Tweet
Players to be tested after games
By Barry M. Bloom / MLB.com
The International Baseball Federation said in a media release distributed on Monday in Lausanne, Switzerland, and then posted on its Web site, that two players from each of the teams competing in next month's World Baseball Classic will be drug-tested after many of the games.
The IBAF, by prior agreement with Major League Baseball and the players association, will "apply 108 doping controls" to Major League-affiliated players participating in the event, which is scheduled for March 3-20 in the U.S., Japan and Puerto Rico.
Eighty of those controls will be utilized before the event and 27 of the 39 games will be affected by postgame testing through the finals on March 20 at San Diego's PETCO Park. All players and games selected will be at random and the testing will be conducted by the World Anti-Doping Agency under international rules.
"This is no big surprise," Rob Manfred, MLB's vice president of labor relations and human resources, said when reached by telephone on Monday. "This is completely consistent with the agreement we made with the IBAF more than a year ago and completely consistent with the way IBAF tests after games during their other international baseball events. It's a rehash."
During the IBAF World Cup and at both preliminary and Olympic gold medal baseball competitions, at least one player from each team is tested after every game. In 2003, as the selection process was ongoing before Team USA lost a single-elimination game to Mexico in the Qualifying Round at Panama City, Panama, two U.S. players tested positive for drug use -- Termel Sledge and Derrick Turnbow.
Both players were immediately dropped from the team and banned from international competition for two years, the same penalty that would be applied to a first-time offender for WBC competitors. Under the Olympic-style rules, a second positive test nets that player a lifetime ban from international competition.
Any player testing positive during the WBC would not be penalized under MLB's recently revised drug policy, which calls for a 50-game suspension after the first positive test, a 100-game suspension for the second and a lifetime ban (with reinstatement rights) after a third.
This season, MLB will test for numerous performance-enhancing drugs and amphetamines, while WADA tests for a much wider array of performance-enhancing and recreational drugs.
The IBAF said in its release that 22.5 percent of the players participating would be tested during the buildup and playing of the WBC, the first international baseball tournament to include MLB players.
Barry M. Bloom is a national reporter for MLB.com.
By Barry M. Bloom / MLB.com
The International Baseball Federation said in a media release distributed on Monday in Lausanne, Switzerland, and then posted on its Web site, that two players from each of the teams competing in next month's World Baseball Classic will be drug-tested after many of the games.
The IBAF, by prior agreement with Major League Baseball and the players association, will "apply 108 doping controls" to Major League-affiliated players participating in the event, which is scheduled for March 3-20 in the U.S., Japan and Puerto Rico.
Eighty of those controls will be utilized before the event and 27 of the 39 games will be affected by postgame testing through the finals on March 20 at San Diego's PETCO Park. All players and games selected will be at random and the testing will be conducted by the World Anti-Doping Agency under international rules.
"This is no big surprise," Rob Manfred, MLB's vice president of labor relations and human resources, said when reached by telephone on Monday. "This is completely consistent with the agreement we made with the IBAF more than a year ago and completely consistent with the way IBAF tests after games during their other international baseball events. It's a rehash."
During the IBAF World Cup and at both preliminary and Olympic gold medal baseball competitions, at least one player from each team is tested after every game. In 2003, as the selection process was ongoing before Team USA lost a single-elimination game to Mexico in the Qualifying Round at Panama City, Panama, two U.S. players tested positive for drug use -- Termel Sledge and Derrick Turnbow.
Both players were immediately dropped from the team and banned from international competition for two years, the same penalty that would be applied to a first-time offender for WBC competitors. Under the Olympic-style rules, a second positive test nets that player a lifetime ban from international competition.
Any player testing positive during the WBC would not be penalized under MLB's recently revised drug policy, which calls for a 50-game suspension after the first positive test, a 100-game suspension for the second and a lifetime ban (with reinstatement rights) after a third.
This season, MLB will test for numerous performance-enhancing drugs and amphetamines, while WADA tests for a much wider array of performance-enhancing and recreational drugs.
The IBAF said in its release that 22.5 percent of the players participating would be tested during the buildup and playing of the WBC, the first international baseball tournament to include MLB players.
Barry M. Bloom is a national reporter for MLB.com.
Comment