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Re: Where will Bonds be next in 08
The reason that Barry Bonds and many of the other players who have been suspected of taking steroids have never been caught is that they are always smart enough to stay a couple of years ahead of available technology for detecting illegal substances.
Ask any baseball insider and they will tell you that since MLB and WADA freely admit that there is no reliable test for HGH even though blood tests are supposedly accurate, the fact remains that MLB has no blood testing authority as the players union won't go for it, and as a result anybody who has made the decision to cheat or attempt to cheat the system is using HGH. The only players that have been caught using steroids other than Palmeiro have been no names or minor leaguers who are either too poor or too dumb to figure this process out.
Everybody keeps using the same tired argument that Barry Bonds never got caught. This of course is true, however if he is smart and I am sure that he is, he would have switched over to HGH long ago when MLB started their testing procedure. The fact that athletes like Bonds have multiple millions of dollars to use the cutting edge products available means that he and other athletes, supposing that they either are cheating or want to cheat will always be a couple of steps ahead of the people charged with catching them.
In terms of everyone continuing to claim that players did not break the laws of baseball if they were using steroids or other illegal drugs prior to 2002, that is just outright not true as you are misinformed. Please see below.
Nov. 18, 1988 - Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1988
This law amended the Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act and created criminal penalties for persons who "distribute or possess anabolic steroids with the intent to distribute for any use in humans other than the treatment of disease based on the order of a physician." Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1988, Pub. L. No. 100-690, Section 4181.
Oct. 5, 1990 - 1990 Anabolic Steroids Control Act
Believing that the Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1988 legislation was insufficient, Congress quickly replaced it with the Anabolic Steroids Control Act of 1990.
Jun. 7, 1991 – Commissioner Fay Vincent Issues Memo Regarding Steroid Use
After the U.S. Congress raises penalties for steroid possession, Commissioner Fay Vincent sends a memo to each team indicating that steroids would be added to Major League Baseball’s banned list. The memo stated: "The possession, sale or use of any illegal drug or controlled substance by Major League players or personnel is strictly prohibited ... This prohibition applies to all illegal drugs ... including steroids." The seven-page document didn't include a testing plan -- that had to be bargained with the union -- but it did outline treatment and penalties.
According to former MLB Commissioner Fay Vincent, he sent out this memo to all teams in 1991 however the players union fought vehmently against any type of testing and or punishment which effectively tied Vincent and MLB's hands to do anything even if a player was caught by say the federal govt. for buying, selling or distributing steroids. So to say that Bonds or any player that has been accused of taking steroids or other PED's was not breaking the law of baseball prior to 2002 is completely incorrect. If any player was in possession of or using illegal steroids after June of 2002, they were in fact breaking MLB rules, their was simply no policy in effect to test or address the problem because the players union functions for one reason and that is to protect the interest of its members right or wrong in everything that they do and in every element of their lives.
Is MLB to blame for this fiasco. Absolutely as Selig buried his head in the sand as MLB raked in the money over the past 15 years. However the Players Association and Donald Fehr have fought testing at every turn for the past 15 years and only the involvement of Congress has gotten us to where we are today and that is still not good enough so the players association is equally to blame. We the fans are also to blame as we cry foul now about this mess however we willingly pumped money into the MLB machine for the past 15 plus years even as we saw our favorite players balloon up like Mr. Universe and hit ridiculous numbers of home runs. Who cared about steroids, there were homers to be hit and records to be broken. Anybody fans included that did not look at much of what was going on throughout the 90's and into the next century is either really dumb or in denial because it was right in front of our eyes and we turned a blind eye as we continued to feed the system and allow MLB to keep its cash cows in place.
Ultimately, if I was doing something that benefited my ability to perform my job better, however it was against the laws of the Federal Gov't and for some reason was not written into the code of conduct by my employer and I got caught by the Feds; I would expect to suffer whatever fate my employer decided upon, probably including dismissal from my job. The bottom line is, if you try to break the law, you deserve whatever punishment that you get. Trying to circumvent the rules by saying that this action was legal because the company did not have rules in place is complete nonsense when the company did in fact have rules against that type of behavior. the company just was not smart enought to figure out that telling someone that they cannot do something is not going to deter them from not doing it unless there are severe penalties in place if and when they get caught.
I am hoping that Barry Bonds goes away. What we are all forgetting is that in order for Barry to play, somebody will have to be stupid enough to sign him to a contract. Sadly, somebody out there will do just that as they won't be able to resist the traveling media circus that follows Barry everywhere he goes.
I agree that he won't return to San Fran. In fact I would assume that the NL is out of the question unless they roll him out to left field in a motorized wheel chair. He has become such a liability out in Left that the Giants would stand a better chance of defending left field two outfielders instead of Barry bumbling around out there.
