Not Surprisingly, Sammy Sosa rejected the $500,000 non-guaranteed offer from the Nationals recently.  And while his skills have eroded at an alarming rate, it makes you wonder just why Sammy appears eager to hang it up instead of proving he is the "warrior" or "gladiator" he once said he is.  Or might he be simply unable to perform his once superhuman feats without chemical assistance?  Speculation of course, but line of thinking all too many are also following, judging at least in part from a national sports radio broadcast.

Why is he not in the WBC?  Could it be because of the Olympic-style tough drug testing of the players?  Why has Sammy, McGuire, and Palmeiro "stolen away" into the night?  They have all conveniently disappeared as Mr. Bonds did last year, apparantly with injuries.  Injuries to his knee or his fragile ego remains in question.  Likely both. 

While exact "proof" may not be available except for in Palmeiro’s case, the overwhelming corroborating evidence from inflated bodies and power numbers to immediate shrinking of those same bodies and power numbers in one year is just some of the many reasons fans have cooled to Sammy and these other so-called "greats."  We’ll see just how "great" the first of these guys is judged by the voters for the Hall of Fame, when Mark McGuire gets voted either in or out of the Hall in the next class of eligible players. 

Barry Bonds will not play in the WBC. There are several players who will not be playing.  Many have genuine health issues and/or concerns that playing all-out for the WBC will harm their spring training preparation and the start of the 2006 regular season.  These are legitimate concerns, and I’m not sure why it is this WBC is being held just a couple weeks before the regular season begins. It is my opinion the timing is pretty bad. 

Still, there is speculation that Bonds has dropped out since the drug testing will be the stringent olympic-style which can detect steroids in the system for years.  Just speculation. Of course.  But he was going to be in the WBC, and now suddenly has decided to drop out?  Hard to believe he would not have a definite decision on this right off the bat. If he did not feel his knee was ready or whatever have you, he could have simply turned down playing in the WBC right away.  Also, if his knee injury is still so bad that he can’t be a DH for some games in the WBC, how is he going to play in the National League during the regular season? 

I thing he’s using the knee injury as an excuse.  Barry has always been great at weaseling his way out of any accountability.  And when he can’t weasel, and has to answer tough questions from reporters, Barry resorts to cheap-shot finger pointing at the interregator, telling them "All of you have dirt."  It’s just another childish weasel method perfected by prima donnas the likes of Barry Bonds who prolong their careers and protect their legacies by hiding behind the player’s union and simply giving a series of non-answers to hard questions…

The Nationals apparantly do not plan on increasing their $500,000 one-year non-guaranteed Major League contract offer to Sammy Sosa.  MLB.com reported the Nationals will meet with Sosa’s agent tomorrow night.  As I wrote before, I’m skeptical Sosa’s ego is sufficient to handle what must appear in his own mind as an "insulting" offer… surely not one worthy of a player of his "stature."  It seems the source who reported the story also has their doubts, giving a "60-40 chance against" Sosa signing with the Nats.

Even Babe Ruth was not exactly at the top of his game towards the end of his career.  He couldn’t even run beyond first base!  And while I do not put Sammy Sosa on anywhere close to the same level as the Babe, I say this only to point out that greater players have had to at some point in their career accept the fact that they are not the player they once were.  Maybe Sosa will be able to prove himself in Washington and revive his career.  Maybe not. 

Will Bonds retire after 2006?  Who knows?  It will likely depend on his health and performance in 2006, but I have read he will retire before enduring yet another knee surgery.  I guess age catches up to everybody at some point, even the mighty Barry. 

Has Barry had his career and amazing numbers prolonged because of some chemical assistance from Balco?  Or did he just unknowingly apply some clear and some cream steroid topically?  All one has to do is ask straightforward questions and listen to the absurdity of the answers to decide for themselves.  Ballplayers are a remarkably superstitious breed.  They know exactly what they are doing.  They know what they’re putting in their bodies.  They know what bat their using – with or without cork.

In short, ballplayers who plead ignorance to having cheated because they "didn’t know what they were taking" or that they "grabbed the wrong bat" are liars.  To even give such a response only puts them deeper in the suspicions of an already increasingly suspicious body of fans. 

If Sosa decides to accept the Nationals’ offer, then he will not be far from his former team in Baltimore.  That is, if Sosa accepts.  The terms are non-disclosed, and it is not a guaranteed deal.  Sosa believes because of his "stature in the game" that he deserves better.  The problem is, Sammy’s incredible shrinking man act with his shrinking numbers has people worried enough to offer Sosa a non-guaranteed deal.  Amazing to think this is the same guy who was the darling of Chicago Cubs baseball, and was one of the most prolific sluggers in all of baseball.  Thomas and Piazza have 1-year deals.  Sammy will have to decide if his ego enables him to accept a paltry diminished skills deal.

