Josh Hamilton Suspension: "at least 25 games but less than a full season"

[LT Profits]

That is less than earlier reports indicating he would get either 80 games or a full season.


FOX Sports' Ken Rosenthal and Jon Morosi report that Josh Hamilton "is likely to be suspended for at least 25 games but less than a full season."

The report says that commissioner Rob Manfred is "not close to a decision" due to "various complexities" in Hamilton's case. While Hamilton's relapse this offseason is not considered his first major league violation (he was on the Rays' 40-man roster from February 18, 2004 through June 1, 2006), MLB is considering "showing compassion" for the outfielder because they "have a favorable view of Hamilton's efforts to remain sober." Hamilton was already due to get a late start to the season because of shoulder surgery.

Source: FOXSports.com

[jjgold]

25 would be perfect

He is hurt anyway

I bet he did a few lines only

[Sdotbold]

As soon as I saw him on the cover of magazines about his recovery, I knew he wasn't done yet. Once you think you got it figured out, that's when you don't. The struggle is daily.

[Big Bear]

Mike Sciocia has to be happy about this.

Atleast he doesnt have to put that strike out machine in his line-up initially.

[krk1030]

No reason for a long suspension. The guy is trying to stay sober, not easy for him to do. A suspension wont help him in any way.

[DiggityDaggityDo]

How many chances are they going to give this guy?

[jjgold]

Diggity as many as they want

He's not a bad guy

[Robber]

He'll never be the same IMO. .

[Big Bear]

He'll never be the same IMO. .

its not even possible for him to have a worse season than he did last year.

its just not possible IMO.

[xraygord]

seems like an alright punishment

[BarkingToad]

Mike Sciocia has to be happy about this.

Atleast he doesnt have to put that strike out machine in his line-up initially.

Exactly, he was like that at the end of his stay in Texas. Don't know why Angels even signed this rally killer.

[pavyracer]

Anything less than a year long ban is not sufficient. How is this guy going to sober up and detox if he is playing everyday? Will it work if he is rehabbing between games? He needs to stay away from the temptations for a whole year.

[Big Bear]

Exactly, he was like that at the end of his stay in Texas. Don't know why Angels even signed this rally killer.

what Josh needs is a sports psychologist.

Its all mental. He has more god given talent in his pinky finger than most baseball players will ever have.

I have seen this man do some amazing things on a baseball field.

But for whatever reason he has totally lost his confidence in himself.

[Chi_archie]

how many chances did steve howe get?

[BigSpoon]

He should not get any suspension for using blow imo. It's not a performance enhancing drug.

[19th Hole]

He should not get any suspension for using blow imo. It's not a performance enhancing drug.

Back in the 1980's.....
WTF...Look at all of the great seasons MLB players had on blow back in the late
'70s and '80s. Following is a mere partial list of cocaine users whose names were forced
to surface at a trial.

Each MLB team was riddled with with players who used cocaine on a daily basis.....


Time Magazine

Disclosures in a federal court in Pittsburgh last week that at least l3 major league baseball players
had been habitual users of cocaine.

The drug abuse itself came as no surprise.

Multiple criminal investigations have focused attention on the problem since 1983,
when four Kansas City Royals,
including a former American League batting champion
(Willie Wilson)
and
a once sensational pitcher
(Vida Blue),
were sent to prison for cocaine use and other players were implicated but not prosecuted.

The impact of last week's disclosures stemmed from the detailed,
often poignant, testimony of baseball heroes who told of their own addiction to drugs and,
for the first time, ticked off the names of playing buddies with whom they shared the affliction.

The timing could not have been worse.
Despite a one-day strike last month, major league baseball
was headed for a banner year, drawing more fans than ever before.
Three of the four divisions were locked in supertight races with 30 or so games remaining.
Baseball's two biggest markets
each had a pair of contenders:

New Yorkers dreamed of a Subway Series between the Mets and Yankees,

while Los Angelenos fantasized about

a Freeway Free-for-All between the Dodgers and Angels.

Cincinnati's Pete Rose was closing in on one of the game's most cherished records,
Ty Cobb's standard of 4,191 base hits; as the weekend began, he needed only three more to break it.

The young Met fireballer,
Dwight Gooden, a 20-game winner at the age of 20,
was prompting comparisons with the greatest pitchers of the past.

But the drug disclosures
could not help putting the game under a cloud. Not since the "Black Sox" scandal of 1919,
when eight Chicago White Sox players admitted taking bribes from gamblers to fix the World Series,
has the national pastime suffered such a loss of public esteem.

