No sooner had the flap over Curt Schilling‘s remarks last week about a possibly questionable recommendation by the Red Sox medical staff died down when another former Red Sox pitcher spoke out and momentarily fanned the PEDs flame, at least if you are to believe the talking heads.
Where there’s smoke there isn’t necessarily fire. Credit: Sam Sharpe-USA TODAY Sports
ESPN’s Gordon Edes reported that former Sox closer Jonathan Papelbon said that he and a number of Red Sox players were regularly injected with Toradol, a legal anti-inflammatory drug whose use has become increasingly controversial in sports.
There have been far too many words already written about essentially nothing. This story is a non-issue. Why? If you read the second paragraph the key word is legal. That’s right, Toradol is a legal non-steroidal anti-inflammatory. It may be banned in the future but not right now. End of story.
There are two things that can be said about the Toradol To-Do. 1. The media’s insatiable desire to beat one another to the punch, while not necessarily causing them to turn a blind eye to the facts, does bury the one clear fact that Toradol is legal under an avalanche of words and, in some cases, innuendo. 2. The real story here is the use of the drug and fully assessing the risks associated with particular regimens. Last season Red Sox pitcher Clay Buchholz acknowledged that Toradol might have contributed to the esophagitis that bounced him from the Red Sox lineup for 20 games. During that time Buchholz was hospitalized, losing a reported three to four pints of blood, which can be a side effect of Toradol use.
Let the Red Sox and all other MLB medical staffs assess Toradol in conjunction with independent medical counsel and arrive at a decision in one year. That’s it. Cut and dried. No dragging this thing out. Recognize the risk, assess the risk and make the call.
Cinder and smoke
Some whispers around the trees
– Cinder and Smoke, Iron & Wine