Why are Professional Baseball Players still taking PEDs

(Doug Pensinger/Getty Images)

By Chris Carelli | @Chris_Carelli

-- This column was originally written for the September issue of Big Leagues Monthly | Magazine. --

The use of performance enhancing drugs (PEDs) is a major issue in sports, but this is a baseball magazine so I’m going to focus my efforts on trying to determine why professional baseball players still get caught taking these drugs after everything the sport has endured since the 2007 Mitchell Report.

There are many forms of PEDs, but the most typical of the bunch linked to baseball are anabolic steroids, typically testosterone, though designer synthetic drugs have become popular as well. Androstenedione or ‘Andro’ is another popular steroid known to be used. Human growth hormone (HGH) is also prevalent but requires blood tests to detect, where steroids can be found through urinalysis. MLB players are not currently tested for HGH. Lastly there is the old standby, greenies, better known as amphetamines by those outside the sport.

I’m not going to discuss the past transgressions of famous baseball players who have succumbed to PEDs or have been linked to them. We know who they are and the stories that are associated with each of them. I won’t deliberate on whether or not they did or did not take them. Instead, we’re going to try to figure out why, with a fairly uniform and well-tested drug enforcement policy, we still see professional ballplayers getting caught in the web of PED use.

First, we should review why they take the drugs in the first place. The long and short of it is the desire to rise to the top or maintain a presence at the top of the sport and the ease at which they can be found. Baseball players and athletes in general, especially superior ones, have a driving energy that supersedes anything we know as casual sports participants. Sure, we want to win when we’re playing our pickup games, but there isn’t millions of dollars being waved around the neighborhood park. The goal to reach star status or maintain it is penultimate to professional ballplayers, because being seen as a superstar leads to cash, loads and loads of cash.

Once ballplayers are drafted, they have stacks of money dropped in their laps if they are among the first round selections. If not, the wealth is still within their grasp should they prove to be among the best the game has to offer. Once players reach that magnitude, there are then a select few who feel they need the boost provided by PEDs to stick around with their closest competitors or the next batch of young up and coming stars of the game. Players are measured in comparison with other players and teams use the information to decide which players they will maintain or try to sign.

Unfortunately, there are many unscrupulous PED dealers out there so finding the drugs is not an issue. Skirting the detection of the drug is the newest problem that sports organizations, including Major League Baseball faces. There are groups out there whose sole purpose is to derive ways to prevent detection of the PEDs and their proliferation is as much of an issue as the PEDs themselves.

Another common reason for PED use is the ballplayer coming from a poor economic background and the idea of quick money is too easy to pass up. Players who fall into this category are somehow convinced that the payday is worth more than the chance of being caught and the prospect of being suspended. If they can get away with it they may be in line to collect millions of dollars and possibly continue to do so, provided they continue to avoid getting caught.

This reasoning is not solely secluded to those with a poor background, as plenty of those caught using the drugs were not necessarily poor growing up, or they already had big paydays WITHOUT the use of the drugs. But, if one looks at the numbers of players in the minor leagues who are caught, a good majority of them are from Latin American countries where they have little to benefit from without baseball.

Unfortunately, the logic is misguided and results in exactly the opposite of what they must be setting out to try and ensure. Players who are caught and actually suspended (ahem, Ryan Braun) tend to receive much lower contract offers when the time comes (if any at all), which is exactly the opposite of what they’re trying to gain by taking the drugs.

Many people feel that the drugs make the players better performers on the field. While strength is a good quality for a ballplayer to possess, superior strength isn’t exactly a requirement for the sport. Sure, some of the PEDs do help produce stronger players, but a bulk of the benefits drawn from taking performance enhancing drugs in baseball has to do with the drugs’ ability to help recuperate and/or prevent muscle deterioration. The benefits of PEDs and their ability to help players get back from the disabled list in years’ past are well documented. I would imagine at this point if players are taking anything, the reasoning is more closely related to staying on the field, or getting back on the field versus straight muscle generation and strength gains.

Here the thought process is this; if players land on the disabled list or tire easily, it will eventually lower their economic worth to teams and result in smaller contract offers compared to similar players who are able to play a majority of the games and excel. Many players are blessed with the ability to go out day in and day out without the added benefit of drugs and further they are able to perform at the highest level the sport sees. Players who fall just a hair short in the performance department may feel that the slightest edge they receive from taking PEDs is worth the chance of derailing their career.

How else can one explain San Francisco Giants outfielder Melky Cabrera testing positive for testosterone recently while on the verge of a huge payday? Now, in the midst of his 50-game punishment, he’ll have to hope that someone takes a flyer on him next season and he can prove his value without the drugs. More than likely he will have to take a very small MLB contract or play his way onto a team with a minor league deal. There is no telling what part PEDs played in his very successful 2011 and the portion of his amazing 2012 season, but teams will hedge on the fact that he was on them, so in turn will posit that the drugs helped him to some extent.

The last reason players are still doing it is the fault of MLB and the Major League Baseball Players Association (MLBPA); the system while eons ahead of where it was in 2007, is still severely flawed. The fact that Braun got off on a technicality could lead others to try and fight positive test results. Remember, Braun was not arguing the results of the test, but the handling of his samples which did not follow protocols. Maybe just the slim chance of that happening again is enough of a risk for some players to take?

The fact that there is no monetary retribution for the teams who lose a player to suspension for something they did on their own is a major problem. This is something the MLBPA would fight tooth and nail if proposed. Imagine if Cabrera had signed a multi-year contract with the Giants only to be caught after the fact. His contract is guaranteed so what does he care? He suffers some indignity for being a cheater but he’s worth millions of dollars which could have been his pursuit in the end. He’ll be able to provide for his family beyond his time on Earth, something that was not afforded to him as a child. Would an established player in the middle of a $100 million contract run the risk if he knew he could lose the remainder of his contract? As of now, once a contract is signed it is incredibly difficult for ownership to void them. It was looked into with Jason Giambi and Alex Rodriguez and ultimately left alone by the New York Yankees because they knew they would not win such a case.

Once MLB and the MLBPA is able to close all the holes in the policy, straighten out the chain of custody issues and begin adding a clause to all contracts which specifically states that if a player is caught using one of the drugs listed in the policy they would be subject to losing the remainder of their deal, then the players will take less risks with PED use. Right now, the loopholes exist and the money is too precious for some to forgo the option readily available to them. There are those willing to take a chance and hope for the best, because the payday is extraordinary and ensures financial stability for years to come.

Chris Carelli is the Executive Editor for Big Leagues Monthly | Magazine. He is also a Senior Editor for Yanks Go Yard on the FanSided Network and College Athletics Correspondent for Sportsideo.