After 16 Days of Silence, Matthews Jr. Finally Speaks

Matthews Jr. professes his innocence stating, "I have never taken HGH."

It only took Los Angeles Angels outfielder Gary Matthews Jr. 16 days to claim his innocence in the Internet-based scandal involving performance-enhancing drugs. The first question is why it took 16 days to refute the allegation?

After hiring an attorney, a publicist, and checking to see if he would be the focus of an investigation, Matthews finally decided it was a good time to refute the allegation. In a press release by the Angels, Matthews statement read, "I have never taken HGH - during the 2004 season or any other time. Nobody has accused me of doing so, and no law authority has said I am a target of any investigation for doing so." (taken from ESPN.com)

This all comes in the aftermath of the Angels threatening to void his monster contract for five-years worth $50 million dollars. It is clear that if Matthews had never taken HGH that he would have immediately proclaimed his innocence by screaming to the high heavens for all to hear.

Instead, it took him 16 days. That is an eternity when you are reported to be linked to performance-enhancing drugs. Imagine an average, middle-class citizen being linked to a crime and taking 16 days to finally profess their innocence to the allegation. You can bet the house mortgage that a huge cloud of doubt would arise, which is exactly what Matthews has done.

Along with Matthews, 20 other notable athletes were connected to the scandal including Jose Canseco, John Rocker, David Bell, and Evander Holyfield. Along with taking 16 days, if you take an in-depth look into Matthews' career statistics the possibility of him using HGH becomes even cloudier.

Last season, while playing centerfield for the Texas Rangers, Matthews had a career year. At 31, he batted .313, hit 19 homers, knocked in 79 RBIs, and stretched out 44 doubles, allowing him to bank in the inflated off-season market. Prior to last year, Matthews had a career-high average of .276 in 2002 with the Baltimore Orioles, and before hitting 11 homers in 2004, then 17 in 2005 had never eclipsed the double-digit mark. Now, he has increased his total over the last three seasons that are under controversy.

I am not specifically saying that Matthews took HGH or any other performance-enhancing drugs, but looking at his history, and the fact it took 16 days to refute the allegation makes it seem as a high possibility. Anytime you are mentioned in the same sentence as Jose Cansesco these days it is a bad, bad situation.

Unfortunately, for baseball and Matthews, Major League Baseball (MLB) doesn't test for HGH because that requires a blood test. HGH was added to the banned substance list in 2005, but what is the point if you can't actually test for it.

Hopefully, law enforcement will be able to connect the dots in this Internet-scandal involving performance-enhancing drugs. However, until they are able to do so, Matthews' actions over the past 16 days have currently tainted his name, character, reputation, and baseball accomplishments.