As mentioned far and wide, Ryan Braun no longer has a 50 game suspension hanging over his head after an arbitration panel nullfied his MLB-imposed PED penalty. Reached for comment by The Star’s Brendan Kennedy, former World Anti-Doping Association head Dick Pound (above) argues the reigning NL MVP got off, “on a very thin legal technicality that has no substantive value at all,” (link swiped from Repoz and Baseball Think Factory)
“He’s running around saying that he’s cleared is a misstatement,” insisted Pound. “Anybody who’s at all neutral in this is going to say, ‘Well, he dodged a bullet with that.’ ”
“This is a 20:1 ratio (of testosterone to epitestosterone) — give me a … break,” Pound said, adding that storing the sample in a fridge over a weekend would not change its contents.
“There was no sign of any tampering, so I don’t understand how a properly formed independent panel could come to the conclusion that that invalidated the test,” Pound said. “It’s not sitting there in the fridge generating false testosterone.”
Pound said Major League Baseball should review its contract with its players regarding performance-enhancing drugs in order to close any loopholes that may be there. But he blames Das, the independent arbitrator, not the league, for what he believes was the wrong decision.
“Frankly, (Das) should have had more sense or more judgment.”
Maybe I’m not checking the right outlets, but I can’t get past the fact this was a 2-1 decision yet the only vote receiving any coverage is that of the “independent” panelist. Were all previous appeals denied unanimously- in which case MLB has two expert opinions to explain away- or has Das always provided the swing vote- in which case MLB’s relationship wth labor is even more poisoned than I realized and I don’t know why they bother with the charade of a 3-person panel…. ?
You’ve got it pretty much right, Glenzo. The 3 member appeals panel consists of an MLB rep, who always votes with the league, an MLBPA rep, who always votes with the player, and the independent, who represents the swing vote.
It seems to me like it’s a product of the negotiations that established the system. “Well, if you get to provide a judge, then so do we,” etc…