24
2013
Updated: MLB’s Very Bad Biogenesis Situation
An article by 
Updated Post 11:45 PM
Jeff Passan of Yahoo Sports posted on this today and I wanted to add some additional information that has surfaced that is relevant to my original post:
The government is in. Despite the failings of federal officials in past high-profile cases that married athletes and PEDs, the Florida Department of Health has started an investigation into Anthony Bosch, operator of the Biogenesis clinic that allegedly provided drugs to players, the New Times reported.
One notable figure is Marcelo Albir, whose name appears multiple times on a Biogenesis document obtained by Yahoo! Sports that initially linked Braun with the clinic.
Albir is a former teammate of Braun’s at Miami who investigators believe played an important role in Braun’s relationship with Biogenesis. Ryan Braun said he paid Biogenesis clinic operator Anthony Bosch a consulting fee during his appeal. (Yahoo)
The document lists Albir’s name next to Braun and Cesar Carrillo, a pitcher who was Braun’s road roommate at Miami. Underneath is a notation: “RB 20-30K,” with an arrow pointing to Chris Lyons, one of Braun’s attorneys in his appeal. Braun, the Milwaukee Brewers star playing for Team USA in the World Baseball Classic, said he paid Bosch a fee for consulting during his appeal for a positive testosterone test that was overturned in arbitration because of chain-of-custody issues.
He did not explain what comes next in the document: One line reads “[follow up with] Lyons, Marcelo, Carrillo, 3K, etc.” On the next line: “Total owed 23-33K + Marcelo Albir,” followed by Lyons’ name and cell phone number on the final line.
Original Post 8:00 AM
I was eating some gluten-free Rice Chex the other morning staring blankly at my milk carton and I saw the words “Homogenized, Pasteurized” and it got me thinking. Pasteurization, the practice whereby you heat and cool raw milk to kill dangerous microbes that might reproduce and create a gelatinous and explosive insurgency in your intestines, as discovered by Louis Pasteur. I remember one time I had some bad yogurt … it was “key lime” flavored and the thing about trying new yogurt flavors is you really want to be sure you know what it should taste like before you try it. I had no idea what “key lime” yogurt was supposed to taste like so it wasn’t until the 7th or 8th spoonful that I realized it probably isn’t supposed to taste like earthworms and bleach. It was a bad situation.
Anyway moving on, Pasteur also happens to be the progenitor of the theory of Biogenesis. Now when I see the word “Biogenesis” I automatically think the Genesis Project from Star Trek III, where they were able to convert a lifeless rock into a living breathing planet (kind of like the way they’re trying to convert Lucas Duda into an outfielder), but Pasteur defined it as generating life from other life forms. According to the theory you in fact cannot generate life from lifeless matter — which explains why Luis Castillo had such a hard time hitting balls out of the infield.
Biogenesis is also of course the name of the disgraced and shuttered PED distributor operating under the guise of an “anti-aging” clinic in southern Florida. Things didn’t work out that well for Biogenesis in Star Trek either as the planet imploded in a molten fireball within a matter of hours. Anthony Bosch, the owner of Biogenesis is currently the target of an MLB lawsuit. Makes you wonder what they were up to, whether they were on the verge of discovering the fountain of youth, or figuring out how to grow new oblique muscles from pork chops in Petri dishes, or clone body parts. I’d love to have a clone … I wouldn’t be very nice to him … probably keep him chained in the basement and feed him scraps and use him only when I need the garage cleaned or if my wife’s sisters are coming over.
Turns out this company had some pretty lucrative business clients, 90 of them were baseball players, many of them professionals. Some of the names have recently been leaked like green fluorescent goop dripping from a radioactive drum, A-Rod, Ryan Braun, Melky Cabrera. Like the spoiled yogurt, it’s a bad, potentially explosive, situation.
There was a quote, however, that struck me as peculiar as I was reading about all of this. It was by MLB Vice President Rob Manfred and appeared in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel on March 20th:
“Everyone whose name has surfaced surrounding the Miami New Times story and Biogenesis is being investigated with equal vigor,”
The quote appears to fire a preemptive shot across the Union’s bow perhaps to diffuse any Union accusations that MLB is about to embark on a witch-hunt. Now I love a good witch-hunt as much as the next towns-person, but if you’re going to pass out torches and pitchforks it would behoove you to establish that there are in fact witches in your town right? So, my guess is MLB has indeed uncovered another wheelbarrow full of dirt in Biogenesis’ basement, only they haven’t, the Miami New Times has.
Here’s the thing. I know how much we all love Bud Selig, I mean he’s right up there with puppies and Santa Clause and cinnamon cannoli, but he’s been known to be somewhat dictatorial. I’m not sure if he’s actually royalty but he’s even earned the moniker “King” in some circles. The thing about Kings is, you don’t want to upset them because the can have your head chopped off. Even worse, they can threaten to suspend a player you just drafted on your fantasy team without just cause … because the player’s lawyer talked to someone named Bosch who happens to run a company called Biogenesis … that word again.
I know, you know, we all know Ryan Braun was guilty and should have served a suspension, but he didn’t and that probably doesn’t sit well with Bud Selig to this day.
