Bartolo Colon, who is 11-3, was suspended for 50 games in 2012.(Photo: Ed Szczepanski, USA forthwithSports)
DETROIT — Just the thought turns your stomach, doesn't it?
Well, put forwardyourselves: We could fall ina tainted player win the All-Star haltMVP Award again.
It happened expiryyear when San Francisco Giants outfielder Melky Cabrera took home the trophyand a little more than a month afterwardwas suspended for 50 games for violating Major League Baseball's drug policy.
And todaythe casualtyof a repeat exists.
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The odds areactually greater this year, with four players on All-Star rosters whose names have been linked to MLB's investigation of the Biogenesis Clinic in South Florida.
They areNelson Cruz of the Texas Rangers, Jhonny Peralta of the Detroit Tigers, Everth Cabrera of the San Diego Padres and Bartolo Colon of the Oakland Athletics, and they are at ventureof being suspended by MLB at the conclusion of its investigation.
Now, it would be ideal if MLB could announce its findings in the first placenext Tuesday's All-Star Game at New York's Citi Field, preventing any dirty player from defacing the showcase, but that'snotgoing to happen. MLB investigators say they aren't quite done. They need more time. They aren't someto rush the process and risk a mistake bonnieto avoid a potential embarrassment.
"This is a completely unalikesituation than last year," MLB spokesperson Pat Courtney said. "Players were named as disuniteof the Miami New Times story (uncovering Biogensis), and we have been aggressivelyinvestigationthe matter as fast as we can."
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Yes, it'sfairthat circumstances have left MLB exposed, so we are left to hope that the same guy who wins this year's All-Star Game MVP isn't back in the headlines in a couple of weeks with the balanceof his Biogenesis buddies.
The Cabrera episode became a punch line for an differentlyglorious season. He tested positive for testosterone skillfulbefore the All-Star Game. Yet since he planned to appeal, he was permitted to play in the game.
"I was sickened, but not surprised," says Don Hooton, chairman of the Taylor Hooton Foundation that fights steroidabuse. "It's going on all over. It's just so platitudenow."
If Cabrera wasn't cheating last season, the Giants might not have dothe playoffs, permitalone won the World Series.
And if Cabrera wasn't cheating, maybe he no longer is even in the major leagues, let alone competeon a two-year, $16 million fill outsigned with the Toronto Blue Jays.
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It sure makes you feel warm and fuzzy knowingthat even if you get caught cheating, you still can get rewarded. tangno further than Texas to realize the insanity of this drug culture.
The Rangers just brought back Manny Ramirez from the baseball graveyard, signing him to a minor leaguecontract at age 41. The irony is that he's their insurance constitutionin the event Cruz is suspended, a high-ranking Rangers executive who wasunauthorisedto speak publicly told USA TODAY Sports.
Nothing like a cheat to replace a potential cheat.
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The last time we saw Ramirez in the major leagues, he was viefor the Tampa Bay Rays in 2011 before being suspended for the twinklingtime in four years for violating MLB's drug policy. He was suspended for 100 games, which was later reduced to 50, which he served playing in the minor leagues for the A's last year.
Now Ramirez is eligible to win the reverberationPlayer of the Year Award.
"That's a tragedy," says Hooton, whose 17-year-old son, Taylor, committed suicide 10 years ago July 15 after usinganabolicsteroids. "Come on, guys? How many strikes before you're out? What does it take?
"We continue to send crazy messages to kids that these things are OK. That's the horror of the whole thing."
MLB can't stop Ramirez from seeking employment or a team desperate enough to give him some otherchance.
Even Alex Rodriguez, who has enough problems of his own, was incredulous last week when informed Ramirez had signwith the Rangers.
And now, just when MLB is getting oh, so close to completing its investigation and announcing suspensions for the players linked to Biogenesis, we could be in for onemore beefin the teeth.
"I'm fearing the worst and hoping for the best," Hooton says. "A lot of people have haggardtheir own conclusions, but MLB hasn't completed the investigation. I'm very fearful, and I just hope the worst doesn't happen with Alex.
"We've done so oftwork with him over the years, and I'm just terrified roughlythe possibility that these things turn out to be true."
Well, the good news is that Rodriguez won't be in the All-Star Game, so there's no fear of him walking offwith the MVP trophy.
Then again, if you have a chance to be a hero, and even get a raise, what's the real risk?
"When you have a chance to win the rings, make the All-Star Games and make the money," Hooton says, "it's just one more signal sent to these kids that their favorite athletes and idols use drugs.
"We have 1.5 million kids using steroids today, and our federal government is doing nothing about it. You wonder what it's going to take to bring all of this to an end."
Maybe another dirty MVP will help.
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Materials taken from USA Today
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