WHY HASN'T MLB DRUG TESTING CAUGHT ANY MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL PLAYERS LAST 2 YEARS?

KEN CAMINITI was  the original poster boy for steroids. A lifetime .272 hitter who averaged 15 homers a year from 1987 to 2001, would hit 40  and average .326 and win the MVP in 1996, admittedly with the help of   steroids. Caminiti  came  out against steroids in a book, shortly before his drug-related death in 2004

steroids statistics, drug testing athletes, drugs in sports, drug use in sports, doping in sports

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Why No Players Have Been Caught via Baseball Drug Testing this year 

Can we not agree  that players are still using performance-enhancing drugs, especially after seeing 20 indicted last year, not by conventional baseball tests but through a disgruntled employee  ' leak'  at the Biogenesis labs in Florida. 


 Now, for over two decades, players have injected, swallowed, rubbed or otherwise ingested various PEDs  in an effort to help with nagging injuries, help late-career slumping or just gain that edge after seeing more and more other players get away with  it - and even be encouraged to use such by their teams in some cases, in our opinion from   research.





With the obvious continuing problem - yes , it is a serious problem - of PED use in baseball,  we wonder why no names have come out of any players-not a single one-who have been caught through MLB testing using PEDs this year, 2014 - or even last year, for that matter. 





The  only possible answer is that MLB drug testing is still in adequate and has not kept up with, supposedly, undetectable PEDs. Sure, former commissioner Selig can tell us that baseball has the most stringent testing in all sports but when not a single player is caught through  said testing one has to wonder if the tests are really adequate.Sure, Selig has increased the penalties from 50 to 80 games for the first offense and increased the second and third , too,  but what good are the new penalties if the testing is inadequate so that nobody is even indicted.

Mark McGwire and Jose Conseco were the 'Bash Brothers' in Oakland.  They were taking advantage of steroids as early as the late '80s, which helped propel the Oakland Athletics to a 1989 World Series victory.  Steroids were still young and new to baseball - and legal for a time (McGwire didn't even hide  his bottle of Androsteen  from his locker shelf)  - but it wasn't until after Caminiti that , first, Conseco , then McGwire admitted to their use. McGwire would break the single season  home run record with 70 in 1998 at St.Louis with his old Oakland manager Tony LaRussa. McGwire and Conseco were   inspiration for cross-town rival, San Francisco Giant Barry Bonds taking up the 'sport' when he came to the Giants in 1993, later becoming the Homerun King of All time with 762 homeruns, eclipsing that of Hank Aaron and prevously Babe Ruth




If any players were caught this year or even last we don't know about it. A new provision in the testing agreement is that players may appeal with legitimate excuses for positive test results, which favors players and could be another reason we're not seeing any players caught of late. The last time We saw players indicted through MLB testing was 2012. Remember when Balco's victor Conte called Melky Cabrera 'dumb or dumber'  for letting himself get caught.









We've watched Conte and Biogenesis' Tony Bosch explain in front of national audiences how easy it is to beat the current MLB testing for synthetic testosterone , for example.  Simply by taking the drugs at the right times In the correct amounts - we won't get too technical here and go into the 4:1 ratio - should allow players to ' 'do their thing'.  In Cabrera's case he likely took either too much or at the wrong time, or both.





Meanwhile, we're still seeing inflated performance numbers, more this year among pitchers and low ERAs. In the past, pitchers have not come under scrutiny as much as hitters and can get away with more. we may not be seeing the big home run numbers for obvious reasons. Hitters can better camouflage their 'usage' hitting for average rather then sporting Brady Anderson -like home run totals
 

Barry Bonds, before and after coming to San Francisco from Pittsburg. Unlike with some of the players today who don't show outward signs of 'enhancement'  with newer 'designer' durgs, Bonds showed significant changes in body shape and size. Even after Caminiti and Conseco had 'come out' Bonds would continue to lead

the San Francisco Giants uneven playing field for 14 years through 2007 (when he still hit 28 homers at age 42) before  he was finally 'taken down' by a couple of brave SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE writers who dared speak out against the beloved Bonds - beloved at least in San Francisco. 

Today, VICTOR Conte continues to use the number '50% ' when describing possible drug usage in baseball and, really , there's no reason to doubt him. Nothing has changed as far as the testing methods by MLB. The only changes may be in the types of drugs players are now using, namely the "designer" PEDs such as synthetic testosterone, with which , according to Cone and others, MLB's testing has not kept a pace. And, no longer do we necessarily see obvious telltale signs of the previously bulked up players with the newer drugs.





