Mitchell Report Stinks of Political Posturing

President George W. Bush said this morning in a press conference in the Rose Garden in reaction to the Mitchell Report that this was an era which has "sullied Major League Baseball," and that steroids "should not jump to any conclusions," about their results.

I disagree.

The fact is that this Mitchell Report was an exhaustive, well thought, well researched overlay of what is going on in the sport right now and what has been going on for some years now. If you can't draw any conclusions about this report, I don't know from what you should be able to draw conclusions about.

Furthermore, it seems that this has turned into the nature of the beast. When you've got these newer players like Sammy Sosa or Todd Hundley who both peaked fast then faded away, it is no surprise that mid to late career players like Mark McGuire, Paul LoDuca, Andy Pettitte, Roger Clemens, and others need to be able to step up to the plate, both literally and figuratively so that they could continue to compete.

But also, anyone who wonders about these "amazing numbers" people are putting up should also look to important ways that the game has changed. With ballparks getting smaller, seasons getting longer, and fans expecting things like the perfect game from their favorite pitcher and the home run from their favorite hitter, there is an increased pressure from all angles.

Baseball agents need to get their players performing to a level where they will be able to validate their enormous salaries, baseball managers need their players to perform at a level where their teams will win so that baseball owners don't fire the managers. Also with such a stress on winning there is further stress on players from managers as everyone would like to keep their "core" together and not need to shuffle players around which is what undoubtedly would happen if their numbers sank.