We would all do well to recall, however, that Selig was the same commissioner who presided over the steroid era — a time when baseball was recovering from a damaging player strike. The increased offensive output put fannies in the seats and made a lot of money for a lot of people. Balls were flying out of parks at unprecedented rates, everyone was happy. But like many drug fantasies that start off with euphoria and cash, ours crashed in a big way as our collective moral conscience ended up staring at itself in a mirror wondering how it ended up broke in a seedy hotel room with a girl named Velvet. Morality caught up with our favorite pastime in the form of congressional inquiries culminating in the Mitchel report, which eventually produced a formal and stringent drug testing policy.
Don’t get me wrong, the players shoulder a hefty portion of the blame for this PED mess, but what we sometimes fail to consider as fans is that for more than two decades a PED arms race has been going on not just in the majors, but at all levels of the minor leagues. For many players using was the only chance they had at breaking in, even if it meant bouncing back and forth as a utility guy or a bullpen arm. It was the only way they might make enough money to set themselves up somewhere having dropped out of college to pursue their dream. For others using was the only way to maintain a competitive edge against other users. For every major leaguer who dabbled in PED’s there were countless more in the minors who we never heard about, who went on to sell insurance in Topeka or run their Dad’s hardware store in Sioux Falls until they went to see their doctor about a headache that wouldn’t go away and got some bad news.
Selig is no longer the laissez-faire monarch presiding over a booming baseball economy fueled by home run derbies and PED’s. He has taken the high road, claiming it was always the Player’s Union that stood in the way of testing, that the Union bullied our good owners into unwittingly pocketing billions in profits. Yes, the owners were the good guys, making truck loads of money and trying to get drug testing into Collective Bargaining negotiations that probably went something like this:
MLB Rep: “So, we’d like to institute mandatory drug testing, how does counsel for the Player’s Association respond to item IIIb. page 72?”
Union Rep: “Sounds fair, why n… “ a creepy guy with dark sunglasses in a black suit who no one remembers inviting leans over and whispers something into the Union Rep’s ear.
Union Rep: “Er, on second thought no we are categorically opposed to drug testing, peeing in a cup is gross, no one wants that, ew.”
MLB Rep: “Duly noted, moving on.”
Ok, so it probably didn’t happen exactly like that, but how many readers here think MLB made a serious attempt to curb PED use prior to congress becoming involved? If there is one thing we know about Baseball Owners, they don’t usually turn down money, or things that make money, or things that look like money.
So there’s an element of profound hypocrisy here when you listen to Ownership and Bud Selig carrying on as if they are the pious guardians of all that is morally good and wholesome in the world.
Enter Ryan Braun, golden child, circa 2007. Braun is playing for the Brewers … hmm, now what is it about the Brewers and Bud Selig that I’m forgetting?? Oh yes, Selig’s family owns the Brewers. Selig loves Braun because Braun comes up and rockets to superstardom by means of his powerful bat and his ring-tailed lemur eyes. Braun, who bears some resemblance to a cleaned-up Tarzan, is making lots of money for the Brewers, and he’s a good guy, someone we can all like. He’s even friends with Aaron Rogers. He even looks like Aaron Rogers. The Brewers sign him to a lucrative long-term contract and Braun becomes the face of the franchise. Selig contemplates introducing Ryan to his niece Bethunia, everything is wonderful in the world. Then, just as the Brewers are gearing up for the playoffs in 2011, some urine from a cup that Braun peed into is found to have more testosterone than Bruce Banner with a stubbed toe. Bad situation.
What made it worse was that the courier’s delay transporting Braun’s urine violated standard industry protocol (not to mention raising chain of possession concerns) because he kept it in a little party fridge in his “den” over the weekend where he could have had his buddies come over and take turns staring at it for all we know.
“Dude, I’ve got RYAN BRAUN’S urine in my fridge.”
“SHUT UP!”
“No, I’m serious.”
“I’m coming over.”
Anyway, it was ruled that the integrity of the sample could have been compromised and the test’s positive results were invalided, even though it was virtually undeniable that the “triple sealed” sample did in fact test positive. MLB’s protocol for the handling of urine samples were not up to industry standards, as hard as that may be to believe. As Lupica said in the NY Daily News, Braun was acquitted, not exonerated. The penalty was overturned by an arbiter (who has since been banished to Bogeyland). Wonder if they had to draw straws deciding who had to break the news to Mr. Selig?
Now this kid (one of the 90 names) Cesar Carrillo, a minor leaguer, gets hammered with a 100 game suspension (50 for knowing Anthony Bosch and 50 more for “lying about it”) because he was not on his team’s 40 man roster and thus was not protected by the union. Also of interest is the fact that he knew Braun at the University of Miami and that the second 50 game suspension was really for “failing to cooperate.” Subsequent comments by MLB stress that those who fail to cooperate will be suspended (per the new CBA by-laws) and that those who do cooperate may be granted immunity. Meanwhile MLB continues questioning friends and family of Ryan Braun trying to build a case. In addition, MLB requested that the Miami New Times, the paper that broke this latest PED scandal, share their Biogenesis records with the Commissioner’s office.
Chuck Strouse responded on behalf of the New Times with the following:
Sorry, MLB Commissioner Bud Selig. We won’t hand over records that detail the inner workings of Biogenesis, the controversial Coral Gables anti-aging clinic that allegedly supplied prohibited drugs to six professional baseball players, including Yankees slugger Alex Rodriguez.
The reasons are manifold. History plays a role in our decision. So do journalistic ethics and the fact that we have already posted dozens of records on our website. Finally, there is a hitherto-unreported Florida Department of Health criminal probe into clinic director Anthony Bosch.
