Indians Organization Fights Back Against Steroid Users

Lets be honest, the Cleveland Indians and steroids are not exactly strangers to one another. Actually, l should rephrase that. The Indians and Performance Enhancing Drugs are not exactly strangers to one another. It’s slightly more broad than just steroids, but since baseball congress has started cracking down on the use of PEDs in baseball, we’ve seen the names of both current and former Indians thrown about in regards to PED accusations.

The most recent one was one we used to have some fun with in getting a rise out of people. I’m referring, of course, to the 50 game suspension of minor league catcher Steven Lebron. And while Lebron promptly had his contract voided by the Indians, he certainly wasn’t the only Latin American player to test positive for steroids and thus have his contract ripped up. The Indians have seen similar situations play themselves out with Manuel Boscan and Jeffry Ceto. Having had to face 3 suspensions in recent weeks, the Indians are now ready to fight back and protect themselves. 

Paul Hoynes of the Plain Dealer pointed out last night that the Indians are working on a new policy of testing players for steroids before signing them. He writes:

“I’ve got no sympathy for these guys,” said John Mirabelli, the Indians’ director of scouting operations. “They broke the law. They fraudulently tried to misrepresent their abilities to us to get a higher signing bonus. They were all educated on this drug testing for a long time.”

Mirabelli said the three players have never played an inning for the Indians. They were signed in December and January and were scheduled to play in the Dominican Summer League.

As for conducting their own drug testing program, Mirabelli said, “We still have some I’s to dot and T’s to cross as far as the legal part is concerned. We’re very close to doing our own drug testing prior to these guys signing a contract.

It’s easy to understand the frustration the franchise is feeling. While Rafael Betancourt remains the only player to be suspended for steroids while actively on the Indians major league roster, there have been plenty of other players to come through here with connections to performance enhancing drugs. Minor leaguers Eider Torres and Darnell McDonald each received 15 game suspensions in 2005. The Mitchell Report contained many familiar names, including David Segui, Tim Laker, Paul Byrd, John Rocker, Matt Williams, Steve Woodard, Jason Grimsley, and David Justice. Different players were connected to steroids at different times in the careers, some before their time with the Tribe and some after, but the point is that Cleveland has been a crossroads for players with PED connections and ties.

After a while, this all gets old and you get really tired of hearing about all the PED connections within the franchise. This is why I applaud the Indians taking a stand. I understand some will try to argue this is some kind of civil rights violation, but I’ve had jobs in the past that I had to submit to a drug test before I was allowed to earn a paycheck from the company, so why should the Indians’ and their prospective players be any different? Using Performance Enhancing Drugs is against the law and they now finally violate Major League Baseball’s rules, so good for the Indians for taking steps to make sure nobody is breaking said laws and rules before committing thousands of dollars to them and making them representatives of the organization.