Ortiz has strong words for steroid users

"This game has been hurt a lot already," Ortiz said yesterday. "And I don't think this game can take any more."

Not only did Ortiz come out strongly against steroid use, but he advocated harsher testing policies and harsher penalties. Ortiz said that testing should not be random, and that every player should be tested three to four times per year. And if those players test positive? "Bang them for the whole year," he said.

Currently, the penalty for testing positive is 50 games for the first offense, 100 games for the second offense, then a lifetime ban.

"I think you clean up the game by the testing," Ortiz said. "I test you, you test positive, you're going to be out. Serious. I know that if I test positive for using any kind of substance, I know that I'm going to disrespect my family, the game, the fans, and everybody. I don't want to be facing that situation, so what I will do, I won't use."

Asked if he would consent to blood tests, which are currently the only reliable way to test for human growth hormone, Ortiz said, "I don't care. Whatever. I just want to go out there and make sure that people aren't looking at you like, 'Oh look at this guy, he's big now. What is going on?'

"There's a lot of guys here that they work, they work hard, and I'm pretty sure that all the way around the league guys want to come and put up some numbers the way they [can]."

But it wasn't only about the future, one that Ortiz envisions without the taint of steroids, without fans looking at players and asking themselves whether this or that guy might have done something wrong. It was also about the past. Ortiz was vehement that players who used steroids should not be subject to criminal proceedings. This was said in the wake of Miguel Tejada's guilty plea last week for lying to investigators about his knowledge of performance-enhancing drugs in baseball.

"There's a lot of players that have been in federal court being judged like they just killed somebody or they robbed somebody," Ortiz said. "I don't think all that is supposed to be happening.