Eric Gagne: Former Dodger Closer Failed to Deliver Correct PED Message

Steroids were a problem in baseball.

That’s the fun fact Eric Gagne attempts to expose in his new book. The thing is, though, everyone who hasn’t lived under a rock the past decade already knows that.

Despite it being common knowledge that PEDs were/are in the MLB, Gagne felt it necessary to not only document his use of HGH, but his teammates’ as well.

According to Mark Saxon of ESPN, Gagne wrote, “I was intimately aware of the clubhouse in which I lived. I would say that 80 percent of the Dodgers players were consuming them.”

What did that claim accomplish?

Gagne failed to reveal anything. All his testimony did was give fans an itch to look back at the Los Angeles Dodgers’ roster and speculate who’s in that 80 percent.

And given “80 percent” is the vast majority of the club, he brought each Dodger’s name into the who-took-steroids discussion. He threw every single one of his ex-teammates under the bus.

Richard Durrett of ESPN reported that one of those ex-teammates, Adrian Beltre, didn’t approve of Gagne leaving the door open for speculation and said:

"He should have mentioned names. I know for sure I'm not one of them. I haven't read the book. I'm not interested in it. He should have come up with names instead of a percentage."

Beltre’s right.

While Gagne threw out a number that’s impossible to back up, legacies don’t need cold hard facts to be tarnished. “80 percent,” whether unintentionally or not, makes all of his teammates look like cheaters. At least naming names would’ve exonerated the players that never touched HGH in their lives.

Of course, one thing Gagne’s claim resulted in is bought books. And it isn’t too shocking to see a cheater screw over his former teammates for a quick buck.

David Daniels is a featured columnist at Bleacher Report and a syndicated writer.

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