Shielding Sweeney

Mike Sweeney was a normal looking big league catcher in the mid 90's. His career was going nowhere (former Royals manager Tony Muser later said that the team was trying to package him together with other players in several different trade scenarios). At 25, he looked less and less like a prized prospect, and more and more like yet another bust. The organization had lost faith in his ability to be the team's catcher of the future. He was a player without a position, and a suspect bat as well.

Early in the 1999 season, Royals first basement Jeff King unexpectedly retired, and Sweeney's career took a turn for the better. It was at that time that Sweeney transformed himself into a power hitting first basemen.

From 1999-2001, Sweeney posted exceptional hitting numbers. The Royals, after trading away other talented players and letting others leave as free agents, awarded Sweeney with a 5 year, $55 million contract just prior to the 2002 season.

He has missed considerable time due to various ailments in each season that followed.

Missed Games:
2002 - 36
2003 - 54
2004 - 56
2005 - 40

It is evident that Sweeney's body has violently broken down (despite still being in his early 30's, and never having suffered a serious injury on the field). The absence of the Royal's $55 million player (year after year) has been curiously absent in the Kansas City media's reporting of the Royals woes.

Last winter, Sweeney was very optimistic about the upcoming season. There were no hints about his lingering ailments or the subject of a forced, early retirement. In January, Sweeney told the KC Star that he was offered steroids by a Royals teammate in 1999 (the time in which his offensive numbers spiked, along with those of his teammates....the Royals offense produced several team records in 1999 and 2000), but ultimately refused to take part. Former teammate, and admitted steroids user, Jeremy Giambi, was on that 1999 Royals team, which finished 64-97 despite the impressive hitting performance from Sweeney and others.

This spring, Sweeney was again at the forefront of the team's marketing campaign, as well as it's efforts to sell taxpayers on the initiative to renovate the Truman Sports Complex.

Mike Sweeney's physical deterioration

Does anyone remember what Mike Sweeney looked like in the mid 90's?

He was a normal sized big league catcher.

He didn't transform into that power hitting first basemen until 1999 (sorry Jeff King).

Will anyone in this town raise the question of why Sweeney's body broke down so violently in his early 30's, despite never suffering an injury on the field?

Will his personal beliefs (which have created an impeccable, bullet-proof reputation) shield him from any future scrutiny by the local media? Is he that much of a sacred cow?

Last winter, Sweeney was very optimistic about the upcoming season. There were no hints about his lingering ailments or the subject of a forced, early retirement. Here is what Sweeney was telling the KC Star back in January when they brought up the subject of steroids:

(Early in the article, Sweeney says he was offered steroids by a Royals teammate in 1999. Jeremy Giambi, an admitted steroids user, was on that Royals team, which finished 64-97.)

"There would have been no repercussions back then," Sweeney said. "There was no testing like that. But I knew in my heart it was wrong, and I had my faith to get me through it."

Ah yes.

Once again, faith provides us with the answer.

Update:

One local media figure, who acknowledged that Sweeney's injuries make this a topic, holds the view that ("after talking to ex-teammates, on and off the record") Sweeney is clean. He also suggested that Sweeney is only moderately bigger since the Royals first called him up in 1995.