Advertisement

Does baseball need harsher punishments for PED violations?

Liz Roscher
·Staff writer

In the wake of Dee Gordon's suspension, the debate about punishments for PED violations continues to rage. Ken Rosenthal discussed that very issue with players in a piece he wrote a few weeks ago, and again in a piece he wrote earlier today.

Players want more punitive punishments, because they think the current level (80 games for the first violation) isn't a deterrent anymore. Rosenthal quoted Justin Verlander saying this:

"How do you clean it up? Maybe more severe punishments," Verlander said.

"If there is proven intent to cheat — i.e. you tested positive or it's found that you were taking an illegal substance, PEDs, and trying to cheat the system, trying to go around it — I think it should be a ban from baseball.

"It's too easy for guys to serve a suspension and come back and still get paid."

Verlander wasn't alone. Rosenthal also spoke to Max Scherzer and Matt Holliday, and they both echoed Verlander's sentiments about harsher discipline (though each had their own ideas about the correct punishment). And Verlander's right about players coming back and still getting paid. Jeff Passan pointed out that Gordon will lose only $1.6 million of the $50 million contract he signed this offseason due to his 80-game suspension.

[From Jeff Passan: The sadness of Dee Gordon's PED suspension]

(AP)
(AP)

But is it really true that the current level of punishment isn't a deterrent anymore? If it were, wouldn't there be a larger number of players being popped for PED use?

Let's look at numbers. There was just one PED suspension at the major-league level in 2014, and that was Cameron Maybin. (There were two if you count Alex Colome, who had been optioned to Triple-A before his suspension.)

According to Baseball Almanac, there were six players suspended for PED use in 2015. Thus far in 2016, there have been five. If we count up the players on every team's 40-man roster, that's 1200 major league players. The percentage of those players suspended for PEDs each year shakes out like this:

  • 2014: 0.17%

  • 2015: 0.5%

  • 2016 (as of 4/29): 0.4%

It's fascinating that such a small number of players testing positive is inspiring this kind of reaction, but it seems to come from a belief that there are many more cheaters out there than are being caught by the tests. Many players obviously want the game to be clean, but it will never be 100% clean.

[Elsewhere: Dee Gordon releases statement on PED suspension]

There will always be someone who thinks they can fool the test, and someone who uses them and manages to not get caught. Harsher punishments won't change that, because if someone thinks they can be helped by PEDs, then they'll use them regardless of the punishment. And as Rosenthal points out, MLB believes it's doing everything they possibly can to test players and find those who are using.

With the Collective Bargaining Agreement set to expire on Dec. 1, you can bet that MLB's Joint Drug Agreement will be a major topic of conversation. And judging by what players have said, harsher punishments for PED violations will definitely be on the table. But will that actually make a difference or do MLB players just want to feel like they're making a difference?

It's one thing to be outraged when a fellow player tests positive, but it's another to use that anger to affect change.

More MLB coverage from Yahoo Sports:

The StewPod: A baseball podcast by Yahoo Sports
Subscribe via iTunes or via RSS feed

- - - - - -

Liz Roscher is a writer for Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email her at lizroscher@yahoo.com or follow her on twitter! Follow @lizroscher