It gets even better:
One of our most significant motivations for denying baseball is right here in the tropics. His name is Jeffrey Loria, and he owns the Miami Marlins, who start regular-season play in just a few weeks. A March 1 story in the Atlantic called the pudgy art collector’s stewardship of our baseball team, which has twice won the World Series, “the biggest ongoing scam in professional sports.” The magazine’s article describes, as New Times has in the past, how Loria hornswoggled $515 million in public backing for the stadium and parking facilities, then delivered a losing season and sold off all his best players.
The magazine blamed Selig: “If Marlins fans want results, they should send a few representatives to Commissioner Bud Selig’s office in New York. There’s a clause in Selig’s contract mandating that he act in ‘the best interests of baseball.’ Right now that would mean stepping in to prevent owners like Loria from using a big-league team as a front for squeezing money from taxpayers.”
So this is the guy who wants our records?
MLB went on to issue a 1000 game suspension to Chuck Stouse before realizing he does not play for MLB.
Think the union might have something to say about all this? Think MLB would have thought twice about starting this little PED war were it not for the 5 years they have left on their current CBA? Think maybe Selig has overstepped his authority? Was Braun really dumb enough to dabble in illegal substances again after what he went through in 2012, or does this predate those results? Think this may stink a little of a personal vendetta against a Mr. Ryan Braun? If it smells like bad yogurt and it tastes like bad yogurt, well …
One thing I do know. This isn’t going to end any time soon, and like that funny feeling you get after eating too many chimichangas, it’s going to get worse before it gets better, especially when the union pushes back … and they will.
Very bad situation.
About the Author: Matthew Balasis
I’ve been a Met fan since August 1969 when a fire resulted in the Red Cross placing my family on the 6th floor of a building in Willets Point. I could see Shea from our balcony and I knew something big was going on. I followed them through the dark years and the resurgence of the 80’s only (sadly) to miss the fall of 86 because I was in Boot Camp. I've been serving penance ever since in Minnesota where I'm an SLP. I've written a lot about the Mets in an effort to share with my kids (and anyone else who might listen), a sporting tradition that made much of my childhood worthwhile. Follow me on twitter: https://twitter.com/MatthewBalasis
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|---|---|---|---|---|
| Braves | 41 | 28 | .594 | - |
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| Phillies | 33 | 37 | .471 | 8.5 |
| Mets | 25 | 39 | .391 | 13.5 |
| Marlins | 21 | 47 | .309 | 19.5 |
Last updated: 06/16/2013
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Matt,
You are quite the Wordsmith! You went a little Dr. Sheldon Cooper on us.
Braun and A-Rod could be facing long suspensions if MLB finds out that they were using PEDs from that suspected clinic. MLB has a personal vendetta on Braun already.
given his physical condition, A-Rod might already be retired without anyone realizing it.
The evidence would have to be iron-clad without a positive test to back it up.
And the beat goes on. We’ve got chimps managing the chumps and we’re the suckers that pay for this three ring circus.
Well done Joe…my morning coffee hasn’t tasted this good in quite a while.
Sorry, should have been Matt.
Hi Matt,
Another great article of your’s, done by detailed investigation and from all that discovered putting together a very valid summary that seems more close to actuality than it is theory. Yes, there is an obvious stab of humor in your piece but you are all serious when it comes down to the essence of issue.
There might be factors that we are unaware of that could change the accuracy of the conclusions reached but until those emerge – and there has been so much ample opportunity for that evidence to come out – not in words of denial but proof by actions – that it is doubtful that is going to happen. However, somebody who was found guilty for murder twenty years ago has just had the verdict thrown out based on new evidence and thus one who was innocent had 20 years of his life taken away in the most cruelest of manners so, as you know, we must always keep an open mind on things.
The problem is how long does one want to remain keeping an open mind until that becomes instead keeping a closed eye?
Hi Matt,
Just recognized there is an error in one part of your analysis that could be used to discredit all of the case you had presented.
The Genesis Planet was not created from lifeless rock in Star Trek 3 – it was created at the end of Star Trek 2. The planet was already in existence as Spock’s casket landed there at the end of “Wrath Of Khan”.
So by stating the planet was created in Star Trek 3 opens up a slew of second guessing as to the accuracy of your entire findings!
Sorry.
OY!
They used unstable protomatter, that’s why the planet blew up.
And Matt,
As the planet had blown up, wonder why Dr. McCoy didn’t confirm it by saying “it’s dead, Jim.”
Bones said that in almost every episode. In fact, I could imagine many an out-take from the original series with DeForrest Kelly inadvertently saying “he’s dead, Jim” while filming a different scene.
The only time McCoy got it wrong was on purpose – after he said Kirk was dead from Spock’s use of the non-existent Vulcan death grip. I asked my wife to get me a Vulcan Death Grip for Hanukah but she couldn’t find it and got me a Spock doll instead.
Actually Joey…It’s one of those inconsistecies of the two movies that have been pointed out….
Many think the Genesis planet was created from that asteroid they were on….But they were far far away from it and inside a nebula when the device exploded on the ship (not a planet).
Spock’s coffin did land on it but only after the planet was created.
In ST3 there is no sign of the Nebula at all…
So either the device turned the Nebula into a planet or the planet was created inside that Nebula…But it is almost impossible that the Asteroid is what became the planet…Even if it was close enough the mass wasn’t enough to make the planet they wound up on in ST3.
And to answer your question NO I havenever been to a convention NOR do I won a Star Fleet Uniform! LOL
Can you do the Vulcan hand salute?
