MLB’s drug policy too soft — teams should be docked wins
Melky Cabrera makes the boo-boo face after an out, which was common before he juiced.
The objective of a drug policy in professional sports is to deter its use. And yet, there have been 80 violations of baseball’s drug program in the minor and major leagues in 2012 – including 20 alone in the month of August.
The objective of suspending players is in part to have them serve as an example for what can happen if somebody cheats, regardless of the potential rewards that await the player on the other side of the rainbow (and syringe). And yet, the San Francisco Giants’ Melky Cabrera chose to artificially inflate his muscles, which led to him competing for the National League batting title, launching his team into a divisional title race, winning the All-Star Game MVP Award, helping the National League claim home-field advantage in the World Series and setting himself up for the contract of his free-agency dreams.
This is when it’s easy to come to the conclusion that baseball’s drug program doesn’t go nearly far enough.
Suspensions need to be longer: One year with the first positive test. There have been enough warnings and enough education about what can and can’t be used.
Maybe more important, the people who run this game — and any sports league — need to start looking at penalizing teams for using illegal players.
I’m talking about taking away wins.
The NCAA does a lot wrong in its enforcement, but one thing it does correctly is it punishes programs that use ineligible players, vacating victories and sometimes championships. The problem in college athletics is that by the time the investigation has been completed and the punishment comes down, the season is over. It becomes more of a symbolic gesture, even if it leaves a permanent grease spot on the program and some individuals.
That’s not the case here. Even if Cabrera, who was suspended 50 games last week for mutant-like levels of testosterone, doesn’t play another game for the San Francisco Giants, the team already has benefited from his ballooned a .346 batting average. Cabrera isn’t the cartoon that Barry Bonds morphed into late in his career, but he was a career .275 hitter before this season. (We can debate whether he was even clean last season with Kansas City, when he jumped from a .255 average, four homers and .354 slugging percentage with the Braves in 2010 to .305, 18 and .470 with the Royals.)
In Cabrera’s last game with the Giants on Aug. 14, he doubled and scored a run in a 6-1 win over Washington. The Giants were 64-53, tied for first place in the National League West. Cabrera played in 113 of the 117 games. If this was college, the Giants would lose any victory among those 113. A less extreme approach would be for baseball to come up with a standard formula: For example, 20 percent of all wins Cabrera played in. But some penalty is needed as a deterrent.
I would love to hear an argument against this — something beyond, “You just can’t do that.”
A Major League Baseball official declined comment, other than to point out that any increased player suspensions would have to be collectively bargained. He left open the possibility for further measures against Cabrera, but he said MLB has never considered vacating wins.
Baseball was in denial about performance-enhancing drug use for years. It implemented its first serious testing program only after officials and the players’ union were humiliated by Congress in 2005. Are we really to believe teams didn’t know about rampant PED use that led to shattered records (as well as wins and potentially World Series titles)? Why do teams skate?
The obvious downside to vacating wins is that clean players and coaches and certainly fans would be unfairly punished. But such is the case now with NCAA sanctions.
The threat of increased penalties could force teams to step up their own policing of the drug program. The resulting peer pressure among players also presumably would have a ripple effect, down to the minors (where 76 of the 80 positive tests occurred).
Commissioner Bud Selig would like to get past the ugly Cabrera episode. But it’s worth noting it was his plan to have the All-Star game winner gain the home-field advantage in the World Series. Cabrera helped the National League win. He also cheated. So Selig effectively is not only enabling cheating, he’s rewarding it.
Baseball could overturn this by simply giving home-field advantage to the team with the better record. But maybe that’s considered too radical of an idea.
By Jeff Schultz
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160 comments Add your comment
Stinger2
August 21st, 2012
6:29 pm
Kraig:Thanks for the reply and illustration.
Actually I was thinking about team wins and you were saying individual wins.
Could an explanation be that Hamels had fewer wins/more losses due to poor runs support and lost some 2-1, or even shoutouts?
Delbert D.
August 21st, 2012
6:31 pm
I did not really say that; it was put out by a SuperPAC, over which I have no control.
Skeezix
August 21st, 2012
6:34 pm
Yes! Yes! Yes! Take away the wins! Suspensions should be longer. The Giants coaches/management/other players had to know something was up. Of course the Giants are a regular doping factory with all the dopers they’ve had; with of course, Bonds being the biggest doper of all.
