Ryan Braun Puts MLB Policy Under Microscope
They didn’t need to lay down a bunt or pull a double-switch in the eighth inning. They didn’t have to work deep into their bullpen either. Hell, they didn’t even have to take the field, and the Milwaukee Brewers will basically start the season with a 1-0 record, or a 7.8-0 record if you go by WAR statistics.
WAR stands for “wins above replacement” and Ryan Braun was apparently worth 7.8 of them during last season’s MVP campaign. Braun was set to serve a 50-game suspension because of a positive drug test, but yesterday Braun’s suspension was overturned after a lengthy arbitration.
Now the debate rages on. Divisive lines have been drawn, trenches are being dug, and Major League Baseball’s drug-testing policy is lying wounded in no-man’s land.
Make no mistake about it, Ryan Braun’s suspension was overturned solely on the basis of a technicality. Whether or not that’s indicative of his guilt or his innocence is indeterminable. However, one thing that has become clear is that the 18,000+ words in the MLB’s drug policy isn’t nearly as all-encompassing as Bud Selig had envisioned.
Oh, and Ryan Braun has some crafty-ass lawyers.
Basically, Ryan Braun’s reputation, and in some ways his career, was saved because a FedEx was closed and his piss-test was sent two days later than it was supposed to be. The sample was signed and sealed, but not delivered in accordance with the language of the MLB policy. For that reason, and that reason alone, Braun and the Brewers get a huge break, and whoever drafted the policy looks like an ass-clown.
This has the makings of an intense UPS commercial. “What can Brown do for you?”
I know for a fact they can overnight Chicago-style deep dish to just about anywhere in the South, which is a veritable pizza fallout zone complete with stories of mutation caused by inferior pie. Perhaps it can address a still-prevalent drug problem in Major League Baseball, too? Maybe not, but now seems as good a time as any to mention the fact that we all loved those commercials with that grade school art teacher and his dry-erase board.
Where were we? Something about peeing in a cup… oh, that’s right. Ryan Braun.
Braun’s innocence or guilt is almost completely irrelevant, although it will undoubtedly remain at the core of this story. The issue is that there is still apparently cause for concern with the sport’s allegedly “stringent” testing policies. Braun’s precedent-setting arbitration ruling is going to leave the league incredibly vulnerable moving forward. The exposed thread will be pulled until eventually the entire system lies in tatters like a thrift store sweater.
It’s a distinguishable loophole. One that probably–no definitely–shouldn’t exist.
I could walk into any Walgreens in the country and fill out an application, and inside of a week there will be some sort system utilizing urine and cups to determine that the only drugs in my system are the heart-stopping ones that they put in Monster energy drinks. Yet, Major League Baseball, with BOOKOO dollars annually in revenue, are getting power-bombed in court by a player’s association legal team on a technicality.
Ryan Braun might fail drug tests, but Major League Baseball fails AT drug testing. Time to go back to the drawing board.
I’ve got just the guy.
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