Finally MLB and MLBPA reach an agreement on drug testing Jan. 13/05
Major League Baseball and the Players Association have reached agreement on a new drug program that will include more frequency of testing for steroids use and stricter penalties for those players who initially test positive. That and this report from MLB.com's Barry M. Bloom
Commissioner Bud Selig will make the joint announcement for MLB and the union on Thursday during his press conference, which concludes each quarterly meeting of the 30 owners and MLB staff.
"Frankly, the union has really stepped up on this because the players wanted it," Bob DuPuy, MLB's president and chief operating officer, said on Tuesday. "It will be the best program in [professional] sports. Comparable to our minor league program."
The owners are caucusing in Scottsdale this week and the most pressing issues are the new drug policy and the passing of control of the Milwaukee Brewers from the Selig family to a group of investors headed by Los Angeles businessman Mark Attanasio. The owners are expected to unanimously ratify the franchise sale at their joint meeting on Thursday morning.
The sale will end MLB's longest current franchise ownership. Selig or his daughter, Wendy Selig-Prieb, have been in control of the team since 1970 when the Pilots were purchased from Seattle interests and moved to Milwaukee just days before the start of that regular season.
At the same post-meeting media conference where the sale announcement is expected, baseball will announce the new drug program.
"We have been in very intense negotiations," Selig said last week on a Milwaukee radio show. "I'm very confident in saying to you today we will have a very, very constructive, tough steroid policy very soon."
DuPuy, MLB's No. 2 official, echoed the Commissioner's sentiment as the meetings began here this week and told media members to stick around for the announcement.
"It will be wonderful once it's done, but I don't want to pre-empt any announcement, and I certainly don't want to pre-empt all the work the Commissioner has done on this, so I'll reserve my comments until after it's announced," DuPuy said on Wednesday.
The sides have been in discussions since May, but the intensity increased in early December when the union's executive board authorized its leaders "to attempt to conclude an agreement consistent with those discussions."
Lawyers for MLB and the union have had face-to-face negotiations regarding the stiffer program in New York since mid-December.
"I'm glad we could come to an agreement," Cubs pitcher Mike Remlinger told The Associated Press. "It was the right thing to do. I think it was something that needed to be done, and I think players understand it needed to be addressed."
The impetus for this movement seems to have been grand jury testimony, leaked late last year to the San Francisco Chronicle, in which two of the game's biggest stars -- the Yankees' Jason Giambi and the Giants' Barry Bonds -- revealed that they had knowingly or unknowingly used steroids.
Selig had been asking the union for months to consider instituting the program enacted in the minor leagues three years ago, which includes year-round testing for a host of performance-enhancing and recreational drugs and punitive action after the first positive test. That and this report from MLB.com's Barry M. Bloom
In the MLB's minor-league program, any player testing positive for the first time is immediately suspended for 15 games. MLB wouldn't comment on the content of the new program.
"I think it's going to entail more testing, some out-season testing, yes, more in-season random testing and stiffer penalties," said New York Mets pitcher Tom Glavine, a senior member of the union.
Punitive action after an initial positive test is key to the stricter policy. As of now in the Major Leagues, the first positive test puts a player on a clinical track. The second positive test can be met with a 15-day suspension without pay or a $10,000 fine, plus the public releasing of the player's name.
"I have said all along I want a policy similar to the one I put in the minor leagues in 2001," Selig said. "I have spent an enormous amount of time with team doctors and physicians. Every one of them, all 30. And I feel very comfortable in telling you that I really feel good about where we are.
"[The minor-league policy] is the best steroid policy in sports. There's no question about it. Immediate penalties. Random testing year-round. It's got everything in there."
Until last month, the talks between MLB and the union had been lagging, but Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-N.D.) said they would introduce legislation in the Senate early this year to institute minimum drug-testing standards for all professional sports if MLB and the union couldn't resolve the matter.
McCain is the chair of the Senate Commerce Committee that oversees interstate commerce and has had intensive hearings into drug use on the professional, collegiate, high school and Olympic levels during the past three years. He followed Dorgan in that position.
Changes in MLB's current program, which was negotiated in collective bargaining three years ago as part of the current Basic Agreement, would make any Congressional action unnecessary.
