Rage against the Roids

The latest high profile MLB player to test positive for performance enhancing drugs is former Dodger, and current Miami Marlin - Dee Gordon.  The Internet and talk radio is abuzz at this latest bombshell.  Is baseball doing enough to keep PEDs out of the sport?  What about all those records set by people on or previous on PEDs (could be a whole topic for another day).  Baseball HAS gotten tougher over the years on penalties.  The latest change coming in 2014.

Penalties for 1st time offenders:

2005 - 10 game suspension
2006 - 50 game suspension
2014 - 80 game suspension

Who's to say a play like Dee Gordon (or some minor league player), wouldn't used PEDs to land a lucrative contract and cash in on their payday?  In this case, Gordon recently had a hot year and signed a 5-year, 50 million dollar contract with the Miami Marlins.  He stands to lose around half of his 3 million dollar salary for 2016 for his 80-game suspension.

Is that enough? What recourse do the Marlins have, and are they the ones that get the raw end of this deal?  Gordon still gets around 48.5 million over 5 years.  Not a bad deal.

Personally, I think the first suspension should be 1 year.  Also the team has the option to null and void a contract.  Just signed a 50 million dollar deal?  Sorry Gordon.  Good luck losing all that money and trying to sign something worthwhile when you come off your 1 year suspension as a free agent.  Oh sure, teams will sign him, but there is no way he'd get another deal that big.

How would you all feel if it were someone on the Angels who took PEDs??  It's happened.  in 2005, both Willie Collazo and Francisco Cordova received 15 game suspensions for PED use while playing for the Angels.

And how do you feel about former juicers or drug-abusers breaking into the Angels lineup?  Well, we have a few of those too.

In 2014, while with the Mariner's Triple-A team in Tacoma, Ji-Man Choi tested positive for a banned substance (methandienone, a controlled substance popular with bodybuilders) and served a 50 game suspension.  He was hitting .394 at the time.  Everyone always denies it, of course.  Choi said:

"I do not know what I could have taken that caused me to test positive,"

Also, in 2015, Javy Guerra tested positive a SECOND time  for a "drug of abuse" while pitching for the White Sox in AAA and was served witha  50 game suspension.  In this case, Guerra didn't deny it, but stated that it was a performance de-hancer.

It was not a performance-enhancing drug; it was actually a performance de-hancer.

There is a lack of information around exactly what Guerra was suspended for, but it does sound more like drug abuse than PEDs.  Drug abuse is also rather interesting considering what lengths Arte Moreno went to on dumping Josh Hamilton after his relapse into drugs last year.

Hopefully no one on the Angels rosters is CURRENTLY using any banned drugs.  Cheaters are always going to try and find a way to cheat - I just hope none of them are under the Halo.

You can't avoid drugs in baseball.  Drug abuse is bad period, but juicing has put a shadow on the sport in the past.  How will MLB handle it going forward with this latest high profile case?