Even though Major League Baseball has made great strides over the last decade to build a drug policy that is fair and carries weight for those players who fail a test, there have been some cracks in the procedure.
Speaking to Ken Rosenthal of FoxSports.com, Detroit Tigers pitcher Justin Verlander posed a question about certain suspensions that have been handed out: “Every time a guy gets popped who didn’t test positive, it’s kind of like, ‘Why are we even going through this?'”
The specific example Rosenthal cited is the 80-game ban handed out to free-agent catcher Taylor Teagarden, after he admitted to taking a performance-enhancing substance in the Al-Jazeera America documentary released in December.
After Teagarden’s suspension was announced April 1, Verlander took to Twitter to vent his frustration with how MLB‘s drug-testing policy was being utilized:
In addition to Teagarden’s suspension this year, in 2013, there were 14 players suspended because they were named in a Miami New Times report by Tim Elfrink as having a connection to the Biogenesis Clinic in Miami.
Four of the 14 players named (Ryan Braun, Bartolo Colon, Melky Cabrera, Yasmani Grandal) in the article had failed a performance-enhancing drug test administered by Major League Baseball.
Continuing his conversation with Rosenthal, Verlander acknowledged there are certain ways in which all players can take substances without getting caught.
“If you want to cheat,” Verlander said, “there is a window to do it. Guys are finding ways around the system. It’s pretty evident, pretty well-known that the people who are making these illegal substances are ahead of the testers.”
On the other side of the equation, Toronto Blue Jays slugger Jose Bautista told Rosenthal that even though the system isn’t perfect, it is working well enough.
“It’s going to be impossible to find a 100 percent level playing field. But it seems like we’re at 98-99 percent,” Bautista said. “That seems to be good enough. And the guys who are willing to risk it…there are always going to be a few rotten apples, no matter where you are.”
Los Angeles Dodgers ace Clayton Kershaw echoed Bautista’s sentiment: “If there was a type of testing that guaranteed every person that used PEDs would be caught, I would be all for it. I don’t think the problem is the length of the suspension, but more the improbability of being caught.”
All of the players are saying the same thing, though Verlander is the only one looking at it in a different way. There is a collectively bargained drug-testing system that the players go through, though MLB has demonstrated the authority to suspend someone without a positive test.
There’s no doubt that having a more stringent policy on performance-enhancing drugs is good for MLB and the players. They don’t have to worry about constant stories regarding someone having a sudden spike in performance raising eyebrows from fans and the media.
Even though the policy may never be 100 percent satisfactory for both sides, it’s still fairly early in the process. There can be tweaks made through collective bargaining in the future to get a plan that works better for both parties.
Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com