Shocker of the Year: Gary Matthews Jr. linked to Steroid Raid

Let’s play a game. For each row of numbers, find the one that doesn’t belong (aka the outlier)

a) .222, .190, .227, .275, .248, .275, .255, .313

b) .600, .561, .706, .780, .675, .811, .756, .866

c) 8, 47, 153, 147, 169, 129, 207, 307

Hmm, let’s see, that’s a toughy. How about .313, .866, and 307?

Ding, ding, ding — that would be the correct answer!

Exactly what is this about, you ask? Well, anyone with half-a-brain who read the title of this posts knows what’s coming.

The Angels and their ridiculously dumb off-season moves are coming back to bite them.

Try this on for size, who the eff pays $50 million over 5 years to a 32 year old journeyman centerfielder who never hit higher than .275 prior to his free agent walk year?

Bill Stoneman, that’s who.

And now here’s this nugget of news from the Albany Times Union via Deadspin

Investigators in the year-old case, which has been kept quiet until now, uncovered evidence that testosterone and other performance-enhancing drugs may have been fraudulently prescribed over the Internet to current and former Major League Baseball players…The customers include Los Angeles Angels center fielder Gary Matthews Jr., according to sources with knowledge of the investigation.

.316, .866, and 307 represent the batting average, slugging percentage, and total bases for Gary Matthews Jr. in last year’s season. One would think that a little comparison to the PREVIOUS 7 SEASONS should set an alarm off for most people, but apparently not Stoneman.

I realize that nobody has convicted Gary Matthews Jr. of any wrong-doing just yet, and he certainly hasn’t tested positive for any illegal substances (to my knowledge), but let’s just say the statistics tell quite an implicating story.