Last week's testimony came in the trial of an alleged cocaine dealer, Curtis Strong,
a former clubhouse caterer for the Philadelphia Phillies.
He was among seven Pennsylvania men indicted on drug-dealing
charges last May by a federal grand jury, but the only one so far to insist on a trial
(three others pleaded guilty, and no trial dates have been set for the remaining three). In return
for promises of cooperation, prosecutors went out of their way to conceal the identity of the players
who allegedly bought cocaine from the seven defendants.

But Strong's trial destroyed that protective strategy,
and the ballplayers were called to testify after being granted immunity from prosecution.
Those who took the stand last week readily admitted having used the drug.
"I consider cocaine the devil on this earth," testified Keith Hernandez, 31, the New York Mets first baseman,
who leads the National League in game-winning hits (19) and who had been a co-winner of the league's
Most Valuable Player award as a St. Louis Cardinal in 1979.
Describing coke as "a demon in me," he said he had used "massive" amounts starting in 1980 after he and his wife separated, and had then developed an "insatiable desire for more." He contended that there was a "love affair" between baseball players and cocaine in 1980. But Hernandez said under questioning that his claim
to the grand jury that 40% of the players were using the drug in 1980 may have been "grossly wrong" and that use has "declined tremendously" since then.

The Met star admitted that he had played under the influence of coke as a Cardinal and had not been able
to break the habit until just before he was traded to New York in mid-June of 1983. When he lost ten pounds
and awoke one morning with his nose bleeding, he knew he was in trouble.
"I had the shakes and I wound up throwing a gram down the toilet," he testified.
But what finally turned him off, Hernandez said, was when he saw St. Louis Outfielder Lonnie Smith,
who now plays for the Kansas City Royals, have such a "bad experience" with cocaine that he was unable
to play in a 1983 game.

The normally calm Hernandez, who has a five-year, $8.4 million contract with the Mets,
was clearly uncomfortable as he was asked for the names of other players with whom
he had shared cocaine.
He cited two former St. Louis teammates: Pitcher Lary Sorensen, 29, who is now with the Chicago Cubs,
and Outfielder Bernie Carbo, 38, who retired at the end of the 1980 season.

Smith, 29, who stole 50 bases for the Cardinals last year and led the team in hitting
and stolen bases in 1983, admitted on the stand that he had purchased cocaine from Strong in 1982
for himself, Hernandez and another Cardinal star, Pitcher Joaquin Andujar, 32.

Smith said that the coke was wrapped in pages from "girlie magazines" and was sometimes sent to him by express mail. At the time, Andujar was the leading pitcher on the St. Louis team that won the World Series.
This year he was the first pitcher in the majors to win 20 games.

Smith, who went through a drug-rehabilitation program in 1983,
also named three other players as drug users:
Gary Matthews, 35, who led the National League last year in game-winning hits (19)
for the Eastern Division champion Chicago Cubs and starred for Philadelphia
when the Phillies won the league pennant a year earlier;

Dickie Noles, 28, a lackluster pitcher for the Phillies and now the Texas Rangers;
and

Dick Davis, 31, a former Phillies outfielder currently playing in Japan.

More names were added to the cocaine roster when
Enos Cabell, 35, a former Houston Astros infielder
now with the Dodgers, testified that his drug habit began in 1978 and reached a peak in 1981.
"That was the strike year and we weren't playing and I had nothing to do," he explained.

He said he finally quit in May of 1984. Cabell claimed that he had shared cocaine with four players:

Dave Parker, 34, a two-time batting champion in Pittsburgh before going to Cincinnati last year, where he led the Reds in runs batted in (94);

California Angels
Al Holland, 33, a relief pitcher who set a club record of 29 saves last year with the Phillies;

Jeff Leonard, 29, a San Francisco Giants outfielder who hit 21 home runs in 1984;
and

J.R. Richard, 35, the once overpowering Houston pitcher who suffered a stroke in 1980
and was released last year.

Other players whom the prosecution has said it will call in the case were described in opening court statements
as cocaine users.
They included

Dale Berra, 28, a Yankee infielder who spent eight years with Pittsburgh;

Baltimore Orioles
Lee Lacy, 36, an outfielder who was runner-up for the National League batting title last year
at Pittsburgh with a .321 average;

Rod Scurry, 29, a Pittsburgh pitcher who entered a drug-treatment program in the spring of 1984;
and

John Milner, a former Met and Pirate first baseman.


