Moyer and Ibanez "Denials" Make Me More Sure of Steroid Allegations Against M's

Just to recap...

Shane Monahan tells ESPN he thought many Mariners of the late 90s used steroids.

Then Jamie Moyer and Raul Ibanez refute Monahan's allegations in interviews with the Seattle Times.

What struck me was that both Moyer and Ibanez used almost the exact same phrase in their denials.

Moyer: "I never saw anyone take steroids."

Ibanez: "I've never seen a person take a steroid."

Well, I never "saw" anyone build my house, but that doesn't mean it isn't there.

The statement sounds to me like something concocted by either lawyers or PR people, giving players language that allows them to downplay steroid allegations without saying anything that could be used against them later.

The fact that Moyer and Ibanez never "saw" a player take steroids is meaningless.

The drugs were injected in a player's ass. Even if the practice were known, accepted and celebrated, it's not likely that the actual "taking" would be something anyone would've been clamoring to see.

Ibanez and Moyer both strike me as pretty honest guys. A denial that would convince me might be if they said something like "I never saw evidence of steroid use"...which of course would be absurd, they all saw Bret Boone suddenly morph from a guy with warning track power into a 40-homer-a-year slugger.

The fact that the best they come up with is not only meaningless but sounds scripted makes me even more sure that steroid use was widespread among that team. (Not that every other team wasn't juicing, too).

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