In unprecedented fashion, Milwaukee Brewers third baseman Ryan Braun won his appeal to Major League Baseball's decision to suspend him for the first fifty games of the season for his failed drug test that resulted in his testosterone levels being twenty times what is normal in the human body. While he narrowly avoided a suspension, there is a difference between not guilty and innocent. Braun's appeal was that the standard procedure of testing a player's urine sample as part of a drug test was not followed. Luckily for him, it just so happened that the collector had a lapse in judgment. The rules for drug testing state that the sample collector must take the sample directly to a FedEx or keep the sample in a cool, secure location. According to the arbitrator Shyam Das, the collector's decision to keep the sample in a container on his desk at home for two days did not meet either of his two options. If he would have kept it in his fridge and checked on it periodically, however, Ryan Braun's 50-game suspension would have been upheld.
It's amazing to think that Braun can get out of his suspension because the collector did not stop at FedEx on the way home from the drug test or at least keep it in a secure location. Before the arbitrator ruled in his favor, Braun was willing to take a DNA test to prove that the failed sample was not his. However, once the suspension was lifted, Braun has backed away from the DNA test. Now, we will never know if he is actually innocent or guilty, but baseball fans are definitely going to be skeptical of him for the rest of his career. If his numbers are not identical to his numbers last season, fans are going to claim that his declining production proves his guilt. Numbers often vary year to year, and without Prince Fielder batting behind him, his numbers are almost guaranteed to decline, it's just a law of baseball. When a player has a teammate who hits for a .300 average with 30+ homeruns and 100+ RBI's behind him, Braun's going to get better looks at the plate.
Major League Baseball definitely needs to change its drug testing procedures and regulations. There should be full-time employees, not part-time workers who do it as a side job, such as the collector who took Braun's sample home. This was a major loss for the MLB, to have its case locked up and then have a small loophole exposed, which caused them to lose the case.
While the city of Milwaukee must be thrilled by the decision, no one else involved in Major League Baseball can be happy with this outcome, especially the Brewers' N.L. Central opponents. As a Cincinnati Reds fan, this upsets me because the Milwaukee Brewers are just one more team that stand in the way of an N.L. Central title. Without Fielder and Braun, the Brewers wouldn't have a chance, but with the reigning MVP, the Brew Crew can be a threat to Cincinnati's postseason bid.
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| Courtesy of http://jacksonville.com/sports/baseball/2012-02-24/story/ryan-braun-feels-vindicated-ruling |
Major League Baseball definitely needs to change its drug testing procedures and regulations. There should be full-time employees, not part-time workers who do it as a side job, such as the collector who took Braun's sample home. This was a major loss for the MLB, to have its case locked up and then have a small loophole exposed, which caused them to lose the case.
While the city of Milwaukee must be thrilled by the decision, no one else involved in Major League Baseball can be happy with this outcome, especially the Brewers' N.L. Central opponents. As a Cincinnati Reds fan, this upsets me because the Milwaukee Brewers are just one more team that stand in the way of an N.L. Central title. Without Fielder and Braun, the Brewers wouldn't have a chance, but with the reigning MVP, the Brew Crew can be a threat to Cincinnati's postseason bid.
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