Randy Hendricks Interview

A must read: the Houston Chronicle's interview with Randy Hendricks, who represents Roger Clemens and Andy Pettitte.

The Clemens situation remains unchanged, but you should read Hendricks's take on it.  He thinks it's 50/50 that Clemens plays in '07 and that it would be a shortened season.

Hendricks also offers a lot of insight into Pettitte's decision and the way the Astros felt about him.

Comments

[DonCoburleone]

Anybody here believe Clemens never did steroids or HGH? If so, I've got some beautiful beach-front property in Oklahoma I'd like to sell 'ya...

[wihargo]

Viva El Birdos (see entry above this one) shows that Clemens had a really fast comeback after shoulder surgery in 1985, and a fantastic comeback year. If he took something to help him recover faster, more power to him. Should a young athlete have to marginalize his dream just to satisfy Dick Pound's 1930's-esque desire for 'purity' in sport?

[stormstarter28]

"Should a young athlete have to marginalize his dream just to satisfy Dick Pound's 1930's-esque desire for 'purity' in sport?"

Yes.

[levelboss]

"Should a young athlete have to marginalize his dream just to satisfy Dick Pound's 1930's-esque desire for 'purity' in sport?"

lol, you've spin-doctored cheating to make it sound like it's noble

your statement is tantamount to saying "should a thief have to marginalize his dream of being rich just to satisfy society's desire for law and order?"

um.. YES!

[Ripwa]

Cheating is fine as long as it's for the players well being...

[stormstarter28]

I am really impressed by the stupidity of that statement. I don't know what else to say. I'm speechless.

[levelboss]

wihargo and Ripwa, your statements are both hilarious and frightening at the same time

[DonCoburleone]

I hope that somebody outs Clemens', or there is a tell-all book chronicling his drug use over the years... I mean, come on, the same year he leaves Boston for Toronto he gets a new personal trainer (McNamee, also the personal trainer for Jason Grimsley) and suddenly is dominant once again? Give me a break, the guy's head is bigger than Bonds'.

[bran]

i really like roger clemens and as a yankee fan hopes he comes back but i am suspicious of him being on something which would truly be sad

[Aduncaroo]

Clemens in known throughout baseball for how hard he works out. Can someone give any actual facts? Lets not turn a legend into a cheater when there is nothing to prove it by....if there is, great, go ahead and rip him. I will too. But for now, unless there is proof, don't make one of the most dominating pitchers ever to be a cheater.

[wihargo]

almost everyone would say that it is OK for a ballplayer to take a drug like advil. Most people would say that cortisone (a steroid) is ok, since it probably does not enhance performance. You could say that those are performance 'saving' drugs.
So why is there such a great difference if an athlete is re-habbing from say, shoulder surgery, and takes something to speed the recovery along? Especially if there is no noticable enhancement in performance, how could this be a problem?

Now consider Tommy John surgery. Many players see an improvement in their velocity after undergoing this procedure. Many players have also had surgery to their eyes in the hopes of improving their performance.

If the issue is artificial performance enhancement, should these procedures not also be outlawed?

[Aduncaroo]

The issue is performance enhancement by taking something that will later cause harm. You can justify eye surgery because it will HELP in the long term. you can justify tommy john surgery because its something that has to be done for them to pitch. You CANNOT justify taking something that is going to tear their bodies up in the long term just to make them a better ball player for the next five years. That argument is absolutely absurd.

[stormstarter28]

Surgery and advil compared to steroids...you're right, they're pretty much the same. thank you for opening my eyes, wihargo, i've been so blind on this one.

[wihargo]

haha, dude you miss the point. I thought people were upset about steroid use because of the unnatural advantage that it could give to its users. My question was, why is it ok to enhance performance with a surgery, but it is not ok to enhance performance with a steroid.
I also asked why steroid use would be a problem if it was not being used to enhance performance, but to 'save' it.
Obviously if you are concerned about health effects and not the effects on performance, then my questions are not relevant. But if artificial enhancement is the issue, there is an inconsistency here that I don't understand.