Romero, MLBPA Question Suspension
Posted by Joe Hamrahi on Tuesday, January 6, 2009 at 1:02 pm
With the suspensions of J.C. Romero and Sergio Mitre, we uncover even more proof that the policy and testing for performance enhancing drugs still needs work. Both players were found guilty of taking banned substances during the 2008 season. The interesting part is that the supplements were purchased at GNC, and, at least Romero, received some sort of clearance to ingest the substance.
General Counsel, Michael Weiner, today released the following statement regarding the suspensions of Sergio Mitre and J.C. Romero.
Sergio Mitre and J.C. Romero were suspended for fifty games each by the Commissioner because they tested positive during the 2008 regular season for a Performance Enhancing Substance. Those suspensions were upheld by a neutral third-party arbitrator after hearing. We strongly disagree with the Commissioner’s discipline and with the arbitrator’s decision.
Mitre and Romero both legally purchased nutritional supplements from national chain stores in the United States. Nothing on the labels of those supplements indicated that they contained a trace amount of a substance prohibited under Major League Baseball’s Joint Drug Prevention and Treatment Program. Neither player intentionally ingested this prohibited substance, but the arbitrator nevertheless found, wrongly in our view, that the players’ conduct violated the Program’s “no fault or negligence” standard.
The Union respects the arbitration process and treats the decision as final. In our view, though, the resulting discipline imposed upon Mitre and Romero is unfair. These players should not be suspended. Their unknowing actions plainly are distinguishable from those of a person who intentionally used an illegal performance-enhancing substance.
The Association and the Commissioner’s Office must now act to prevent future similar occurrences within baseball. The Association remains committed to a strong Joint Drug Program, but will continue to advocate forcefully for fair treatment of our members.
Depending on whom you believe, the players did only what they could to prevent violating the league policy. Romero said he checked with his personal nutritionist and that he mentioned it to the Phillies strength and conditioning coach. There’s conflicting reports on whether the coach advised Romero.
The issue here seems to be…should players be suspended when they were clearly not intending to break the league rules? Some say no. I’m going to disagree. How do we really know when the players are telling the truth? We already have proof that several major leaguers have lied under oath when questioned about steroids. Who’s to say that Romero really did consult with others about the use of these supplements? And how do we know those people are experts in MLB banned substances?
The league has a drug hotline set up for this specific reason. Does it take that much effort to call to find out whether you’re breaking the rules or not?
Romero said:
The season is a grind. When you’re a middle reliever, you have to be ready to get up and down and pitch every day. Everyone takes something. Some guys drink coffee, others supplements. We try to make sure they’re all legal. I certainly did.
…”What they now say I should have done was call the drug hot line,” Romero said. “But I had it checked out by nutritionists, and I was following the guidelines laid down by the players’ association in spring training”…
People are going to yell and scream that the punishment doesn’t fit the crime, but if you’re going to be stupid enough not to take the correct precaution (like call the league drug hotline), you deserve the suspension.
UPDATE: Will Carroll provides even more evidence as to why it’s hard to believe the athlete in his Unfilertered post at BP. Either that or Romero is even more stupid than I originally thought! Label photo of the alleged substance is below. Notice the warning!
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Carroll’s article is almost devoid of fact. Discussion at BBTF.
Romero got jobbed but MLB is only concerned with keeping their mistaken public image as crusaders against those evil, evil PED’s. :-/
I don’t see how the discussion at BBTH proves Carroll’s article is devoid of fact. And I still think that Romero is an idiot for not making the phone call to be sure. Besides, why are we supposed to believe him? Maybe someone told him there was a banned substance in the supplement, and he took it anyway. Now he’s just lying. Even if he is telling the truth, how do you let it slide. The next guy can knowingly take a banned substance and claim he didn’t know either. I’m sorry. I disagree. MLB gets blamed for years for not putting in a no tolerance policy. Now they get ripped for being too strict. I still don’t understand how people continue to give the players a free pass.
