Major League Baseball suspended 13 players on Monday because of their connection to performance-enhancing drug use, and the names were highlighted by Alex Rodriguez and Nelson Cruz. As you might expect, the players who have chosen to play the game the right way were bothered to learn that some of their toughest opponents have been cheating. Los Angeles Angels pitcher CJ Wilson seems very annoyed.
In particular, Wilson feels that Rodriguez’s situation has turned into a joke. The left-hander believes A-Rod’s story will eventually become an ESPN “30 For 30” special when the details are sorted out.
“It’s a saga; always has been for him,” Wilson told MLB.com when asked about Rodriguez. “He’s been in the spotlight for 20 years. Nothing is gonna change that. He has one of those polarizing personalities that people are going to be drawn to. People will think he’s a villain no matter what he does.
“Good for the game that they’re finally getting him on something. All these press conferences, Good Morning America, 20-20, enough of that — let’s just play some baseball and stop trying to be a role model. All those quotes are hilarious for everybody in our clubhouse.”
Despite the overwhelming evidence MLB claims it has against A-Rod, he recently told Sports Illustrated that he wants to be a role model and continue to make his daughters proud. That will be difficult to do if he loses his appeal of a 211-game suspension.
Wilson also took aim at the rest of the PED users and called attention to the fact that their decisions have affected the outcome of games.
“It’s affected our team,” he said. “We’ve played against these guys. They’ve all hit home runs against us, struck us out, and we’re not happy about that. We were hoping [the suspensions] would happen sooner rather than later to give us a chance to play against the clean guys.”
As a former MLB pitcher reminded us on Monday, some players even feel that the cheating of opponents and teammates has signaled the end of their career. Wilson certainly isn’t the only one who is angry.
