As I've stated to many of the guys here on DT, PEDS are-less so- and were-more so a common part of the game. Dominicans are not the only ones who engaged in these "extras" When the issue is honestly debated this issue of PEDS usage will necessitate the designation PEDS ERA moniker for this period or Era in Baseball history.


Ryan Braun, reigning NL MVP, tests positive for performance-enhancing substance

If Braun’s appeal is denied, the Milwaukee Brewers star would be subject to a 50-game suspension

BY WAYNE COFFEY, MICHAEL O'KEEFFE & TERI THOMPSON
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

Originally Published: Saturday, December 10 2011, 9:19 PM
Updated: Sunday, December 11 2011, 2:04 AM


Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images
According to reports, Ryan Braun tested positive for elevated testosterone and faces a 50-game suspension for the 2012 season.

MLB announces new five-year deal, becoming first professional North American sport to test blood for HGH

MLB announces new five-year deal, becoming first professional North American sport to test for HGH

Not even three weeks after being voted the National League’s MVP, Milwaukee Brewers star outfielder Ryan Braun has tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs, and faces a 50-game suspension if the positive result is upheld.

Braun, 28, is challenging the results through arbitration, saying in a statement that he is a victim of “highly unusual circumstances” that triggered the violation. Braun’s positive test was first reported Saturday by ESPN.

A suspension has not been announced by Major League Baseball. No player has ever successfully appealed a positive test for performance-enhancing drugs.

The positive result came from a test during the playoffs, before Braun’s Brewers were eliminated from their NL championship series by the St. Louis Cardinals.

The stunning news of Braun’s test raises anew the question of whether baseball has truly emerged from the clutches of performance-enhancing drugs, a declaration that commissioner Bud Selig has made more than once, claiming that the use of PEDs in the game is “virtually non-existent with the game’s pro-active testing program that has been instituted in recent years.”

A source familiar with the situation said Braun took a second test shortly after he had been notified that he had tested positive for synthetic testosterone, and that test did not indicate that he had used banned drugs. The test was independent of the first sample, which may or may not work toward clearing Braun since many drugs can be flushed from the body quickly.

Major League Baseball has not announced the positive test result because Braun is disputing the test through arbitration.

“There are highly unusual circumstances surrounding this case which will support Ryan’s complete innocence and demonstrate there was absolutely no intentional violation of the program,” said Matthew Hiltzik, Braun’s spokesman. “While Ryan has impeccable character and no previous history, unfortunately because of the process we have to maintain confidentiality and are not able to discuss it any further, but we are confident he will ultimately be exonerated.”

Braun, a five-year veteran, has averaged 36 homers, 118 RBI and a .563 slugging percentage in his career, and has been a remarkably steady performer, showing no dramatic spikes in his statistics.

Said a former teammate of Braun’s: “I never suspected him to be that kind of guy. I never saw anything that would have suggested that he was doing something. You never know, but right now I am withholding judgment.”

“He has not been suspended,” said a source familiar with the case. “He had another test immediately after he had the first test and that test came back normal. He insisted on taking a second test as soon as he was notified of the first one. The idea that he tested positive for a banned substance is not accurate. It was something else that came up that caused the elevation, that created that result.”

The Brewers’ outfielder, who led Milwaukee to its first division championship since 1982, submitted a urine sample that tested positive for banned substances during the playoffs, ESPN said. He had been notified that he had flunked the drug test about a month before he was named the NL MVP in November.

Victor Conte, the BALCO founder who was at the heart of baseball’s steroid scandal, said Braun may have been targeted for more aggressive testing because something suspicious may have shown up in an earlier urine sample.

“It could be a precursor or metabolites, a number of things that increase testosterone. There are certain things that stimulate testosterone,” Conte said. “They may have seen something funny in his original sample. Then they do a carbon-isotope ratio test and they look for more sophisticated substances.”

In April, the Brewers signed Braun to a contract extension through 2020 that brings the value of his current deal to about $150 million over 10 seasons. He hit .332 with 33 home runs and 111 RBI this season.

