MLB Should Punish Teams And Teammates Of PED Users

ArodToday’s column from CBS Chicago

(CBS) Alex Rodriguez is insufferable.

But when it comes to steroids in baseball, should he also have to suffer alone?

This week in a column for the magazine Jacobin, Jack Moore tackled the topic of PED use in sports, making a series of insightful points. And perhaps the most interesting of them was this:

“Throughout its steroids investigation, Major League Baseball has operated with tunnel vision. Players have been the sole target – not the suppliers of performance enhancing drugs, not the coaches who oversee these players, not the owners who profit from their performances. This has proven over the past decade or so to be an ineffective strategy for halting steroid use. So why do the powers that be in baseball insist on punishing the players, and no other party.”

Back in July, in the wake of Ryan Braun’s season-ending suspension for his violations of the Joint Drug Prevention and Treatment program, I tread similar ground when I wrote that, “Forfeits Could Be The Solution to MLB’s PED Problems.” At that time, my friend Josh had expressed his opinion to me that “players aren’t going to quit taking PEDs until getting caught punishes teams and teammates.”

I still think that’s true. And it was refreshing, in light of Moore’s thoughts on the topic, to see USA Today on Thursday also publish the headline: “If MLB is serious about stopping steroids, teams should be punished.”

Continue reading at CBSChicago.com

Leave a comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *