Last night, Major League Baseball suspended Milwaukee Brewers outfielder Ryan Braun for 65 games – the rest of the season – because of the outfielder’s steroid use.
My response was a resounding: “So what?”
Braun is a lying cheater, obviously. In fact, he’s worse than that. When he tested positive in 2011, he challenged his sentence and won. In the process, he dragged people’s names through the mud.
Braun doesn’t deserve this penalty. He deserves worse.
He committed two crimes against baseball and is basically paying for one and a half.
A first-time offense typically costs 50 games. A second violation is 100 games. Braun got caught and lied about it to everyone. He’s getting off easy.
And does it even matter that he’s missing the rest of year?
As of this writing, the Brewers are mired in last place, 18.5 games behind the first-place Cardinals. They’re done for the year.
Milwaukee is going to finish the season quietly, and then it will get a disgraced and well-rested Braun back for 2014.
After seeing what’s happened, there’s not a ton of disincentive for other players to juice.
Look at it this way: Yeah, Braun is disgraced, and yeah, he’s missing 65 games. So what? He’s still a multi-millionaire and he’s still owed plenty of money as part of his $105 million contract.
Think about it. Honestly, if someone told you that if you take some shots, you could make millions more than you would have normally, would you do it?
Regardless of whether you would or not, it would make you think.
MLB needs to get tough. Penalties have gotten stiffer over the years, but clearly it’s still not enough.
Increase the penalties. Fail a test, you miss a season. Fail a second time, you’re done.
Enough with any kind of leniency.
Baseball can make you rich and famous. Baseball can make you a household name. You shouldn’t get to cheat the game and get off scot free.
In my opinion, the jury is still out on the Steroid Era. A lot of players were doing steroids at the time, and they weren’t tested. It’s hard to differentiate juiced numbers from the real ones. Yeah, hitters were on steroids, but so were the pitchers they faced.
It kind of cancels out.
But now there’s extensive testing. Now we’ve firmly established that using steroids is not acceptable. And yet players continue to use.
Maybe MLB should add a clause to every contract. If the player tests positive, they have to donate a percentage of their future baseball earnings to charity. I don’t know the legality of it, and the Players Association would fight it tooth and nail, but it sounds good in theory.
And maybe a shot to the wallet will make players think twice before they turn to the needle.
Contact Adam Lichtenstein at alichtenstein@alligator.org.
Milwaukee Brewers' Ryan Braun reacts after striking out after pinch hitting during the 11th inning of a baseball game against the Miami Marlins on Sunday in Milwaukee. Braun, a former National League MVP, has been suspended without pay for the rest of the season and admitted he "made mistakes" in violating Major League Baseball's drug policies.
