NEWSLETTER
Chicago Cubs center fielder Marlon Byrd is a physical specimen. Look at those guns.
You don’t get that way without some serious training, and serious nutritional support – and I don’t meant that euphemistically. Byrd has never been linked to PEDs, and I don’t suspect it now. I think the guy just works really hard, eats well, and supplements appropriately.
But MLB still has some concerns about Byrd’s methodology. Specifically, they don’t much care for his relationship with BALCO head, and convicted PED pusher, Victor Conte.
Major League Baseball’s concerns about Cubs center fielder Marlon Byrd’s ongoing association with convicted steroid dealer Victor Conte goes all the way to the top.
‘‘We’ve talked to him, and he knows how we feel,’’ commissioner Bud Selig said Saturday in Mesa. ‘‘It’s not a situation that makes me very happy.’’
Byrd — who sought out Conte three years ago, long after Conte’s BALCO-related conviction and jail term — is the only major-league player working with Conte.
Byrd, who says he follows a supplements and training regimen prescribed by Conte, never has tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs under MLB’s program and never has been accused of using banned substances.
Earlier this winter, Byrd said he believes in Conte, who claims he is reformed and is trying to be a leader in legal methods of improving athletic performance.
Byrd’s response to Selig’s comments: ‘‘We talked about it in 2009. I mean, it’s 2011.’’ Chicago Sun-Times.
While it sounds like mostly a non-story, it’s generally never a good idea to piss off the man at the head desk, even if he is insufferable. Byrd, however, is widely considered a good face for MLB – he’s a hard worker, a good teammate, and always has a positive attitude. I suspect that Selig’s comments are less about being unhappy with Byrd, and more about reiterating MLB’s official position that PEDs are bad.