Braun, who was interviewed by MLB.com after Alex Rodriguez was outed two years ago for using steroids, said, “I don’t know if I would say I was surprised (he took them). I feel like it was so rampant, so prevalent, in baseball during that time period that not much surprises me anymore. If anything, I was surprised he got caught, that it came out this long after he supposedly did it.”

Just before A-Rod issued his mea culpa in Tampa, Braun told the website, “The best thing he can do is come out, admit to everything and be completely honest. The situation will die a lot faster if he tells the whole truth.”

— With Roger Rubin



Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/baseball/ryan-braun-reigning-nl-mvp-tests-positive-performance-enhancing-substance-article-1.989890#ixzz1gEStITSB

Updated: December 11, 2011, 7:22 AM ET
Ryan Braun tests positive for PED


By Mark Fainaru-Wada and T.J. Quinn
ESPN.com

Braun Tests Positive

Weeks before Ryan Braun accepted the National League MVP, he knew he was facing 50-game drug suspension.

National League MVP Ryan Braun, who last season led the Milwaukee Brewers to their first division title in nearly three decades, has tested positive for a performance-enhancing drug and faces a 50-game suspension if the initial finding is upheld, two sources familiar with the case told "Outside the Lines."

Major League Baseball has not announced the positive test because Braun is disputing the result through arbitration.

Olney: Positively bad for MLB

Ryan Braun went from being one of the game's best young players to being one of the most prominent to test positive for performance-enhancing drugs, writes Buster Olney. Story

A spokesman for Braun confirmed the positive test Saturday and issued a statement: "There are highly unusual circumstances surrounding this case which will support Ryan's complete innocence and demonstrate there was absolutely no intentional violation of the program. While Ryan has impeccable character and no previous history, unfortunately, because of the process we have to maintain confidentiality and are not able to discuss it any further, but we are confident he will ultimately be exonerated."

USA Today reported Saturday night that Braun said of the test result: "It's B.S."

The 28-year-old Braun had to provide a urine sample for testing during the playoffs, and he was notified of the positive test sometime in late October -- about a month before he was named the National League's most valuable player.

The positive result was triggered by elevated levels of testosterone in Braun's system, the sources also told "Outside the Lines." A subsequent, more comprehensive test revealed the testosterone was synthetic -- not produced by Braun's body.

Every individual naturally produces testosterone and a substance called epitestosterone, typically at a ratio of 1-to-1. In Major League Baseball, if the ratio comes in at 4-to-1 or higher during testing, a player is deemed to have tested positive. The sources did not indicate how high above the threshold Braun's sample tested.

To affirm the results and strengthen its case, MLB asked the World Anti-Doping Agency lab in Montreal, which conducts its testing, to perform a secondary test to determine whether the testosterone spike resulted from natural variations within Braun's body or from an artificial source. The test indicated the testosterone was exogenous, meaning it came from outside his body.

The Brewers said the team had not been contacted by the commissioner's office and the team had no knowledge of a failed test.

"Ryan Braun has been a model citizen in every sense of the word, both in the Milwaukee community and for the Brewers," Brewers owner Mark Attanasio said in a statement released Saturday night. "Since joining our organization in 2005, he has been a person of character and integrity."

Messages left for MLB officials were not returned. Greg Bouris, spokesman for the Major League Baseball Players Association, declined comment.

"We are dealing with an incomplete set of facts and speculation," Attanasio said in the news release. "Before there is a rush to judgment, Ryan deserves the right to be heard. We are committed to supporting Ryan to get to the truth of what happened in this unfortunate situation."

Since being informed of the results, Braun has been disputing his case. A source close to Braun said that when he was told about the positive test, he immediately requested to be tested again. That second test, using a different sample that was tested by Braun's camp, the source said, was not positive. Those close to Braun believe that the difference between the two tests will show that the first test was invalid. Although Braun's representatives acknowledge that a non-positive test would not negate a positive one, they believe the second test shows certain anomalies that will suggest problems with the first. They declined to specify.

