Takeaways From Biogenesis Day

Tony Bosch by newz.widmi.com

OK Biogenesis Day has come and gone, 12 more players have accepted suspensions and Alex Rodriguez got his fondest wish. He forced his way back on the field and is eligible to play pending appeal of his 211 game suspension.

With non-stop coverage of these proceedings we’ve heard a lot reported but we really don’t know much of what actually is happening. Mostly we’ve heard leaked snippets of private documents and otherwise public posturing from (Legal)Team A-Rod or Nelson Cruz or the MLB camp. All of it has proven to be over-exaggerated positions and negotiating signals.

Aside from the basic news reports here are some random takeaways that they’re not talking about:

1. MLB deserves much credit for vigorously pursuing this Biogenesis lead and prosecuting it. MLB was way too late to the game and may not have pursued it if they didn’t feel so burned by the Ryan Braun decision and Alex’ denials. In fact it seems Tony Bosch was supplying well over 100 athletes from various spheres: NBA, NCAA, boxing, tennis, etc. But MLB has been the only party to follow-up on the original story from the Miami New Times.
2. While MLB purportedly has the ‘toughest’ drug-testing program among the major sports it’s clear that that’s not saying much. Including Ryan Braun we got 14 scalps courtesy of Biogenesis but none of it had to do with a failed test. In fact if Tony Bosch were a smart man we’d never have heard of Biogenesis. The drug-testing program has been mockingly described as an ‘intelligence test’, i.e. you have to be a %&$#@ moron to actually get caught. In order to actually catch drug cheats sports org’s will have to improve testing processes…test in the offseason when players load up, truly test randomly and often. And testing science needs to up its game.
3. The baseball union will have to be part of the solution going forward and fortunately we’re hearing players speak out. The fact that Bud Selig restrained himself from banning Alex for life by invoking the ‘best interests’ powers was actually a good thing. It would have been viewed as a hostile act by the union and probably wouldn’t have passed legal scrutiny regardless.
4. All the talk about toughening drug penalties inspires hope. The notion about voiding contracts of cheaters will not likely go anywhere. It would be a wrong step regardless…the A-Rod contract was a result of the Yankees knowing Alex was a cheater and taking their chances. While I hate to see Alex collect, why should the Yankees get off the hook when they were willfully complicit? Pay out a dead contract like this, maybe they’ll be a little more careful with whom they associate.

5. Photo by Keith Allison

   While I find Stephen A Smith entertaining, let’s just dismiss any notion of him being a journalist. During the past weeks Stephen A has come on the air saying he just received a call from ‘people close to Alex’ and then proceeded to spout the gospel according to Alex. Subsequent reports of negotiations exposed it as such. No verifying the facts or the other side of the story. Stephen A was acting as a willing shill for Team Alex. Let’s call Stephen A good fun, let’s call him a polemicist, a raconteur but let’s not accuse him of journalism.

6. It’s interesting that Alex is going this appeals route…but if you have a whole team of lawyers they’ll want to adjudicate. People think he has nothing to lose, that he’s near the end anyway. Wait until they pursue this hearing and the dirty laundry comes leaking out. Fat payday for his lawyers but I suspect Alex stands to only become more of a pariah and more of a laughingstock. Couldn’t happen to a better guy.

Back on the field, first reaction from seeing Alex’ re-entry game in Chicago…his swing looked a little slow but OK. Some swings-and-misses, he was fooled with breaking stuff but he made some contact. At 3B he moved like Herman Munster, no range. Expect to see some bunts.

I feel for his teammates…they have to answer questions about losing games PLUS about how they feel about Alex. For the rest of us Alex is more tmz than sports, but there should be plenty of dirt and lots of folly. Enjoy it, it’s not going away.