While watching tonight's Yankees-Orioles game, I couldn't help but think about Nelson Cruz, who'll be starting at DH for the American League in the All-Star Game. More specifically, I couldn't help but compare Nelson Cruz and other guys like him (Melky Cabrera, Ryan Braun) to Alex Rodriguez. All of these guys were suspended for using performance-enhancing drugs, yet A-Rod is labeled a "cheater" while the other three all collect millions of All-Star votes.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying A-Rod is a saint. God knows he's not. But there's a double standard here. And I don't think that's right. They were all suspended for doing the exact same thing. Cabrera and Braun even lied about it, too, just like A-Rod. So why are they forgiven and A-Rod continues to be vilified?
I get it. A-Rod is obviously very unlikable. So is Barry Bonds. And they're both superstars who were paid very handsomely to play baseball. That's why A-Rod has been placed in that same category as Bonds and, to a lesser extent, Roger Clemens. But are they any more guilty than the others? No.
That's what irks me so much about this year's All-Star voting. Melky Cabrera, obviously boosted by that ridiculous surge every Blue Jays player gets from the entire country of Canada, came very close to starting this year's All-Star Game. Do people forget that two years ago, after winning MVP of said game, Cabrera failed a drug test, tried to get away with it by creating a fake website, was suspended for 50 games and was kept off San Francisco's World Series roster? That was 2012. It's now 2014. What exactly has he done over the past two years to work his way back into the public's good graces? And it's not the numbers he's been putting up.
Then there's Ryan Braun. What Braun did was worse than what Cabrera did. He failed a test, lied about it, appealed (and won), getting the arbitrator fired in the process. Then last year, all the Biogenesis crap hits the fan, Braun admits he lied and accepts a 65-game ban. Yet apparently none of that had any impact on his popularity in Milwaukee. Because Ryan Braun was right up there among National League outfielders in fan voting for most of the balloting. Why? I figured that Ryan Braun especially would lose his "Golden Boy" status after the Biogenesis scandal. Evidently I was wrong.
Some people even suggested that Braun should make the National League team as a reserve. I guess that's part of the reason why he was still getting votes. He's putting up numbers similar to what he did in the past, and it's without any sort of "enchancement" this time (at least you would hope).
Same thing with Nelson Cruz, whose 50-game suspension last season ended just in time for him to play in the AL Wild Card Game. It's probably because of Biogenesis that he couldn't find a team in the offseason before eventually getting a one-year deal with Baltimore. Well, that deal's starting to look like a bargain. Because Cruz leads the American League in home runs and RBIs. While I personally couldn't bring myself to vote for someone that served a PED suspension last year, Cruz at least deserves to be an All-Star. Even though his selection came as a surprise, that one I can at least make my peace with (especially because somebody other than David Ortiz is the AL DH).
And that brings me back to A-Rod. After making several consecutive All-Star starts, he's been the Most Hated Player in baseball for several years now. It all comes back to his history of steroid use and his general attitude towards it. A-Rod rubs people the wrong way, and a lot of those who've labeled him a cheater refuse to ever view him any differently again. But what makes Alex Rodriguez any different? Why is he Public Enemy No. 1 when Melky Cabrera is out there collecting millions of All-Star votes?
Say what you want about Alex Rodriguez, but I don't think that's right. While I'm all for second chances, they shouldn't be so arbitrary. Everyone gets a second chance except for Alex Rodriguez? Obviously there's much more to the A-Rod story, but it still seems wrong that he gets nothing but derision from fans while it's forgive and forget with so many others.
I'm not saying A-Rod deserves forgiveness. I understand why so many people feel the way they do about him. What I am saying, though, is that Melky Cabrera, Ryan Braun, Nelson Cruz and all the others deserve similar treatment, especially when it comes to All-Star voting. Because, more than anything else, the support these players receive makes fans look like hypocrites. If you're as disgusted with PEDs as you claim to be, don't turn around and vote for those guys for the All-Star team! Otherwise, you're in no position to play judge and jury for the others.
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