Mike Sweeney recalls being offered steroids

[SSH2005]

http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews...ts/13622218.htm

Royals' Sweeney recalls being offered `the juice'

BY JEFFREY FLANAGAN

Knight Ridder Newspapers

 

KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Were the 1999 Royals using steroids?

 

You'd never have guessed it by their record: The Royals finished a woeful 64-97 that season, 32 1/2 games behind the first-place Cleveland Indians.

 

But Royals slugger Mike Sweeney said on talk radio Friday and to The Kansas City Star that he was approached by friends on the team who had "the juice."

 

"In 1999, my career was in the crossroads and I was converting from a catcher to a first baseman," Sweeney said on KCSP's mid-morning show with Tim Grunhard and Doug Franz, "and I had some friends of mine that I played with at the time in KC that said, `Look, hey, I picked up the juice. It will help you be stronger, it will give you a better longevity in your career. Do you want to take it?'

 

"I went to bed that night and I had a sick feeling in my stomach, and I woke up the next morning and I told myself, `Look, I've never done drugs in my life. I've never even taken a puff of marijuana, nothing, no greenies. Why should I start now?' "

 

Sweeney told The Star later Friday that he has never taken steroids.

 

"There would have been no repercussions back then," Sweeney said by phone from California. "There was no testing like that. But I knew in my heart it was wrong, and I had my faith to get me through it."

 

Sweeney said he also has no intentions of naming those who may have been using steroids.

 

"We are a family in the clubhouse," he said. "What happens in the clubhouse stays in the clubhouse. It's like that saying about Vegas - what happens there, stays there.

 

"I also don't want to give the impression that there was rampant usage back then. There wasn't. In my 11-year career, I may have known four or five guys who might have been doing it. That's it."

 

Interestingly, one of the players on that 1999 team was Jeremy Giambi, who admitted to The Star in the spring of 2005 that he used steroids during his career. Giambi did not offer specifics of his usage.

 

Royals vice president of communications David Witty said the team cannot comment on potential steroid activity, past or present, because of Major League Baseball policy.

 

MLB senior vice president of public relations Richard Levin did not return a call Friday.

 

As bad as the Royals were in 1999, that team did perform well offensively, batting .282 with a then-franchise-high 856 runs scored.

 

"We were good offensively because we had some talented guys," Sweeney said.

 

Sweeney added that he made his remarks about turning down steroids not to instigate a witch hunt of his former teammates but to demonstrate to youths that a player such as him can be successful without steroid use.

 

"I took a stand, and when I speak to kids - to the D.A.R.E. program or the Fellowship of Christian Athletes - I tell them, `Look, I'm drug-free and I mean it when I say it,' " Sweeney said.

Why did we ever sign that guy last year?

[GoodAsGould]

I always liked Mike Sweeney... he has always put a hurting on us when we played KC but he is just a hard guy not to like.

[Flash Tizzle]

http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews...ts/13622218.htm

Why did we ever sign that guy last year?

 

Well, Sweeney just guaranteed himself a trip to Congress if Steroid hearings ever resume.

 

I believe signing Giambi was sort of a favor for Arn Tellem, his agent.

[RME JICO]

Here was their starting roster from 1999:

 

Chad Kreuter

Mike Sweeney

Carlos Febles

Joe Randa

Rey Sanchez

Johnny Damon

Carlos Beltran

Jermaine Dye

Jeremy Giambi

 

The only players that hit over 20 HRs was Sweeney, Beltran, and Dye interesting enough.

 

Another odd note, in 2001, Damon, Dye, and Giambi all end up on the A's with Jason Giambi and Miguel Tejada. Those seem to be some pretty big coincidences.

 

I understand what he said about why he would say something like this, but the timing seems odd, why now?

Edited January 14, 2006 by RME JICO

[rventura23]

Jeremy Giambi was a pretty bad player for a guy who took steroids

Mike Sweeneys however is a good player and a good guy

[santo=dorf]

QUOTE(rventura23 @ Jan 14, 2006 -> 12:56 PM)

Jeremy Giambi was a pretty bad player for a guy who took steroids

Mike Sweeneys however is a good player and a good guy

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

You should have seen some of the spin the defenders of this roider were using when we signed him.

 

Look at his career OBP!! We shoud give him a spot over Timo!"

[SSH2005]

You should have seen some of the spin the defenders of this roider were using when we signed him.

 

Look at his career OBP!!  We shoud give him a spot over Timo!"

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

That's really not a horrible argument though. Do you really think Giambi would have been any worse than Timo off the bench?

 

.218 AVG, .266 OBP, .296 SLG, .562 OPS

 

Even a washed-up ex-roider could top those numbers.

Edited January 14, 2006 by SSH2005

[santo=dorf]

QUOTE(SSH2005 @ Jan 14, 2006 -> 01:43 PM)

That's really not a horrible argument though.  Do you really think Giambi would have been any worse than Timo off the bench?

 

.218 AVG, .266 OBP, .296 SLG, .562 OPS

 

Even a washed-up ex-roider could top those numbers.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Who gives a rat's ass what would have happened? We won the World Series with Timo last year, and Giambi didn't do jack for the Knights. I don't care if Giambi would've had more walks than Timo at the major league level last season because;

1. We won the World Series even with Timo's lack of talent

2. This isn't a roto league so I don't care about individual's performances as long as we are winning

3. The backlash of the Sox having an admitted roider on the bench wouldn't be worth the extra 10 walks Jeremy might breing to the table.

[Milkman delivers]

Here was their starting roster from 1999:

 

Chad Kreuter

Mike Sweeney

Carlos Febles

Joe Randa

Rey Sanchez

Johnny Damon

Carlos Beltran

Jermaine Dye

Jeremy Giambi

 

The only players that hit over 20 HRs was Sweeney, Beltran, and Dye interesting enough.

 

Another odd note, in 2001, Damon, Dye, and Giambi all end up on the A's with Jason Giambi and Miguel Tejada.  Those seem to be some pretty big coincidences.

 

I understand what he said about why he would say something like this, but the timing seems odd, why now?

 

What are you implying?

[RME JICO]

What are you implying?

I am not implying anything, just interesting to see the KC connection with OAK, since OAK was amid Steroid rumors, and so was Tejada in BAL.

[SSH2005]

Who gives a rat's ass what would have happened?  We won the World Series with Timo last year, and Giambi didn't do jack for the Knights.  I don't care if Giambi would've had more walks than Timo at the major league level last season because;

1. We won the World Series even with Timo's lack of talent

2. This isn't a roto league so I don't care about individual's performances as long as we are winning

3. The backlash of the Sox having an admitted roider on the bench wouldn't be worth the extra 10 walks Jeremy might breing to the table.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I agree with your three statements but my point was that Timo was so bad off the bench last season that anyone probably would have been a better option. I'm not saying that I wanted Giambi on the roster either. We won the World Series with Damaso Marte in our bullpen as well. There's a reason KW non-tendered Timo and traded Marte for Mackowiak. He dumped our worst bullpen arm and got back a huge improvement over Timo all in one trade. You don't keep a horrible player on your roster just because you are winning in spite of him.

[WilliamTell]

I like Sweeney, he doesn't seem like the type of player to use them.