Synthetically Altered

I have always been a person that has believed that you must be proven guilty before passing judgment on someone. That being said, I'd like to turn our attention to the perennial douchebag Jeff Passan's latest column on Yahoo!.

For everyone that follows baseball, even for a second, heard about Albert Pujols' fractured wrist about 2 weeks ago. He is (was?) the best player in baseball and when he goes down people know about it. Now the standard healing time for such an injury is 4-6 weeks. Pujols is now back in the lineup for the St. Louis Cardinals (16 days after the injury), and was hitting tape-measure shots in batting practice 2 days before his return to the lineup. So, you're looking at 2 weeks almost to the day after a fractured wrist and you're back in the 3-hole. Riiiiight *said in my Dr. Evil voice*

I have always been a staunch Pujols supporter, but this is really stretching the boundaries on what is possible with the human body. Unnaturally fast healing time is a byproduct using HGH and as much as we don't want to believe it I don't want to turn a blind eye because that would be irresponsible. While I'm certainly not accusing Sir Albert, I'm not sure that I can ardently defend a player that is clearly superhuman, without at least entertaining the possibility that some of his accomplishments may be synthetic.

Jose Bautista, another guy that has never failed a drug test, yet because of his relative anonymity prior to 2010 he's vilified as another PED user. It's not right! The guy was a career fringe player whose scouting reports said, ""light- tower power" when he makes contact" and now he re-tooled his swing, by shortening his swing path and getting his hands in a better position to hit a baseball. And now he hits piss missiles whenever he gets the chance. People forget that hard-work, determination, and will go a long way too in this game.

Grasping this situation is still sort of elusive. Baseball first and foremost is about entertainment. Homeruns and exciting plays bring fans to the park, butts in the buckets, asses in the seats. But, at the same time, there's something to be said about making taking an extra base, stealing home, playing hit & run, and bunting. "Small-Ball" makes real fans appreciate the nuances of the game while the long ball brings frogskins ($cha-ching$).

After thinking it through, I will not besmirch that character of Albert Pujols and his superhuman healing abilities but if he could not be so damn amazing and herculean all the time, it may go a long way for his critics to realize he is not "The Machine" and is just Albert Pujols.

Stay Tuned

Norton