Madson wonders whether HGH could help

"Right now, it's cheating," Ryan Madson said. "I've never done anything like that, and I won't."(Getty)

BALTIMORE -- Ryan Madson is frustrated. He's 14 months removed from a Tommy John procedure that normally carries a 12-month recovery period, and he's still struggling to clear that final hurdle, now relegated to playing catch and confined to the small victories of simply not feeling soreness the next day.

The Angels right-handed reliever has fluctuated the intensity of his throwing sessions, presumably tried every rehab procedure available, been to four doctors -- one in New York, one in Arizona, the Angels' orthopedic consultant and the late Dr. Lewis Yocum, who performed his surgery -- and yet his right elbow soreness lingers.

Madson, 32 and very much in his prime, just wants to pitch again. And that got him thinking out loud on Tuesday, pondering something taboo, whether Human Growth Hormone -- an illegal and banned substance -- if allowed, could expedite his return to the mound and help him live up to his contract.

"If HGH were legal," Madson said, "just in the process of healing, under a doctor's recommendation, in the right dosage, while you're on the [disabled list], I don't think that's such a bad idea -- as long as it doesn't have any lasting side effects, negative side effects."

This is a question that has occurred to a number of athletes who were willing to break the law and do so at the risk of getting caught, at the more important risk of harming their bodies further and suffering from the stigma associated with attempting to gain an advantage from an illegal drug.

But Madson wants to make one thing perfectly clear.

"Right now," Madson said, "it's cheating. I've never done anything like that, and I won't."

Madson hasn't brought it to the attention of Major League Baseball or even mentioned it to Angels trainers because he knows it's illegal -- the U.S. Food and Drug Administration only allows it in rare instances -- and because, as he said, "I'm still believing that I can come back.

"But I will still believe, even if I get healthy without that," Madson added, "that it should be legal, in the right dosage, under supervision, with doctors, for the only purposes to help heal and get players back in the Major Leagues. Because people want to watch them, because of their talents, just to get them back on the field to play. That's it. I think it would be good for the game; I think it would be good for the fans. Fans want to see the best players play, and they want to see the players that they watch come back from injury and stay back. I think it would be a good thing."

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Madson wonders whether HGH could help