"Today I was informed by a reporter that I was on the 2003 list of MLB players to test positive for performance-enhancing substances. This happened right before our game, and the news blindsided me.
"I want to talk about this situation and I will as soon as I have more answers. In the meantime I want to let you know how I am approaching this situation. One, I have already contacted the Players Association to confirm if this report is true. I have just been told that the report is true. Based on the way I have lived my life, I am surprised to learn I tested positive.
"Two, I will find out what I tested positive for. And, three, based on whatever I learn, I will share this information with my club and the public. You know me — I will not hide and I will not make excuses."
From ESPN.
Not sure why Ortiz would need to know for what he tested positive, unless he was taking more than one substance. Because surely if he was taking PEDs he'd have some sense of what he was doing, right? No claims of "I drank a Sprite someone gave me, and it was a bit cloudy, so I put it down", ok?
And, apparently and according to Ortiz' comments, players were NOT told of their positive tests.
28 replies on “First Comment from Papi”
Didn’t Arod say the players union informed him he failed.
Surprised to hear Ortiz was surprised.
And if I tested positive for a PED, I’d want to know what the substance was and in what other substances it can be found, so as to see if I might have ingested it unknowingly. I don’t see that statement as particularly odd. Who wouldn’t want to know what substance they tested positive for?
Based on the way I lived my life, I am surprised to learn I tested positive.
That’s a much stranger statement, to me.
I have to say “I am surprised…” is the best reply to PED allegations I’ve ever heaerd. I’m serious by the way, and I’m not being snarky.
Im sure he was really surprised, why the hell should we believe that or that he doesnt know what he tested positive for?! You can be damn sure that he has a good idea of what he tested positive for, he just needs to know what they have on him so he can only cop to that and no more publicly. (exactly what Arod did)
This is standard operating procedure for these guys, ill be shocked if he is any more candid than the rest. He certainly isnt gonna admit that he used PEDs after the 2003 season which would be a hard sell given his stats…
I’m with Paul and walein.
And I want to see the rest of the list, including the offending substance with each name.
Too many weird comments. How could he not know what it was?
In the meantime, it’ll be hard to withhold comment until we have more information.
Arod only raised more eyebrows when he addressed it so I doubt Ortiz will be able to talk his way out of it.
And at the risk of being called an apologist, what are the chances they tested positive in 2003 but were substance-free in 2004 and 2007?
I highly doubt it, but it could be possible, yes?
You guys are misreading this statement. Ortiz is surprised by the story not it’s content. He was blindsided by the fact it was being reported. I’m sure he knows exactly what he took just not what he was caught taking.
Bill I’d say it’s highly naive to think that papi quit using then hit even more HRs then ever before and then his numbers dropped off a cliff when the testing got strict.
He’s surprised by the story?
Hasn’t he been paying attention? It came out about Sosa and Arod. Why should it not be revealed about him?
I agree, Sam, that’s highly unlikely. I’m just wondering what the scenario might be.
40 miles west of Comiskey Park, it has stopped raining. There will be baseball on the South Side tonight.
Ortiz played today like someone with something to prove… And came through.
If there has been a better answer to charges in a crisis management/PR situation, I can’t recall.
A-Rod could take a lesson.
And I believe Ortiz is as surprised as the rest of us.
opposed to the giambi charade or the pettitte outright lie approach, i hope ortiz takes a few cues from a-rods defense. play up the “bought it at a supplement store” angle, and then claim that it only happened once way back in 2002.
so if the 2003 test results were government evidence and sealed, how does a NYT reporter get his hands on it? how does that reporter not face any repercussion?
Dan Shaughnessy has a pretty savage article up at the Globe. Howard Bryant with a much more eloquent (but no less harsh) take on Ortiz at ESPN.
Honestly, anyone who thinks that Papi is skating on this one, or that the Boston sports press is going to go easy on Papi is basically a fool.
sf rod, supposedly some lawyers tipped off the NY Times. I have no idea why it’s just happening now though.
and again, rod and ath, that’s why this damned list must be made public once and for all. The piecemeal release of it comes off as a witch hunt.
Why does some random jackass get to decide who’s outed and who is not?
Absolutely. All the names goddamnit.
Or hey, if the people on the list do know they’re on the list (which is up for debate at this point given Ortiz’ comments), how about they start coming forward? If players started coming clean and proactively admitting to steroid use it would go a long way towards healing the sport.
a bartender/headshop employee (me) has leaked derek jeters name as one of the 104 players to test positive in 2003.
feel free to run with that.
“Ortiz played today like someone with something to prove… And came through.”
What exactly did he have to prove?
Sorry guys Im really not buying that Ortiz had no idea or was “shocked” about this revelation. I dont know of a single occasion where the first statement about a PED story involving a big name player ended up being true. I know you would love to give Papi the benefit of the doubt but there is no reason to think that he is any different than the rest of them. His holier-than-thou statements as recent as this year’s spring training concerning steroid use should make everyone question his ability to tell the truth on this subject at all.
I’m pretty sure that when David Ortiz says, “I am surprised to learn I tested positive,” after saying he called the players’ association to confirm that he was indeed on the list, it’s not misreading the statement to say Ortiz was surprised that he tested positive.
Now we can argue whether Ortiz is telling the truth about that. I’m highly skeptical. But he clearly meant to say that word that he had tested positive surprised him, not that the fact that word had gotten out surprised him.
if you watch the video on the link you provided, it seems like Ortiz is saying that he is surprised by the story. Hard to get a good read on him since he took a page from Manny’s book and hid behind a big pair of sunglasses.
Well, if his name was on the list, the Mitchell Report says all players were notified before the end of the 2004 season. So it would indeed be an odd twist if Ortiz really didn’t know about the positive test.
“Ortiz played today like someone with something to prove… And came through.”
Heroic? I’m not sure what this means.
Nomar has some interesting things to say:
http://www.nesn.com/2009/07/nesn-exclusive-nomars-answers-about-steroid-testing-raise-more-questions.html?sg
@ Joe in Philly,
You’re joking right? You think Ortiz handled this well? The guy feels like a fool cause he preached from the pulpit back in spring training and now he has to stick his foot in his mouth cause he’s caught red-handed. The guy is an embarrassment.
Bahstan Roid Sawx Chief Toolbox Curt Schilling has taken to the airwaves to defend his former roidhead teammates and proven himself once again to be the biggest of big jerkoffs. Funny how Schilling holds his former teammates to a different standard than every other team and player that has been implicated in the steroid scandal. Face it Curt: The championships teams of 2004 and 2007 cheated, which means you benefitted from their fraud. You are no better than the Madoff Feeder funds. The Roid Sawx championships were frauds. 1918 lives.
He was surprised that George Mitchell was not able to keep his name out of the report like he did with his “completely impartial stteroid report”. MLB should start an investigation into the fraud that he perpetrated on the sport!