Kraig
August 21st, 2012
6:40 pm
Stinger:
The bullpen could have certainly been a culprit as well. When you factor in those things individual wins actually tell very little of the story in how good a pitcher is (or isn’t).
oldfart
August 21st, 2012
7:27 pm
If Selig wasn’t an owner by proxy he would have already been fired. Owners enjoyed the steroid induced HR derbies so no real action took place until their hand was forced. That short time burst of stats was not worth losing the integrity of the game comparable to the Black Sox Scandal. Baseball needs another Kenesaw Mountain Landis. If gambling is cause for being excommunicated for life then so should steroids.
......And they said steoids don't work
August 21st, 2012
7:50 pm
One year ban for first offense and life time ban for second offense. For idiots like Cabrera that try to pad his salary in free agency on the walk year, throw in this poison pill – take away 10 wins from the team that signs him in the first year of the contract. It would be very difficult for a team to sign him knowing that they will have ten wins taken away.
Hillbilly D
August 21st, 2012
8:02 pm
I come to this party late but as I’ve mentioned before, how about making the team play with 24 players, for the entire length of the suspension? If it really hurts the teams, they’ll do something about it.
Most folks probably don’t remember but back in the late 70’s, NASCAR had trouble with the use of nitrous oxide, in the cars. They finally got a handle on that. What they did was they announced a fine and suspension for the next person caught. The kicker was, every time anyone was caught after that, the suspension and the fine doubled, each time. They caught 2 or 3 and people figured out it wasn’t worth the risk.
bananajacket
August 21st, 2012
8:35 pm
I hate cheaters, but hurting innocent others is wrong. And you might want to look back at the Atlanta Public School System to see if you really believe (some) teachers and administrators have nothing to gain by having cheating students. I don’t have a perfect solution but a “shotgun” approach is one of the worst, in my opinion.
Tn Vol
August 21st, 2012
9:19 pm
Hey I like the idea of the team playing with 24 men instead of 25 while a player is suspended. But what I don’t like is all the complaining and shortsightedness about the all star game. I mean who would be watching the games now if the mockery had continued…..Barry Bonds picking up Tori Hunter in mock anger after he robbed him of a home run…..it was a BORING exhibition game. Would you really rather see that kind of game, of course not, so what else would you do? I don’t want to see the cheap shots like Pete Rose took on Ray Fosse again but it was a much more exciting game than what it evolved into before Selig implimented the winner having home field advantage. I mean it doesn’t take much to just gripe and complain without any other suggestion…..well there is politics.
Jeff Schultz
August 21st, 2012
9:32 pm
The Great Tobias — I don’t respond to comments that begin, “You are an idiot,” other than with, “No, actually that would be you.” But when you improve a few IQ points, let me know and I’ll be happy to debate you.
Jeff Schultz
August 21st, 2012
9:32 pm
Sundrop Kid — Thanks.
Jeff Schultz
August 21st, 2012
9:36 pm
Game Changer — I believe heavy use of PEDS are down, but I also believe it’s still common. A lot of ways around testing. Victor Conte had a lot of interesting things to say on this topic last week. Testing is done at stadium, not at home. So players can put on topical steroid cream after games in low doses and it’s not detectable by time get to stadium next day. It’s not as high doses as injecting stuff when HR totals were going crazy, but cheating still going on.
So who doesn’t do research, Einstein?
Jeff Schultz
August 21st, 2012
9:39 pm
“Jeff Schultz is an idiot” — You’re banned (and not because of your juvenile screen name).
Taylor Wooten
August 21st, 2012
10:10 pm
You are spot on. But that lame, milk toast of a Commissioner aint gonna do a thing
the truth...
August 21st, 2012
10:21 pm
Fine the teams…………half their payroll……………..
Fine the GMs 25% or their salary
Fine the Managers 25% of their salary
Reduce the teams 40 man roster to 40 or 35………….
Then the teams will police themselves……….
JD
August 21st, 2012
10:37 pm
No, Melky should have been suspended for two seasons. Players would be cleaner and wouldn’t hire the agents that agree to get involved in things like this. Teams have no right to control players’ trainers and associates.