Today, they may not be called steroids any longer but PEDs are probably as rampant in baseball as steroids ever were.  Baseball attendance continues to thrive with a new generation having grown up seeing their favorite players benefitting from the drugs - and only knowing the one way, but ,no doubt, knowing its wrong.
Now it's not just one or two players like McGwire and Sosa but dozens still playing the game. Instead of being out of baseball, indicted users like Cabrera and Cruz - to pick on only two of many- continue to play the game, likely still on something. Not only are they getting away with continued use but their new teams and fans love it.
Likely for this reason , Selig and MLB -seeing the turnstiles rolling with big numbers - simply paid lip service  to the PED issue, extending the penalties but not the problem of the weak drug testing. they're content with the numbers, the baseball union is happy and life goes on.





Teams, particularly the San Francisci Giants with 23 indicted players over the years , have now been thriving off PEDs - or whatever you want to call them now - for two decades and there's no indication things will change. it's getting to the point a team may not be able to acquire players WITHOUT some PED history.  The biggest culprits in all this were not the early users like Camaniti, Canseco and even McGwire - who even left his bottle of Androsteen on his locker shelf for anyone to see- but MLB, team owners and fans who , instead of coming out strongly and doing something about the problem in its infancy have let it get out of hand. who knows if and when the PED problem -yes, it is a big problem - will be corrected.

so, you say the baseball situation is symbolic or symptomatic of the rest od society. that may be true but if anything was pure and free of scandal it WAS baseball )aside from the 1919 black sox scandal) . You've heard 'America, baseball and apple pie.' that's what it WAS and what it should be, not just for us old-school fans who remember a time when we didn't have to try to figure out who was cheating and who was not. Kids and adults are missing perhaps the last pure sport and experience in America and it's a shame . Sure, the Giants and other teams may, purportedly, 'sell out' (double meaning here?) to folks as much or more interested in having an expensive picnic and other extraneous experiences  at the new stadia - no longer ball parks - than watching
A REAL ball game. And, that may be part of the problem too - owners so intent on filling seats they'll do about anything and much of the crowd ends up doing about anything EXCEPT getting involved in the game, whether it be taking selfies, texting,eating or drinking $10 hot dogs and beers.


MORE #PEDS in BASEBALL - #SAN FRANCISCO GIANTS #PEDS

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WHY HAVE NO MLB PLAYERS BEEN INDICTED FOR PEDS in 2014?

#SF GIANTS MAJOR DROP OFF -BASICALLY SAME TEAM THAT WON WORLD SERIES LAST YEAR

Re #sf giants incredible drop off. Same team that won series in last place...think about it ...http://newyork.cbslocal.com/audio/1667-cbs-sports-minute/8-8-brandon-tierney-cbs-sports-minute-on-admiring-athletes/


#SF GIANTS MAJOR DROP OFF -BASICALLY SAME TEAM THAT WON WORLD SERIES LAST YEAR

MLB Tries to Cover By Going After Miami 'Balco'

Notice Spring Training  has been a bit quieter this year? 

       Along with an unusual amount   of 'mysterious' injuries this year, there's an underlying feeling of discontent in Mudville.  Especially among the old school guys, the broadcasters and sportswriters, who know, deep down, that baseball is far from the pure sport it was thirty years ago when guys named Willie and Micky lead the way. The old 'spring fever' isn't  there. No surprise what with the continuing stream of  players testing positive for chemical enhancement and the unknowing who IS and who ISN't 'on' something..   Sadly,  the young generation - under age 20 -    has never seen baseball played CLEANLY , now over 10 years since Bonds made Ruth turn over in the grave and Henry Aaron wince a lot, when Bonds hit 73 dingers in San Francisco, where homeruns used to be scarce;  Bonds was really the one who set things off,  though McGwire and Conseco played a smaller role  but  were a mere blip on the radar years earlier. 

So,'Commissioner' Selig and MLB decide  they have to make a point, lest they continue to look even more like  'turn the other cheek'  laughing stock,  as they've been for over a decade now. They come up with some names, much like Edgar Mitchell did - remember the Mitchell report that went nowhere? - and   threaten a lawsuit against this new Miami-based version of San Francisco's BALCO.  Good luck guys. Sounds like going after straws again. Give 'em a little scare, I guess.   Without real hard evidence,  you're putting yourselves in position for a reverse lawsuit - and to further  upset the game.. Nothing's going to change at this point, especially with the speed and ineptness that Selig and his 'yes men' do  things. Baseball's players union is very strong and you're not going to get very far. Meanwhile the fans will suffer, or will they?  The young ones don't know any other way than baseball on steroids.   It's sad for both  those  who haven't had the opportunity to see REAL baseball , and , us  'oldtimers' who remember how great the game can be if played honestly. But, like so many things today, there are easy short cuts to easy money, thanks largely to advanced chemicals, computers and , perhaps, a society gone south.