Yes but only because of my years of practice twirling Drum Sticks! LOL
I can do that with both hands and my eyeballs closed!
Live long and prosper!
Hi Metsie,
Yeah, you’re right about the type of matter that the planet originated from – it was Dr. Marcus in her video presentation that referred to use of a lifeless rock.
But the planet itself already existed at the end of the film – McCoy, Marcus and Kirk where looking at it when Bones asked Jim how he felt and he answered “young”, then we heard Spock’s voice about “space – the final frontier” which included his coffin lying on the planet’s surface, though I would have been mad that the cemetery did not keep his grave site in perpetual care.
But of course we ALL remember the big, major goof of Star Trek 2 – how could Khan remember Chekofv when he didn’t appear in the original episode “Space Seed”. And in the movie, how many recognized Lieutenant Kyle – the former transporter officer of the original series?
Yes Joey it existed at the end of the film…
AFTER the Genesis device went off….
Question is…did it exist BEFORE the device went off?
People assume it was the Asteroid/Moon they were on that became the Planet….
But it was too far away to be affected!
As for the Chekov goof…There was a novelized version of the original Space Seed that had him assigned to engineering department when Khan took over the ship and thats supposedly where he met him….
Joe,
The personal nature of the quote by Strouse floored me. Marlins fans are NOT happy. You’re right, facts may emerge that change the situation, but as of now all we have is one huge suspension to a “non union” minor leaguer for not cooperating. The feds have not gotten involved (as much as MLB would like them to), all we have is a list. As of today MLB has not formally assessed any penalties to Union members. I can’t WAIT to see how the Union responds to that if and when it happens.
I do realize that the players ultimately are the ones who broke the law and who used, but like I said above, the atmosphere likely made it difficult for many young impressionable athletes (many of them were kids really) in the minor leagues to abstain when others all around them were gaining a competitive edge, and when (as is the case for many), they had no other occupational options available to them.
Owners I see playing a very different role — they were enablers, they turned a blind eye to a practice that went on in every MLB locker room that was a glaring hazard to the health and well being of their employees, and they did it for monetary gain. While the “blame” is spread fairly evenly (because, again, the players were the ones who actually used) the moral implications are not … the hypocrisy of Ownership taking the high road is staggering.
As I have said piously…The Player should bear the majority of the blame….
Were the Owners enablers? No at best they are the Witness who wouldn’t come forward and picked up some of the loot the bank robbers dropped as they were running away…
Could they have done something to stop the practice?
I ask you what could they have done without testing or proof to make any charges or action stick?
The worst thing we have on the owners is it was never in thier interests to STOP it but yet they still were the first on board to stopping it than the players and Union was….
The UNION had more to gain thanthe Owners did when push comes to shove…Those cheaters drove up salaries for the remainder of thier members. A-Rod broke the 20Mil barrier for them. And every pay scale below that went up as well!
The Union FAILED their membership and profited more than even the owners did!
And while we hear every now and then players say the cheating hurts THEM and the GAME there obviously isn’t enough of them in the Union to force the union to act and allow the testing needed to root out these cheaters.
And it has been that UNION who has stopped and delayed the Owners and League from enacting and implementing a quicker fix to tackle the problem.
Hi Matt,
The owners did indeed turn a blind eye. And it wasn’t for the reason like that of Sandy Alderson said before Congress that he had his suspicions because he saw the dramatic change in physic but there was nothing he could do because of the CBA, the Union, it not being a banned substance, etc.
Like with Selig and others, it wasn’t so much that nothing could be done as it was nothing wanted to be done. They exploited it for all the money they could.
I brought up Sandy because of Oakland and because his testimony before Congress represented so much of the defense eschewed by the owners and commissioner’s office. It must be acknowledged that everyone inside the game was responsible – the owners, the players, the managers and the players (both who used it or didn’t pressure the players union) and that in this case it was indeed a total team effort.
Sure, Ryan Braun is a cheat. His problem is doing it in the supposed post-era when others who used to turn a blind eye are now trying to protect their own posterity.
If you ask me blaming the owners is kind of like blaming the security company or unarmed bank guard at a bank for not stopping Bank Robberies….
He benefitted by Bank Robberies he got paid due to thier existence…
The fact he was not given the tools he needed to actually stop them isn’t really his fault…
But he benefitted economically from the practice of Bank Robberies and probably felt no real need to stop a guy from robbing a bank when he didn’t have the firepower to actually do it….
You are letting the owners off the hook, yes ultimately it’s on the players, but as “stewards” the Owners allowed this to happen on their property.
If you own a house where drug deals are made and it can be proven that you knew about it you can be brought up on charges.
Matt what could they do?
Ok Lets play hypothetical here….
They suspect A-Rod of using….But can’t test him to prove it…
They BAN HIM and files a grievance saying PROVE it….
They can’t! Cause they are forbidden from testing him for Roids…
He goes free and they get sued for making a false charge!
Name what you think they could do to stop what the players did and wouldn’t allow them to get rid of because they wouldn’t submit to any testing procedure to prove it and make any charge they make stick!
Just look at what happened with Braun!
He DID test positive and they STILL couldn’t get rid of him!
Imagine how well it would have worked without a test to prove it and keep the ban?
And how many times has the League asked for testing in a CBA only to be denied by the union?
Don’t confuse me with the facts!
What you say of course is ostensibly accurate (the owners have an airtight alibi) but, if we’re going to look at hypothetical arguments, consider this.
