Ryan Braun, PEDs, and Baseball's Black Eye

Ryan Braun was just suspended for the remainder of the season games by Major League Baseball for his involvement with PEDs in the Biogenesis scandal. With the Brewers unlikely to make the playoffs, the suspension should add up to 65 games. This is more than the established 50 game penalty for a first offense, but less than the 100 game penalty that had been speculated in the past weeks. Many questioned whether the MLBPA would step in if the suspensions were larger than the 50 game precedence. However, in the case of Braun at least, it does not seem as if this will be a problem. After learning of the suspension Braun issued a statement saying “I realize now that I have made some mistakes. I am willing to accept the consequences of those actions … I wish to apologize to anyone I may have disappointed.” This seems to be a matured Braun from the one who adamantly denied the allegations of PED use on a possibly unrelated positive test last year. Braun got off on a technicality because his urine sample had been mishandled possibly leading to a false positive. I could be cynical and say that Braun is only being this apologetic because he knows he’s been caught, but I’m going to give him the benefit of the doubt. The process worked, he beat the first rap, and now he is accepting his punishment.

The list is still long of players involved in the scandal. Overall there are 20 players on the list, with notable players like Alex Rodriguez, Melky Cabrera, and Bartolo Colon. Suspensions are looming for these guys and others, but will these suspensions do anything for the game? Obviously everything right now is speculation, but we can see that there might not be a deterrent at all. Ryan Braun has used PEDs and now has a high paying multi-year contract and an MVP. Melky Cabrera put up ridiculous numbers, was found to be cheating, and yet still received a fat contract from the Toronto Blue Jays. Bartolo Colon is a 40 year old pitcher that should be out of the league, but just pitched in the All-Star game. No one knows Alex Rodriguez and whether he has doped over his whole career or not, but conceivable that terrible contract the Yankees signed could have been based on PED enhanced numbers.

I hate PEDs. They make players better than are they are, and are unfair to the players that do it the right way. You would think that 50 game and 100 game suspensions would be deterrents, but they’re not. Players use them knowing they will most likely get caught, but hoping that they can cash in before the hammer falls. It is disgusting. These players lack integrity and hurt so many people with their actions. The teams they have to play against, the organization that signed and supported them, the MLB, the MLBPA, and most importantly the fans that idolize them. Baseball is getting better about these sorts of things but it is obviously not enough. Maybe a discussion needs to take place about how to further deter these players. Maybe contracts need to be voided. Maybe fines need to go on top of the suspensions. I don’t know. But something needs to be done.