Well, I’m not one of those who has ever criticized MLB for the drug issue since I’ve always believed that everything should be legal.
As for the BBTF discussion, read comments #2, 9, and 33.
Besides, why are we supposed to believe him?
Innocent until proven guilty.
Even if he is telling the truth, how do you let it slide. The next guy can knowingly take a banned substance and claim he didn’t know either.
It’s extremely unfair to Romero — if he is indeed innocent — to continue punishing him simply to send a message, or to make the issue somewhat symbolic.
With all due respect Bill, how much more guilty could anyone prove him? He tested positive for a banned substance! That’s just supposed to be undone because he claims ignorance? If I break the law because I’m ignorant, I still go to jail. Ignorance is not a defense.
I hate to seem unoriginal by quoting others but they have explained it better than I could have. From Peter Gammons:
On July 22, Romero bought a supplement at the GNC store in Cherry Hill. He had it checked by his personal nutritionist, who said there was nothing in the supplement that was illegal. There was no warning on the label. Romero mentioned it to Phillies strength and conditioning coach Dong Lien.
He checked with two people whose job is to monitor what goes in his body, and even they failed. And so did the MLBPA, who gave Romero the thumbs-up to use it.
Further, the bottle he had didn’t say that it contained androstenedione.
Check out what was sent out by the MLBPA in late November:
We have previously told you there is no reason to believe a supplement bought at a U.S. based retail store could cause you to test positive under our Drug Program. That is no longer true. We have recently learned of three substances which can be bought over the counter at stores in the United States that will cause you to test positive. These three supplements were purchased at a GNC and Vitamin Shoppe in the U.S.”
This is not Romero’s fault; he is a victim.
The two people he checked with were his own nutritionists. They were not representatives of the league or the MLBPA. And I’m not giving the MLBPA a free pass here, but all Romero had to do was call the drug hotline. If the LEAGUE said it was ok to take the supplement, I would say he has a real case.
I’m just curious why he wouldn’t just call the drug hotline. Why would that be so much more difficult than tracking down nutrionists, the team trainer, the MLBPA? To me, something seems strange there. Just think about it. You have access to THE authority that will tell you what supplements you can or can not take. They give you a number to call so that they can let you know if what you’re taking violates the league policy. But instead of calling THE authority, you seek the advice of FOUR other sources first and NEVER call the hotline? Hmmm
I’m just curious why he wouldn’t just call the drug hotline.
Hindsight is 20/20. I can’t fault him for trusting the judgment of two professionals he personally deals with face-to-face as opposed to a complete stranger over the phone (if, in fact, he actually deals with a human being).
I don’t know how the hotline works, so I will refrain from commenting on that aspect, but if it’s anything like other hotlines, it probably being put on hold for 25 minutes, going through a maze of computer-operated prompts, and talking with someone from India. Personally, I try as hard as I can to stay away from that stuff and maybe Romero is the same way. Again, this is just my supposition and not at all based in fact.
You make some valid points Bill, and I certainly appreciate the discussion. We just have different opinions. If anything, I think we just further justified the need for the league to clarify its entire policy.
Oh, no doubt. They’re trying to tackle a huge, controversial issue and they’re doing a piss-poor job of doing it. Not that the NFL is a sparkling example of an organization doing things right, but they at least handle the drug issue about as well as any organization we’ve seen. MLB is just run top-to-bottom by incompetent personnel. I’m sure John Brattain can explain that in much better detail than I can.
The Mitchell Report was MLB’s way of saying, “We’re just going to use this as a symbol that we’ve fixed this problem.” They’re totally unprepared to handle anything else, so they have to make examples of the few people here and there they actually manage to catch in their poorly-made web. Romero is, unfortunately, such a victim. And he has no one in his corner, not even the MLBPA, which is supposed to be in his corner. Just reprehensible all around.