I am convinced Bagwell juiced. Did you see him the year after the roids allegations in MLB came out? Dude shrunk.
sure. Although, another explanation would be that this is also the time that he hurt his shoulder and was forced to completely stop lifting weights. Even without steroid use, not lifting for a year could be sufficient cause for the weight loss.
well i don't frequent the baseball threads for only steroid stories. i will always respect bagwell but if there was ever a text book case for steroid use its him. I’ve posted this before, his numbers are eerily similar to palmeiro's, his growth in size, his degenerative shoulder and his acne.
You were also convinced the Astros would lose 100 games. Tell me, how's that working out? You can believe whatever conspiracy theory you want, but players like Bagwell become that physically developed from intense workout regimens. When you lack the use of a shoulder entirely for a year and can't lift... it tends to have an impact on your appearance, genius.
The difference here is that Blair has an obvious business and financial incentive to lie, and has also directly contradicted this own supposed "bragging" in testimony. Could it still be true? You're right, absolutely. But there's significantly more doubt here than there ever was about McNamee or Canseco.
I am convinced he juiced also but his shrinking was from his shoulder which is totally destroyed. He can barely put on a shirt much less seriously lift weights.
I think everyone with a brain would think that he juiced based on that alone. Whether or not there will be enough proof is another thing I'll give him the benefit of the doubt, but if you put a gun to my head and told me to give you a yes or no answer, I'd say yes, bags has juiced. I think he and Mike Piazza are in the same boat with me.. guys who were nobody, were drafted towards the end of the draft, not expected to make it and then. bam, with the help of the juice they are superstars. Rember when Gonzo hit 50 freaking home runs for the diamondbacks, uh yeah, like that.
No, most people with a brain would understand that his shrinking appearance is related to a shoulder so bad that as Casey said, he can't even put a shirt on part of the time. As for the MLB draft, give me a break. Baseball has always been and will always be a sport where predicting the future in a draft is next to impossible. Several late round picks will become studs, every year. Guaranteed. Several high first round picks will become busts, every year. Nature of the sport, dating back far beyond the steroid era. Again, this isn't to say I know Bagwell didn't use, because I don't know that. But the reasoning used in this thread is very, very thin.
I dunno - Canseco was trying to sell his book and be relevant again. He definitely had a financial/business incentive to lie. The argument used against McNamee was that the government was pressuring him to give up info on Clemens and he was trying to avoid jail, and thus he had a huge incentive to lie as well to make them happy.
There's also the little matter of Bagwell being a 4th round pick vs. Piazza who was a throwaway pick in the 62nd round and was drafted strictly as a favor to Lasorda. Outside of that, it's a fine comparison.
He used to be skin and bones, and look at how tiny his head was back then: Maybe he did do it, but around the time frame discussed it seems if anything he was hoping HGH would help with his shoulder, but it clearly didn't.
Bagwell was not drafted "towards the end of the draft" he was drafted in the 4th round of a 50 round plus draft He hit 310/.384/.419 and 333/.422/.457 in the minor leagues in severe pitching environments. A similar player would likely be a top prospect today. He was an all-american in college, he was a stud in the minor leagues, and rookie of the year and an all-star caliber player from the day he stepped into majors. He may or may not have used PED, i don't know, but he was always a superstar.
I always found the "he lied to avoid jail" argument shallow, because you're talking about testimony to the federal government. The potential ramifications and negative consequences of lying there -- and Congress certainly has the resources to find out -- are tremendous. Here, Blair is essentially accused of watercooler talk to a few clients whom would definitely be impressed by mentioning high-profile clients. The stakes are so much lower that I don't think the situations are comparable. Canseco is more valid, but what people forget is all the other accusations (Alex Rodriguez) Canseco has made that haven't checked out. He's in the perfect situation because it's impossible to prove a negative, so everything he's said remains possible in theory and thus he isn't called out on it. Sure, he's hit on some things -- but he's had his misses, too.
Bagwell had 6 hr's in a little over 700 minor league at bats before being called up . He had 15hr's his rookie season is 91. 18hr's in 92. 20hr's in 93. 39hr's in 94.
