Beltran, Reyes, Rodriguez and hGH

As someone who doesn't much care if players take drugs you might think that I'd find all the sort of but not really insinuations that have lately been made in the New York papers (typical example here) kind of sleazy. Truth told I don't. A few points in no real order:

1—If you go to a shady-seeming doctor who's been charged with dope peddling, people really aren't out of line in wondering if something's up.

2—Major League Baseball's testing program is very very good at doing what it's supposed to do, which is give players an incentive to not test positive for certain drugs. That players are not testing positive for drugs they know they'll be tested for does not mean they're not on drugs. Lots of players doubtless are on drugs!

3—I'm not aware of any real reason to think that hGH gives any performance advantage in baseball. On the other hand that (some unknown percentage of) ballplayers take it suggests that they have reason to think it does.

4—You're crazy if you don't think ballplayers are 'blood doping.' Pool players do it!

5—I haven't done any real research into it and should do so before spouting off, but the 'platelet-rich plasma treatments' Jose Reyes is said to have received sound an awful lot like something that would get you a long ban from cycling, which isn't to say he did anything wrong.

6—If writers get into the speculation and veiled insinuation racket they get whacked as witch hunters, and if they don't they get whacked for ignoring the obvious.

7—There are lots of good doctors in America and going to a Toronto-based doctor to get anti-inflammatory drugs without cluing in the surgeon who's supposed to be supervising your rehab is kind of strange.

8—Sometimes reporters and columnists know more than they can say outright in print. (Of course sometimes they're just talking out their asses about things they don't know about.)

9—I don't understand why 'blood doping' or using hGH to heal an injury while under a doctor's supervision should be considered a big deal, and if these treatments work athletes should be allowed to use them.

10—One problem with drug bans is that there are real grey areas. Not every ballplayer using performance enhancing drugs or undergoing performance enhancing therapies is meeting with a quack beneath an underpass buying vials labeled 'Illegal Drugs.'

11—A true thing: Whole Foods' generic Fig Newtons are super cheap and enhance cycling performance!