I'll contend this was one of the best sigs ever on the board.


This info just makes Frank Thomas look all that much better.

It's more fun to be a victim

There will never be an effective vaccine. I'll never get one anyway.

Big Frank's numbers speak for themselves. He declined and got hurt more often after age 30.

Does MLB have a case this time?
Posted by Eugene Freedman

Just cause doesn’t mean just ‘cause. You’re probably thinking about your non-unionized workplace. Your employer can discipline or fire you for a good reason, a bad reason, or no reason at all. In a workplace represented by a union, like Major League Baseball’s, it doesn’t work that way.

In cases of conduct and discipline, the employer bears the burden of proof. That burden is by a preponderance of the evidence.

I have seen cases where the union so thoroughly disproves the employer’s case through nothing more than cross-examination of the employer’s witnesses that it does not even put on a single defense witness. I’ve also seen cases where the employer just flat-out fails to prove compulsory elements of its case. Without proving certain elements, the entire argument falls apart like a house of cards.

Generally, once an employer proves its case, it must also prove that the ensuing discipline is reasonable and appropriate for the conduct. What’s interesting in MLB and the MLBPA’s Joint Drug Agreement is that the parties have agreed to the penalties up front. There is no argument on the question of penalty and no mitigation.

Moreover, the conduct involved under the Joint Drug Agreement (JDA) is a strict liability offense. Once proven to have occurred, normally through a positive test, there is no requirement to show intent to violate the rules. So, it should be relatively simple for MLB to suspend a player for violating the JDA, right?

Well, mostly. Ryan Braun’s prior case proved that it’s not a positive test if the testing protocols are not followed, following the tenets of the fruit of the poisonous tree theory of criminal law. If the evidence is obtained or maintained improperly, it cannot be relied upon and for the purposes of the hearing officer, does not exist.

With all that as prologue, we are now presented with a report that MLB intends to suspend over 20 players without a positive test. How is that even possible? MLB is going to have to prove its case of possession of substances on the banned list through circumstantial evidence rather than use through testing evidence. It doesn’t have any player arrest or conviction for possession going for it, either. MLB has to prove the entire case for itself—and it’s going to be very difficult to prove.

First and foremost, MLB’s key witness is very weak. Craig Calcaterra explains why here. But for many of the alleged violators, MLB’s witness likely was dealing with intermediaries. If he never met the player in person and did not directly provide the PEDs to them, the case becomes even more tenuous.

But beyond that, there’s something that MLB has to go up against in this case: its own testing regime. MLB has called its testing the best in sports, or at least U.S. professional sports. Meanwhile, except for a mere few of the players on the list, all of them have tested negative, repeatedly negative, over the course of the period they are alleged by the questionable witness to have received and used these banned substances.

MLB is doing nothing more than undermining its own testing system in the eyes of the media and the public. “Yes, Mr. Arbitrator, we believe in our testing system, it’s the best around, and these players tested negative on multiple occasions, but you should ignore that.” That sounds more like exculpatory evidence than it does corroborating evidence for the testimony to be offered by MLB’s witness.

But doesn’t that also implicate the players who tested positive and who also appear on the list? Of course it does. But they have served their suspensions. They can’t be disciplined twice for the same offense, so how would MLB prove that possession didn't occur at the same time as their positive test? Wanting the test and the alleged possession to be separate offenses is one thing, but MLB will have to prove it to be more reasonable than not by a preponderance of the evidence.

And what of the other rumored charge—lying about PED usage during the investigation? That is a compounding charge that relies upon the first charge being proven. If MLB can’t prove PED usage or possession, how can it further prove lying during the investigation?

It would seem to me that this is just another attempt by MLB to undermine its own product: its players. Surely, it has a goal better than challenging its testing program publicly and losing a host of very public discipline cases and ultimately firing more arbitrators.

MLB representatives have stated at many professional labor relations conferences over the past couple of years that it has raised its game. It has hired professionals to handle labor law to match those of the MLBPA, who had been beating them for decades. This case, at first blush, appears to be just another in a long line of overreaching by the league and the owners in a multi-decade-long attempt to pretend that it doesn’t have to follow its contract or labor law.

So how do you explain Barry Bonds and Sosa turning into Giant sized ...

... 60 and 70 homerun hitters?

Nothing to do with PEDs? Or PED's didnt matter?

How bout Brady Anderson?

There are numerous cases of guys putting on 25 lbs on muscle in an off season and then doubling their career homerun high. That is PED's

It's not just dangerousness, it's making PED use a requirement for work. Imagine at your job that cocaine usage is not only allowed, but encouraged in the hallways and those who do it are getting promotions based on results. You are all but forced to start using cocaine, even if you think it's too dangerous to use, or to fall behind others who are willing to do it. Now, maybe the cocaine isn't making them better at their job, but it certainly is doing something whether real or imagined. Of course, you could just quit your job and move onto a different industry, or you could just sit back and watch as other people leapfrog you and you get stuck in your position while also getting asked the question of "why aren't you taking cocaine?" all the time.

The comments above were correct about energy transfer being the key to the home runs. The ball and how fast it is pitched. The absorption of energy by the ball factor, bat speed and weight of bat. What was overlooked however is that a guy that is on PED's and adds all the extra muscle. No his PED use isn't immediately a factor. But if he can due to the muscle swing a heavier bat with the previous home run type bat speed there is an energy increase.

Laurence Holmes is a fucking weirdo, a nerd in denial, and a wannabe. Not a very good radio host either.

Hey Biggie, you still think your boy Bud doesn't want to nail Braun?

I thought I heard that A-rod tried to buy the biogenesis company to destroy their records. That is lifetime ban worthy.

Why would you even go to a company like Biogenesis for PED and other performance enhancements? And then why would you allow records to be kept? And why would you do both those things if you are already on MLB's radar and have been investigated/nailed before for PED use?

Why can't you just get educated and purchase the PED's through a 3rd party or something and do it yourself?

What the fuck is wrong with these idiots?

There is not a damned thing wrong with people who are bull shitters.

There's supposedly 3 or 4 "surprise" names that will be announced as well.

Well can they go ahead and do it already, I want to see the list dammit!!!

There is not a damned thing wrong with people who are bull shitters.

It's more fun to be a victim

There will never be an effective vaccine. I'll never get one anyway.

There is not a damned thing wrong with people who are bull shitters.

Ken Rosenthal ‏@Ken_Rosenthal 13m
Among players accepting 50-game suspensions: #Rangers’ Cruz, #Tigers’ Peralta, #Phlllies’ Bastardo, #Mets’ Valdespin, #Padres’ Cabrera.

Ken Rosenthal ‏@Ken_Rosenthal 8m
Also suspended: #Yankees’ Cervelli, #Mariners’ Montero, #Mets’ Puello, #Astros’ Escalona, #Padres’ De Los Santos, #Yankees’ F. Martinez.

Ken Rosenthal ‏@Ken_Rosenthal 7m
Free-agent pitcher Jordan Norberto also among suspensions.

Does Biogenesis only sell things in Spanish?

Ideally Arod gets suspended for life but the Yankees have to pay him every penny, not that that's a possible outcome. The MLB "leaks" are bullshit and Arod needs to shut up. How do you trust either Bud Selig or Arod? You can't.