This Jason Grimsley-based continuation of the Balco saga illustrates that most mainstream sports journalists still don’t understand this issue of performance enhancing drugs (PEDs) in sports.

Jason Grimsley. The jokes have already been adjusted, and now go along the lines of “Well since Grimsley was using that just proves that PEDs don’t do anything for a baseball player!” That may sound somewhat amusing, but it is off-base. PEDs allow a mediocre player like Jason Grimsley continue pitching well enough to extend his undistinguished major league career into his late 30s.

Grimsley has made money over the past six years ($9 million) as a player of insignificant ability. Most people who excel at their job will never see that much money. PEDs have allowed Grimsley to hang on long enough to make his fortune while living the dream as a major league baseball player. PEDs have helped Grimsley — a guy who never went to college — stay in the majors long enough so that he was able to sign a contract that paid him almost $2 million per year as a 33-year-old.

Major league rosters have always had their share of lousy pitchers. The thing is that before the juice, guys who were lousy and weren’t durable were here and gone. Durable, lousy guys hung on a little longer.

Juice enables lousy guys to hang on much longer. PEDs allow lousy pitchers to earn their keep as guys who are “inning eaters,” and while they may not be good, these guys are valuable because they are dependable and take the load off of the rest of the pitching staff.

In recent years as the overall quality of pitching has declined, juice has allowed guys to extend their careers, lousy or not.

Jose Canseco. I’m not bragging, but when I read Jose’s book I knew that he was more right than wrong. Forget about the hyperbole – all storytellers engage in such – but focus on the overall story. There was rampant drug use in baseball, guys of all levels were using and Jose Canseco reveled in his role as the unofficial MLB steroid guru.

A lot of people ripped Jose for speaking his mind and telling his story. People called him names, called him stupid, and invoked the dreaded “he did it for the money” argument. (By the way, the most ludicrous tool used by those engaging in character assassination is to discredit a person because they are trying to make money.) If Jose went out there and was doing interviews for free, people would have said, “Ah, Jose is just out there fishing for a book deal. You can’t believe anything he says.”