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Related: About this forumOMG! Braun Wins Appeal!!!
Huge news: Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel is reporting that Ryan Braun has won the appeal of his 50-game suspension for taking a banned substance. The MLBPA has confirmed. Braun is the first player to successfully appeal a drug suspension.
Immediately after this news broke, Major League Baseball released a statement, printed in full below, saying that while they vehemently disagree with the arbitrators decision, it will respect the process.
To which I say: how freaking noble of you to respect the process, Major League Baseball. And to all of the writers who, in the wake of the leak of Brauns positive test, demanded that he either give up his MVP award of have it put up to a re-vote, I suppose you should probably revisit that view in light of the appeal. You know, now that the process has actually run its course and there is a determination you can assess rather than an unauthorized leak to which you can react.
As for Braun and the Brewers: nothing but good news here. From staring a 50-game suspension in the face to reporting to camp tomorrow as if nothing had happened. Which, if the integrity of the testing and the appeal process had been respected like it had been in all other cases, would have been totally unremarkable.
Heres Major League Baseballs statement:
Major League Baseball considers the obligations of the Joint Drug Prevention and Treatment Program essential to the integrity of our game, our Clubs and all of the players who take the field. It has always been Major League Baseballs position that no matter who tests positive, we will exhaust all avenues in pursuit of the appropriate discipline. We have been true to that position in every instance, because baseball fans deserve nothing less.
As a part of our drug testing program, the Commissioners Office and the Players Association agreed to a neutral third party review for instances that are under dispute. While we have always respected that process, Major League Baseball vehemently disagrees with the decision rendered today by arbitrator Shyam Das.
http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/2012/02/23/ryan-braun-wins-the-appeal-of-his-drug-suspension/related/
JonLP24
(29,322 posts)bluedigger
(17,073 posts)Will there be any statement from the arbitrator?
joeybee12
(56,177 posts)The grounds for him winning...false positive, compromised sample, etc????
HuckleB
(35,773 posts)Still, it's one of the strangest cases ever. Braun's stats never jumped. I honestly don't know what to think.
On edit: What I don't understand is MLB's statement. I mean, if you're willing to go with arbitration, then you agree to go with it. There is no point in saying "we disagree with it," after the fact.
Maybe it's some Milwaukee curse coming back to bite the bozo commissioner.
bluedigger
(17,073 posts)HuckleB
(35,773 posts)And the more I think about, if MLB's system is this amateur, then who gives a rip?
joeybee12
(56,177 posts)What a joke...he looked the other way during the whole steroid era and now he gets all self-righteous.
ProfessorGAC
(64,184 posts)I thought, "You've got to be kidding." They pushed for testing. They wrote the protocol. They enforce the rules. Then when it goes against them, they want to sue? What did they need negotiations for? They simply could have sued every player testing positive for fraudulent entry into the contract. (Probably not winnable, and expensive.)
But instead, they set up the whole system that they wanted, and when the system goes against them, they want to resort to the courts.
Stupid.
GAC
joeybee12
(56,177 posts)Let's all act indignant and outraged just so people think we're doing our jobs.
ScreamingMeemie
(68,918 posts)rumblings about Selig's long time relationship with Milwaukee.
El Supremo
(20,363 posts)If it means that he's never used PEDs, then that's great. If it got thrown out only on the technicality of the sample not being delivered on time, that's bad. But it was the biggest reading for testosterone that they ever had. Something's fishy.
rocktivity
(44,546 posts)Last edited Sun Feb 26, 2012, 02:10 AM - Edit history (1)
The commissioner should have ordered another test for Braun (and replaced the collection agency) the second he heard about the sample's flawed chain of custody. It is also the responsibility of the commissioner's office to have the tests done early enough so they can delivered to Fedex by closing time.
Braun could be lying like a rug for all I know. But just like with Lance Armstrong, I am left with no choice but to give him the benefit of the (reasonable) doubt.
rocktivity
chelsea0011
(10,115 posts)By most accounts protocol was followed. Braun is now attacking the chain of custody. But if the tester is to be believed everything he did was within the protocol. There are two samples taken and both tested positive. The second test is a more rigorous test if the first comes back positive. That, as what I have read, this is what happened. Braun is nothing but lucky in this. He isn't fighting the results but the manner in which the sample was handled. So, he is implying that something could have "happened" to the sample. This smacks of OJ when his defense also questioned the chain of custody and how a sample was precessed later than usual even though protocol was follows. Manny Ramirez probably should have fought his results. He also never tested positive for PED's but had high testosterone levels. I would like to see the tester come out and smack down Braun by saying he did nothing wrong and Braun's implications are false.
rocktivity
(44,546 posts)Last edited Tue Sep 14, 2021, 07:45 PM - Edit history (9)
But it's not MLB's fault, either.
It's the fault of whoever either didn't know that Fedex was open on Saturdays, or whoever decided that it wasn't important to inform either the commissioner or the lab that Braun's sample would be bunking in with him over the weekend. I also have to wonder why the lab didn't notice that the sample arrived a day late though it was taken a day earlier.
That's why Braun was able to crack open the door of reasonable doubt, and then blow it off its hinges.
rocktivity
chelsea0011
(10,115 posts)It very well could be that the late arrival didn't matter to the lab. It just seems that Braun and Co. seem to think everybody that them did him wrong. Again, he is one lucky dude that got a 2-1 decision. For Braun to get off on a technicality means that all the testing is suspect. And I go back to Manny. How is it that the public and media hung him out to dry? Both his issues with testosterone, not PEDS. And how can Clemens even go to trial with the stuff that has no chain of evidence that is expected to be introduced in his trial. Braun gets off, they all do.