Being a slugger in the big leagues takes a good eye, quick wrists, nerves of steel and, apparently, a poker face for lying.
That became clear again Tuesday when Milwaukee slugger Ryan Braun accepted a 65-game suspension for his involvement with a drug lab linked to more than 20 professional players, including Yankee star Alex Rodriguez.
Just a year ago he was cleared of using performance-enhancing drugs and Braun congratulated himself for being such a stand-up guy: “I will continue to take the high road,” he said. “We won because the truth was on my side.”
Which is the typical tactic of highly paid sports cheaters: When accused, act offended, then lie and deny. Then lie and deny some more. Then continue to lie and deny for as long as possible.
Because cheating, lying and denying pay really well at this level.
In Braun’s case, based upon his drug-enhanced ability to hit baseballs, he signed a 10-year, $145.5 million deal in 2010 with the Brewers.
A baseball club signs such agreements based upon a player’s past performance and future ability to fill seats and win games.
In Braun’s case, his performance was based upon cheating and misrepresenting himself as an honest player.
The team will not have to pay Braun during his 65-game suspension but when he returns he will start picking up big paychecks as if nothing has happened.
But something has.
Braun has damaged the team’s relationship with its customers, who are likely to be less excited by seeing a man who lied to them get base hits.
And there’s real doubt Braun will be able to perform at the same level without the assistance of banned drugs.
Braun is 29 and at the peak of his career, so he was doping during his strongest, healthiest years.
Some players have played clean during the first part of their careers and then turned to PEDs to recuperate from injuries or to artificially stretch their careers. Think Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens here.
Presuming Braun remains clean, he will go into his declining years without the assistance of the drugs that got him to the top.
The New York Yankees may be able to pay a player millions just to run out a contract, but the Brewers are not a wealthy, big-market team.
Having to pay a mediocre Ryan Braun tens of millions of dollars through the end of his contract will dim the team’s prospects for years to come.
When a player has mis-represented himself by lying and cheating to obtain a contract, a team should have the option of renegotiating his contract downward.
Ryan Braun is like A-Rod and about 20 other players facing expected suspensions: damaged goods to their fans and teams.
Which points up one of several ways Major League Baseball and its players have failed to take drug cheating seriously.
A clause in the Joint Drug Prevention and Treatment agreement between the players union and owners gives all power for punishing players to the League and specifically prohibits teams from taking punitive action for drug use on their own.
Given the significant number of liars and cheaters in professional baseball, the sport needs to confront the problem in two ways.
First, baseball needs random blood testing, the type finally adopted by cycling after most of its major stars were found to be on drugs.
Second, it needs to remove the clause preventing teams from dropping or renegotiating agreements with players who misrepresent their abilities for more money.
A player should not be enriched by a contract based upon falsehoods.
rrhoades@sunjournal.com
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