Rue Grant Defends Jordan Schafer

Written by Rue on April 9, 2008 – 11:54 pm

Is anyone as skeptical and/or curious about the allegations and subsequent silence surrounding the Jordan Schafer situation as I am? Whereas I’d normally ridicule or chastise for such behavior, something about this whole thing doesn’t leave me feeling confident about the accusations.  For the first, and possibly last, time, I’m going to defend Jordan Schafer, especially since, at this point in time, he doesn’t have a chance to do so.

So what happened? I don’t know, but here are a few possibilities:

Scenario 1: Schafer used HGH. So did Roger Clemens, apparently. However, HGH was not illegal at the time Clemens used it. When did Schafer allegedly use HGH? Schafer could have used HGH like Clemens; when it wasn’t illegal. It was outlawed in 2005. Schafer was 18 in 2005. He could have used it then, got huge, and it comes out now. That’s scenario 1.


Photo: Kevin Hinton

Scenario 2:  Schafer never used HGH. Rumors are nasty things. I spent a week in high school in the principal’s office for something I never did but someone claimed they saw me do – in a locker room nonetheless. Subsequent monitorings made me look suspicious and guilty, but only because people were looking for something in particular, and oftentimes suddenly normal actions seem extremely unusual. Same thing for Schafer. He was being monitored all through spring training apparently. Maybe growing suspicion just made him seem guilty at the time – and allegations were blown out of proportion.

Scenario 3: He did it, he knew, and now he’s covering his ass. I’m not really thinking this is a valid speculation though, because who would be stupid enough to go ahead and do that after watching the struggles Roger Clemens has gone through day after day recently? I’ve met Jordan Schafer and he doesn’t seem to be that naive.

So where are we? We wait. Will we forgive him regardless? We can only hope that the Braves community will accept whatever comes of this – and if the allegations prove to be innacurate, then my greatest hope is that he does not lose the credibility and hype that he has worked so hard for.  If the truth ends up hurting us all, then hopefully someone down the road  will learn from Schafer learning the hard way.

For now, I’m standing by Schafer for the following reasons:

1. Schafer’s father wants to speak out so badly, but is waiting on his son. Seems that something that needs to be said is not out in the open yet. I anticipate that revelation.
2. If he used it pre-2005, I have absolutely NO issue with it.
3. Not all allegations end up being true. There has got to be more to this than meets the eye.
4. Tom Glavine said that being a great player is about being respected as much for your character as for your stats and numbers. I think that Schafer has had the spotlight on him a lot recently, and was making an effort to be one of those venerated, respected players before moving into the bigs. He had the spotlight on him, was turning heads, making people smile, and impressing everyone who interviewed him. Would he go out of his way NOW to ruin everything he’d worked for? Absolutely not.
5.  He’s offered up far too many samples, has failed to test positive for what he’s being accused for taking, and is obviously very disgrunted about this whole situation.
6. The Braves haven’t thrown him under the bus yet. He’s going to Orlando to keep training with other minor league players who aren’t playing official games. If it were as intense and serious as everyone was making it out to be, the Braves would have cut and run. They haven’t, and show no signs of doing so.

So, for now, I will stand by Schafer.  And I’m one of the harder ones to get to take sides.


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Posted in General, Minor Leagues, Speculation | 7 Comments »

Schafer Suspended for HGH Use

Written by Colin on April 8, 2008 – 10:59 pm

The Braves’ star prospect Jordan Schafer, who had a decent spring, was suspended for 50 games after it was revealed he violated the league’s substance abuse policy. Apparently Schafer tested positive for HGH, not something good to see from a young player who is supposedly the future face of the franchise.

Everywhere you read about this guy and his supposed maturity, but I’m not sold on him yet.  Just because you can play ball (apparently with the help of HGH) doesn’t mean you have the composure and maturity you need to be a major league player and the potential face of the franchise.  You can’t convince me he’s ready for the big league level for at least a year or two.

As for his placeholder, Mark Kotsay, the guy has been great so far.  Solid hitter, great arm, and he does his best to cover ground.  Heck, we haven’t even had to add a single point to our “Andruw would have gotten that” counter.

Schafer is going to need to come back from this suspension with some sincere remorse and work hard to make up for this significant shortcoming.  Not only does it cast doubt on his strong spring, but it shows character flaws and immaturity.  I think Schafer has bought into the hype surrounding his rising star career way too much – and has passed way over the line between confident and cocky.  One has to be worried about seeing someone like Schafer go down this path.  The truly good players – character wise – are the Jeff Francoeurs and Brian McCanns.  They keep their mouths shut and play baseball – don’t dig into anything suspect or suspicious, and let their numbers back up the hype surrounding their careers.

Schafer has a long way to go – good thing we have those extra outfielders now, isn’t it?  Josh Anderson next season, anyone?


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Posted in General | 15 Comments »

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