The reason that Barry Bonds and many of the other players who have been suspected of taking steroids have never been caught is that they are always smart enough to stay a couple of years ahead of available technology for detecting illegal substances.
Ask any baseball insider and they will tell you that since MLB and WADA freely admit that there is no reliable test for HGH even though blood tests are supposedly accurate, the fact remains that MLB has no blood testing authority as the players union won't go for it, and as a result anybody who has made the decision to cheat or attempt to cheat the system is using HGH. The only players that have been caught using steroids other than Palmeiro have been no names or minor leaguers who are either too poor or too dumb to figure this process out.
Everybody keeps using the same tired argument that Barry Bonds never got caught. This of course is true, however if he is smart and I am sure that he is, he would have switched over to HGH long ago when MLB started their testing procedure. The fact that athletes like Bonds have multiple millions of dollars to use the cutting edge products available means that he and other athletes, supposing that they either are cheating or want to cheat will always be a couple of steps ahead of the people charged with catching them.
In terms of everyone continuing to claim that players did not break the laws of baseball if they were using steroids or other illegal drugs prior to 2002, that is just outright not true as you are misinformed. Please see below.
Nov. 18, 1988 - Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1988
This law amended the Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act and created criminal penalties for persons who "distribute or possess anabolic steroids with the intent to distribute for any use in humans other than the treatment of disease based on the order of a physician." Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1988, Pub. L. No. 100-690, Section 4181.
Oct. 5, 1990 - 1990 Anabolic Steroids Control Act
Believing that the Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1988 legislation was insufficient, Congress quickly replaced it with the Anabolic Steroids Control Act of 1990.
Jun. 7, 1991 – Commissioner Fay Vincent Issues Memo Regarding Steroid Use
After the U.S. Congress raises penalties for steroid possession, Commissioner Fay Vincent sends a memo to each team indicating that steroids would be added to Major League Baseball’s banned list. The memo stated: "The possession, sale or use of any illegal drug or controlled substance by Major League players or personnel is strictly prohibited ... This prohibition applies to all illegal drugs ... including steroids." The seven-page document didn't include a testing plan -- that had to be bargained with the union -- but it did outline treatment and penalties.
According to former MLB Commissioner Fay Vincent, he sent out this memo to all teams in 1991 however the players union fought vehmently against any type of testing and or punishment which effectively tied Vincent and MLB's hands to do anything even if a player was caught by say the federal govt. for buying, selling or distributing steroids. So to say that Bonds or any player that has been accused of taking steroids or other PED's was not breaking the law of baseball prior to 2002 is completely incorrect. If any player was in possession of or using illegal steroids after June of 2002, they were in fact breaking MLB rules, their was simply no policy in effect to test or address the problem because the players union functions for one reason and that is to protect the interest of its members right or wrong in everything that they do and in every element of their lives.
Is MLB to blame for this fiasco. Absolutely as Selig buried his head in the sand as MLB raked in the money over the past 15 years. However the Players Association and Donald Fehr have fought testing at every turn for the past 15 years and only the involvement of Congress has gotten us to where we are today and that is still not good enough so the players association is equally to blame. We the fans are also to blame as we cry foul now about this mess however we willingly pumped money into the MLB machine for the past 15 plus years even as we saw our favorite players balloon up like Mr. Universe and hit ridiculous numbers of home runs. Who cared about steroids, there were homers to be hit and records to be broken. Anybody fans included that did not look at much of what was going on throughout the 90's and into the next century is either really dumb or in denial because it was right in front of our eyes and we turned a blind eye as we continued to feed the system and allow MLB to keep its cash cows in place.
Ultimately, if I was doing something that benefited my ability to perform my job better, however it was against the laws of the Federal Gov't and for some reason was not written into the code of conduct by my employer and I got caught by the Feds; I would expect to suffer whatever fate my employer decided upon, probably including dismissal from my job. The bottom line is, if you try to break the law, you deserve whatever punishment that you get. Trying to circumvent the rules by saying that this action was legal because the company did not have rules in place is complete nonsense when the company did in fact have rules against that type of behavior. the company just was not smart enought to figure out that telling someone that they cannot do something is not going to deter them from not doing it unless there are severe penalties in place if and when they get caught.
I am hoping that Barry Bonds goes away. What we are all forgetting is that in order for Barry to play, somebody will have to be stupid enough to sign him to a contract. Sadly, somebody out there will do just that as they won't be able to resist the traveling media circus that follows Barry everywhere he goes.
I agree that he won't return to San Fran. In fact I would assume that the NL is out of the question unless they roll him out to left field in a motorized wheel chair. He has become such a liability out in Left that the Giants would stand a better chance of defending left field two outfielders instead of Barry bumbling around out there.
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