 I, for one, have pretty much lost interest in baseball (especially living in the SF area ( PED headquarters) but it looks like things may be going bi-coastal  .  As Buster Olney noted in his ESPN column today,  the problem is now so entrenched . Easily half the SF Giants are on the stuff, in my opinion, lead by the Venezuela connection of Scutaro and  Sandoval. (Scutaro comes over mid season to suddenly become Babe Ruth and 'teach' Sandoval his 'tricks' just as A-Rod  did with M Cabrera, before Cabrera took his 'secrets' back to Kansas City where he taught his fellow Venezuelan Scutaro and Mijarez before THEY came to  the Giants... and on and on it goes.. Incestual relationships all over the place but either I am the only one who sees them or perhaps one of the few who cares enough to speak out.  So the  Giants lose another star of 2010, Brian Wilson.  No big deal.. J ust go back and get old suspects from 2010 , Andre Torrez and Rafael Ramirez, who had their best seasons with Giants, as have most of these guys. Across the bay The A's bring back Bartolo Colon, who will either still have to be on the juice , at 39 , to perform well, or will be a throwaway. Here today , gone tomorrow,  just like the experiment with Manny Ramirez,  last year; that failed, leaving him out of excuses and into retirement. Finally.   More  @  http://wheredidyougojoedimaggio1.blogspot.com/

Mota, Testosterone, San Francisco Giants - Sabean Makes More Excuses

      

 Road NOT To Success  

Mota, Testosterone, San Francisco Giants - Sabean Makes More Excuses

The Chronicle reached Giants general manager Brian Sabean by phone a few minutes ago, and he offered this explanation on the team’s decision to activate reliever Guillermo Mota after a second drug suspension term, 8/31/12, SFGate,com:

 “Our organization, before MLB was doing anything, before baseball even tested, we tested in the minor leagues. We strictly adhere to the program. We feel the program is a good one, and it’s working. Whether there will be changes made, that’s not for me to say because of collective bargaining. The long and short of it is, the club has no right to impugn anyone any more. You have to go case by case. We’re aware of Mota’s case inside and out, and we feel it was an honest mistake.” On any concerns about the perception of the Giants, given Melky Cabrera’s recent suspension for testosterone use:

“We’re always concerned about our brand, about how you’re perceived. But we’ve done nothing wrong. The player has done something wrong, faced the music, and under the policy of Major League Baseball we don’t have the right to shut him out. We don’t have the right to further sanction him.”

  But, Brian, you do have the responsiblity to bring in players NOT suspected -OR CONVICTED- of  illegal drug use  and especially NOT  two time convicted ones.  To say that Mota made an 'honest mistake' is laughable....NOT READING THE COUGH MEDICINE LABEL!  That's even worse than Bond's 'flaxseed oil' excuse because not only Mota is saying the testosterone was in cough medicine but he also said he didn't read the label. Then, on top of that, it's his SECOND CONVICTION! Come on Brian! Fool be once...

  Is it shear coincidence that during your reign you've brought in 10 convicted users and a number more of suspected ones. No other team has brought in more than   two, and usually made a point to carefully check them out after that or not bring them back after a second drug suspension (the Dodgers with Manny Ramirez a rare exception, done by the previous administration ).  The A's had little use for him and didn't make it past spring training. . Why do you think Mota and other suspected guys clear waivers? Other teams have the decency not to mess with them, even if it would mean (illegally) helping their team

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 Bringing in Jose Guillen , alone, gave you several game winning hits, enough to cover the one game finish over San Diego. This year,  recently-banned Melky Cabrera probably meant another 5-10 wins in the time he was here.  And now two time convicted user, Mota , is back , not to mention several other suspected users.  As Arizona manager Kirk Gibson points out, it's not fair to the other (abiding) teams to knowingly acquire such players. (Sorry , Brian, but other teams knew better and so you got a real deal for both Cabrera and  Mota.  No due dilligence here.  These and other players you go after had dramatic spikes in their stats, were malcontents with prior teams (when a player plays on four different teams in four years you must wonder, too). Nuff evidence. Nuff said. Stop it now or finally step in Stupid Selig.

 

PEFORMANCE  ENHANCING SUPPLEMENTS - Mota: Giants Continue to Thrive , Get  Away with Drug-enhanced Players

Giants Welcoming back Two Time Offender Mota Must Make Purists Wonder about Giants, Baseball Today

In light of the SF Giants reactivating Guillermo 'I did not read the label on the cough medicine'  Mota following his second drug violation and 100 game suspension, baseball purists must question how the Giants can get away or have the balls to keep taking on known drug users or reputed ones. And they're winning, why of course, with players other teams respectfully turned away. Meanwhile the Giants continue to win and affect other teams' chances, eg Arizona Dbacks,  with tainted players while baseball turns it's head (with rare exception, ieKirk Gibson).