Ryan Braun

AP Photo/Jeff RobersonMilwaukee Brewers' Ryan Braun carried the team to its first division title in nearly three decades last season, leading the league in slugging percentage at .597, with a .332 batting average, 33 home runs and 111 runs batted in.

The outfielder has told those around him that he did not knowingly take any banned substances and hoped to prove that during the arbitration process. No major league player has ever successfully appealed a positive test.

MLB's Joint Drug Prevention and Treatment Policy calls for strict liability among players, meaning if a player tests positive, the league is "not required to otherwise establish intent, fault, negligence or knowing use of a Prohibited Substance on the Player's part to establish such a violation."

Even if a player can establish he did not knowingly take a banned substance, he must show he was not in any way negligent to appeal successfully. For example, taking a dietary supplement that contains an unlabeled performance-enhancing drug would not be sufficient grounds for appeal, but if he were to show that he ingested something that was either tampered with or no player reasonably could have assumed to have been contaminated, the appeal might succeed.

The source close to Braun said he believes that standard can be met.

Once criticized for protecting its biggest stars from scandal, the league is now faced with the possibility of suspending one of the game's best and most-admired players.

Braun had never been linked to PEDs previously; in fact, at the 2009 All-Star Game in St. Louis, when commissioner Bud Selig addressed efforts by Albert Pujols to tamp down questions about steroid use, he invoked Braun as a shining example of the sport's tough testing policy.

"Albert Pujols is absolutely right. He has been tested since he started playing," Selig said. "So has Ryan Howard. So has Ryan Braun, Ryan Zimmerman. Since they were in the minors."

About a month before that, Selig was quoted in The Arizona Republic as saying, "Our minor league testing program is in its ninth year, and that means all the great young players in baseball, from Ryan Howard to Ryan Braun, have all been tested for nine years. There's a system in place, and it's working. We know we have the toughest testing program in major league sports."

Earlier that spring, after Alex Rodriguez was exposed for using steroids, Braun spoke to MLB.com about the "mistakes" made by the superstar. Braun said he met Rodriguez in 2001 during a recruiting trip to the University of Miami.

Asked if he were surprised that Rodriguez had been exposed as a steroid user, Braun was quoted saying, "I don't know if I would say I was surprised. I feel like it was so rampant, so prevalent, in baseball during that time period that not much surprises me anymore. If anything, I was surprised he got caught, that it came out this long after he supposedly did it."

On whether he had ever been tempted to try performance-enhancing drugs, Braun said, "It's never something that I sought."

MLB.com wrote that Braun then showed "a flash of his sense of humor and his well-documented self-confidence" by adding, "I would never do it because if I took steroids, I would hit 60 or 70 home runs."

Braun was speaking to the website prior to the news conference at which Rodriguez admitted his use.

"... The best thing he can do is come out, admit to everything and be completely honest," Braun said. "The situation will die a lot faster if he tells the whole truth."

Since breaking into the majors in 2007 at 23, Braun has emerged as one of the sport's top young players. He won the NL Rookie of the Year in 2007 and was an All-Star each of the past four seasons.

In his rookie season, Braun hit 34 homers and drove in 97 runs, while amassing a .634 slugging percentage in just 113 games. He had 37 home runs and 106 RBI the following year, then saw his power numbers decline modestly over the next two seasons. He still hit 25 home run runs and had a .501 slugging percentage in 2010.

In April, Braun signed a five-year contract extension worth $105 million. He then went out and had his best season ever, carrying the Brewers to their first division title in nearly three decades. He led the league in slugging percentage at .597, with a .332 batting average, 33 home runs, 111 runs batted in, 109 runs scored and 33 stolen bases.

Braun turned 28 on Nov. 17 and five days later was named the NL MVP. Now, though, he's looking at a 50-game suspension to open the 2012 season, and, of course, all sorts of questions about what role steroids have played in his success.

Mark Fainaru-Wada and T.J. Quinn are investigative reporters with ESPN's enterprise unit. Fainaru-Wada can be reached at markfwespn@gmail.com. Quinn can be reached at tjquinn31@yahoo.com.

