MLB, union differ on timing of suspension announcements

Major League Baseball and the players union seem to have different opinions as to how soon suspensions would be announced resulting from the investigation into the Biogenesis clinic reported to have sold performance-enhancing drugs to major-league players.

During an interview session Tuesday in New York before the All-Star Game, union chief Michael Weiner told baseball writers that suspensions might not be served until the 2014 season. That timetable would be longer than the one envisioned at this point by MLB officials.

Weiner said he expects MLB to notify the union of its plans for suspensions within the next month. The commissioner's office wants to announce the suspensions then, but Weiner said the union would insist they be withheld until arbitrator Fredric Horowitz upholds them after hearings.

"We're going to have a discussion with them. That discussion will include whether or not names of suspended players will be announced publicly," Weiner said.

Weiner said those hearings likely wouldn't happen before September. As many as 20 players, including the Milwaukee Brewers' Ryan Braun, have been named as targets in the investigation.

MLB prefers to move forward with suspensions and hearings as soon as it completes its investigation. Commissioner Bud Selig declined Tuesday to speculate when that might be.

MLB believes it has a right to announce the suspensions before hearings due to a provision in the labor agreement that allows it if names are made public beforehand. Various news organizations listed the names of players before MLB launched its investigation.

Weiner also said the 50-game, 100-game and lifetime bans that go with first, second and third offenses for failed drug tests might not apply to "nonanalytical" evidence such as anything produced linking a player to buying performance-enhancing drugs from Biogenesis. He said those punishments would have to be worked out between MLB and the union or decided by Horowitz.

"When all the interviews are done, we will meet with the commissioner's office and we'll try to work something out," Weiner said. "Our players that deserve the suspensions, we'll try to cope with their suspensions. Our players that don't deserve suspensions, we will argue that they don't deserve a suspension. And I hope we have success. We may not have success on every single player, but I hope we have a fair amount of success.

"In theory, they could be suspended for five games or 500 games. We could then choose to challenge or not, but the commissioner's office is not bound by the 50-100-life scale."

Because of the time needed to prepare and hold hearings, Weiner said the case of any player challenging a penalty likely wouldn't be decided during this season. Each player is entitled to a separate hearing. Selig, who defended the aggressive nature of the investigation, said punishment would not be dictated by the baseball schedule, however.

"I'm sensitive to that, but we have to complete this investigation," said Selig. "I have to see the results, and then we're going to move forward. Those are the only concerns."

Weiner conducted his session with baseball writers while seated in a wheelchair and unable to move his right arm, the effects of his ongoing battle with brain cancer. Because of declining health, Weiner said the union would appoint a deputy executive director within two weeks, with the executive board deciding if that deputy will succeed him.

"We have an emergency contingency plan that's been in place for several months, and we are within a week or two of having a plan that will deal with a deputy executive director that will succeed and ultimately be voted on by the board in November," Weiner said.

Source: http://www.jsonline.com/sports/brewers/mlb-union-differ-on-timing-of-suspension-announcements-b9955908z1-215754281.html

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