It's true that the average modern baseball fan is not as concerned with such infractions if a player is entertaining him . Witness Barry Bonds' 10 year steoriod career when the Giants and fans totally supported their meal ticket while getting rid of players and management that didnb't subscribe to the idea, eg best natural team player Jeff Kent and team head Bill Neucomb.

Giants management claims ignorance when acquiring these tainted players, believing that MLB should do the screening.  If other teams let such players as Cabrera get away for a player like Jonahtan Sanchez one has to know something is going on; then, looking at the numbers and finding Cabrera's sudden resurgence really says something. So much for due dilligence on the part of GM Sabean. Meanwhile the Jints are winning with these players other teams had the respect to turn away. Is it fair to other teams? No. Does it make the Giants and baseball a laughing stock to old school baseball players and fans? Yes.

From 2000  the team has been rampant with convicted and suspected steroid users (in a time before advanced testing was adopted), eg Santiago, Benitas, Bernard in addidtion to Bonds. One must wonder how many others had gone undetected.

The Giants rode their major League leading Drug reputation into the world series in 2002 after acquiring another convicted drug offender, Jose Guillen. After he came to the team, we saw a sudden spike of homeruns and hitting by the giants, with newly acquired Cody Ross hitting 8 homers in a short span and several in the playoffs. Then there were others with equally surprising numbers, like Jose uribe , Renteria and the aforementioned convicted Mota. Note the Latin connection, and most of the success happening after fellow Dominican Guillen joined the team in August. Guillen alone had several game winning hits, enough by himself to make up the one game margin the Giants needed to beat out San Diego IN the playoffs in 2010.

This year the trend contines with Mota and another Dominican, Joaquin Arias outhitting the league since the Allstar break. Arias, who had never hit a homerun in his prevous 2,000 at bats over five seasons has already hit three in the homer unfriendly San Francisco At&t Park. His 12 doubles are double the most he ever hit in a single season prior.

 At an age when most players start slowing down, Angel Pagan   is having a career power year with 8 homers and 29 doubles thru 8/31, again, in theSan Franciso ballpark unfriendly to hitters. Pagan only once hit more homes in a year, in the smaller New York  Met's ball park.

Yet a third player, Gregor Blanco, has hit 5 homers this year in 111 games for the giants which is more than the three he hit  his previous three years and 250 at bats in the big leaques, combined, again, playing in the large ballpark, unfriendly for hitting homers.

It's all very reminiscent of the 2010 team that featured the aforementioned number of Latin players who mysteriously became power hitters with the giants in the large ballpark.'

The Giants are basically thumbing their nose at major league baseball with their 'win-at-any-cost' attitude; they already have two of the five convicted drug users in 2012 in Moto and Melky Cabrera and may well have more who have gone undetected. And, so what if they lose a player like Cabrera.. They got a lot of victories out of his tainted player - at a reducedcost- that could well propel them into the playoffs again.

Sabean as long overlooked the team's drug use, but now even usually cerebral manager Bruce Bochy dismissed any problem with bringing back Mota, saying that the Giants, unlike other teams, are more concerned with a player's well-being and that they should be given another chance, in this case a third. GM Brian Sabean is even more obvious, saying that it's up to major league baseball ot police the players. Now, if Mota performs well one can assume he's still on 'cough medicine.' If he is off the performance enhancing drugs  now, what's the point of having him around. No doubt the Giants hope he's still using PEDs -- at keast long enough to help get them in the playoffs. Let him get ' detected later.

And another recent acquisition, Hunter Pence , has been rumoured to be on and perhaps now off PEDs, based on his recent decline. The Giants may lose on this one unless  Pence decides to risk going back on the drug. In any case it's a win-win propositon for the giants. They can't lose. Get a guy cheap and hope he gets away with it long enough to help propel the team...

So there you you go... The San Franicso Giant's Win-At-Any-Cost attitude. It'a affecting the pennant races, favoring the Giants by far yet only Arizona manager Kirk Gibson has brought up the discrepancy... Bud Selig where are you again? Where Have You Gone Joe DiMaggio? Baseball has become more like westling or roller derby today - an exhibition rather than a true measure of players' talents. Sadly , the ones who are playing it honest, which is still the majority are playing an an unfair field,being affected adversely by the cheaters.her prices for untained ones.  Mota, Testosterone, San Francisco Giants - Sabean Makes More Excuses

PEFORMANCE  ENHANCING SUPPLEMENTS - Giants Continue to Thrive , Get  Away with Drug-enhanced Players