Schafer Gets 50 Game Suspension
by JPro on Apr 8, 2008 7:37 PM EDT
33 comments
DENVER -- Jordan Schafer spent the month of March showing why many consider him to be one of the game's top young stars. Now, the 21-year-old Braves Minor Leaguer finds himself staring at the embarrassment of a substance-abuse suspension.
Major League Baseball announced late Tuesday afternoon that Schafer has been suspended 50 games for using human growth hormone, a performance-enhancing substance that is in direct violation of the Minor League Drug Prevention and Treatment Program.
Schafer, who has been projected to be Atlanta's center fielder by the start of the 2009 season, has recorded just one hit in 11 at-bats with Double-A Mississippi this year. When he was limited to one at-bat during Friday's doubleheader against Huntsville, Mississippi manager Phil Wellman told The Huntsville Times that his player was addressing "personal issues."
When the Braves parted ways with Andruw Jones in October, Schafer, despite the fact that he'd never played above the Class A level, became an immediate candidate to fill the Gold Glove center fielder's void. He was coming off a strong Minor League season and in the midst of further raising his stock during the Arizona Fall League.
After hitting .324 and recording 34 hits in 26 games with Peoria, Schafer was named to the AFL's All-Prospect team. Braves manager Bobby Cox went to Arizona to see the young center fielder and was impressed in much the same manner that he was while watching Schafer again during this year's Spring Training.
While participating in his first big league camp, Schafer appeared in 17 Grapefruit League games and hit .316. When he was sent back to Minor League camp, he drew praise from Cox, who indicated the youngster would have won the staring center field job if Mark Kotsay hadn't been acquired from the A's in January.
"I liked him all spring," Cox said on March 22, when Schafer was cut from big league camp. "He's a good-looking player. I like him a lot."
Many scouts considered Schafer to be the most improved player in the Minors last year, when he combined to hit .312 with 15 homers for Class A Rome and Advanced Class A Myrtle Beach. During the 2006 season, he hit just .240 with Rome.
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Does HGH help or not? How Schafer does post-suspension will go a long way to answering that question - fairly or unfairly.
by faketeams on Apr 8, 2008 8:14 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs
No it won't
Science will. To date, there's no evidence that HGH does anything to improve strength or enhance athletic performance.
by mraver on Apr 8, 2008 9:00 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
HGH
Could have saved Bonds a lot of trouble.........;-)
Ted Williams: .406
by bodyiq on Apr 8, 2008 9:06 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
...
When did Bonds use HGH? AFAIK, it was all the "cream" and "clear" crap that BALCO was peddling.
by mraver on Apr 8, 2008 10:47 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
Have you seen his head?
It's like sputnik. Huge cranium.
by b1leper on Apr 8, 2008 11:14 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
Outstanding!
Our first "So I Married An Axe Murderer" reference! Well played, sir!
"A little rudeness and disrespect can elevate a meaningless interaction to a battle of wills and add drama to an otherwise dull day." - Calvin
by RVachon on Apr 9, 2008 1:39 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
One theory
was that HGH helped strengthen bones to handle the increased muscle mass, thus the enlarged cranium. I am not a medical specialist or anything, that's just one thing I remember hearing. It may be complete crap.
by Flynn Blake on Apr 9, 2008 12:01 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
There's plenty of evidence if you actually look for it.
An excerpt from: http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/growth-hormone/HA00030
"Studies of adults with growth hormone deficiencies show that injections of human growth hormone can:
Increase bone density
Increase muscle mass
Decrease body fat
Bolster the heart's ability to contract
Improve mood and motivation
Increase exercise capacity
Because of those results, some people believe that synthetic human growth hormone can help healthy older adults who have naturally low levels of growth hormone regain some of their youth and vitality."
If it has been shown to be beneficial in people with hormone deficiencies, why wouldn't it be beneficial to healthy athletes? Especially the added muscle mass and exercise capacity.
by Looneyt0on on Apr 9, 2008 11:55 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
you're kidding, right?
"If iron supplements have been shown to be beneficial to people with iron deficiency, why wouldn't it be beneficial to healthy athletes?"
"If chemo therapy has been shown to be beneficial to people with cancer, why wouldn't it be beneficial to healthy athletes?"
"If my boot in their rear has been shown to be beneficial to people who are bad with logic, why wouldn't it be beneficial to healthy athletes?"
by mraver on Apr 10, 2008 10:54 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
Bad examples
I'm seeing you all over the place posting this crap and I can't stand it. None of your analogies make sense.
Does having too much iron help you? No. What does that have to do with anything?
Chemo therapy uses radiation to destroy cancer cells. If you have no cancer, what's it doing?
If HGH builds muscle mass or whatever was said in the post above, why wouldn't it continue to do so? You're talking apples and oranges here.
by Lunkwill Fook on Apr 10, 2008 11:03 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
HGH is used to increase your levels of GH
If you're a healthy young adult, what's it doing?
The analogies are fine. HGH is a legit medical treatment for a legit medical condition. (Well, sorta; it's for increasing growth hormone levels in older people who have less of said hormone than young people so their body will act more like it did when they were younger. It's effects in this regard are somewhat debated.) If you use it in a different situation (like in young adults who already have optimal levels of growth hormone), why would you expect it to do anything positive? That was the point of the analogies.
by mraver on Apr 11, 2008 8:31 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
I don't get it
We all know MLB is testing people more rigorously assessing bigger penalties these days. They're going to catch you. What on earth is Schafer thinking?
by criminal type on Apr 8, 2008 8:23 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs
Quick Fixes
I have no doubt that there are still many doing it, but if it's anything like mainstream drugs there are plenty of ways to get around tests. I'm sure whatever masking agent he used didn't get the job done.
by JPro on Apr 8, 2008 8:32 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
Caught?
It should be very interesting to hear just how he was caught.
Ted Williams: .406
by bodyiq on Apr 8, 2008 9:07 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs
According to ATL area news...
According to Atlanta news, where this was actually the top item on the nightly news, they said that it was as yet unknown just how he was caught, but the sportscaster said that he could be suspended based on circumstantial evidence from other players or associates. I'd never heard that before, it was news to me, so I'm not sure how accurate that description of the policy is.
by mookstra2 on Apr 8, 2008 10:11 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
Attribution? Link?
You really should quote portions and include a link, or at least say where you got the article from.
A working class hero is something to be.
by t ball on Apr 8, 2008 11:32 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs
This will be interesting to follow
apparently Shafer confessed but couldn't he take it back and say he was forced?
by achengy on Apr 8, 2008 11:42 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs
well
who forced him?
Carlos Quentin's time has arrived.
by Team Moneyball on Apr 9, 2008 1:09 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
confessions
come with some type of accusations. He wouldn't be just be "hey I use hgh'.
by achengy on Apr 9, 2008 2:54 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
circumstantial evidence
This is just my first take on what I have read. I haven't read a lot about it yet but I plan too. There is not urine test of HGH. I do believe there is a blood test for HGH/Somatropinci, but I am not even sure about that. More info that I am reading about HGH is at http://www.somatropin.net/ Cumstantial evidence is total BS. That would be like someone claim I am a pot head because I buy rolling papers to roll my own cigarettes or an IV drug users because I purchase my insulin needles in bulk at Wal-Mart. Unless he admits to it I put no worries about it. Baseball Tonight is on and they are going to cover the topic so we will soon find out what is going on.
paw75
by paw75 on Apr 9, 2008 12:03 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs
i think he did confess
As for circumstantial evidence, there is weak circumstantial evidence and strong circumstantial evidence. Here's an example of circumstantial evidence that I'd consider to be pretty strong: You're walking by a baseball stadium. You know there is a game going on. Suddenly you here a crack of the bat, the crowd erupts and you see a ball clear the stadium wall that is in left field. What do you think happened? If you said "someone hit a homerun" you believe in circumstantial evidence, since you did not, in fact, witness the home run being hit, but you can infer that one occurred.
