Brian Spurlock-USA TODAY Sports
The TV network Al Jazeera better have a lot of money, because Ryan Howard does and there is plenty of evidence to support he never took PEDs. And an impending suit could mean there is more dough coming his way.
The attorney for the Philadelphia Phillies‘ slugger said his client will fight claims made in the Al Jazeera report that his client received performance-enhancing drugs, and enhancing should be the key word in any courtroom deliberation. If what these drugs are supposed to do is enhance performance, it’s been a long and steady decline of skills for Howard even since the first time he was supposed to have used these drugs.
Howard was one of several high-profile athletes to be accused in the report, the most prominent being Denver Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning, who also denied the reports.
The allegations really point out some problems with assumptions based on PED use in baseball. Players still might use banned substances and get away with it, but it has never been proven that bad baseball players have improved their performances based on alleged use; and that’s where Howard has a strong case.
In his last two seasons he hit .223 and .229, and those are not performance-enhancing numbers by anyone’s standards. Since the allegations do not go further back than that, Howard has an open and shut case. Howard has been particularly ineffective against left-handed pitching the last three seasons, hitting .176 in both 2013 and 2014 and .173 in 2015. That’s a remarkable run of consistent ineffectiveness, and it’s hard to make a case that his performance was enhanced in any way.
Mike Gibson is a MLB Featured Writer for www.RantSports.com. Follow him on Twitter @papreps , “Like” him on Facebook or add him to your network on Google.
