Corrina_Sullivan's Blog

NEW YORK (AP) -- Baseball players and owners agreed Friday to amend their drug agreement, a decision that allows for more frequent testing and eliminates 15-day suspensions assessed in December against Jose Guillen and Jay Gibbons. The deal, reached after months of negotiations, strengthens the authority the independent administrator has over the drug program, giving him an initial three-year term and specifying he can be removed only if an arbitrator finds cause. But baseball did not heed advice from the World Anti-Doping Agency and turn drug testing over to an outside agency. In addition, the decision over whether a player can be subjected to reasonable cause testing will remain with management and the union, with any disagreement decided by the sport's regular arbitrator. Also, a joint management-union body called the Treatment Board will supervise the part of the program relating to drugs of abuse such as cocaine. "Going into this negotiation, the commissioner was 100 percent correct that we had the best program in professional sports," said Rob Manfred, baseball's executive vice president for labor relations. "These changes just solidify that kind of premier leadership position in my view." As part of the agreement, major leaguers -- including those named in December's Mitchell Report -- will join Major League Baseball's efforts to educate youth about performance-enhancing drugs. The players' association will contribute $200,000 to an anti-drug organization. In exchange for those two provisions, baseball commissioner Bud Selig agreed not to discipline players implicated by Mitchell during his 1 1/2-year investigation.

What do you think about the agreement? Is it  a mistake to not turn drug testing over to an outside agency?  What about Selig's decision not to discipline players implicated by Mitchell?

Have a wonderful weekend,
Corrina