Would Strawberry Have Juiced? 'Aw Hell Yeah!'

The Mets brought retired superstar Darryl Strawberry down to camp as a hitting instructor, but it didn't take long before he started giving an unofficial lesson in media relations. When asked if he would have taken steroids had they been commonplace in the '80s, he responded, "Hell, yeah, I would have used them. Are you kidding me?...And I wouldn't have denied it, because you guys know I don't deny anything." He also didn't fault the newest public enemy in the steroid scandal, Alex Rodriguez, for lacking any of the notorious candor of the former Mets All-Star with a tell-all book on its way. The Straw Man told reporters, "He's taking the bullet for everybody. He admitted he was wrong and everything. I think that should be enough for everybody." As for A-Rod's much-criticized defense of being "young and stupid" when he took banned substances, Strawberry said, "Sometimes people question that, but over the years of my life, I've realized, you are stupid when you're 24 or 25 years old."