These photos accomponay the above article on buscones and drugs that appears in the Sunday NY Timeshttp://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2009/10/24/sports/20091024SPTSDOMINICAN_9.html

Yes finding performance-enhancing drugs here is as easy as buying aspirin. But we are mixing apples and bananas. Why bring together the steroid problem that affects the whole MLB with the Dominican so called "integrity issue" as it only Dominicans were involved.

MLB and FBI investigators know that employees from several MLB teams working in the U.S. and Latin America were involved in skimming tens of thousands of dollars from contract bonuses intended for Dominican and Venezuelan players. And as Alderson said: "This is not just a Dominican problem, this is a baseball problem; and some major league clubs have been guilty of wrongdoing as well."

Dominican superstars Manny Ramirez, Alex Rodriguez, Sammy Sosa and David Ortiz were publicly linked to positive drug tests, but the list included at least 203 players. Who are the non Dominicans, why only Dominican names have been release, when even the own players were not notified of the results and some don't even know to what drug they tested positive?

in other words you think they are picking on the Dominicans correct .. ........You have pitched the slimy ethnic card from the bottom of the equipment bag .
Of the 69 minor leaguers suspended for using banned substances in 2008, nearly two thirds - 42 - came from the Dominican Summer League, a developmental program for Latin American players housed in secluded palm tree-lined campuses owned by big-league teams. This year, 31 of the 71 minor leaguers suspended for using banned substances came from the DSL..Dominican-born players make up about 17 percent of major league and minor league teams in the United States and Latin America, but about 38 percent of the players who tested positive for steroids and other banned substances since 2005 were Dominican.

Since 2008, when Major League Baseball instituted drug penalties here, more than half of all suspensions have occurred in the Dominican Summer League, where many newly signed Dominicans begin their careers.....................do not kill the messenger the NY Times

I am sorry, my bad, I thought we were talking about major league players, not minor. That's why I said that the steroid problem affects the whole MLB, and that their and FBI investigators know about the employees from several MLB teams working in the U.S. and Latin America were involved in skimming tens of thousands of dollars.

Once again, I thought was MBL and that’s' why I posted Mr. Alderson coments: "This is not just a Dominican problem, this is a baseball problem; and some major league clubs have been guilty of wrongdoing as well." and ask for the names of non Dominicans that tested positive, but so far, nobody knows who they are.

Bonds McGuire Palmiero the Rocket etc etc

SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic — A top prospect for the San Francisco Giants offered the family of a man he allegedly killed nearly $140,000 so they would drop the case against him, a prosecutor said on Tuesday.

Angel Villalona has already paid the family $55,000 and expects to offer another $83,000, prosecutor Jose Antonio Polanco told The Associated Press on Tuesday.

"The family ... has behaved in an embarrassing manner because they now say that Villalona is not even the person involved in the death," he said. "But the prosecution ... will continue to pursue this case."

The family had viewed the payment as compensation for the killing of 25-year-old Mario Felix de Jesus Velete, he said.

The victim's mother, Eufemia Gregoria Velete, could not be reached for comment.

Police say Villalona turned himself in 12 hours after the Sept. 19 bar shooting in La Romana. He could face up to 20 years in prison if found guilty.

He was released last Friday on $14,000 bail after the family issued a statement saying it had accepted the money, Polanco said.

A judge was expected to hear the case in about a month, Polanco said.

Villalona, 19, was signed by the Giants in 2006 and received a $2.1 million signing bonus.

The first baseman played in 74 games with Class-A San Jose this season, batting .267 with nine home runs and 42 RBIs. Baseball America chose him as the Giants' top prospect before the 2008 season, and he was selected for the Futures Game during All-Star festivities that year.

As rumors swirled that he paid off the family of his alleged murder victim with millions of pesos, Giants minor-leaguer Angel Villalona bailed out of jail this past week in his native Dominican Republic and became a free man - for now.

Villalona's lawyer, Jose Arturo Cevallos Cedano, told The Chronicle on Monday that the ballplayer has been out of jail since Friday, when he posted bail of 500,000 pesos, or $13,830 in U.S. dollars.

Villalona, 19 - who three years ago became the most expensive minor-leaguer ever signed by the Giants, at $2.1 million - still faces a charge that he shot a man to death in September in a wild bar fight in his hometown of La Romana, Dominican Republic. But the no-bail hold he had been under was relaxed because the family and prosecutor have not been able to pin a motive for the shooting on Villalona, Cedano said.

"Angel was just there with a friend," Cedano said. "There was no evidence that he did the shooting."

Prosecutor Jose Antonio Polanco, however, told The Chronicle the only thing that has changed in the case is that the victim's family signed a waiver saying it will not file civil charges against Villalona.

"We are continuing the prosecution," he said. "The agreement is only on civil charges, not criminal."

A source close to the case said Villalona's family paid the family of the shooting victim, 25-year-old Mario Felix de Jesus Velete, 5 million pesos, which is $138,306 in U.S. dollars.

Villalona's lawyer denied there had been a payment, and prosecutor Polanco said that if there were any monetary exchanges Villalona made with Velete's family, "that's between them." Relatives of Villalona and Velete did not return calls Monday seeking comment.

Villalona flew home to La Romana in early September to visit his mother. On Sept. 19, prosecutors say, he went to a popular disco downtown with friends, and after Velete - who was with another group - got into an argument with a friend of Villalona's, a bottle-tossing fight ensued.

As Velete tried to escape out the door, prosecutors say, Villalona shot him in the back.

Villalona's friends and family say he wasn't even inside the bar when the shooting happened. Some name another man as the shooter and say he has fled town.

The Giants have not commented on Villalona's future with the organization. In fact, their only statement on the matter was issued following his arrest: "We will monitor the situation closely and trust that the judicial process in the Dominican Republic will resolve the matter promptly and fairly."

Santo Domingo.– Top prospect in the San Francisco Giants organization Angel Villalona has been charged with murder in the Dominican Republic, FOXSports.com reported yesterday.

Villalona, 19, offered to pay the family of the victim 140,000 dollars to drop the case against him. The family reportedly has accepted the money.

Villalona, who has pleaded not guilty, could face up to 20 years in prison if the case is heard and he is found guilty.

It'll be interesting to see if Villalona faces any sort of suspension from the Giants or MLB, or if he is released and given a second chance elsewhere.