So I have this real good after work-out drink and rub down combo I use. How about you, what do you use to get it going?

Updated: December 10, 2011, 10:40 AM ET

Manny Ramirez reinstated, sources say


ESPN.com news services

Manny Ramirez has officially been reinstated from the voluntary retirement list by Major League Baseball, sources told ESPN The Magazine's Buster Olney on Saturday morning.


Ramirez faces a 50-game suspension when he returns, rather than 100 games, the league said earlier in the week when announcing he had filed for reinstatement. Ramirez's 50-game suspension clock starts ticking when he signs with a team.

Ramirez already served a 50-game suspension in 2009 while with the Los Angeles Dodgers, and he had been notified that he was facing another offense last April when he agreed to step away from baseball.

He also is facing criminal prosecution in Florida on charges that he slapped his wife during a recent argument. He told investigators only that he grabbed his wife by the shoulders during an argument and "shrugged" her, causing her to hit her head on the headboard of their bed.

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.

It'll be interestinng to see how Manny comes back, and if there are teams willing to give him a chance.... Marlins maybe!

Some team will pay the minimum plus incentives to see if he has anything in the tank. It's an entertainment business and Manny plays to the crowd.


David Epstein>INSIDE BASEBALL

Sources: Braun's test showed extremely high testosterone levels

Story Highlights
NL MVP Ryan Braun of Milwaukee reportedly tested positive for PEDs
Braun took a voluntary test at an independent lab after learning of his positive
Anti-doping experts see the test as proof that MLB's policy is working properly

If his positive test is upheld, Ryan Braun faces a 50-game suspension at the start of next season.
John Biever/SI

Ryan Braun's positive test for testosterone showed a level that was extremely elevated, and likely the highest that has been recorded in Major League Baseball, according to sources with knowledge of the NL MVP's test.

Braun, who has vigorously denied guilt -- "It's BS," he told USA Today on Saturday night -- is entitled to the arbitration process through which players have a right to dispute a positive test and of which Braun will avail himself. Shortly after news of the test came out on Saturday, Braun's spokesman said in a statement that "there are highly unusual circumstances surrounding this case which will support Ryan's complete innocence."

ESPN, which initially broke the news of the positive test, reported that analysis of Braun's sample was positive for exogenous testosterone. If that's the case, a valid defense would be that Braun had an appropriate medical prescription for testosterone that earned him a therapeutic use exemption (TUE) from Major League Baseball. But multiple sources tell SI that Braun did not have a TUE, and a TUE cannot be applied retroactively. If Braun had a TUE, his test would not have been considered a positive by MLB in the first place

A source with knowledge of Braun's test result said that his MLB test was positive for a banned substance, but not a steroid or drug. Braun may argue that he ingested dietary supplements tainted with testosterone or testosterone-boosting ingredients not listed on the label. The supplements would presumably have to be very tainted to produce what sources say was his extremely high T:E ratio.

According to a source who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the process was supposed to remain confidential, when Braun learned of his positive test in October he voluntarily took another test at an independent lab that showed normal testosterone levels. Neither Braun's spokesman nor his attorney immediately returned messages asking whether Braun's voluntary test was analyzed for banned substances that might still be detectable even once the T:E ratio had dropped.

It is unlikely that Braun will argue, as some have speculated, that he inadvertently ingested dehydroepiandrosterone, or DHEA, in a dietary supplement. DHEA is converted in the body to testosterone, but is not banned by MLB. Since the 1994 Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act, DHEA has been legal to sell over the counter. (It can be found on plenty of labels at GNC or Vitamin Shoppe.) DHEA can elevate testosterone levels, but it has a specific metabolite that anti-doping laboratories look for, so the World Anti-Doping Association-accredited lab in Montreal, where Braun's test was analyzed after the initial high testosterone result, would have been able to tell if DHEA was the culprit.

Braun's voluntary test -- which showed normal testosterone levels -- came a few weeks after his positive test, and is expected to be part of his defense at arbitration. A source suggested that because Braun had passed previous tests and then passed his voluntary test, the fact that the one test produced such an extraordinarily high testosterone level may be used to suggest a problem with the testing or accidental one-time ingestion of a banned substance.

