Pretty sad day and age that from one freakin picture people start calling into question a player's entire career. Bags has always been a consistent producer. Think logically for a second and you can come to the conclusion that A) its a baggy shirt and B) he's just come off shoulder surgery (and the steroid crackdown has been in full swing for a few seasons now). I think I'll hold off judgement until a little bit more telling sign than a non-uni, spring training pic.
Had he been able to take roids and g-hormone, his rehab would ahve been vastly different. The stress of carrying around massive (possibly unnatural) amounts of muscle mass on his upper body no doubt contributed to his shoulder problems. Shoulder problems are a good cover and a potential explanation- but they're also a possible symptom. People always tend to think of roids and gh as things that just make you big - not true. Using them while rehabbing will undoubtedly help you heal more quickly. Honestly, this is all circumstantial and not provable here today, but the guy fits the Bonds/McGwire/Giambi/Caminiti arc of confirmed juicers who prospered during the performance enhanced era to a T. Even an Astros fan has got to admit this.
SportsCenter is promoting why Bagwell might be done in Houston. Probably nothing new, just rehashed news but who knows.
http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=2343040 watch the video. You can see how slim Jeff's face is. His uni is extra baggy but you can still notice how lean his body has gotten. He looks so different from even a year ago
I've felt for years Bags has been on roids and that's what caused his shoulders problems. Or possibly coming off roids caused his shoulder to break down; remember when Brian Bosworth went to the NFL his shoulders stopped working.
Yeah, Bags seems to be the typical steroid-era slugger. Put on a lot weight, put up crazy numbers, broke down, then slimmed down once testing became stronger. I'm not saying it's so, 'cause I can't really say, but it does cast a shadow on his career. Some of you might think that's unfair, but he's a MLB player, and their union fought stronger testing for years, and they have a strong culture of silence in their ranks. You reap what you sow and what not.
According to an article by peter gammons, Bagwell's father and grandfather have the same arthritic shoulder condition. Maybe its just the optimist in me but I hope thats why his shoulder is messed up and not because of steroids. here's a link to the article. it mentions baggy at just about the bottom of the page. http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/gammons/story?id=2061052
My unofficial theory is that Bagwell's degenerative shoulder was mostly due to his ruthless weightlifiting schedule that he employed non-stop from 1994-2000. Now, whether or not he used steriods to gain the strength to keep that schedule going is up for debate... but the steriods themselves didn't cause his shoulder to break-down.
Ruthless weight lifting and steroids go hand in hand. Roids allow your body to recover quickly, so you can go pump again. Look at his body during his glory years. Look at his forehead, his dome. Everything is bulging. It's the same as Bonds without all the pigment. I'd bet money he used roids and I suspected it when all this steroid controversy started.
Well, that's not ALL that matters, is it? I mean, what if his shoulder makes a comeback, but he can't hit for power anymore? Suddenly, we're left with a 37-year old first basemen with an arthritic shoulder batting .200? I respect Bags, I really do, but it's been a while since we've heard anything but bad news about him. I know he wants to compete, but can he honestly say at this point he'll be a benefit and not a detriment to the team?
