February 23, 2012

The Technicality

I was pretty much right about quickly knowing the technicality that overturned Braun’s suspension. Jeff Passan reports:

Sources: Braun sample sat over the weekend in FedEx shop. Wasn’t delivered until Monday. Chain-of-custody argument from lawyers won case.

Update: Here’s a bit more:

According to one of the sources, the collector, after getting Braun’s sample, was supposed to take the sample to FedEx Office for shipping but thought it was closed because it was late on a Saturday. As has occurred in some other instances, the collector took the sample home and kept it in a cool place and possibly refrigerated it. Policy states that the sample is supposed to get to FedEx as soon as possible.

6 thoughts on “The Technicality

  1. pft

    Was there evidence that improper storage could cause the results to be high? If not, then in the court of public opinion Braun is still a PED user who escaped punishment through a technicality.

    I bet MLB tests the heck out of him this season, at least, they should.

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  2. M. Scott Eiland

    Due process is due process, and MLB has little sympathy coming regarding an adverse ruling from Mr. Das–he should have been sent packing years ago after his ruling in the Kenny Rogers photographer assault case.

    Testing Braun enthusiastically is fine, but any BBWAA writer indiscreet enough to say that he’s going to treat Braun as guilty for Hall of Fame purposes should have his vote stripped instantly.

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  3. Brett Carow

    @ pft
    – He passed three other tests and one following. He’s passed at least two dozen tests in his career. Plus, he’s a smart guy. Every player in the playoffs gets tested and that was when he had the elevated levels.

    My wife works in the medical industry. She says its amazing how mess-ups can happen with the smallest thing being out of order. For him to have such extremely elevated levels that no one has heard of reeks of a false positive somewhere along the line, but it’s pure speculation on my part.

    Braun doesn’t have to prove his innocence any more than (insert your player of choice here) does. He’s going to stay guilty in the court of public opinion which is quite sad. As David has said, none of this should even be public.

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  4. pft

    Previous test results and subsequent test results mean nothing. Synthetic testosterone has a short half life, and well within a week is cleared from your body.

    Players do not use testosterone regularly, they use it in cycles, with significant periods of not using at all. When you get tested in relation to when you used steroids is critical.

    In this case, the sample was tested twice, with 2 different tests. While the T/E test is known for false positives (6%), the carbon isotope test (CIR) is not as prone to false positives (although I think the science behind what is a positive is weak).

    That said, Braun was not cleared on the possibility of false positives or the questionable science, but because of a technicality. Maybe Manny’s 2nd positive result was a false positive, but he is going to serve his 50 game suspension. Manny also had a number of consecutive negative tests before testing positive.

    I do agree it seems strange he would use steroids at a time he would be most likely to be tested (playoffs). I think it equally strange Manny used steroids after serving a 50 game suspension. Maybe some players are more prone to false positives than others, including the CIR test, in which case we should scrap the entire testing program.

    Also, his levels of 20/1 in the T/E test are not unheard of. Some people (1%) have a natural level as high as 11/1 (above the 4/1 standard) Some weight lifters have tested as high as 100/1. In any event, the CIR test is supposed to be the gold standard test.

    The more I read about testosterone testing and the science the more skeptical I am. Maybe Braun is innocent, but the standards and tests that say you are guilty still exist, and if not for the technicality, he would be serving a 50 game suspension with Manny.

    Maybe it should not have been made public, but Nixon probably felt the same about Watergate. Facts are facts.

    I would recommend Braun say nothing under oath.

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  5. pft

    I also wonder if the reason for so few positive tests are because players are aware of the testing window and schedule their use at a time they are unlikely to be tested.

    For example, how does a player get tested in the offseason if they spend it in the DR or at a facility like API? Could teams be tipped off on when collectors will visit during the season and let players know ahead of time.

    Some players could be using short acting testosterone which has a 1/2 life of under 1 hr. Taken after a game the player will be clean by the time he gets to the park the next day. Could Braun have been caught unawares of the playoff collection rules (perhaps collecting after the game or at the teams hotel)

    Could players getting caught be more of a miscommunication issue?

    There is a lot about MLB’s testing program we don’t know.

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  6. Devon

    OOhhh yeah, that’s a BIG technicality to breach though. It leaves the sample open for tampering. I can imagine a scenerio where a collector could take a sample from a player, then take it home and dump it out and replace it with a known “bad” sample. Who would know the difference?

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