Why is This Man Smiling?

Sammy Sosa had some interesting things to say about the steroid claims made against him. Sammy apparently would like to come back and play in the majors in the '07 and as a precursor to that he wants to make sure that everyone knows he's always been clean. Here's his first quote:

"I am clean, and I always have been clean. There has been a lot of speculation, but they don't have no evidence. So you take it from there. They haven't been writing a book about me doing this or doing that."

So Sammy is basically saying that because there is no evidence against him, he must be clean. I guess there is no actual evidence, but there is a hell of a lot of circumstantial evidence. People have been sent to the electric chair for less.

Here is what Sammy had to say about not being named by Jason Grimsley (who supposedly implicated Roger Clemens, Andy Pettitte, Miguel Tejada, Brian Roberts and Jay Gibbons in a federal probe) as a user of steroids:

"My name would have been in there. Think about it. All of the questions and all the speculation, my name is never there. Yeah, everyone is surprised because, you know why? I hit 60 [homers] three times. I put up the numbers."

Of course all the people named by Grimsley were actual teammates of his, which Sammy never was. Apparently Sammy doesn't think that makes much of a difference.

And here is Sammy's explanation for his sudden increase in power:

"I put up those numbers by going to bed at 9 o'clock at night in Chicago because I have to play a day game every day at 1 o'clock. I prepared myself for that."

So according to Sammy it was clean living was responsible for Sammy's prodigious home run output and not performance enhancing drugs. Wow, if you believe that one, I have a bridge that I have for sale in NY. It's a little old, but it's in great condition.

Sammy also has some thoughts about his Hall of Fame chances:

"The Hall of Fame means everything, and I think my way to the Hall of Fame is there. There has been a lot of [steroid use] speculation. But I don't think that speculation is going to stop me from going to the Hall. And remember, I always treated all of the writers great. I always had time for everybody. I am not saying that's why they should vote for me. [They should vote for me] because the numbers, they are there. That thing don't lie."

Sammy treated the writers well. Good for him. I'm sure they'll remember that when it comes time to vote. Of course the writers do actually remember things like that. Case in point Albert Belle who was a complete ass to everyone around him and had a special dislike of writers. He barely registered when his name came up on the ballot. Kirby Puckett on the other hand was always accommodating and was voted in on the first ballot even though his numbers aren't as impressive as Belle's.

It will be interesting to see if any team is willing to pick up Sammy for the upcoming season. My guess is that no one will do it, but I've been wrong before. The best thing that Sammy could do is to lay low until his HOF class comes up. It's four years down the road and by then the steroids uproar may have died down. Knowing Sammy though, he'll probably be unable to resist the urge to make stupid statements from time to time.