The ongoing Biogenesis scandal is ugly in so many ways.
Major League Baseball reportedly is seeking to suspend about 20 players for their link to a Miami-based clinic that allegedly distributed performance-enhancing drugs. That’s all well and good. But the idea of MLB trying to hand out those suspensions based on the testimony of a less-than-credible drug dealer only increases the uneasiness surrounding the entire situation.
MLB will continue to talk about cleaning up the game — something that the vast majority of baseball fans are in favor of — but would a cleaner game really be the end result here?
It’s going to be difficult for any suspensions to hold up. The MLB Players Association will fight to the death if the league ultimately tries to lay the hammer down after its investigation, and, at this point, it’s hard to imagine that the testimony of the clinic’s former director, Tony Bosch, will be enough. But even if it is, then what? Are we any closer to getting PEDs out of baseball for good?
This isn’t to say that the players linked to the Biogenesis clinic shouldn’t be punished. But the punishments should require more than just Bosch’s testimony, and baseball fans should be skeptical of what exactly the punishments mean. The idea of Bosch giving up a bunch of names in exchange for getting off scot free doesn’t seem like a tactic geared toward cracking down on the big problem here — PED use. Instead, it seems like the easiest route MLB can take in playing public relations damage control.
It’s as if Major League Baseball thinks that by suspending 20 or so players for their connection to the clinic, the book will close on the scandalous tale. The league thinks it can wash its hands, step up to the podium and insist it’s winning the battle, because, on the surface, suspending guys like Alex Rodriguez or Ryan Braun gives off the illusion that MLB will spare no one in its quest for a PED-free game. We’re expected to just overlook the deal with the devil (in this case, Bosch).
We shouldn’t disregard whatever it is that Bosch ends up saying, as there could be a great deal of truth and substance to whatever it is he reveals. It’s just impossible to envision his revelations and any subsequent suspensions leading to any big advances in cutting down PED use, and that should ultimately be the main objective. There will be a perception of closure, and even perhaps a perception that justice was served, but it’s naïve to think that ending this huge scandal in such a manner sets the league up for a greater, cleaner, more respected future.
If the league truly wants to cut down on PED use, its focus should be geared more toward getting answers and new information from those players who get caught up in the mess. That would help get to the heart of the issue and perhaps lead to steps in the right direction over time. Promising a dealer immunity, getting a list of names and going on a suspension spree only acts to save face amid the unflattering headlines, essentially amounting to a temporary fix.
If this all plays out the way that Major League Baseball wants it to, it wouldn’t be shocking to see another scandal down the road. It’s time to stop slapping Band-Aids on these types of problems in order to manipulate public perception.
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