According to drug testing experts, though, passing a subsequent test is not, in and of itself, a valid defense and actually fits the pattern of some previous doping cases. US Anti-Doping Agency CEO Travis Tygart has no specific knowledge of the Braun case, but says that a testosterone level that goes from normal, to high, to normal is typical of someone on a steroid cycle. "After a person stops using, the T:E ratio" -- that's the testosterone-to-epitestosterone ratio, which is 1:1 in most people, and above 4:1 in positive tests -- "goes back down to normal levels, and that could be in a matter of days or hours. It depends on how much they used, how long they've been using, and their own individual metabolism." Research done by German scientists showed that one particular drug boosted a patient's T:E ratio above 80:1 before it dropped back to normal only 12 hours later.

A number of articles and blogs have characterized Braun's positive test as yet another drug-related black eye for baseball and commissioner Bud Selig, who extolled the virtues of Braun as a bright light of the post-steroid scandal era.

But anti-doping experts who spoke with SI and are not involved in Braun's situation see the positive test and MLB's subsequent move to impose sanctions as a sign that drug testing is proceeding as it should. The darkest black eyes, they say, came when testing was feckless or not truly random and when big-name players were only exposed when they were dragged into Congress or court.

Dr. Gary Wadler, who until this year was chairman of the World Anti-Doping Agency's Prohibited List and Methods Sub-Committee, testified at the famous 2005 Congressional hearings on drugs in baseball, and says, "There's no question baseball has come a long, long way from when I testified." He notes that testing at every game would be more effective, but said that a positive test from a star player suggests that "all comers" are being treated equally.

Added Tygart, "If athletes in a sport are cheating, it's not a bad thing for the integrity of the sport that they're caught.... It might be a double-edged sword publicly, but it's what clean athletes expect."

David Howman, director general of WADA, could not comment on Braun's case but said that "testing is now undertaken by the MLB to a far greater extent than previously."

At a recent gathering of the Partnership for Clean Competition at NFL headquarters, Howman applauded MLB on adopting blood testing for human growth hormone in its new collective bargaining agreement, and said, "I hope I can applaud the NFL soon."

Read more: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2011/writers/david_epstein/12/12/ryan.braun.test/index.html#ixzz1gQtnyYrk

Michael Rosenberg
Michael Rosenberg>INSIDE BASEBALL
More ColumnsEmail Michael Rosenberg

Braun saga proves that writers shouldn't vote on awards, Hall

Story Highlights
It's the media's job to report the news, not make it by giving out (or not) honors
Baseball writers have never taken award away because of steroids; will they?
What if Braun's MVP is stripped and we found out later that he's innocent?

Milwaukee's Ryan Braun won the NL MVP after a fantastic season, but a positive steriod test has cast a cloud over his achievements.
AP

In the wake of Ryan Braun's positive test for ... well, for something, there has been talk that somebody should confiscate his National League MVP award. After all, he won it for his performance, and his performance was allegedly enhanced.

Should the Baseball Writers Association of America take the MVP away? I think this is the wrong question. This is the right one:

Why the heck are the writers deciding this stuff in the first place?

It was probably always wrong for the media to determine the news with its award votes, but now it is ridiculous. We're not just creating news; we're creating controversies. Why should we be the judge and jury for every ballplayer? It is one thing for columnists (like me) to express opinions about what Braun did, did not do, or should have done. It's quite another for us to officially validate or void a player's achievements.

(Full disclosure: I have been a member of the Baseball Writers Association of America since 2004. I am not yet eligible to vote for the Hall of Fame; members need 10 years of service. Two years ago I voted for AL Manager of the Year. I may have voted for Manager of the Year one other time; I honestly don't remember. I probably should not have voted at all.)

Braun released a statement saying, in part, that "There are highly unusual circumstances surrounding this case which will support Ryan's complete innocence." Maybe there are, maybe there aren't. I have no idea. But if Braun is found to be guilty, the BBWAA is in a bad spot. The organization has options, but no good options.

