January 25, 2009
The Wrong People
Jordan Schafer says he didn't cheat, but he was suspended anyway:
Schafer said he's guilty of hanging around the wrong people.
"I've never failed a test. I've taken 20 drug tests, and I've never failed one. I didn't take anything," Schafer said, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Schafer did not test positive for HGH. Rather, he was suspended after Major League Baseball probed anecdotal evidence of HGH use by Schafer, two sources familiar with Schafer's case told ESPN The Magazine's Buster Olney last year.
Human growth hormone is a banned substance under the current drug-testing agreement between the owners and players, but the sport, like other professional sports leagues in the U.S., does not test for HGH.
But Major League Baseball does have the authority within the agreement to pursue specific information about possible violations. Schafer was the first casualty of MLB's new Department of Investigations.
So MLB has someone who says Shafer did take HGH? It's not clear from this article.
Posted by David Pinto at
10:52 AM
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Nothing is clear, either from this article or from the information disseminated when Schafer was suspended. MLB just says, "We suspended this guy because we felt like it, and HGH was involved in the decision", and meanwhile Schafer isn't allowed to say anything (either by his lawyers or MLB, it was never clear to me). So instead of getting two sides of a story, we get a half of one side and are left to fill in the blanks with guesswork.
MLB may be run well from a business perspective, but from a "creating a game your fans can love" perspective, they leave a lot to be desired.
This is part of the IOC/WADA "comfortable satisfaction" theory, where you can be banned without failing a test by runor and innuendo.
Perhaps we should apply this to the finanical dealings of MLB teams and the Commissioner's office in order to be consistent?
"Never failing a test" and "witnesses say he took a crapload of HGH" would be two statements that are totally plausible in tandem. The MLB cannot, and does not, test for HGH, but it is a banned substance. The only way they could possibly suspend someone for using it is if they admitted it, or someone else implicated them.
Schafer stating that he never failed a drug test, when he is accused of HGH-related malfeasance, is sketchy.
WADA code..
3.1 Burdens and Standards of Proof
The Anti-Doping Organization shall have the burden of establishing that an anti-doping rule violation has
occurred. The standard of proof shall be whether the Anti-Doping Organization has established an antidoping rule violation to the comfortable satisfaction of the hearing panel bearing in mind the seriousness of the allegation which is made.
This standard of proof in all cases is greater than a mere balance of probability but less than proof beyond a reasonable doubt. Where the Code places the burden of proof upon the Athlete or
other Person alleged to have committed an anti-doping rule violation to rebut a presumption or establish specified facts or circumstances, the standard of proof shall be by a balance of probability, except as provided in Articles 10.4 and 10.6 where the Athlete must satisfy a higher burden of proof.