Ortiz: Used lots of supplements and vitamins, but not steroids

By adamg on Sat, 08/08/2009 - 12:33pm

David Ortiz at his press conference:

I definitely was a little bit careless back in those days when I was buying supplements and vitamins over the counter, legal supplements and vitamins over the counter, but I never [bought] steroids, I never used steroids.

Says union confirmed he was on the 2003 list but NOT that that meant he took steroids.

Apologized to the fans, teammates and Terry Francona: "This past week has been a nightmare to me. I think about the fans every day."

Says he's been tested 17 times since 2003 (15 for MLB, 2 for WBC) for steroids, never tested positive. Since MLB banned substances in 2004, he has stopped using supplements and vitamins - he's turned to "eating better and working harder."

Ortiz on why he didn't clarify right away, ten days ago:

My name shows up on a list and I don't know why, so I got to find out why, get some information.

Union lawyer, Michael Weiner: Testing was supposed to be anonymous and confidential. Information taken in government raids, leaked to the Times illegally by some lawyers.

No idea how anybody's name got on the list, don't know if it means people actually tested positive, impossible that every single person on the list actually tested positive - only 83 test results were positive, but that could mean even fewer players used steroids because some players were tested twice. Also: Never told Ortiz his mention on the list meant he took anything banned or illegal. And the testing included androstenedione, which at the time was not a banned substance.

Ortiz wanted to address the public right away, but union wanted to make sure he had all the facts first, that he was protected from a frustrating and secretive situation involving illegally leaked information.

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David Ortiz

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Comments

blizzard of confusion

By david_yamada on Sat, 08/08/2009 - 2:27pm.

Is he saying he tested positive because he used to buy a lot of stuff at, say, GNC, that led to a positive test -- but now he's testing clean because he's skipping the vitamins and eating lots of spinach and tofu and doing pushups instead?

yes

By anon on Sat, 08/08/2009 - 3:48pm.

yes

Basically, I think that's

By jeveuxsavoir on Sat, 08/08/2009 - 4:22pm.

Basically, I think that's the gist of it.

two-tiered argument

By david_yamada on Sat, 08/08/2009 - 4:51pm.

The incoming executive director of the players' union is saying that there's reason to believe the testing procedures were flawed or the result were erroneous.

Now Ortiz is saying that if something did turn up, it's because his men's mega-multi daily vitamin somehow had traces of performance enhancing drugs in it.

What a load of fertilizer!!!

No

By Kaz on Sat, 08/08/2009 - 5:50pm.

The point is that in 2003 there was a blind study to determine how prevalent certain performance enhancers were in the game of baseball. Players were labeled by code numbers and the tests were for far more than just steroids. A "positive" could me straight-up anabolic steroids, to andro, to other precursors that were entirely legal to the game at the time. It was a survey for fact-finding, NOT a determination of rules violations. I believe MLBPA is also claiming that people who were "negative" were also "on the list" and so simply being "on the list" does NOT automatically implicate a "positive" result.

Ortiz claims that he never did steroids and that if he was a "positive" it would be because he was taking over-the-counter enhancers that were entirely legitimate to the game (and some of which are still not against the MLB drug policy, even though they may have been tested in 2003). Since he found out in 2004(?) that he was "on the list" from the MLBPA he decided to learn more about these things and determined that he doesn't need them to play well and stopped using any dietary enhancers and things.

I don't see Ortiz like a Clemens, Bonds, A-Rod, or Giambi. He knew what the line was and he didn't cross it. He wasn't too smart to just take "anything and everything" at the time without figuring out what they were and why he would be taking them. And when he did figure it out, he stopped taking them. Good on him.

Not buying it

By adamg on Sat, 08/08/2009 - 6:46pm.

Redsock is not amused:

David Ortiz's press conference was a joke. He promised information, but shared none, choosing to hide behind evasive answers and pure ignorance. Better to be thought of as an idiot than a PED-user, though he will clearly now be labeled as both. ...

Get over it

By anon on Sat, 08/08/2009 - 9:33pm.

So someone who SAYS they saw names on a list that is sealed under a court order and refuses to reveal themselves AND is not releasing other names just Ortiz & Ramirez coincidentally to a NY newspaper - yeah, this guy should definitely be believed over Papi. I could go to the newspaper and say I saw the list - what's to stop me? Though apparently, no one supposedly ON the list can see it - this whole thing is stupid. It was 6 years ago - move on people! Probably 90% of the positive results on that list (which as far as I can see - if you're on the list it just means you were tested NOT that you tested positive for anything and let's get clear for the media - banned substances & even performance enhancing drugs are not ALWAYS steroids!) were probably some OTC multi-vitamin ingredient - hell, for all we know there are banned ingredients in Red Bull! Play ball already & shut up about the past - if you want to talk about positive tests THIS year, fine! But if you're going to then tell us exactly what they tested positive for - don't just assume it must be steroids.