Word: drugging
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...just ask the San Francisco Giants, who a few years ago had Barry Bonds on the roster, how the constant scrutiny can distract a team. There will be taunting on the road. The fans will be wielding some nasty signs: Ramirez reportedly may claim that he took a banned drug called human chorionic gonadotropin to cure erectile dysfunction (the female fertility drug also happens to elevate testosterone levels, which get drained by, coincidentally, steroid use). "Manny Being Mini," one clever columnist has already written. Maybe you just want to send a message, enough is enough with these guys...
...rebate. Yes, the Dodgers don't have to pay Ramirez during his suspension, which will cost him some $8 million in salary. But they were never permitted to add a contract clause giving the team the right to void the deal if, say, Ramirez used performance-enhancing drugs. Section 8.L of Major League Baseball's Joint Drug Agreement, a testing and penalty program collectively bargained between the players and owners, states: "All authority to discipline Players for violations of the Program shall repose with the Commissioner's office. No Club may take any disciplinary or adverse action against...
...other words, the penalty for a first-time drug cheat is clearly stated out in the agreement: 50 games. The Dodgers cannot go out and fire Ramirez on top of that. "This is all prearranged by Major League Baseball and the Players' Association," says Roger I. Abrams, a sports law expert at Northeastern University...
...that player must "obey the Club's training rules, and pledge himself to the to the American public and to the Club to conform to high standards of personal conduct, fair play, and good sportsmanship." High standards of personal conduct? Fair play? Sportsmanship? Doesn't violating a league's drug policy fly in the face of all those morals? Doesn't this give the Dodgers leeway to rip up the deal...
...Again, no. In this case, the morals clauses are basically window dressing. The collectively bargained drug agreement is crystal clear. The commissioner can kick Manny out of baseball for 50 days, but the team must pay his guaranteed money when he returns (or find another club team that will). Individual contracts cannot reduce the protections for players that are negotiated collectively...