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'Roids affecting bullpens?


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Relieve it or not: 'Roid tests impact bullpens
The image of steroids in baseball is burly mashers. But if you think home-run numbers are going to drop due to stricter drug enforcement, you may be very wrong. One AL executive, voicing the opinion of many, said, "The demographic that has used the most and escaped criticism is relievers." The result, these officials say, has been better velocity and, more important, the ability to recover quickly to retain "stuff" when pitching two, three or four days in a row.
One NL GM, noticing the drop in radar-gun readings this spring, has ordered his scouts to write completely new reports on all relievers, saying for so many, the old reports have become obsolete because "I am seeing too many guys who threw 95-96, throwing 87-89 now."
Another executive suspects steroids had much to do with "a ton of marginal relievers making the big leagues by getting to a different level." So what you might see is a lot of hitters feasting more than ever on middlemen and those teams that have legitimate power arms in the pen really gaining an advantage.
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