The opposing attorneys in the case had sharply contrasting views of its significance.
"Major league baseball is not on trial here," Assistant U.S. Attorney James Ross told the jurors.
"Curtis Strong is."
But Strong's defense lawyer, Adam Renfroe, insisted that the game was indeed on trial
and that the players were "nothing but junkies." He called them "hero- criminals" who "sell drugs
and are still selling drugs to baseball players around the league."
His client, Renfroe charged, was being used as a "scapegoat" for the players,
who are "rich and powerful and have been given immunity so they do not have
to worry about going to jail."

Whether they will also avoid some kind of discipline by organized baseball is not yet clear.
Baseball has punished some of its drug users in the past, including former Los Angeles Dodger Pitcher
Steve Howe, who was suspended from the sport for a year at the end of 1983.

Commissioner Peter Ueberroth, who has called drug abuse the most serious problem facing baseball,
refused to comment on the Pittsburgh trial. Apparently anticipating the revelations,
he publicly announced last spring a tough policy of mandatory testing for drugs among minor league players
and umpires, but his plan could not be applied to major leaguers because of a contractual agreement
between the club owners and players' union that provides only for voluntary testing.
Says Don Fehr, head of the players' union: "Chemical abuse is a medical problem
and should be treated like one, presupposing the doctor-client relationship and its confidentiality."

[MexicanStallion]

I hope Hamilton gets the help he needs. I"m rooting for him.

[BigSpoon]

Back in the 1980's.....

What a time to be alive back in those days.

[LordVodka]

So glad the Angels have all these big contracts for has beens like Hamilton and Pujols.

[jjgold]

I do not think he was deep into it either this time

maybe did for a month??

[mlb]

I'm actually rooting for him - don't really care how long the suspension is.

[TEXAS MICKEY]

what Josh needs is a BABYSITTER.

Its all mental. He has more god given talent in his pinky finger than most baseball players will ever have.

I have seen this man do some amazing things on a baseball field.

But for whatever reason he has totally lost his confidence in himself.

Fixed it for you.
Daddy-in-law was his sitter, at the Rangers.

[jjgold]

It's really not that significant because Hamilton wasn't going to play part of the year anyway with the injury

He became a head case at the plate

[44 Mag]

That is less than earlier reports indicating he would get either 80 games or a full season.


FOX Sports' Ken Rosenthal and Jon Morosi report that Josh Hamilton "is likely to be suspended for at least 25 games but less than a full season."

The report says that commissioner Rob Manfred is "not close to a decision" due to "various complexities" in Hamilton's case. While Hamilton's relapse this offseason is not considered his first major league violation (he was on the Rays' 40-man roster from February 18, 2004 through June 1, 2006), MLB is considering "showing compassion" for the outfielder because they "have a favorable view of Hamilton's efforts to remain sober." Hamilton was already due to get a late start to the season because of shoulder surgery.

Source: FOXSports.com

At the end of the day who really cares. The guy can't field, should be a DH at best, but who wants his baggage. Another waste of talent.

[jjgold]

He had some very good years so not a total waste of talent

His production dropped when he became a star ..I think he does not pressure and started choking the last few years when he got so much attention as he was not the underdog anymore

[Otters27]

Lots of guys in the 80s used to do coke all the time. Hamilton is good guy that is addicted to drugs for life

[jjgold]

will be studying all day and night

[mr. leisure]

Shoulder surgery and drug suspension , the angels sure got screwed with his huge contract .

[jjgold]

Hopefully he will have a good 2nd half

lets all root for the kid

[Big Bear]

i thought MLB did not test for weed and coke...

how can they suspend him?

[Grits n' Gravy]

Hopefully he will have a good 2nd half

lets all root for the kid

Hope the guy overdoses. One less piece of white trash.

[sourtwist]

Hope the guy overdoses. One less piece of white trash.

Hope you get popped from a drive-by, nig

[jjgold]

Hope you get popped from a drive-by, nig

classic and owned..good job Sourball

Gritter is low class ....quota type guy
Gritter look at the scoreboard man and see what race rules in prison they are great that
oh yeh great at being drunk, doing drugs, lack of education, getting 10 women pregnant
Be proud of your race man


Hamilton one of more respected guys in baseball

[oiler]

hes washed up anyway,hurt too much

[DiggityDaggityDo]

classic and owned..good job Sourball

Gritter is low class ....quota type guy
Gritter look at the scoreboard man and see what race rules in prison they are great that
oh yeh great at being drunk, doing drugs, lack of education, getting 10 women pregnant
Be proud of your race man


Hamilton one of more respected guys in baseball

Coach, why are you so fired up today?