C.J. Wilson hopes tougher sanctions put ‘padlock’ on steroid era

On the day baseball once again toughened its drug policy, Angels pitcher C.J. Wilson said he hoped the latest revisions might put a stop to the use of performance-enhancing drugs within the sport.

“Hopefully, this is really a padlock that kind of closes this chapter,” said Wilson, the Angels’ player representative. “I don’t really want to keep going through this.”

Although news reports focused on the increased suspension -- 80 games for a first offense and 162 for a second offense, up from 50 and 100 games, respectively -- Wilson said he believed the increased frequency of testing would have a more significant impact. Random tests will more than double within the season, from 1,400 to 3,200.

“The No. 1 deterrent is to get tested more often,” he said.

Wilson called the revised program “like the iPhone 5s of testing programs.” He said he believed players would be foolish to use performance-enhancing substances at this point.

“You’d have to really be not good at risk evaluation at this point,” he said.

He acknowledged that the players suspended for their involvement in the Biogenesis scandal were tripped up not by failed drug tests, but by a disgruntled employee that collected and shared evidence. He also said he had no patience for the explanations of those caught cheating, most often involving the word “mistake.”

“I think guys do it for greed,” Wilson said. “That’s what it comes down to. They’re not happy with the kind of player they are. They want to cheat and make more money.

“A ‘mistake’ is you going over the speed limit, not you’re in a pharmaceutically enhanced rage through interleague play. That’s premeditated.”

Yet the revised policy also authorizes an arbitrator to reduce a suspension if a player can prove inadvertent use. Wilson said he supported that change, citing the case of Philadelphia Phillies infielder Freddy Galvis, who blamed his positive test on a trace amount of a banned substance in a cream.

“At certain levels, some things obviously will not be performance-enhancing,” Wilson said.