Point being, dont just say, "they can't test for this stuff, so anything else they come up with is pure BS." Apparently whatever circumstantial evidence they had was enough to get him to confess, so it likely wasn't pure BS.
Carlos Quentin's time has arrived.
by Team Moneyball on Apr 9, 2008 1:15 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
Circumstantial
Come to think of it, wasn't Jose Guillen suspended for 15 games to start the season based on circumstantial evidence? He never failed a test, but he got busted with business records, which I would consider strong circumstantial evidence. There were a few others, too, IIRC (Jay Gibbons?) - so the whole circumstantial evidence thing is being used, regardless of what one thinks of it.
by mookstra2 on Apr 9, 2008 1:47 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
+1
for that matter, failing a drug test itself is just "circumstantial evidence" that earlier you used drugs, just as drug possession is "circumstantial evidence" that you will use the drugs later.
by bleedjaxblue on Apr 9, 2008 1:11 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
No one knows what "circumstantial evidence" actually means anymore
If in fact the confession was provoked by MLB getting someone else to say they saw Schafer using HGH, it would be the result of direct evidence.
"Circumstantial" is not a synonym for "flimsy." There's bad and good circumstantial evidence, just like there's bad and good direct evidence. All it means is that it's not someone testifying that they saw (/heard/experienced) something happening.
Your 2008 Athletics: It's Nothing Personal.
by PaulThomas on Apr 9, 2008 8:22 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
awesome
now maybe schafer will be able to throw as hard as paul byrd.
by jpahk on Apr 9, 2008 9:47 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs
Schafer throws harder than Paul Byrd already! He threw harder than him in HS. He's trying to throw as hard as Jose Gullien!
Tools Whore
by Tyler on Apr 9, 2008 11:25 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
Are you really that bad at detecting sarcasm?!?
by fourthandeye on Apr 22, 2008 9:42 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
In other news, harp seal pups throw harder than Paul Byrd.
http://www.chop-n-change.com
by alexwithclass on Apr 22, 2008 12:12 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
more to the story...
http://www.ajc.com/sports/content/sports/braves/stories/2008/04/09/schafer_0410.html
Why do I feel like I'm watching a bad spy movie? But we need to wait for the full story to come out before we pass judgment.
by B_Agate on Apr 10, 2008 6:25 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs
Caught
I read the special investigative unti started up per the Mithcell Report caught him. You know, the same one that cornered Canseco in a bathroom at a book signing.
The MLB version of the Gestapo!
by faketeams on Apr 11, 2008 6:19 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs
Where'd you read that?
I've heard a couple weird rumors regarding how Schaffer was "caught" (including one guy saying he wasn't caught using HGH and it was some other weird thing in the drug policy that he violated; the internet is fun!), so I'm interested to get any information I can on this stuff.
by mraver on Apr 11, 2008 8:33 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
Here you go
From the Atlanta Jounral Constitution:
"...by baseball's new investigative department, which was created after the Mitchell Report on performance-enhancing drugs came out in December."
by faketeams on Apr 11, 2008 10:23 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
Word on the street
is that Schafer's being suspended for violating the policy, not for using. There's not a test for HGH, so we know he didn't test positive. Either he was caught in possession, caught trying to obtain, confessed, or he had knowledge of someone using and didn't rat, which also is a violation of the policy and carries the same 50 game suspension.
So either he used, tried to help someone else get ahold of the stuff, or MLB decided to entrap a good prospect who's career wouldn't be too derailed by the suspension, and put a scare into the rest of the minor league.
Not good times, either way.
fyi - JC Bradbury's sabernomics.com blog has some nice stuff (posted last year) trying to chase down whether HGH helps or not. Includes details of a New England Journal of Medicine study the showed no increase in muscle mass or oxygen uptake given by HGH. Other details and links too. http://www.sabernomics.com/sabernomics/index.php/2007/04/i-dont-worry-about-hgh-in-baseball-and-neither-should-you/
by nevin on Apr 11, 2008 2:27 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs
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