MLB Seeks To Suspend Players

The story broke last summer about the Biogenesis steroid scandal out in Miami. Now reports have been floating in that Major League Baseball will seek to suspend about 20 players connected to the Miami-area clinic at the heart of an ongoing performance-enhancing drug scandal, including Alex Rodriguez and Ryan Braun, possibly within the next few weeks. If the suspensions are upheld, the performance-enhancing drug scandal would be the largest in American sports history.This according to Outside the Lines and ESPN.

One source familiar with the case said the commissioner's office might seek 100-game suspensions for Rodriguez, Braun and other players, the penalty for a second doping offense. The argument, the source said, is the players' connection to Bosch constitutes one offense, and previous statements to MLB officials denying any such connection or the use of PEDs constitute another. The players who might ultimately face discipline from MLB include: Rodriguez, Braun, Melky Cabrera, Bartolo Colon, Yasmani Grandal, Nelson Cruz, Francisco Cervelli, Jesus Montero, Jhonny Peralta, Cesar Puello, Fernando Martinez, Everth Cabrera, Fautino de los Santos, Jordan Norberto and a number of other players who either are identified by code names or whose names appear in other documents not obtained by "Outside the Lines."

The biggest question I have in this is what the hell took Baseball so damn long to get the ball rolling on this story. They knew about it last summer when the story first broke. I just feel that it should have been doing something like this long ago instead of getting running with it now. Granted baseball didn't really have much to work off of to push this issue, I just feel they could have tried at least to get going a bit faster on this or try and do something sooner before waiting till now.

This story also brings back the debate on what baseball can do about steroid use in its game. Buster Olney of ESPN feels that even if MLB is able to suspend players for 100 games, it won't deter others from using PEDs, and MLB won't ever get rid of its drug problems until penalties are even harsher. To a degree he has a very valid point. Suspending guys for 100 games after two failed tests isn't harsh enough in my opinion, I feel that should be the penalty for the first failed test.

Look we all know that steroids are used by athletes, that has been known for a long time now, even before baseball really started cracking down on it. Some people think that sports, and in this case baseball should consider just turning the other cheek, and I think that's a bad idea. Its putting a black eye on the world of sports, especially for the athletes who have gotten to the pro level on hard work and talent. I'm not saying there's a right or perfect way to weed steroids out of sports, because I honestly don't think there is ever going to be a perfect way to weed it out. What needs to happen is get the players union and owners together during the offseasons and try to figure out a solution that both parties can agree on. And it should be a mandatory meeting so the players have no way of getting out of it. Baseball should be able to figure this out, and lets hope they can figure it out before it's too late to really do something about it.