Steroids? Beltre "scared of that stuff"

The Times asked Adrian Beltre if he's ever used steroids. While he didn't stare into a camera and point his finger, he did protest much.

"I can tell you it never happened," he said. "I'm scared of that stuff. I don't even take pills. Why would I do that? First, it's bad, bad for you. No one knows what can happen later in life. Then, the year they must be looking at, they were testing that year."

He's scared of pills, it's bad for you, and they were testing. Denials are always more convincing when they include three different excuses, aren't they?

Adrian Beltre home runs:
2004-48
2005-19

Barry Bonds home runs:
2004-45
2005-5

Bret Boone home runs:
2004-24
2005-7

Jeff Bagwell home runs:
2004-27
2005-3

Sammy Sosa home runs:
2004-35
2005-14

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By Seth in News on June 2, 2006 9:24 AM

Comments [rss]

jason

transplant's theory is just as convincing as seth's guilt-by-selective-numbers to imply that beltre was a user.

beltre's strength has never been in question, even now (witness the one-handed home run over the CF wall the other night). his pitch recognition the last two years, however, is horrible and no drug will help that.

David

Why...why would you say those things. No, no, no. You're wrong, you are wrong, you hear me. No, you're wrong.

You are lying, someone tell Transplant he is lying.

No. No. No.

Transplant

Beltre doesn't have the puffy look of a steroid user. I believe that it's a confidence problem.

I suspected that Edgar Martinez may have been a steroid user: When he came up in the late 80's, he was skinny as a stick and hit for little power. In the early 90's, he started to look like Popeye and his home run numbers increased, but he also had the injuries one associates with steroid users-muscle and tendon tears. I guess since he retired before the testing got underway and he was a player on the west coast as opposed to a bigger city, nobody cared.

Wells

I'm not sure- if you look at Beltre at the plate, he looks scared and broken. He doesn't look like a guy who is simply lacking in once-held magical power; he looks like a guy who can't read pitches and is desperate. Maybe steroids have something to do with it, but there seem to be other, more insignificant factors. Mebbe he's just too sensitive to live up to his huge contract and carry the team. Oh well.