Bradley Curse
August 21st, 2012
11:04 pm
“teams should be docked wins”
they say “never say never” but I can honestly say this will never happen. Just to many powerful groups to overcome in order to institute it; MLB itself, GMs, Owners, the Player’s Association, and in some part the fans themselves
Bob the Blogger
August 21st, 2012
11:37 pm
The problem with redistributing wins is that it turns the numbers of baseball into a mess. Which pitchers do you take the wins from? Which opposing pitchers do you give the wins to? How do you determine the winning pitcher when the team wasn’t ahead at the end of the game?
I think a cleaner solution would be to add a combination of team penalties such as fines and loss of draft picks at a level that would more than offset the additional wins that resulted from cheating. As I understand it, Melkey’s salary can be applied to his replacement. What if the amount of his salary had to be paid as a fine, plus the loss of next year’s first round draft pick. That would hurt.
JASon
August 21st, 2012
11:46 pm
“I would love to hear an argument against this”
Ok, here you go. Test everyone. All the time. Then nobody uses any banned substances, no discussion necessary.
Ken
August 22nd, 2012
12:00 am
Simple…For the team: From the last test passed to the recent failed test, erase the stats from the box scores. Runs scored by the cheater are removed. RBI’s are removed. Outfield assists at home are removed. At the end, check the resulting score. This could have cost the Giants 10+ wins, equals out of the playoff race. I believe many GM’s would hesitate to sign a player if this were the penalty, serving as a stiff deterrent. 60 RBI and 80 runs scored made a big difference for the Giants this year. Pitchers forfeiting wins would hurt. Regular drug testing by teams would be in place to protect themselves.
For the player: suspension from the test caught date through the complete following season, (162+ games) and a null and voided contract. It was probably signed using inflated numbers as well.
Boo hoo, cheaters!
Jaron
August 22nd, 2012
12:23 am
Hows this argument? Would you be making the same argument if he was caught cheating on the Braves? Doubt it, try not to be such a tool next time.
Jaron
August 22nd, 2012
12:33 am
Forgive my initial outburst of emotion. Allow me to clarify I am a giants fan since I started watching baseball and any fellow fans of mine feel cheated by Melky, not the league. I would love if we could roll back the clock and bring in someone else who isn’t a cheater, but we cant, so we must endure a pennant race without our hypothetical good sport. If it could be proven the giants knew about this and did nothing, your argument would have merit, but until the league changes the rules requiring teams to periodically test their own players, it does not have any.
Ken
August 22nd, 2012
1:13 am
Hey Jaron, surprised to hear you’re a Giants fan, but a Braves fan I am not…In fact, I married into a family of Giants fans who are just as disappointed as you. That being said, I bet you are proud that G. Moto will be back to contribute for the “playoff run.” Believe me, if the penalty were to cost, say, Matt Cain 3 wins, that were to affect his contract negotiations, and so on, the players would actually demand increased testing, but they seem to have appreciated his efforts so far this year. Bud $elig is the tool, Donald Fehr is the tool, I am merely a fan who loves the game. Have some perspective for the Penn State PLAYERS who forfeited SEASONS because their COACH was a molester, having nothing to do with on field performance! Baseball could clean up their operations, but there are too many rea$on$ not to. At least Melky’s next suspension will only be 100 games, thanks MLBPA!
R.R.
August 22nd, 2012
1:13 am
hear hear jeff! subtract the cheating player’s WAR from his team(s) at the end of the season. #thatwaseasy
Jaron
August 22nd, 2012
1:28 am
Ken I wasn’t calling you a tool, just the writer of the article. If you married into giants fans you must be a smart man. I don’t think we need Mota either we have done just fine without him and so far we haven’t missed Melky either that much. Mota is apparently coming back though, nothing I can do about it. The difference in the Penn State deal and this one (besides the blatantly obvious) is it has been proven people throughout the organization knew about Sandusky’s actions and either covered it up, or underestimated the seriousness, enabling that monster to commit his atrocities for years. Those within the organization at Penn State who were in any way aware of the situation and did nothing defied the law and common human decency. Not the case with the Giants. As I referenced above, without the proper rules in place, the giants cannot be held responsible for melky’s actions, even if they knew about it. However, given the Barry Bonds history, I highly doubt they’d have turned a blind eye if they did
Payton34
August 22nd, 2012
7:24 am
What about other sports? How many players in the NFL and NBA use PEDs. Your anti-sabermetrics stance is silly. It is like the people that only wanted to use batting average to judge a hitter.
