Wednesday, April 14, 2004
Owners Have Not Acted to Stop Use of Steroids
Murray Chass of the New York Times observes that for all their tough talk about banishing steroids from the game, the owners have not sought the testing of a single player under the "reasonable cause" testing provision of the CBA. Nor have any of the players who have spoken out against steroids reported one of their peers.
This highlights a major problem with the current system. The players, who are clearly in the best position to know who's been taking steroids, aren't about to inform on one another. Nor is any owner or GM likely to turn in one of his own players -- especially not the very high-profile All-Star players who have come under the most scrutiny.
Meanwhile, Rob Manfred, MLB's representative on the committee charged with determining whether reasonable cause exists, explains what standard any allegations of steroid use must meet:
"The agreement does not say suspicion. It says reasonable cause. I think it's fair to say that reasonable cause, the legal standard of reasonable cause, requires more than suspicion that somebody has done something. You have to have some concrete evidence."
Manfred clearly doesn't have what it takes to be a newspaper columnist or call-in show host...
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Murray Chass of the New York Times observes that for all their tough talk about banishing steroids from the game, the owners have not sought the testing of a single player under the "reasonable cause" testing provision of the CBA. Nor have any of the players who have spoken out against steroids reported one of their peers.
This highlights a major problem with the current system. The players, who are clearly in the best position to know who's been taking steroids, aren't about to inform on one another. Nor is any owner or GM likely to turn in one of his own players -- especially not the very high-profile All-Star players who have come under the most scrutiny.
Meanwhile, Rob Manfred, MLB's representative on the committee charged with determining whether reasonable cause exists, explains what standard any allegations of steroid use must meet:
"The agreement does not say suspicion. It says reasonable cause. I think it's fair to say that reasonable cause, the legal standard of reasonable cause, requires more than suspicion that somebody has done something. You have to have some concrete evidence."
Manfred clearly doesn't have what it takes to be a newspaper columnist or call-in show host...
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