"Look, we have testing in our [current] labor agreement, the first time we have ever had testing," Selig said. "People say it's weak. I've got news for you -- and this I agree with the Players Association -- it's worked well. But it isn't tough enough. It isn't comprehensive enough. It doesn't deal with the kinds of things I want to deal with." That and this report from MLB.com's Barry M. Bloom
Commissioner Bud Selig will make the joint announcement for MLB and the union on Thursday during his press conference, which concludes each quarterly meeting of the 30 owners and MLB staff.
"Frankly, the union has really stepped up on this because the players wanted it," Bob DuPuy, MLB's president and chief operating officer, said on Tuesday. "It will be the best program in [professional] sports. Comparable to our minor league program."
The owners are caucusing in Scottsdale this week and the most pressing issues are the new drug policy and the passing of control of the Milwaukee Brewers from the Selig family to a group of investors headed by Los Angeles businessman Mark Attanasio. The owners are expected to unanimously ratify the franchise sale at their joint meeting on Thursday morning.
The sale will end MLB's longest current franchise ownership. Selig or his daughter, Wendy Selig-Prieb, have been in control of the team since 1970 when the Pilots were purchased from Seattle interests and moved to Milwaukee just days before the start of that regular season.
At the same post-meeting media conference where the sale announcement is expected, baseball will announce the new drug program.
"We have been in very intense negotiations," Selig said last week on a Milwaukee radio show. "I'm very confident in saying to you today we will have a very, very constructive, tough steroid policy very soon."
DuPuy, MLB's No. 2 official, echoed the Commissioner's sentiment as the meetings began here this week and told media members to stick around for the announcement.
"It will be wonderful once it's done, but I don't want to pre-empt any announcement, and I certainly don't want to pre-empt all the work the Commissioner has done on this, so I'll reserve my comments until after it's announced," DuPuy said on Wednesday.
The sides have been in discussions since May, but the intensity increased in early December when the union's executive board authorized its leaders "to attempt to conclude an agreement consistent with those discussions."
Lawyers for MLB and the union have had face-to-face negotiations regarding the stiffer program in New York since mid-December.
"I'm glad we could come to an agreement," Cubs pitcher Mike Remlinger told The Associated Press. "It was the right thing to do. I think it was something that needed to be done, and I think players understand it needed to be addressed."
The impetus for this movement seems to have been grand jury testimony, leaked late last year to the San Francisco Chronicle, in which two of the game's biggest stars -- the Yankees' Jason Giambi and the Giants' Barry Bonds -- revealed that they had knowingly or unknowingly used steroids.
Selig had been asking the union for months to consider instituting the program enacted in the minor leagues three years ago, which includes year-round testing for a host of performance-enhancing and recreational drugs and punitive action after the first positive test. That and this report from MLB.com's Barry M. Bloom
In the MLB's minor-league program, any player testing positive for the first time is immediately suspended for 15 games. MLB wouldn't comment on the content of the new program.
"I think it's going to entail more testing, some out-season testing, yes, more in-season random testing and stiffer penalties," said New York Mets pitcher Tom Glavine, a senior member of the union.
Punitive action after an initial positive test is key to the stricter policy. As of now in the Major Leagues, the first positive test puts a player on a clinical track. The second positive test can be met with a 15-day suspension without pay or a $10,000 fine, plus the public releasing of the player's name.
"I have said all along I want a policy similar to the one I put in the minor leagues in 2001," Selig said. "I have spent an enormous amount of time with team doctors and physicians. Every one of them, all 30. And I feel very comfortable in telling you that I really feel good about where we are.
"[The minor-league policy] is the best steroid policy in sports. There's no question about it. Immediate penalties. Random testing year-round. It's got everything in there."
Until last month, the talks between MLB and the union had been lagging, but Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-N.D.) said they would introduce legislation in the Senate early this year to institute minimum drug-testing standards for all professional sports if MLB and the union couldn't resolve the matter.
McCain is the chair of the Senate Commerce Committee that oversees interstate commerce and has had intensive hearings into drug use on the professional, collegiate, high school and Olympic levels during the past three years. He followed Dorgan in that position.
Changes in MLB's current program, which was negotiated in collective bargaining three years ago as part of the current Basic Agreement, would make any Congressional action unnecessary.
"Look, we have testing in our [current] labor agreement, the first time we have ever had testing," Selig said. "People say it's weak. I've got news for you -- and this I agree with the Players Association -- it's worked well. But it isn't tough enough. It isn't comprehensive enough. It doesn't deal with the kinds of things I want to deal with." That and this report from MLB.com's Barry M. Bloom
posted by SportsDoc at 7:09 AM
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