Someone videotapes the purchase of steroids from a source in a ML locker room.
As owner:
*You could face fines – if it can be proven in court that you were aware of (or even suspected) that there was criminal activity of any sort occurring on your property, you could face fines. These can be substantial. Since it is your property, you should stop any illegal activities in their tracks, otherwise you are just as responsible as they are.
*You could face criminal charges – if you have been knowingly allowing illegal activities to proceed on your property, it is even possible that you could be charged criminally.
*You could be sued for threatening public safety – in instances where your tenants have been involved in criminal activity like drug dealing that has impacted the safety of your neighborhood, it is possible that you could be sued for threatening public safety. After all, as a landlord, you are responsible for removing individuals from your property if they have been conducting dangerous illegal activity.
*Your property could be confiscated – in extreme circumstances where illegal activity, such as drug activity, is taking place on the property, it is possible that your property will be confiscated as part of an ongoing investigation. This is less likely when dealing with a rental property, but it is still a risk that you face, especially if a court becomes aware that you have been ignoring the signs of illegal activity.
You could simply argue THEY DIDN’T DO ENOUGH. What more could they have done? Well, they could have brought in the feds, they could have brought in the feds YEARS (a decade?) before they did.
That would have been the honorable thing to do.
LOL Ok…PROVE that the item in the Video is steroids and not just hand cream or vitamin supplements?
Is this an X-Ray camera that can see the needles and substances in the bag?
Does the Camera have a spectrometer in it to chemically analyze the liquid inside the needle the trainer is giving the player that is supposedly vitamins?
Can it analyze the cream the trainer is rubbing on that bad leg and tell the difference between steroid laced cream and mere Horse Linament?
If they saw some Peds being passed (even if a COP saw it passed) can he just go up and do a search without a warrant that lays out specifically what it is he is searching for?
We have very tough Search and Siezure laws here even for Cops (note the protest of stop and frisk which works GREAT but is slightly in conflict with those search and Siezure laws)
Sure you can be sued for threatening Public Safety but are the police allowed to follow everyone who has a criminal record because they have a suspicion but no proof of illegal activity?
Are they allowed to stop and search, test and arrest anyone just because they SUSPECT them of illegal activity sans any proof to justify it?
NO!
You’re missing the point, lets just say the “package” was somehow proven to be steroids after the fact (there are any number of plausible scenarios where this could happen) from a car accident to an overdose to whatever.
The point is the Owners would be liable IF they had knowledge of these activities (which they did).
But thats the KEY issue isn’t it?
There is no SOMEHOW possible? There is no SOMEHOW that could be!
Can’t confiscate, can’t test, can’t do ANYTHING with that package because the Union would not allow it! And laws do not allow you to take someone package and send it to a lab without a court order.
Imagine if police could not test a package of Cocaine to see if it is cocaine?
Would they be able to make a case against the person who had it if they were forbidden by law from testing to see if it is cocaine?
You do realize the Owners were not the only ones to benefit from the use…
The Fans did too and the fans could have done even MORE to stop it than the Owners could…
Owners benefitted because WE PAID TO SEE IT!
Knew full well it was a product of Roids in the case of McGwire and others…
But we went to see him hit those 70 HRs didn’t we? PACKED the place to see it!
Only after it happened and we got to see it did we even consider just what his doing that meant for other things we care about like the Record book and Hall of Fame….
But at the time we all LOVED seeing those HRs go out of the park!
Sorry you can blame the Owners for not wanting to upset that Gravy Train from rolling but it is US who glady handed over the rewards despite Canseco’s book telling us how it was happening and knowing full Well McGwire was using something to help him hit those HRs…
And we went and paid to see it ANYWAY!
If we had not rewarded the players who used by our attendance and protested going to see them play then this thing would have never gotten as far as it did!
Less money made means less money paid to the player which would make whatever risk to thier health they took to get that Money not worth it.
Lots of people who got something from the use and it is the one subject where the biggest culprits were ENABLED and PROTECTED by their own Victims!
Some players got raped of money and historical numbers and then whenever a law of system was passed to prosecute thier rapists they said no no…don’t do that!
Oh it is possible if the authorities had been brought in.
If I know that an activity in MY HOUSE is breaking a law, you can bet I’d explore every venue of legal, prosecutorial and investigative due diligence to get it OUT OF my house.
That’s like saying it’s ok to continue to break the law because you’ve discovered you can get away with it.
No Matt thats the problem..they CAN’T act unless there is some evidence to act on…
They can’t even search for a missing person despite you reporting them missing!
Lets put this another way that maybe you understand a bit better…
Your boss thinks people in his office are using drugs….
Can he search your bag at will to find it? Can he call the police to search everyone who comes to work? Will they show up to do that without SOME evidence to base the search on?
Can he just decide that your going to be tested for drugs without you signing your employee handbook that states you are subject to random drug testing at the whim of management?
Can they confiscate your lunch and send it to a lab to find something they think might be in it that could potentially be illegal?
If they can’t then the team owners couldn’t either and you can’t blame them for not doing something they were not allowed to do….
You blame the ones who DID something they were nt allowed to do instead!
The crux of the question for ownership is:
You knew about it, you knew about these activities, what did you do?
Answer:
Not nearly enough.
A few criminal cases early on would have caused enough of a public outcry so that drug testing and enforcement could have been stepped up YEARS before it did … that didn’t happen because of ONE reason and ONE reason only …
GREED!
