Oh shit redux
Manny Ramirez? Out 50 games for a positive drug test. Ohhhh snap!
Manny claims it was legitimately-prescribed medication for erectile dysfunction — which is the most hilarious excuse anybody’s come up with yet, and I’d expect no less from Manny — whereas cynics around the intertubes are tripping over themselves trying to be the least convinced that Manny wasn’t really taking every steroid known to man, and Jeff Passan is getting his overreaction on. I do admire the chutzpah of a man who calls for lifetime bans for failing isolated drug tests, while in the same article acknowledging that there are such things as false positives.
I do like Passan’s assertion that Manny should have been more careful, and it’s totally all his fault. Sounds good at first, but think about this a minute; should he be expected to be more careful? Let’s assume that Manny is telling the truth. No, no, I don’t care — for the purposes of this illustration, Manny couldn’t man up, and went to the doctor for help. The doctor — who knows what Manny does for a living — prescribed him medication. Manny reminded the doctor of MLB’s drug policy, and the doctor assured him that this drug was acceptable. Manny should have done something other than that? Honest to God, were I in that position, being prescribed a non-performance-enhancing drug (or, well, not that kind of performance, anyhow) that my doctor assures me isn’t in violation of the drug policy, I’m not sure I’d do anything other than believe my doctor. For fuck’s sake, I’m paying him to be right about this sort of thing, and ignoring your doctor’s advice can be a very good way to end up very dead. And yes, I know, people don’t die from boner shortage. But the principle is the same.
Now, dig. I’m not saying Manny isn’t lying — I have no idea. That’s kind of the point. I have no idea, and neither does MLB. That’s why irrevocable lifetime bans for first offenses is a bad idea. Mistakes do happen — drug tests come back positive when they shouldn’t, doctors who should know better mistakenly prescribe the wrong thing, so forth — and a "three strikes" policy allows people’s lives not to be completely ruined by that one fluke error, while at the same time not allowing people exactly a free pass for cheating just a little. No, I think MLB’s policy is the right one. 50 games is a stiff punishment — hardly a joke — but a reasonable one. We don’t need to start burning people at the first sign of evil magic.
What I heard on ESPN radio makes the situation seem far more damning. They said that Manny actually failed the drug test because of elevated testosterone levels. So MLB performed a second test for synthetic testosterone and that came up positive as well (why they don’t just do the first test first is beyond me, though–expense maybe?). Rather than just bust him on the synthetic testosterone, which would probably cause Manny to claim “tainted supplements” or “nobody told me it was a steroid, honest!” and fight the suspension forever, they did a little digging and found some paperwork (and the radio dude was pretty unclear on how they found this and what exactly it was) showing that Manny had been prescribed this other drug, the “female fertility drug” everybody is making fun of. The one that roid heads allegedly use when they’re cycling off the juice. This is a banned substance in MLB without a waiver from the league, which Manny didn’t have. So they chose to bust him on that rather than the actual anabolics they supposedly found in his system, because it was both quicker and more airtight (somehow…) and probably because it allows Manny to save some face. Consequently, Manny did not appeal the suspension.
To your other point, I think Manny, if he had legitimate health issues, could have gone to the team doctors with the prescription his personal doctor gave him, and asked them if the substance was acceptable–unless Manny routinely brings in the long list of substances banned by MLB every time he goes to the doctor, I’d wager his personal physician does not actually know much about MLB’s testing policies, and he’d be much better served clearing stuff with the team doctors.
Comment by Dave | 8 May 2009
I agree. He DID fuck up. My point was that immediate lifetime bans for a single failed test is pointlessly draconian.
Comment by Darien | 8 May 2009