final season on the ballot. But can he make up 17% of the vote with several strong newcomers joining the ballot? There are a lot of worthy names to vote for. How much more support will known steroid users receive? Barry Bonds’ vote totals have been creeping up, while Manny Ramirez is receiving less than one quarter of the vote. Sammy Sosa looks to be in danger of fading off the ballot after garnering less than 10% of the vote last year.

Joining them are players being overshadowed by their era and pushed out by a crowded ballot. Fred McGriff, who I plan on covering more extensively later, is a long ways off from enshrinement. Jeff Kent fits in the same boat, the all-time home run leader as a second baseman finished with less than 20% of the vote last year. Meanwhile, Larry Walker’s big numbers have been tainted by “The Coors Effect” as much as steroid users numbers have been tainted. Worthy or not, none of them look like they will be joining the ranks anytime soon.

The Newcomers

Chipper had a swing of beauty.

As mentioned earlier, Chipper Jones and Jim Thome will almost certainly be voted in. Who else can we expect to see join them among the newcomers? My guess would be no one this year. I have already covered three likely to be voted in this year. With Edgar Martinez garnering a strong push, he seems to be the most likely to make it if a fourth joins the group. That doesn’t leave room for anyone else. But, that doesn’t mean some of these names won’t make it at a later date.

Scott Rolen will gather some support. However, he fought injuries for a lot of his career, leaving his enshrinement with a lot of question marks. Andruw Jones looked like a sure thing after a decade in the league. Jones was the best defensive center fielder in the league for a stretch and was hitting 30+ homers a season. Then he decided he liked food a little more than being a great ballplayer. The new age “statistics” do not favor Omar Vizquel, but he was the best defender of his generation at a premium position. Not only that, he only fell 123 hits shy of 3000. Vizquel should have a case down the road.

The others first appearing on the ballot don’t seem to have any shot. Johnny Damon is the only other name who might attract a few votes after piling up over 2700 career hits. Orlando Hudson, Carlos Lee, Aubrey Huff and Hideki Matsui, although fine players, fall well short of Hall of Fame consideration.