Th Police knew about the Gambinos and Columbos in the 50′s…
could they do?
NOTHING because there was no way to prove the guys doing the crime were involved until the RICO statuate ewas created to indict those who are part of a criminal organization of a crime merely because they were member of the organization regardless of the lack of rpoof they were even involved in the crime in question!
Yes the owners knew about it and the activities…
what COULD they do?
If you can’t answerr that then you can’t blame them for coming up with the same non answer you did!
Better to ask what did WE do when we knew about those activities?
Did we stop going to see those Roided up players play?
NOPE!
The owners could have brought in the authorities, requested that congress get involved, taken it to the press, run it through the court of public opinion. It was THEIR business after all.
It took YEARS for that to happen,
Why?
Greed.
I tell you what Matt….
Call the cops and tell them you think someone in your house is using drugs….
Tell them you want them to come over and investigate….
Then tell me if they show up and how long it takes them to get there….
Or tell me what they say to you and what they ask you to do before they can act?
You will find they will ask you did you find any drugs in the house?
And if you can’t say yes they will say what I’m saying…There is nothing they can do about it!
You really think had MLB pursued a drug policy 20 years ago with the vehemence and resourced they are expending today they couldn’t have produced some evidence “in their house.”
You believe that?
It was against their financial interests at a time when the game was reeling from a player strike.
They made a few token attempts to address the issue and then proceeded to continue raking in the additional profits …
We’re talking Baseball Owners here Metsie, this isn’t a church group from Iowa.
They could have pursued one 50 yeago….
But there could be no policy until the players union agreed!
Whenever they started to pursue it Lets say 10 years ago…Did it happen?
NOPE!
Why didn’t it because the owners had NOT pursued it? NO because they DID!
And were stopped every step of the way by the Union!
You can’t blame someone for not doing what they were NOT allowed to do!
Your not allowed to go up to a person and frisk them….Even COP needs probable cause….
I suppose we should blame everyone for the crimes in our society for not doing enough to stop it regardless of the fact in order to do what you propose they would have to BREAK A LAW!
BAD US for not being CRIMINAL ENOUGH to stop other CRIMINALS!
LOL, But Metsie you are making it sound like the Owners TRIED REALLY HARD to prevent this use and that the Union BLOCKED them which is false, blatantly so.
If anything they CONSPIRED to propagate an illegal activity that was making both the players and Owners considerably more wealthy.
Like I said, after a few token attempts (well after steroids had already rooted themselves in Baseball’s culture) they backed off and raked in the cash.
Here is a quote from Chris Hayes’ The Twilight of the Elites – America after Meritocracy:
“The report on steroids commissioned by Major Leage Baseball, produced by former senator George Mitchell, concluded…”There is validity to the assertion by the Players Association that, prior to 2002, the owners did not push hard for mandatory random drug testing because they were much more concerned about the serious economic issues facing baseball.”
A 2003 postseason scouting assessment of Dodgers star pitcher Kevin Brown speculated about “what kind of mediciation he takes” and noted, “Steroids suspected by GM.” Brown was never, apparently, confronted about this suspicion and was later traded to the Yankess, which continued to pay his annual salary of $15.7 million. One imagines there were quite a few similar memos written during that time.
The reason for the laissez-faire approach to drug use is blindingly clear: the steroids era was a lucrative time for baseball. In 2007, as the widespread steroid use was coming to the surface, MLB broke its attendance record for the fourth consecutive season. That same year, revenue for baseball’s thirty teams went up by 7.7 percent, to $5.5 billion. In 2007, the average team was worth $472 million, up a whopping 143 percent since 1998…Like the peak years of the housing boom, the players and owners were all making far too much money to trouble themselves with the massive fraud that was driving the profits. “
Metsie,
Sometimes I feel like if Bud Selig himself came on here and said “yeah, we really didn’t do much to stop the spread of steroids” you’d disagree …
Who should I believe, you, or Sen. George Mitchell?
Hi Matt and Metsie,
Metsie, you are right – there might not have much the owners could have done.
But Matt and I are not looking at it from the court of law as we are the court of public opinion. There were steps MLB could have taken. For example, from the attached historical timeline in sports and drugs:
“Major League Baseball Commissioner Fay Vincent sends a seven page memo to all of the major league teams on June 7, 1991 that states: “The possession, sale or use of any illegal drug or controlled substance by Major League players or personnel is strictly prohibited… This prohibition applies to all illegal drugs and controlled substances, including steroids.” In the absence of any testing, enforcement, or publicity of the rule, many players and team management later claim to have been unaware of Vincent’s policy (according to interviews conducted by ESPN writer Tom Farrey in 2002).
“Vincent later says he sent the memo because of rumors about Jose Canseco and admits, “We could have done a lot more lecturing, lobbying, and educating. But I didn’t know anything about steroids.”
Tom Farrey “The Memos: A Ban Ignored,” ESPN the Magazine, Nov. 2005
Read Fay Vincent’s memo banning steroids in baseball (934 KB)
http://sportsanddrugs.procon.org/view.resource.php?resourceID=002366#III
In fact, one could look at all that had happened just in the few years leading up to Vincent’s memo to show that MLB did little in the face of what was happening all around them. Could not find any threads showing that they even approached the player’s union on this issue irrelevant of collective bargaining or anything in that nature.
And your making it sound like they could do something without breaking a law….
If they did more or what you suggest THEY go to jail!!!!