On to something
August 22nd, 2012
7:58 am
Penalizing the team would certainly make the offender a pariah among his teammates and, quite likely, make teams avoid the players like the plague as the punishment would be harsh (good luck signing with someone else). Quite possibly it would end the person’s career. In other words, it makes perfect sense.
heartofdarkness
August 22nd, 2012
8:57 am
The effects of penalizing professional teams wins for the actions of their employees may have the benefits of inducing the owners of baseball teams into a more co-operative posture in policing the games, rather than allowing the distraction of collective bargaining to operate as a cover for issues they would rather ignore. A mandatory testing regime sufficient to penetrate the latest known technologies employed to avoid detection would probably require action by parties outside baseball, i.e., Congress.
They might find this issue a useful diversion from their duties involving running the government, although they appear to have a sufficient supply at the moment.
Nativebird
August 22nd, 2012
9:32 am
Dollars to donuts all these apologists crying about the “shotgun approach”‘ and “mass punishment” are the worshippers, the believers, that the player himself is the God in which the baseball world revolves around, and therefore not all of the hard working investors and stakeholders including the fans that love the game and respect the game, enables and provides the game they claim to love, and it’s beauty and historical and cultural positive impact it has had on our society. These self haters simply love to worship their fantasy stars who are omnipotent in their mind (to the point they actually consider them some twisted form of slave) due to the apparent missing adequacies in their own lives.
Defending abject and proven cheaters clearly points to a level of neuroses.
vietnamvet
August 22nd, 2012
9:44 am
Make the player responsible for his actions. Void the contract of any player found guilty of using PEDS.
vietnamvet
August 22nd, 2012
9:44 am
Make the player responsible for his actions. Void the contract of any player found guilty of using PEDS.
vietnamvet
August 22nd, 2012
9:44 am
Make the player responsible for his actions. Void the contract of any player found guilty of using PEDS.
DetroitBraves
August 22nd, 2012
10:09 am
This is a specious argument, appealing to emotion rather than any real logic. But despite arguments we’ve had in the past I like ol’ Jeff so I’m going to agree to disagree and leave it at that. Plus George Stein has already articulated the pertinent counters very well, as he often does. I would however like to know why WAR and other saber stats are “stupid”. I can see not having much interest, and even being rubbed wrong if one feels they are foreced upon him or her, but actually stupid? Devoid of thought or reason? That seems far-fetched. Especially given that every major league club has an analytics department, often employing analysts that have spent time at places like BP, Fangraphs, and BR. That doesn’t in and of itself validate the metrics, but it does imply credibility within the industry.
Mister Frisky
August 22nd, 2012
10:59 am
Good Morning Schultzie,How you liking YOUR stand pat Braves?
Ned
August 22nd, 2012
11:32 am
If such a policy were to be applied “historically” it would potentially void championship years for the Clemens/Giambi Yankees of 10-12 years ago, wouldn’t it?
maria
August 22nd, 2012
12:03 pm
I also think the player found to be using drugs should have his stats pulled. So any player would return
to a clean slate. All those bogus high stats would be gone forever.
TD
August 22nd, 2012
12:11 pm
One thing that really bothers me about your writing Jeff is that you get over emotional on various topics, and it quickly falls apart from there, logic-wise. WHENEVER you write an article that contains issues of morality, your arguments frequently fall short, or are way off base. Look, it’s great to get emotional at the Braves game in rooting for your team. But here, this should be more than a shotgun opinion, which you unequivocally show. The Saints bounty issue is a great example. Your obvious dislike of Payton should not color your commentary. Vilma, no matter what any yahoo here thinks – and wow, are there a lot of yahoos here- deserves a full accounting from th NFL. Btw, I am from LA originally, and I have NO allegiance to the Saints, so spare me. And speaking of LA, Jeff, you are as far from Jim Murray, who I read for years, as it gets.
Comparing pro sports & the NCAA is an apples to oranges thing. C’mon, really. That’s your argument? And btw, the NCAA punishment is ridiculous. Your argument that “that’s the way it is” is as short sighted as you typically are with regard to moral issues in sports. What should happen in those instances is that the coaches who are involved should be suspended, or banned, from the game. I’m with you 100% on lifting the first time penalty to 100 games, or the remainder of the season, whichever is longer. Not even in law enforcement is the collective whole punished with jail time. The firm of an inside trader who’s convicted is not sent to jail as well. Your randomly assigned 20% thing? Where is that coming from? Not your brain, if you get my drift….You could never prove any team is complicit in the taking of steroids. As you yourself said, the entire league was guilty & essentially the only people punished were a handful pf players – by keeping them out of the Hall of Fame.
