It sure will be a long season for Baltimore Oriole fans. It's already been a shocking off season, with the Mitchell report naming 17 current and former Orioles, as cheaters. The Orioles are rebuilding again by trading away some of their most talented players including Eric Bedard, Miguel Tejada and possibly Brian Roberts for young talent.
Most disappointing to me was the news about Brian Roberts, a home grown all-star 2nd baseman, being one of the players named in the report. I was not as shocked, however, about Miguel Tejada being on that list.
A couple of years ago Rafeal Palmerio indicated that Tejada may have given him steroids in a B-12 shot. He did this after being vilified when a positive result came back on his random drug test. Tejada screamed bloody murder that a team mate would involve him in one of the lowest points in Oriole history. Most people agreed with him. I was skeptical.
Last season, Tejada played the poorest season of his career. His production fell off, he was hurt and he was fat. His body lost all of the muscle tone it had had in previous seasons and he had a belly. Don't get me wrong, Tejada was never Mark McGwire or Jose Canseco but he was fit.
My theory (you can ask my buddies if I had said this last year) is that Miguel got scared that he would be caught dirty, in light of Palmerio's accusation, and he got off the juice. As a result he was not able to recover from injury as fast and his production and muscle fell off.
Could Palmerio have been telling the truth? I'm more inclined to believe him, the most productive free agent signed by the O's in team history, than the cry baby All-Star Shortstop that wanted to be anywhere but Baltimore.
Palmerio was one of the most consistent long ball hitters in Major League history, with over 3000 hits and close to 600 home runs. He is one of four ballplayers (Jimmy Foxx, Mark McGwire and Manny Ramirez are the others) in Major League history to hit at least two-hundred career home runs with two different ball clubs. He never hit more than 47 homers in a season(he did that twice) and only had over 40 four times in 20 seasons.
He was not to shabby in the field either and probably got over looked for the All-Star team and Gold Glove awards, due to popularity contests more than skill assessment, on more than a few occasions. After such a great career, he unceremoniously did not return to baseball, after the failed test results and a subsequent suspension by Major League Baseball.
If Palmerio was telling the truth, it will be the most tragic humiliation that any one man could ever go through. Major League Baseball, Baseball Writers, Congress and especially Baltimore Oriole fans should line up and apologize to him, for what he has gone through. In addition, he should also be a 1st ballot Hall of Famer, for his very impressive stats and to make up for and erase any doubts about his integrity.
As for Miguel Tejada; good luck with the FBI probe that will be firmly placed up your ass, rather than a steroid hypo, in this season of your new beginnings. Stop blaming Baltimore for your poor decision making skills. Bessball (and Baltimore) hes bin betty betty gud tu you, my friend, so stop complaining about how bad it was for you in a town that WAS happy to have you and take ownership of the house you built.
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