Sammy needs to get with the program and realize it’s not the 90s anymore.  What have you done for me lately is the order of the day, and Sosa aside from being a quitter, a crybabby, a liar, and a cheat, is also simply not that good of a player anymore.  His erosion of skills "coincidentally" meld with his shrunken body and paltry power numbers.  Speculation is hard to avoid as to the reason for the sudden fall off. 

As I’ve said before, I’m hard on Sammy because I’m hard on anyone who believes they are bigger than the game and does not respect the game nor the fans.  Walking out on Fan Appreciation Day to finish the 2004 season said it all…

Judging by several incredible shrinking man acts last season, my answer to the question of the title of this post is… not so much anymore.  Sure, there will still be guys taking them and growth hormone, but clearly some guys have gotten the message loud and clear and have shrunk accordingly from 2004. 

Some players, such as Sammy, have also experienced shrinking offensive numbers in direct proportion to their body size.  Add Major League prospects to the list of shrinking things to Sammy’s list and the questions must now be asked… was it worth it?  There is no proof Sammy took steroids.  But he was caught corking his bat and lying about it, and led the pack of the incredible shrinking man class of ’05.  He was injured and his numbers were way down.  The coincidence of all these things is too much to ignore and not draw some logical conclusions.  Will he even play in the states next year year for a Major League club?  We’ll see. 

A while ago, I pointed out the fact that while modern ballparks have often been criticized for being too small and hitter-friendly, many ballparks of the past were pretty cozy too.  How about the absurd shot to the left field pole at the Polo Grounds?  Or the short porch at Yankee Stadium both old and new?  Sure, these parks often had absurdly large center-field and gap distances to the wall, but pull hitters on either the right or the left side could have had a lot of fun in New York back in the day. 

If steroids in baseball is as prevalent as some suspect, then ballparks become even smaller yet, creating a kind of "aluminum bat" effect.  Could you imagine if aluminum bats were allowed at the pro level?  That would be scary.  Baseball bats on steroids?…

Not long ago, I posted about the possibility of athletes seeking genetic enhancements beyond the use of steroids or drugs.  I have learned this practice is termed "gene doping," or the procedure in which specific genes which aid a person is fat loss, muscle growth, endurance, etc., is added to an individual to create a kind of "super athlete."  The implications of this should such a thing proliferate is almost beyond description, and testing for it would go well beyond a mere urine or blood test, but would likely involve the biopsy of muscles or other tissues into which gene vectors had been injected. 

Clearly, gene doping, if a viable alternative to steroids and the like, might become a big problem if not dealt with right away.  And just like steroids, gene doping could quite literally alter the abilities of athletes in a way which would not be possible if athletes maximized their natural abilities without the aid of these "enhancements." 

When the new drug policy came out including tough penalties for positive amphetamine tests, some claimed this aspect of the drug policy would have an ever greater impact on the game than steroids.  It has been said by some that amphetamines could be found in Major League clubhouses in the past the way you might find mints in a jar at the dentist’s office.  Is this true?  Well, I’ve never been in a Major League clubhouse before, but that was the word when this policy came out not too long ago.  It was even postulated at the time by some that Major League Baseball might have to  consider shortening the season from the current 162 games. 

I will be curious to see if players come up positive for amphetamines, and how if at all this will substantially change the game as some have suggested it will.  I’m not sure exactly how rampant amphetamine use is in clubhouses today, but I do know lots of people who work regular jobs rely on their morning caffeine-loaded coffee to jumpstart their day.  If baseball players rely on amphetamines the way many day-job workers rely on coffee, it may be a long season for a lot of players…

BALCO is a word which has quickly become a household name.  There are good household names, and then there are not-so-good household names.  BALCO would fall into the not-so-good category.  Accusations that they have provided anabolic steroids and other banned performance enhancing drugs to many famous athletes is now widely known, but there is the question of what else laboratories do behind the scenes.  What are these other so-called "banned substances?"  What exactly are they?

I don’t know.  What I am about to discuss is purely speculation, but something to think about – something which is probably closer to home and not as "science-fiction" as we might think.  It has been suggested by some that if it doesn’t exist already, there could be things beyond just steroids in baseball… a whole different way to enhance athletes by way of genetic alteration.  If this is already happening or will happen in the future, that will open up a whole new can of worms, and MLB, the Olympics, the NFL and the like are going to have to "stay on the ball" as it were to make adjustments as needed to their "drug policies."  In a new age which is already seeing cloned animals and genetic manipulation, it stands to reason that persons of means such as well-paid ballplayers, who wish to find that "fountain of youth" to prolong their playing years and shred up the record books, will be able to find ways to genetically alter themselves, find that "fountain of youth" as it were. 

What if you could add the strength of a stallion to an ordinary man?  What kind of runner would he be?  What kind of hitter would he be?  To think these experiments will not someday take place is I think, naive, and sports organizations must already look beyond just steroids and drugs.  They need to look at the possibility of genetic enhancements and other potential ways players might alter themselves to get a competitive edge…