Punishment coming? It's difficult to say
NEW YORK -- George Mitchell linked 85 players to the illegal use of steroids and other performance-enhancing drugs. Now it's up to Bud Selig to determine his version of baseball justice.
Lawyers in the commissioner's office will have to sort through Mitchell's report and determine whether any of the active players deserve punishment. That process certainly will spill into next year.
"We have approached these cases by looking at the period of time during which the conduct occurred and what our policy looked like for that point in time," Rob Manfred, baseball's executive vice president for labor relations, said after Mitchell's report was released Thursday.
It is highly unlikely players will be disciplined for conduct before Sept. 30, 2002, when the management-union drug policy began.
Complicating any discipline are three different drug policies that call for different penalties. The first covered 2003-2004, the second 2005 and the third 2006 until now.
Add in that Human Growth Hormone wasn't banned until January 2005, and it's enough to create a labor lawyer's version of Sabermetrics. Right now, baseball doesn't even have a timetable for figuring out what's ahead.
"As soon as we have a chance to digest the report, we'll have a better handle on that," said Bob DuPuy, baseball's chief operating officer.
Mitchell equivocated on whether he thought players should be punished.
"I urge the commissioner to forgo imposing discipline on players for past violations of baseball's rules on performance-enhancing substances, including players named in this report," he said.
And then he backtracked, adding: "except in those cases where he determines that the conduct is so serious that discipline is necessary to maintain the integrity of the game."
Selig left open the possibility of penalties.
"I'm going to review his findings and the factual support for those findings, and punishment will then be determined on a case-by-case basis," he said. "I will take action when I believe it's appropriate."
Selig might even discipline management.
"I will also review the comments made by Sen. Mitchell about club personnel and will take appropriate action," he said.