Baseball is America’s pastime, something that is pure and
hardly unchanging, which could be seen as a blessing or a curse. The recent outbreak of players in both the
minor and major leagues abusing substances banned by baseball has sparked a
recent idea or a plan that should be embraced by everyone in baseball; the AIC
Plan (Accountability, Integrity, and Creditability Plan). It is a simple solution to a growing problem, holding
everyone accountable while bringing integrity and creditability back to baseball!
Currently,
if a player gets caught using a substance banned by MLB he gets suspended for 50
games, which to me is a good start but the punishment does not go far
enough! The parties that seem to be
getting off free and clear are the teams these cheaters are playing for. Sure, the team does get hurt by losing that
player but even if it is a superstar player it still does not seem like an
adequate punishment.
Why
punish the team, you ask? Why punish them for a cheating player? Well, what are
these teams doing to insure they are
holding up the integrity of the game? In
other words, are they doing anything to make sure these players are not
cheating? The answer is NO. The drug test is put out by MLB, the
suspensions are put out by MLB, and all the responsibility has been laid on MLB
and the player. All the while the team
sits there with their hands dirty. Each
player is with their organization for 8 months or more out of the year and
spends most of the days with players, coaches, trainers, etc., and you are
telling me they don’t have any idea their players are possibly taking something
they should not be taking? If you
believe that, then I got some swamp land to sell you! Whether they know or don’t know if a player
is abusing the fact is the teams themselves are not doing anything to prevent
it. MLB needs to take a page out of the
NCAA’s playbook. In the NCAA they do
investigations on teams, players, coaches, etc.
The teams themselves also do an investigation if a player or coach is
caught doing something they should not have been doing by the NCAA because the
team could be penalized as well (i.e. Penn St., Michigan, Miami, etc.). But if
a team catches its own player the punishment handed down by the NCAA is usually
less severe. While this is not a perfect system I feel the guidelines could be
used to improve the MLB illegal drug policy.
Do you
still need more reasoning why to penalize a team for a player doping? Here’s a scenario to think about- Player A is
a superstar. His merchandise is the
highest selling, he is the face of the franchise, the guy that puts butts in
the seats, and just an iconic figure for that team. With this player on the team, the team is
gaining revenue hand over fist between merchandise sales, promotions, and of
course, ticket sales. Then the
unthinkable happens and Player A gets busted for PEDs and is suspended for 50
games. Those next 50 games will most
definitely hurt the team but what about the previous games he played while on
PEDs? The team made a TON of money on those games and probably won more games
than they would have lost with him not on the team. So what does the team do? They just replace him on the roster with
another player and go on about their business.
No punishment is handed down to this team except losing their superstar
for the next 50 games. No money is
really lost except for maybe those other figures decreasing a little over the
next 50 games or so. But let’s not kid
ourselves, the benefits the team acquired from him playing juiced is much more
than the aftermath of him getting busted doing something illegal. Not only that, but he gets to come back and
play if the suspension happened early enough in the year.
So what
is the answer? What are the details of
the policy to make sure everyone is held accountable at every level? I think the 3 strike rule for players is a
good starting point with the first strike being 50 games, second strike 100
games, and the third strike a lifetime ban from baseball. I also think each player should be fined 15%
of their total salary for the year caught doping and that money should be
donated evenly to the Taylor Hooton Foundation for Fighting Steroid Abuse,
D.A.R.E, and B.A.D. (Baseball Against Drugs).
As for
the team, the first thing they need to implement is a page taken from the
NCAA. Not only should MLB as a whole do
testing but each team should be responsible to use their resources to hire an
independent drug testing organizations approved by MLB. By having both MLB and each team test its
players the frequency of testing will increase which would decrease the odds of
a player getting away with abusing drugs.
Now as far as team punishment, it’s
broken into two categories: Team Positive Test (TPT) and Major League Baseball
Positive Test (MLBPT).
TPT- All positive drug tests found by way of TPT will be
omitted from punishment handed down from MLB to each individual team but the
doping player’s punishment still falls under the 3 strike rule. This is known as the “integrity rule”. It allows a team to place judgment on a
player and be held responsible by losing the player for X amount of games but
MLB not pass punishment to the team because of the integrity shown.
MLBPT- In the case that MLB finds a positive drug test from
one of the team’s player and the corresponding team does not, a punishment will
be handed down to the player under the 3 strike rule. As for the team, they will be given the
punishment of losing that player for X amount of games and the team will not be
able to fill the doping player’s spot on the roster. This means if Player A is a starting outfielder
the ML team will only be able to carry 24 men on their active roster instead of
the normal 25 for the amount of games he is suspended. The same rule applies to all minor league affiliations. For example: if Player A gets caught a second
time for PEDs under MLBPT, Player A’s team will only be able to carry 24
players on their active roster. If a
life-time ban happens then the team is required to carry a 24 man roster for a
full season. The punishment for teams
does not stop there. If a team is hit
with 3 or more positive tests found by MLB and not found by the team in a 5
year period they will be banned from the playoffs the year the third infraction
occurred. One stipulation is if the team
does not make it to the playoffs the season the infraction occurred then it
would carry over to the following season. If the infraction happens during the offseason
it will also take place the up and coming season. Each team will also be fined a million
dollars per doping player and that money will be spread out across MLB
charities. This punishment is only if
the 3 positive tests come from the guilty team’s 40 man roster. The guidelines apply to the other players off
the 40 man roster but the punishment is different. If a team is hit with 3 or more positive test
from players not on the 40 man roster over a 5 year period then they will be
fined five hundred thousand dollars per player and are banned from the First
Year Player Draft for the following season.
On a side note- Players, Teams, and MLB are subject to the
appeal process. In extreme cases not settled through that process the subject
will be put through a legal process.
Players, Teams, and MLB are not able to challenge or reduce the
punishment handed down but are allowed to challenge the drug test. All rules, regulations, and punishments are
not subject to the appeal or legal process.
It’s time for this unchanging
institute to take a step forward for the betterment of the sport. There are so many players doing the right
thing and not making it because roided players are taking their spots. Those players are cheaters and ruining the integrity
of the game but they are not the only guilty party. The ML teams that make stacks and stacks of
cash off of these players get to keep that money even though it’s dirty. The team has no incentive to clean up
baseball because there isn’t a devastating enough consequence, the player barely
has any incentive to stop doping because that is how he made it and how he made
his millions. One of the main reasons
baseball is becoming less and less relevant is because there is no incentive to
improve it. With the plan I outlined it
brings accountability and credibility back to baseball. The AIC plan is the way to bring back baseball
to its former glory. With that said, I
leave you with these two quotes.
“Anything that harms the
integrity of the game is terrible. We always thought we were immune to drugs in
baseball, but we know that's not true anymore. “ Harmon Killebrew
“Baseball is an allegorical play about America, a poetic, complex, and subtle play of courage, fear, good luck, mistakes, patience about fate, and sober self-esteem.” Saul Steinberg
“Baseball is an allegorical play about America, a poetic, complex, and subtle play of courage, fear, good luck, mistakes, patience about fate, and sober self-esteem.” Saul Steinberg