For illegal search and siezure!!!
So your basically saying theyare GUILTY for NOT breaking the law and doing something!
Yes Mitchell said they didn’t do much to stop it….He also never pointed out one thing they COULD have done to stop it either….
Because the only way to stop it would have been to break a law, invade privacy, Illegal Search and Siezure and go to jail and it STILL wouldn’t have done squat because the Owner would be serving time for trying to do what you want all to stop the CRIMINAL who committed the crime in the first place…and went FREE because the EVIDENCE wasn’t admissable in court ANYWAY the way it was collected.
And I might sound like Seligula but you sound like the Union head…
It’s not OUR fault that Steroids were used…
ALl we did was stop you from putting into the CBA the rules and TESTING that could have stopped it!
Balme the OWNERS for the CBA and take no responsibility over whats NOT in it at thier behest!
They were both to blame Metsie, not one not the other, BOTH. That’s what we’re saying. You simply cannot let the Owners off the hook for this, that position is virtually untenable in light of the facts and the lack of formal measures on behalf of MLB prior to 2002. As with many things it’s never strictly black or white but the truth is some gray in between. The players are certainly not blameless, the owners could have done quite a bit more as stewards of the game WITHOUT BREAKING THE LAW as you claim, than they did. You think Mitchel was implying the Owners should have broken the law by doing “more?” No …
Well Joey the Court of Law is supposed to be the FAIR version of Court of Public Opinon is it not?
Lets take another example of what your doing….
Your standing in a bank….
You see a robber produce a gun to rob it…
You didn’t TRY to stop him….
You go to jail because in your court of Public Opinion YOU are more GUITY than the Bank Robbber for not doing enough to stop him…..
Or the Bank manager who ALSO didn’t do enough to stop the robbery….
the PLAYERS attempted to ROB the bank….And when it came time to say we NEED to catch these guys the Players UNION said TOUGH we won’t allow you to look for them!
OBSTRUCTION of JUSTICE!
And the TRUE VICTIMS (clean players) didn’t tell their UNION who is supposed to represent them to let the testing happen and get rid of it….
They refused to testify in a manner of speaking….
You want to blame the cops for not prosecuting a case with NO evidence and whatever evidence might exist can not be obtained LEGALLY!
If the court of Public Opinion can’t be won in a courtroom then the opinion is UNFAIR and WRONG!
Blame the Criminals not the guys who didn’t break a law to catch them.
Matt name the thing you think they could do wihout breaking the law….
Name the thing you think Law Enforcement might have done if they got a phone call…
Please until you do that you can’t blame someone for not reaking a law to stop something they didn’t make happen themselves.
Well, the P.A. only has influence on the major league level, they could have taken steps to eliminate steroids in the minor leagues.
Hi Metsie,
I’m talking in terms of the owners not being part of the problem – even if the could not have done anything in terms of taking steps to stop the players within the confines of both the CBA and the law, if they were at all concerned about the situation as Fay Vincent mentioned, ““We could have done a lot more lecturing, lobbying, and educating.”
Between you, I and Matt, I don’t think that would have stopped one single player from using the drugs, but it would have shown that on the executive level it wasn’t just lending a blind eye to the whole thing for profitability. The owners knew what was going on and honestly looked at it only in terms of their own business self-interests (for the juiced up competition was bringing more fans to the park and watching on television – look how many fans left the ball park after McGwire was tossed out in the first inning) just as juicing by the players was looking out for their own interests as well.
My own theory – and it’s only a theory on my part – is that the owners didn’t realize the situation was going to cause such a harsh public backlash when it became a matter of home run records being obliterated.
Look guys Lecturing and Schooling, complaining, Whining, Jumping up and down on the desk…
There was only ONE THING the owners could have done….
NOT PLAY BASEBALL until the Union agreed to rigorous testing!
That means there would be no baseball for the last 10-15 years….
They would have NO business at all but you would have gotten rid of Steroids in Baseball….Because you got rid of baseball!
Called throwing the baby out with the bathwater!
Minor Leagues, College MLB doesn’t matter….NO ONE can STOP a player from taking roids if he thinks he needs them and can get a few more bucks in pay!
We HAVE testing and they STILL do it!
So to blame the guys who have been asking for testing but have been refused and blaming them for not educating players how CHEATERS NEVER WIN is just rediculous…
There are lots of subjects to knock the owners on…THIS ain’t one of them!
“The report on steroids commissioned by Major Leage Baseball, produced by former senator George Mitchell, concluded…”There is validity to the assertion by the Players Association that, prior to 2002, the owners did not push hard for mandatory random drug testing because they were much more concerned about the serious economic issues facing baseball.”
Good enough for me …
(they could have educated banned and tested to their hearts content in the minor leagues — they didn’t).
I think this discussion has run it’s course.
ATD
(agree to disagree).
Good night and have a pleasant tomorrow!
Is thi the same players association who said NO when they suggested drug testing but didn’t push it enough to get them to say YES?
See my point?
Owners – Hey Players Association we want to do Drug Testing for Roids
Players Association – NO!
Owners – OK
Players Association – Why did you give up so easily we were just fooling!
Metsie,
Actually that sounds about right lol …
Except it wasn’t the P.A. who accused them of not trying harder, it was a congressional inquiry and a multitude of independent media sources.
And the P.A. doesn’t have any influence over players not on a ML 40 man roster, which is the vast majority of the minor leagues. Those affiliates are privately run as their respective organizations please, they could have mandated testing, educational programs, signed agreements, or monitored facilities … they did nothing … for a decade … except rake in the cash.
