Well, I sure didn’t expect to be
doing a follow-up to the Chris Colabello suspension so soon, but here we are.
Dee Gordon, 2015 National League batting champion of the Miami Marlins tested
positive for exogenous testosterone (banned by MLB) during Spring Training and was suspended for 80 games last Friday. And now today, we have another: Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Josh Ravin was also caught during Spring Training (Peptide 2 was his choice) and is also gone for 80 games.
While my blog for 2016 was supposed to be a variety of stories about the Blue Jays’ 40th Anniversary, the Expos’ 1981 Division Title, the 100th season of Wrigley Field and a host of other topics including the Hall Of Fame, The All-Star Game and the Postseason, it looks like I’ll have to add another series: Failed Drug Tests.
While my blog for 2016 was supposed to be a variety of stories about the Blue Jays’ 40th Anniversary, the Expos’ 1981 Division Title, the 100th season of Wrigley Field and a host of other topics including the Hall Of Fame, The All-Star Game and the Postseason, it looks like I’ll have to add another series: Failed Drug Tests.
And from Gordon, we get the
usual “Though I did not do so knowingly, I have been informed that test results
showed I ingested something that contained prohibited substances.” Ravin blames his test on a supplement he took during a bout with intestinal flu and strep throat.
Enough of the lies already.
Enough of the lies already.
I don’t know whether these players are telling the truth or not and
that’s the sad part of the whole thing. But it’s hard not to be cynical when—as
I pointed out last week—they all have a variety of team doctors and trainers
and nutritionists who they can consult before putting things in their body. So
as far as I’m concerned, there’s no excuse. Therefore, don’t spit in my ear and
tell me it’s raining.
I ended my post last week by
asking the question, if an 80-game suspension and loss of pay isn’t a
deterrent, what could be? Perhaps longer suspensions? Maybe increase the first
offense to a full year and void the player’s contract. Then put a stipulation
in the drug policy that prevents them from signing a contract higher than half
the value of their previous one until they’ve completed two complete seasons of
drug-free tests, and that would include being tested monthly.
It’s hard to figure out what if
even that punishment would act as a deterrent. As I mentioned last week, to
cash in on the big pay day, it’s worth the risk. All you have to do is look at
the contract that Gordon signed this past off-season. It was a five-year deal
worth 50 million dollars and, according to ESPN, he will only lose 1.65 million
during his suspension. That means he still stands to collect 48.35 million over
the life of the contract. So basically, he still cashes in, doesn’t care about the
damage that he is doing to the image of the game and probably will play the
victim card when he comes back.
But the whole thing is one big
mess for MLB. The drug prevention policy is obviously not working. They are
going to have to look into it and come up with something that will prevent
these greedy, self-absorbed, poor excuses for representatives of the game from
completely ignoring the integrity of sportsmanship and fair play.
After all, how can we teach our
kids about those two attributes when those at the professional level don’t care
about them?
Follow us on Twitter at @topofthethird
No comments:
Post a Comment