Option 1: Let him keep it

Many of the writers in the BBWAA rail against steroid use. They have shredded Barry Bonds, Mark McGwire, Sammy Sosa, Roger Clemens and Rafael Palmeiro. How can BBWAA members demand a clean and honest sport, then give one of its most coveted awards to a steroid user? How can BBWAA members keep McGwire (and eventually, perhaps, Bonds and Clemens) out of the Hall of Fame, but gladly give an MVP award to Braun?

Option 2: Take it away.

Sounds simple, right? If Braun cheated -- and unlike in 1998, when McGwire and Sosa had their home run race, using steroids is clearly cheating now -- then you give the award to the No. 2 finisher, Matt Kemp.

But what if we find out in a month, or a year, or five years, that Kemp also used steroids? Do we go down to the No. 3 finisher, who happens to be Braun's teammate Prince Fielder? And if every one of Braun's home runs and runs batted in still counts, have his contributions to his team really changed?

The BBWAA has never taken away an award because of steroid use. You can see why the organization is probably not going to start now.

These are just the options for dealing with Ryan Braun's exact current situation. What if we tweak the circumstances a bit?

What if his positive test came out in late September? I have no doubt -- none -- that in that scenario, with ballots not yet due, voters would have shied away from Braun. Kemp would have won. But wait: What if we found out later that there really were unusual circumstances surrounding Braun's positive test? The appeal won't be heard for weeks. What if Braun was later exonerated, but because of the timing, he lost the MVP? (Yes, I know nobody has ever successfully appealed a suspension. That doesn't mean it can't happen.)

Somebody has to make these tough decisions. But that somebody should not be the same somebody who is supposed to cover the sport objectively.

The problem is just as bad when we get to the Hall of Fame vote. So far, voters have judged steroid users harshly. Last year, McGwire received 19.8 percent of the vote. Rafael Palmeiro got 11 percent. Juan Gonzalez got 5.2 percent. They were all named in Jose Canseco's book; McGwire has admitted he juiced, and Palmeiro tested positive.

Most amazing of all: Jeff Bagwell got 41.7 percent of the vote. Bagwell's numbers (449 home runs, 1,529 RBI, .948 OPS) are Hall-worthy. He was severely penalized for the mere perception that he may have used steroids. There is not a shred of evidence.

This is the biggest honor a player can receive. Writers kept it from Bagwell because they are guessing that he juiced. Maybe he did and maybe he didn't. I have no idea. I'm not here to defend or rip him. But voters completely abandoned the principle of innocent until proven guilty.

It will get worse. What will Hall voters do about Barry Bonds? He had a steroid-free Hall of Fame career, followed by a steroid-fueled Hall of Fame career. So, allegedly, did Roger Clemens.

And what about Pudge Rodriguez? His on-field performance makes him a clear Hall of Famer, at least to me. He is one of the best catchers ever. But the cloud of steroid use hangs over his career.

Canseco says Pudge took steroids in Texas. Pudge denied it, but the in the spring of 2005 -- shortly after baseball began testing for performance-enhancers -- he showed up significantly lighter to spring training. He looked like he'd traded bodies with a second baseman.

He was later asked if his name appears on the list of players who tested positive in 2003 and said "Only God knows." I don't know if God leaks news to ESPN, but so far, nobody has reported he tested positive.

You may read all of that and think Pudge probably took steroids, and it's a reasonable conclusion. But if you took that evidence to court, you would have no case. How much evidence do we need for a Hall of Fame vote?

Almost every sportswriter was a big sports fan growing up. Getting to vote for an MVP award, or Cy Young Award, or the Hall of Fame, is undeniably cool. And it absolutely gives writers more power -- players may not respect the media, but they do respect those honors. So I understand why writers enjoy voting for these awards. But that doesn't mean we should.

Read more: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2011/writers/michael_rosenberg/12/12/ryan.braun/index.html#ixzz1gRE0F2Yd

Ask Mark McGuire.