TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

Maddon Says He's Not Shocked By A-Rod Admission

Tribune file photo

"I really am at the point now where anything that's exposed does not surprise or shock," Joe Maddon says about revelations of players using performance-enhancing drugs.

ADVERTISEMENT

By MARC LANCASTER

mlancaster@tampatrib.com

Published: February 11, 2009

PORT CHARLOTTE - In collecting his thoughts about the hottest topic in baseball these days, Alex Rodriguez's admission that he used performance-enhancing drugs over a three-year period while playing for Texas, Rays manager Joe Maddon summed up the state of the game rather succinctly.

"I really am at the point now where anything that's exposed does not surprise or shock," Maddon said today in his new office at the Rays' spring training complex. "For anybody to be shocked or surprised by now by any kind of admission, it's almost like, 'How could you possibly say that?'"

Maddon had a firsthand glimpse at A-Rod during the years he admitted using performance-enhancing drugs, 2001-03, as Maddon's Angels and Rodriguez's Rangers played each other often during that time.

"I do know this: When he was playing there and we were playing against him, that's when I really became an A-Rod fan," Maddon said. "I thought this guy, on a daily basis, for a last-place team, played as hard as anybody I've seen. So I gained a lot of respect for him during that time. I really was very respectful of him because of what I saw as being a very professional effort on a daily basis.

"I did not suspect anything. You look at that ballpark down there [in Texas] - anybody's going to hit more home runs if they play in that ballpark all year if they're a home-run hitter. He does hit the ball well to right-center and there's a jet stream out there that always carries. So a lot of it, I did not suspect. I just thought, 'This guy's that good.'"

When asked if he had lost any of that respect for Rodriguez, Maddon didn't answer directly. He did say, however, that he doesn't think Rodriguez, as one of dozens of players who tested positive, should be singled out as vociferously as he has been.

"Part of the problem here, I think, is that he's being vilified," Maddon said. "Of course he's part of it, but there are a whole bunch of other names that are going to be exposed, and I'm sure there's names beyond that. So really just to hang it on one guy and just destroy his whole being, basically, I don't agree with that necessarily.

"I'm not saying I agree with the fact of taking steroids; I'm just talking about this vigilante situation going on right now. I just think it's a little bit of overkill. I'm really surprised about the amount of exposure that it's getting on a daily basis. I mean, it's consistent. It's just relentless. That's the part that I'm a little bit surprised about."

Maddon acknowledged that having the names of the others on the list of positive tests trickle out could keep this ugly aspect of the game's recent history in the news for "at least five years -- minimum." But he expressed the hope that something might be done to expedite the process.

"I'm just looking forward to the day that we move beyond it," Maddon said. "For me, it really needs to come to the point where I'd like to see like an amnesty, basically, and move forward, and then create a situation where the penalties are so severe, nobody would ever even consider doing it again.

"But to continually drag it in the muck, I don't know what positive, useful purpose it serves. I really don't. It's been exposed, the boil's been lanced - let it heal. And then move forward and understand that a lot of people screwed up, not just a couple."

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT