Is it just me or did his long absence seem like a possible delay for the steriods in his system to clear out before he could go back on the active roster again? After all, this is the only guy who has actually admitted taking steroids at this point (not that he is the only one, but he is the only confession thus far). Of course, he had no way of knowing that the things being injected into him and the cream he was rubbing on his skin were anything but vitamins since he managed to turn from a 30-40 home run a year hitter into a 73 homer slugfest. Miraculous.
And even without the steriods, he was one of the best players of all time.