Sources have apparently informed ESPNDallas.com that Washington will not be fired.
And why would he be? There is no good reason why MLB even tests managers for drugs and PEDs in the first place. What does it matter if some manager is on cocaine or marijuana or even HGH? It's not like he's going to pitch the 8th inning or enter the game as a pinch-hitter. I realize this is a slow time for the media, and they're scratching at the bottom of the barrel for new stories at this point in spring training, but come on....someone please tell me why this is news. Does anyone really care if Ron Washington snorts an occasional line of coke?Photo credit for "first time user" Ron Washington: DailySkew Baseball
Photo credit for "coked out" Keith Hernandez: Bottlenecknyc.
UPDATE: Admitted non-specific steroid user Alex Rodriguez once said that, as a 10-year-old, he never would have believed that Keith Hernandez used cocaine while playing Major League Baseball. Interestingly, and most definitely hypocritically, Rodriguez also stated that Hernandez's cocaine use "tarnished the purity of the game." Open mouth, insert foot.
(H/T Andrew for the A-Rod article)
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On one hand, I like that Ron Washington told the team and the league before the positive test came back that he was going to be guilty. On the other hand, the "one-time" excuse is old and stupid. The guy is 57 and trying cocaine for the first time? Give me a break!
ReplyDeleteI sort of wish that Phil Coke had been traded to Texas now only for the jokes of "Ron Washington comes out of the dugout and signals for Coke"
ReplyDeleteBoom! Roasted!
ReplyDeleteI'm pretty sure when J.D. Salinger wrote "Catcher in the Rye" he had A-Rod in mind when Holden Caulfield talked about "phonies"
ReplyDeleteAlso, interesting question, but how is Washington going to hold any weight with Josh Hamilton now? The whole "you need to keep clean" thing is sort of a lie.
And Jay, towards your question about managers being tested, it was a George Mitchell suggestion and I feel, a good one. The Pittsburgh Drug trials of 1985 showed that the person who introduced all the Pirates to the dealers and the coke was none other than the Pittsburgh Parrot--their freaking mascot! So no personnel should be exempt. That being said, I see your point. Maybe he just wanted to stay awake while they were playing the Royals. Who knows.