I have no written proof, sadly, but the Mitchell Report supports what I have been saying out loud, to anyone that will listen, for months: Eric Gagné was a juicer. All season long, whenever he'd blow a save, I'd tell people that I was positive it was because he was off of "Vitamin S". The lesson learned is to write down my sports theories, so that I can take credit when they're proven accurate. I also knew that Veritek was not on 'roids, but suspected Trot Nixon might be.
It's not that I think this makes him a bad person. I don't think steroids are such a big problem for the sport, or that they taint all the records. But I do think we were fools to sign a guy whose achievements were the result of drugs, when he would have to pitch clean for us.
Here's a great quote from Chad Finn's blog on the topic:
Gagné was atop anyone's list of suspects - he went from a doughy fifth starter type to a pumped-and-jacked terror of a closer overnight, then suffered the requisite ligament, tendon, and back injuries often associated with PEDs - and it's funny how the Sox scout basically associates all of his success to steroid use. Forget knowing what we know now about Gagné. Knowing what they knew then, why did they ever trade for him? And how much buyer's remorse is Doug Melvin having at the moment?
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