This was not a normal Monday morning in Major League Baseball. It's hard to determine which story is the biggest.

Let's start with Mark McGwire indicating that he used steroids during his playing days. Certainly, that comes as no surprise. What does come as a surprise is the response from some former players in the Major League Players Association who had some very candid comments about McGwire's admission.

Let''s look at the comments of former ML pitcher Al Leiter. Speaking on MLB TV, Leiter indicated that players actually stood up at Association meetings and raised their voices in disgust about the lack of a drug testing policy in baseball. In fact, Leiter indicated that he was not alone in his feeling that the game was being negatively impacted by those using performance enhancing drugs. Leiter indicated there were many players calling for change. However, Association paid executives Donald Fehr and Gene Orza constantly spoke of the feelings of Marvin Miller, the chief architect of the Association. Miller felt that once the players would give in to drug testing, it would be the beginning of additional intrusion into personal lives. According to Leiter, Miller, Orza and Fehr wanted no part of drug testing and held firm.

On the same topic, former Seattle second baseman Harold Reynolds indicated that he was driven out of baseball by home run hitting second basemen. Reynolds indicated his career was shortened because he was a hitter that would hit the gaps and try to take the base. His game was not based upon power. He also mentioned the name of Dave Parker as a player that didn't use steroids and couldn't keep up with the stats of those that did use performance enhancing drugs.

Tony LaRussa was asked by columnist Ken Rosenthal how he, LaRussa didn't know of the steroid use of McGwire and others? LaRussa indicated he just didn't know. Asked by members of the panel on MLB TV if he felt betrayed, LaRussa said he wished there had been testing before and that he didn't feel betrayed. LaRussa does not feel his clubs were tainted by guys that used performance enhancing drugs. LaRussa mentioned that his club's weight lifting programs had improved so much that players gaining muscle, overall strength and body weight could have been a result of the improved weight training program instituted by the Oakland A's. Not many teams were using weight training as much as LaRussa's Oakland teams.

Tom Verducci indicated that he asked McGwire point blank if he had used steroids. The answer at that time? "No." In essence, today McGwire indicated that he used steroids during his playing career and he apologizes. The fact that McGwire will become the new hitting coach of the St. Louis Cardinals was likely the impetus of the McGwire revelation.

So now we know. Mark McGwire used steroids. As early as '89-'90.

Now on to the biggest story of the day. Left-handed Cuban pitcher Aroldis Chapman has signed with the Cincinnati Reds. That indeed, is a surprise. Is there anyone out there who predicted the Reds as the landing spot for the 21 year old Southpaw? Chapman will be 22 in February.

Chapman was chased by several major league clubs. He held a workout for any club that wanted to see him pitch. He was scouted heavily during the World Baseball Classic when he pitched well against Australia and poorly against Japan. His selection of the Reds was a shock to most.

Chapman defected in July during a tournament in the Netherlands. He established residency in Andorra to become eligible to be signed to a big league club.

It is being reported that Chapman will be paid 30.25 million dollars over a 6 year period. The Reds have time for him to develop that 100 mile per hour fastball and create secondary pitches with command and control that play at the big league level.

Finally, it is being reported that Aubrey Huff has in the process of signing with the Giants. That's an important signing in many ways.

First, Huff will allow the Giants to move newly acquired Mark DeRosa to left field and keep Pablo Sandoval at third.
It also provides some protection in the lineup for Sandoval and DeRosa. It may also mean more runs. More runs means more wins. More wins means the win stats for Lincecum, Cain and ultimately Bumgarner are enhanced as well.
So, it was a good move for the Giants. Huff certainly is an upgrade over Ryan Garko.

No question-Monday, January 11th was a crucial day in the off-season. The pace of news may just stay hot until spring training beings in February. Stay tuned. The aftermath of McGwire's admission should be fast and furious.