As of this week, there were 68 drug suspensions at the minor league level for the 2009 season. Last year there were a total of 66 suspensions, so baseball has broken a dubious record. The suspensions are effective at the start of next season.
Of those 68 players, 31 are in the Dominican Summer League. Forty-five DSL players were suspended for drug use a year ago, leaving some to surmise that steroid use is going down, but those who are familiar with drug testing will tell you not to be fooled.
As laboratories work to perfect drug testing, there are chemists feverishly at work developing ways to avoid detection, and they are also working on the next generation of performance-enhancing drugs, many of which are probably being used by players even as we speak. The only way to end the use of PEDs is to develop harsher penalties for those who do get caught, to the point others will have to ask themselves: “Is it worth it?” Obviously we haven’t reached that point yet, and the fact that 45 percent of those caught doping this year are Dominican says volumes about the risks these players will take to have a career in baseball.
And then there is Damian Arredondo. Back in July, the young Dominican prospect who claimed to be a 16-year-old had his contract voided by the Yankees after it was discovered he had misrepresented his age and identity. He forfeited an $850,000 signing bonus. More recently, he was suspended for 50 games after testing positive for a performance-enhancing drug.
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Dubious Record Set In Baseball
