BY SCOTT LAUBERCLEARWATER, Fla. -- Wasn't able to squeeze much of this into today's story in The News Journal, so I wanted to use it here. Jimmy Rollins is the Phillies' union representative, and among the many things he discussed here today were his thoughts on the situations facing Alex Rodriguez and J.C. Romero. I'll just post J-Roll's thoughts, and if you'd like, we can discuss.
On whether the names of the other 103 players who turned up positive in the 2003 sample testing should be released: "That's unfair to release the name of one guy, but understand that when we did the test in '03, it was supposed to be anonymous, just to get a number to see if in the following year they were going to implement drug testing. To have a leak like that, it's really just the way it is. There are leaks in Presidential cabinets. If they're not safe, you know we're not safe. It's that simple. I really don't think it's going to do anything. You throw [names] out there, and half of them might not be playing the game anymore. Half of them might not even be significant to the impact of the game, so what impact would it make just to put the guys out there. It is unfair to have one guy to be the face of it. That's the way it is."
On whether it bothers him that all players, even the clean ones, are being called into question: "If you're clean, it doesn't matter. If you're clean, it really doesn't bother you. You stand there, you stand firm. I guess you brush it off if your clean. There's no merit to what they're saying, you have nothing to worry about."
On whether he agrees with A-Rod that steroids were the culture of the game in '01: "It was different. It was talked about, it was definitely talked about. But you knew I guess when I came up, that it was about to start getting cracked down upon. Fortunately I grew up with my father, who was a body builder and weight lifter, so I knew about drugs. When I was young he always used to point out guys and you could tell the difference. I was always steered (away) from it. My dad always worked hard, and that's just always the way I've been about things. My dad would have seen it right away. Walking around, face getting all puffy, looking like you're holding water in your stomach, yeah, he would have noticed it right away."
On whether any teammates have been unhappy with the way the A-Rod thing was handled: "No, not yet, not yet. I am the rep for the team but no one has addressed anything. They might just be waiting until we have our union meeting, which we have every spring. I can assume it's going to be a heated conversation, and there needs to be issues brought up about testing, about things we are able and aren't able to take, what's OK, if we give you this product, is it OK. ... There's a lot of things that need to be addressed, maybe separation on performance-enhancing drug suspension as opposed to what happed to J.C., a supplement that happened to be tainted. I don't think they should get the same fine."
On whether Romero's 50-game suspension was excessive: "I would say less games, maybe $10,000, $15,000 or $20,000 fine and get it done with. Circumstances surrounding his situation weren't clear. Is it legal? Is it illegal? He bought it over the counter. It's tainted. When he failed the test, he took the stuff, took the test again and was clean. It makes it tough, but we are responsible for what we put into our body, so we should be held accountable at some point. But 50 games for something he bought over the counter, and took it without the intent of cheating should be separated from a guy that's saying I'm going to go out there and hopefully get away with a PED. Maybe it's something we can address, doing something about that difference and that will answer that gray area."
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