Vindicated?

One of the things that has consistently bothered me about the whole steroids issue is that the guy who basically blew the lid off the whole thing was Jose Canseco. In his tell-all book, Juiced, Canseco became the first player to name names, and despite massive outcry about the claims of the book, Canseco has yet to be sued, and a number of the names he named have been proven accurate. The problem I have with that is that Canseco isn't exactly a saint here. He was, by his own admission, a massive drug cheat in his own rights. And even that I could forgive, if he had come forward out of a repentant attitude and a desire to clean up the game. However, he cheated as long as it served his purposes, and then when he couldn't play anymore, he decided (rightly or wrongly is not something I can make a call on) that he was been black listed because of steroid use. He needed money, so he became a rat when it suited his purposes. All that aside, he did prove to be one of the few truly credible voices, at least among players/former players. And, I believed to be dangerous, especially when Canseco began promoting plans for his follow-up book.

For you see, Canseco has proven time and time again that he only cares about Canseco. It suited his purposes to be credible and truthful in the first book, and clearly he had some goods to work with. My gut told me he was going to use the perceived credibility the fallout from his first book had given him for less than credible purposes in the follow-up. Many times I heard in the media over the last months "Say what you want about Canseco, the guy's told the truth on this" As true as that was, the manner in which it was said was disconcerting. I especially did not like the way a number of media figures were ready to assume Alex Rodriguez guilty of something after Canseco announced his surprise that A-Rod was not named in the Mitchell report, and then hinted to revelations in that area in his forthcoming book Let's not forget the reasons Canseco's book and it's claims were initially dismissed. However accurate his first book may have turned out, the guy hasn't earned a basic level of trust, in my opinion.

It would seem my suspicions are beginning to be proven correct. Earlier this month, author/editor Don Yeager, who had planned on working with Canseco on his follow-up book, passed up the opportunity after reviewing Canseco's material. His statement about this was particularly noteworthy: "I don't think there's a book there. I don't know what they're going to do. I don't think he's got what he claims to have, certainly doesn't have what he claims to have on A-Rod. There's no meat on the bones." I for one, am not shocked by this.

And then we come to last night, and the revelation that Canseco may have tried to extort at least one current major leaguer with the threat of being named in the 2nd book. Scott Boras, agent for Maggilo Ordonez, filed a complaint with the FBI after Canseco allegedly contacted one of Boras' employees and told him that Ordonez would be left in the "clear" in the book if he invested in a movie project Canseco was promoting. Canseco denies the charge, and Ordonez has declined to go forward with the complaint, saying that he doesn't want to deal with the problems. So, this isn't exactly an iron-clad case, but clearly no one would be that surprised if it proved true, given the guy we're dealing with. Whether he has the goods on Ordonez and was giving him a chance to keep it hidden, or whether he was threatening to use his new found credibility to point the finger without any actual proof is inconsequential. If he was willing to alter his "revelations" based on financial contributions, that credibility is officially gone.

I don't doubt that he has at least some more credible information on steroid users, though perhaps nothing as groundbreaking as he would like us to believe. I'm sure he'll find a way to get the second book out there, and I'm also sure that at least some of what he alleges in it will prove true. I just pray that those in the media who have portrayed him as a credible, honest source on steroids are willing to take anything he might say in the future with the appropriate measure of skepticism, rather than taking the lazy way out and saying "Well, he told the truth last time." For Jose Canseco, honesty and altruism have been the exception, rather than the rule, and everyone would do well to keep that in perspective.