Santana Suspension Raises Concerning Questions

Well this is just great. What a bummer this has all become.

This would support my theory about the fifth starter race: they knew about the likely suspension all along and picked Millone to boost his confidence. Then TR fessed up in the closed door meeting.

According to Ruesse, this is not something you can take by mistake. It's only sold as a vetinarian supplement here. But his column is the only one where I have saw that particular fact, or non fact, whichever it is!

It's good to have facts, and I think some things are out in the public on the Santana situation.  But some things are not.  Like, why, for a seemingly pretty successful MLB hurler, did he jump to four teams in four years?  Was the word out on Santana, generally, across MLB?  Is that why the Twins were able to sign him? 

In other words, is the MLB drug testing regimen a little bit, not sure of the word, flexible... or loose when it comes to catching violators?  Such that, it could be several years before someone with a taste for PEDs gets caught? 

I tell you what.  This drug-testing process, with free-agents and signings, and all the economic incentives to cheat and for teams to spend dearly for high--performers, this is ripe for a lot of abuse and political decisions and second-chances and for teams and commissioners to negotiate and re-negotiate. 

I don't think MLB is quite clear of PED use and the integrity of baseball quite yet.

Yadier Molina's framing just got a strikeout of Rizzo on a ball 3 inches off the plate.

It's possible that there's an ethical gray area here, at least from Ervin Santana's perspective. He might have bought some "stuff" from a buddy that told him it would help him recover from arm soreness, but then decided not to ask his buddy what was in it. Sure 'nuff, it worked. Also sure 'nuff, it was steroids.

I do agree with one commenter that baseball may be too harsh on players that are using PEDs to recover from injuries. It's a shame that a fine pitcher like Santana reaches a point where it hurts more and more to do what they love, which is making a baseball duck and dance past major league hitters. If Santana suddenly was hurling it at 96 or 98mph, then it would seem more unfair, but he was just zipping it in at his usual velocity.

On the other hand, baseball has always been a young man's game. By taking steroids, Santana beat out guys like May and Meyer, who now spend more of their careers in AAA. Also, this might explain why the Twins were able to sign Santana, when we all know that the Twins usually are last in line for top pitchers. Why did the big boys back off from Santana? Maybe this explains it.

 

I do agree with one commenter that baseball may be too harsh on players that are using PEDs to recover from injuries. It's a shame that a fine pitcher like Santana reaches a point where it hurts more and more to do what they love, which is making a baseball duck and dance past major league hitters. If Santana suddenly was hurling it at 96 or 98mph, then it would seem more unfair, but he was just zipping it in at his usual velocity.

 

 

I think this is an interesting question too, for recovery aids like growth hormone, taken out of competition, like when on the DL. But testosterone or anabolic steroids are just a bridge too far.

Does any one know whether a team can drug test FAs before signing? Maybe there could be a NDA where the results are only known by the team and the FA? If this type of policybis already in place and was not employed by the Twins, well, that's their own fault. But, it seems like all the burden of testing is on some other regulatory body or MLB. Can anyone clear this up for me?

I liked the signing at the time but in the back of my mind would have preferred McCarthy. Now I really prefer McCarthy. The whole thing is just a bummer. What bothers me the most is, faced with this situation, knowing internally that this isn't "the year", why not bring up May and let him build up MLB innings? Unless this is a case of building up Millone and Pelfrey to flip them in July...

jimmer,

In the two innings I watched last night, the announcers talked a great deal about how big the strike zone was all game and for both sides.

It is a fact. 

I am sure a reasonable explanation for this exists. For instance, maybe Ervin does not like taking pills.  So one day his wife is crushing up his legal medication and his dogs Wistrol into applesauce, and then simply mixes up the applesauce.

If I had a dollar every time I took ate a hot dog from the fridge and it had a heart worm pill inside it....

It seems very simple on the surface... If you are a pro athlete, you have to be aware of what you are ingesting.

It's also hard to comprehend how athletes end up driving drunk when they have the money to have personal drivers... I mean, at least they could call a cab?

With injury recovery, a player is probably taking advice from a doctor or trainer - I want to know if somebody that Santana trusted gave him stanozolol without his knowledge. He could be telling the truth, but still be 100% guilty.

Do you know all of the ingredients in everything you eat? In every supplement or pill? In everything your doctor prescribes?

Granted, Steroids are a much bigger deal, and as it has been pointed out before, pretty much impossible to take accidentally. But trainers and doctors for professional sports teams (as well as the trainers, doctors, and nutritionists that pro athletes have contact with) maybe have a different level of access to this stuff than your local GP doctor.

I don't know the answer to prevent something like this - a team can tell its players to only take things provided by the team, but the team can't (and probably shouldn't) watch these players all of the time... Just such a bummer all the way around.

I have often thought the "roid" policy has gone too far.  I'm all for banning substances that make huge arms & bulging foreheads, but if i twist my knee, and go to the doctor, what do they prescribe?  Steroids!  So a fat, out of shape guy that gets hurt getting off his couch can take something to go to work without pain, but guys playing sports 162 games per year can't take something to keep them on the field?

These are the type of things that keep guys on the field, which in turn, keeps people sitting in the stands.  Who wants to go watch Doug Bernier playing MLB because the young guy in front of him twisted an ankle and is out for 2 weeks, when the guy working at the post office can be back doing his route in 1? (nothing personal towards the post office or it's workers, mind you).

When doctors prescribe you or I steriods, they are typically a measured dose, for a specific instance (like you twisting your knee) , and for a short period of time. Not to mention most are illegal unless prescribed by a doctor.

When an MLB player seeks these, very few of these safeguards exist. 

And I think that it is about an edge. So if Wistrol was legal, the Ervin Santana's of the world would seek something that works harder and is more effective than the Wistrol everyone else is using

While I think Santana is an idiot for using this stuff, I don't think he's a big enough idiot to have gone to someone and specifically asked for a banned substance. He probably asked someone that has access to supplements / pills / injections to get him "something" to "give him an edge," and then didn't ask or didn't care to know if what he got could potentially get him suspended.

This is probably how it goes for most of the guys that get caught.

They want the thing that will make them better, but they don't want to know what it is.  

There are probably other things Santana could have taken that would have gone undetected... maybe he takes those, too. Maybe he thought he was taking something else, and the supplier gave him the "cheaper" PED.

If it were me as the player, I would take my supplements or whatever to MLB baseball and/or my team and have them test it before I ingest it. Keep a record of what it is, where I got it, what MLB said about it. Or just only take stuff prescribed by the team... Though from the sound of some reports about NFL locker rooms, even that might not be a safe way to avoid taking a banned substance.