Baseball May Revisit Its Derided Steroid Policy

Major league owners and players are again considering the issue of performance-enhancing drugs in baseball, two months after strengthening their steroid policy, six weeks after Congress ridiculed the policy and two days after Commissioner Bud Selig called for discipline far exceeding the current standards.

Don Fehr, executive director of the Major League Baseball Players Assn., said Monday that he would consider further negotiations but appeared reluctant to alter the existing program.

“I am not aware of anything relating to the operation of our program this year which suggests that it is not working,” Fehr said in a letter to Selig. He added that “given the players’ demonstrated commitment to make certain that the goals of our program are met ... we are willing to discuss the matter with you.”

Under the current policy, five players have been suspended for 10 days as first-time violators of baseball’s Joint Drug Agreement, including Minnesota Twin relief pitcher Juan Rincon, whose suspension was announced Monday.

Rincon, who pitched in about half of the Twins’ games in the last two seasons and is the best known of the five penalized players, will file a grievance over his suspension, his agent said. Rincon pitched twice last weekend against the Angels and did not give up a hit in 1 2/3 innings.

Angel Manager Mike Scioscia said a 10-day suspension was not enough.

“It’s obvious by the sample testing done a few years ago that there are major league players who use performance-enhancing drugs,” he said. “The first round of penalties was woefully feeble, they had no impact, and the second ones ... are inadequate.

“When Juan Rincon pitches 11 days from now, are the effects from steroids deteriorated to the point where he’ll pitch at the level of his God-given talents? No. He’ll still have the benefits of whatever steroids he was taking. I guarantee you in 11 days Juan Rincon will not become a mere mortal again.”

After a decade of suspicion, during which some of the game’s enduring records were broken or approached, baseball’s steroid problem became a heated public matter this off-season.

A federal investigation into a Bay Area laboratory accused of creating and distributing steroids to premier athletes led to grand jury testimony by major league sluggers Barry Bonds, Jason Giambi and Gary Sheffield, which was leaked to the media. Jose Canseco, who hit nearly 500 home runs before retiring in 2001, wrote a book that accused Mark McGwire, now retired, Sammy Sosa and many other players of steroid use.

Shortly after the league’s steroid policy was strengthened before spring training -- which required an unprecedented reopening of the standing collective bargaining agreement -- baseball and union officials and former and current players were subpoenaed to appear before the House Government Reform Committee on March 17.

At that hearing, congressional leaders threatened to institute a uniform steroid policy in all American sports, using tough Olympic standards. They made it clear their primary target was baseball, which did not begin testing for steroids until 2003.

Last week, members of Congress again criticized baseball’s policy and introduced legislation that would require baseball and other sports to adhere to the World Anti-Doping Agency’s drug code, in which a first positive would require a two-year ban.

“We must take an aggressive and proven approach, an Olympic-type standard to clean up illegal steroid use,” Rep. Cliff Stearns (R-Fla.) said in a news conference.

Baseball’s collective bargaining agreement expires in December 2006. The drug amendment put in place this year is set to run through 2008, with discussions about banning amphetamines permitted in 2006. It requires suspensions of 10 days for a first offense, 30 days for a second, 60 days for a third and a year for a fourth. Only on a fifth offense could the commissioner consider a permanent ban.

Selig increased the pressure on the players’ union last week. After several telephone conversations, he sent a letter to Fehr requesting that the suspensions be increased to 50 games for a first offense, 100 for a second offense and a permanent ban for a third. It also called for a ban on amphetamines, more frequent testing and broader authority for an independent testing laboratory. The plan will be instituted for the 2006 season in the minor leagues, which are not subject to collective bargaining and already had forbidden amphetamines.

“From a practical perspective ... this issue should not be viewed as one on which the clubs are demanding further concessions from the players and the MLBPA,” Selig wrote. “Rather, this should be an issue on which we find a way to work together to restore the faith of our fans in the integrity of the competition on the field and in the integrity of our great institution.”

Selig’s demands have brought mixed reactions from players, most of whom appear to back harsher sanctions but are concerned about false positives.

In a statement Monday that followed Fehr’s letter, Selig said, “I am fully committed to the proposal made last week in my letter to Don Fehr. Restoring public confidence in our sport through the elimination of the use of performance-enhancing substances and the establishment of more vigorous and effective testing programs are my highest priorities.”

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Times staff writer Mike DiGiovanna contributed to this report.

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(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX)

Turning up the heat

Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig is asking the players’ union to consider revising the policy on performance-enhancing drugs for the second time in three months. How the punitive suspensions for positive steroid tests compare in various sports:

*--* 1st positive 2nd positive 3rd positive 4th positive 5th positive Old MLB policy Counseling 15 days 25 days 50 days 1 year Current MLB policy 10 days 30 days 60 days 1 year variable* Selig proposal 50 games 100 games lifetime Minor league policy 15 games 30 games 60 games 1 year lifetime NFL 4 games** 6 games** 1 year** 1 year** 1 year** NBA 5 games 10 games 25 games 25 games 25 games Olympic sports 2 years lifetime NHL League has never had a testing program.

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*commissioner’s discretion on penalty; **minimums

Source: Associated Press

Los Angeles Times