"It sounds like a Personal Problem"

Jose Canseco’s second book should be released just in time for Opening Day 2008 and, according to ESPN; the sequel is going to mention more names than the first. The New York Post and the New York Daily News gave some details about what might be included in his second book.

Allegedly, Canseco has defaming information on Alex Rodriguez, Ivan Rodriguez and Juan Gonzalez regarding steroid usage as well as information regarding Mark McGwire in the 2005 Congressional hearings. Canseco adds that this book will “fill-in” the holes that the Mitchell Report opened and how he was shocked that A-Rod’s name was not mentioned in the Report.

If you never read Canseco’s first book “Juiced,” I would advise you not to read the sequel. By virtue of writing a second book it has become evident that Canseco has absolutely no interest in cleaning up the game of baseball. All he is doing is defaming the league for his own personal downfall. This is not a baseball problem and in the words of Dr. Charles Neal “it sounds like a personal problem.”

To all baseball fans out there here’s a warning: do not waste your hard earned money on Canseco’s second book of crap. It is assured to add nothing but speculation with more players.

Both books have been Canseco’s way of getting back at Major League Baseball for the way his career ended. No one can argue that Canseco had a less than perfect end to his career. After playing seven seasons with the Oakland Athletics, he spent the last years of his career with Texas, Boston, New York, Chicago, Tampa Bay and Toronto.

In his 17 year career, Canseco was a two-tool player – a base stealer and a power hitter – and overall good baseball player. For seven seasons he was had double digits in stolen bases and homeruns while becoming only one of four players to hit 40 homeruns and have 40 stolen bases in a season. Those are the quintessential skills that start to diminish around the age of 31/32 years old and in his case he became a one-tool player after 1994, with the exception of one year (1998). When his skills started to go, he had nothing. Canseco was a defensive liability in the field, hence why he spent his entire career in the American League. (Remember the time he was playing rightfield and a fly ball bounced off his head and over the fence for a homerun? My point exactly.)

His books mean nothing but a bunch of sour grapes that his career ended struggling to make the rosters of the Devil Rays and Expos. These books are for the sole purpose of saying “if I’m going down then I’m bringing the entire league down with me.” That is sad and I think we are witnessing a man in total “emotional turmoil.”