In the end, MLB is not serious about catching offenders. The testing process is full of holes. Bud Selig, you money grabbing sleaze bag, seal up those holes. You want a draconian measure? Lifetime ban for any first time offender. Period. You’re done. But the argument of taking away wins, et al, IS stupid. And Jeff, do yourself a favor. Get to Emory, or GT, and take an evening class in Ethics & Logic, and refrain from the emotional outbursts you are prone to. You wanna get emotional. Here comes another season where the Braves don’t win the World Series. Those lack of moves you pretty much stood behind…yeah, wrong again, Jeff. Sooty, no extra credit given for the 11th hour (read: August) columns calling for something to be done now.
bfred
August 22nd, 2012
1:26 pm
While I philosophically agree with the concept I think it’s a practical impossiblity. What COULD be done, however, is to require teams to pay the player’s foregone salary as a fine (potentially plus some to ensure it hurts) and lose rights to any MLB media participation. The Royals might not care about the latter since they don’t get much airtime, but you can bet the Giants would miss being on Sunday Night Baseball.
bfred
August 22nd, 2012
1:30 pm
Just noticed Bob the Blogger made similar suggestions above – I think this (including the loss of draft picks) is the most realistic way to create a culture of self-policing in the game.
Taylor Wooten
August 22nd, 2012
3:29 pm
Maybe the Commissioner should be held accountable.
Tony D
August 22nd, 2012
7:07 pm
How about reducing the roster by however many players get suspended ?
Mark
August 22nd, 2012
7:10 pm
Every year, several NFL players are suspended for PED use — suspensions are 4 games, a lower percentage of the season than MLB. Have you written an article calling for longer suspensions and forfeiture of games in the NFL? If not, why not? Why pick on baseball?
By the way, forfeiting games is a lamebrained concept. You going to refund the money the patrons spent at those games that are declared null and void? Suddenly drop a team from first to fifth? Silly in the extreme. This is a business.
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August 23rd, 2012
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bvilebaron
August 23rd, 2012
10:43 am
How about because it is a stupid idea which starts with a terrible premise–that anything the NCAA does, in this instance vacating wins retroractively, is worthy of praise or being copied. Besides who and how would you determine what number of wins should be taken away as being fair? Do you propose that the only which should be taken away are those where the cheating player played well? Do you feel that the removed wins should bear some rational relationship to the length of time the player was cheating? If so, how do you detemine that? Ultimtely, it is very hard to claim that the outcome of any given game was DETERMINED by the play of ANY single player, cheating on drugs or not.
I say the way to stop cheating is to increase the penalities for the cheater, such as an automatic 1 year suspension for a first offense and a permanant ban for a second offense. While you and I may think that is a great idea, good luck with getting it by the players’ union. .
mrnatural
August 24th, 2012
7:03 pm
I agree 100 percent with the idea that teams should give up wins in the games won where a PED offender has played. You can not tell me that teammates, coaches, trainers and managers in this day and age cannot tell when a player is using. They (wink-wink) look the other way when the supercharged player is helping create wins and then act in shock when the truth comes out. BS. They know and those wins affect division and wild card races. Make the teams police themselves by making the penalties severe. Stop the madness before you make this beautiful game a joke. .
bucky oneil
August 25th, 2012
9:30 am
Agree, Agree, Agree…………
6-man rotation, however, Disagree, Disagree,Disagree!
George
August 25th, 2012
8:57 pm
Suggest the club be docked 20% of their receipts from the gate and concessions, home and away, during the suspension. in lieu of wins.
Ted Turner
August 26th, 2012
11:00 am
You can’t dock wins. It’s unfair to the league. I am all for life time bans in the cases of recent history though…If Pete Rose is banned for life for betting he’d win, then these guys should be for truely cheating.
TheVoz
August 26th, 2012
11:42 am
I don’t believe we should vacate wins from a team simply because you can’t punish a whole team for what one team member did. And also, say if Melky had tested positive while he was with the Braves having a horrible year, should we vacate the Braves wins even though he had little to no impact on their wins? I do agree that we should come up with a more harsher punishment. I believe that 1st time offenders should be suspended for a year and if they are in contract the team should have the option to terminate the contract. 2nd time offenders should be banned.
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