MLB players could push for harsher PED suspensions

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The Major League Baseball players who do not use performance-enhancing drugs are not pleased with the ones who do. With Chris Colabello and Dee Gordon both suspended this month, there is a sudden call for harsher penalties for failed PED tests coming from players. Some, like Justin Verlander, have apparently forgotten that false positives are a thing and the kind of damage a false positive could to do someone’s career were they to be suspended during a private appeal process. Others, like Matt Holliday, think that the suspensions are too light and that by taking away more of a player’s career the first time around, fewer of them would risk cheating.

Here’s the truth, though: PEDs aren’t going away. Not in baseball, not in football, not in any competitive sport. Longer first-time suspensions would likely sway established players from cheating -- not all, maybe, but more than the current 80-game suspension does. What about the fringe players, though? The ones making $30,000 per year or whatever in Triple-A for the fourth year in a row? If they believe taking PEDs is going to get them $500,000-plus for a season and a pension as a union member before they’re caught, then what’s the incentive to not take them? Especially when there is always the chance they don’t get caught for a few years, and by then they’ve got a guaranteed deal with an extra zero or zeroes on it.

So, lengthier suspensions should be a goal for the union. Voiding contracts should not be: the MLBPA already cedes enough power to MLB’s owners, and they don’t need to create any situation where teams can attempt to get contracts tossed out. Lengthier suspensions won’t solve the problem, though, as they aren’t going to change human nature. Some players are going to cheat, for one reason or another. The hope is that you can minimize how many “some” is. Baseball has already done a decent job of that, but there is obviously still work to do.