A longtime member of Major League Baseball's family heard the news of the Orlando drug bust Tuesday afternoon from a reporter, and from him, there was no exclamation of shock, no follow-up questions about whether reports about pharmacies trafficking in performance enhancers mentioned names beyond those of Angels center fielder Gary Matthews Jr. or pitcher Jason Grimsley.
The talent evaluator seems resigned to a past and present and future in which performance-enhancing drugs are engrained in Major League Baseball. He doesn't know who is taking what, but what he sees, again, is that the bodies are getting bigger.
The bodies got bigger in the '90s, particularly those of many hitters. And late in the '90s and into the 21st century, the pitchers' bodies got bigger, especially those of middle relievers, he felt. In 2005 -- the first year in which players were subject to suspension for a failed first steroid test, rather than getting a couple of mulligans -- he felt the bodies got smaller, suddenly and dramatically.
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Buster Olney
