STEROIDS And The Impact On Fantasy Baseball

Not too many people are talking about the Mitchell Report and how it will impact our everyday fantasy baseball lives. Sure there are more important issues in the USA or even the world for that matter, but in our world of baseball its implications are disastrous.

Let's look over the past few years. After steroids in baseball went mainstream all of a sudden talk went to , "Is he on Steroids?" or "Look at the size of that guy, could it be steroids?". You'd even hear the whispers after a mammoth home run. I remember watching a Texas Rangers game (only because they were facing the Red Sox!) and the commentators went on to discuss Mark Texiera's sudden massive slump. One of the assumption's the commentator made was that his numbers were down since Major League Baseball started and enforced its new tougher testing policy. Well, Mark got traded and blew up as a member of the Braves, so you can put that theory in the toilet and flush it.

So here we are with the 2008 season on the way, and numerous major league ballplayers (I will not name a single one) have been named as steroid users. Many of them viable fantasy starters.

So it is true, and yes steroids will damage fantasy baseball.

The impact won't be as big as some may think, but it will be felt and many fantasy teams will lose match ups if not their seasons because of it.

First off, people will get suspended, and there is no doubt about it. We are talking the 60 day or more variety suspension. So right there come draft time a manager will have to decide on some of these players; draft or do not draft.

If you draft the player then at some point in the season he gets suspended, you the fantasy baseball manager gets hurt. If a player is out 60 days you might as well call it 75 or 90 cause when he gets back he'll need to get his "timing" back. They will also affect the draft in a negative way. Believe it or not drafts like a rhythm. Most of us kinda knows what is going to happen a few moments before it happens. Now, with so many players looking at possible suspensions they will fall in the draft opening holes where they just shouldn't be. It shatters the complexion of the draft, at least after the first 2-3 rounds.

Then there is the psychological affect it will have on players in the field. There will be those whispers of does he do steroids? It will sound like a pint-sized version of a witch hunt. This could impact players psyche, especially the young ones. Its fair for them to look at us as well and ask do they think I do steroids? Then there are the actual players who are doing steroids and we know they exist! Now they will be so focused on worrying about steroids that they will all look like Ray Liotta in Goodfellas when he was looking over his shoulder every five minutes for the cops strung out on coke. That is bound to impact a players numbers. This all stinks for the fantasy baseball manager who drafts one of these guys and the player is a dud. Its going to be sad.

Lastly there will actually be players who were using steroids and will quit, which is good for them, and good for baseball. Now, there is the fantasy manager to think about. Unless these players who are going dry from the juice announce they did steroids and are quiting on they're MySpace.com web site, I don't think we will ever know their identities before the draft. So we draft them, and we draft them based on the prior season and career numbers. We draft the because of their reputation, and we certainly draft them because we believe in them. Many will get burned by the trust we've given to the major league ball players. Hopefully this will only be a handful of players and hopefully the impact will be minimal.

So what can we as fantasy managers do to protect ourselves and still win? Well, not much. First off, don't draft any player named in the Mitchell Report, just don't! Then, try your best to determine if a player you want to draft looks like he does steroids. Especially consider that if its a tough choice between two players. Finally, make sure your bench is deep cause you may just need it early and often this year.

Steroids will no doubt hurt fantasy baseball, but the long run effect is much more bright. We need to rid the sport of this disease and hopefully this is just another step towards that goal. Maybe this year won't be the best for fantasy baseball, but for years to come it will get better and better. Then one day it will be gone. Gone will be the days of a player hitting 12 home runs, then the next season hitting 45. At least that's my dream.