A dope on steroids
In this, his season of extra-human batting, San Francisco Giant Melky Cabrera has confirmed that a culture of doping for greatness persists in Major League Baseball as players pursue high-number contracts. It’s a damning commentary on the league’s drug enforcement that Cabrera believed he could defeat its testing and boost his testosterone with impunity. Worse, as revealed by the Daily News, Cabrera mounted an elaborate scheme to BS an arbitration proceeding with the claim that he was the victim of an innocent mistake.
Yes, MLB picked up evidence of Cabrera’s doping, and, yes, the league’s investigators put the lie to his lies, those being that Cabrera purchased a muscle cream over the Internet without knowing of its steroidal powers. And, no, neither fact is worth much more than tobacco-chaw spit.
That Cabrera was ready to dope up after the self-inflicted shame of so many players speaks powerfully that he belongs to a fraternity of cheaters who are seeking ever more wily means to hide chemical assistance.
That Cabrera concocted a website displaying a faked advertisement for his nonexistent alibi product demonstrates that he saw the MLB arbitration process as an escape hatch from a 50-day suspension. Why not? Milwaukee Brewers outfielder Ryan Braun was continued in good standing by an arbitration panel after challenging how his urine sample had been handled.
To an extent, MLB’s hands are tied. Procedures are governed by a labor contract with the players union, an outfit that fought drug testing and was prepared to file a grievance on Cabrera’s behalf after swallowing his BS.
The contract includes confidentiality, thereby covering up Cabrera’s coverup until The News’ sports team brought it to light. The pact sets the penalties with nothing added in the event a player attempts to pervert the process. Under that circumstance, lying is a rational tactic.
Cabrera didn’t act alone. A pal named Juan Nunez copped to sole responsibility for the Internet maneuver in an interview with The News. Cabrera’s agents Seth and Sam Levinson described Nunez as a “paid consultant” of theirs while vehemently stating that they had no knowledge of the scheming.
MLB must press for closing all the contract loopholes that doping players will exploit. And the league must join federal law enforcement authorities in getting fully to the bottom of the Cabrera affair.