Anyway I’d put it at 50%/40%/10% in terms of who is to blame for the steroid era, 50% the players, 40% ownership and 10% the press and the public.
Again,
ATD
signing out …
Goodnight all.
“…”There is validity to the assertion by the Players Association
Mitchell – Why did you say NO to the drug Testing?
Players Association – Well we did say no but it’s the owners fault for not FORCING us to say yes and refusing to not play baseball until we did say yes
I suppose we should start arresting parents for not doing enough to stop thier kids from being criminals or murderers too…
Lets also lock up thier teachers, Friends, Grandparents…They are all just as blamable as the Owners were in this case….
Congress found Players used….
Owners said they wouldn’t let us test even when we asked…
Congress asked Players Association WHY?
Players Association said they didn’t ask hard enough!
They were full of it they didn’t want the testing and when Congress called them out on that they bleamed the owners for not INSISTING on what they said NO to….
He was also wrong (on purpose) after Bones injected Kirk with a sedative making him appear to be dead after the Pon Farr.
Hey neekerbreeker,
You’re right – that’s twice when Bones tried to set up Spock for the murder of his Captain. Then I think he tried to make it appear that Spock was trying to take over the captaincy by letting Kirk die in a Tholien web!
(Above was in response to Bone’s being wrong about his death pronouncements).
Wow, Duda must have read my quip about making him and outfielder, lol …
He just CRUSHED one out of the park.
I stand CORRECTED!
A lot of mouth breathers here so sure that Braun is guilty. Funny that Shyam Das did not agree with you, and his opinion is really the only one that mattered. I love how you all KNOW that he cheated. None of you know shit. It wasn’t some God damned “technicality”. A lot of mindless meme regurgitating here by people that don’t have enough sense to read beyond the pages of ESPN. Will Carroll, a columnist/reporter for CNNSI that specializes in ped’s said that the case was won on science, and that Braun didn’t get off on some technicality.
Now MLB is coming off as a jilted ex-girlfriend. First they fired the guy that basically overturned Braun’s suspension. MLB loved him when he was upholding every other suspension, but one time he sides with the player, and boom, he’s gone. Now MLB is offering immunity to players that have “dirt” on Braun. Think about that. MLB is so pissed that Braun supposedly cheated….that they are willing to overlook other cheating just to “get him”. Seriously?
If Ryan Braun is innocent, it is not because his test result was overturned (it was overturned because of the violation in transport protocol — that is a matter of public record), it would almost have to be because his sample was tampered with. That his sample contained extremely high levels of testosterone was independently verified … three times.
In fact his levels were so high it was considered … unusual.
Now it could be that he is innocent … but then the question is, why?
Who and why?
Why would MLB (or anyone for that matter) conspire to remarkable lengths to bring down Ryan Braun?
It is absolutely true that the lengths MLB is going to in pursuing this, is … for lack of a better word, weird. It has all the earmarks of a personal vendetta.
Matt,
I differ from you in that I think this story is actually good for baseball. Yes, it is ugly, and will most likely get uglier. But, I think MLB and many fans have thought that the ‘roids/PED age was behind given the new testing implemented. Hopefully, the evidence and story will come out in a manner that nails the guilty and protects the innocent. That may be wishing for the impossible, but hey, I’m a Met fan, what can I tell you. Ultimately, when this cheating pisses off the majority of players enough, things will change and testing/prevention will be implemented to minimize and isolate the cheats.
“Ultimately, when this cheating pisses off the majority of players enough, things will change and testing/prevention will be implemented to minimize and isolate the cheats.”
Good insight TJ …
That would certainly help, right now I get the sense that there are many who are looking for undetectable means to cycle up. A friend of mine pointed out that for a lot of these guys it becomes an addiction and I think he’s right. They feel stronger, faster, they have more energy when they’re on this stuff, they struggle when they’re off of it. That would certainly explain repeat offenders.
I also think if they’re really going to uproot the problem they have to focus on the minors with educating the kids coming into these systems while making penalties truly prohibitive. The incentive to cheat is still too high given the potential reward if you can get away with it. If one hot stretch can help a kid move up a level, maybe even get a call-up, guys will do almost anything for that kind of opportunity.
“The incentive to cheat is still too high given the potential reward ”
THIS!
As I said in another thread about Peds…
This is a Technological war now. A War that will never end!
There is too much money at stake to ever stop or prevent players from finding a way around the system…
Too much money being made by Doctors in the sale and administration of the drug.
We put in a testing regimen and the other side will find some way of administering it to get by the test or a way of masking it from the test.
The ONLY way this war will ever be successful is if the Union gets on board and allows the testing to change as the methods for juicing do. And until such time as the UNION becomes the one giving out some punishment of it’s own as opposed to the current automatic defense of any player accused of hurting their membership the usage will never go away!
a 50 Game or season suspension is not enough of a deterrent…
But if they thought they would lose all Union Benefits for the rest of their life some players would definitely think twice!
Other things to do would be anyone tested automatically is denied any All Star and HOF ballot inclusions. And any kid found to use in the Minors should be immediately banned from ever being promoted to the MLB.
Then the punishment has enough teeth to make the players think twice about throwing away their career all in the name of an extra few mil per year on a contract.
Cause what they might get extra on that one contract won’t b as much as they would get if they just stayed in the league without getting banned.