Ryan Braun exonerated, no suspension… Latest: MLB drops Eliezer Alfonzo suspension; case similar to Braun's (part 2)

[ELCABALLO45]

So this will take another interesting twist. Eliezer Alfonzo had his suspension overturned for the same reason Braun did.

 

http://espn.go.com/mlb/story/_/id/7927275/mlb-drops-drug-ban-colorado-rockies-eliezer-alfonzo

[Patrick425]

So this will take another interesting twist. Eliezer Alfonzo had his suspension overturned for the same reason Braun did.

 

http://espn.go.com/mlb/story/_/id/7927275/mlb-drops-drug-ban-colorado-rockies-eliezer-alfonzo

 

 

The minor league minimum salary is $86,473? Is that just AAA, or is that all levels?

[TheCrew07]

So this will take another interesting twist. Eliezer Alfonzo had his suspension overturned for the same reason Braun did.

 

http://espn.go.com/mlb/story/_/id/7927275/mlb-drops-drug-ban-colorado-rockies-eliezer-alfonzo

 

 

The minor league minimum salary is $86,473? Is that just AAA, or is that all levels?

 

 

This information is a bit old, I'm not sure what's different pay wise in the new CBA, but here's an excerpt from a 2010 story on minor league, but at the time players in A ball were getting paid below the poverty level.

 

Playing For Peanuts

 

Make It To Triple-A

 

Players who prove themselves at the Triple-A level can earn a comfortable living. But getting there can be a true battle of attrition. For every veteran who thrives in the upper minors, many others fall by the wayside before graduating from A-ball.

 

While players under complete team control make relative peanuts, those whose services are in demand make enough that they might not even need to secure offseason employment. The biggest earners among the minor league set fall in to two categories:

 

• Members of the 40-man roster. Players sign split major league/minor league contracts once they're added to the 40-man, with their pay rate dictated by the Collective Bargaining Agreement. While those in the big leagues earn at least the minimum of $400,000, those on the minor league side are paid based on their experience. First-year members earn a minimum of $32,500 in the minors, while second- and third-year members earn a minimum of $65,000. However, if a player spends time with the big club in one season, his pay rate the following year must equal at least 60 percent of his total earnings from the year before. Factoring in the higher big league pay rate, a player's minor league salary could be two or three times more than the minimum.

 

• Minor league free agents. To fill the gaps in Triple-A, organizations often turn to the minor league free agent. The most coveted free agents can make as much as $12,000-$25,000 a month, depending on the organization. That works out to a cool $60,000-$125,000 for five months of work.

 

"That's a competitive market, the six-year free agent market," a former major league general manager said. "You can go from that $2,150 a month, and if you become a six-year free agent, you have a chance to at least double or triple that right away."

 

For the rank and file, though, the struggle continues, and most people in the game say that players should simply be happy to have a job given the state of the economy. Complicating matters, players receive no paychecks while attending instructional leagues or spring training. These events effectively turn the five-month season into seven months, giving players only a few months in the offseason to find a job and earn supplemental income.

 

Another factor in maintaining such low salaries is the lack of labor organization for minor leaguers. The rules of the MLBPA recognize "major league players, and individuals who may become major league players" as members, but this is interpreted as only major leaguers and players on a team's 40-man roster. All other players are on their own, working at the pleasure of their organization.

[Patrick425]

So this will take another interesting twist. Eliezer Alfonzo had his suspension overturned for the same reason Braun did.

 

http://espn.go.com/mlb/story/_/id/7927275/mlb-drops-drug-ban-colorado-rockies-eliezer-alfonzo

 

 

The minor league minimum salary is $86,473? Is that just AAA, or is that all levels?

 

 

This information is a bit old, I'm not sure what's different pay wise in the new CBA, but here's an excerpt from a 2010 story on minor league, but at the time players in A ball were getting paid below the poverty level.

 

Playing For Peanuts

 

 

Not trying to take this thread in a completely different direction...but where do you get the "below poverty level" information from? According to that "old" information the minimum a player could make in the minors is $32,000 (and I'm assuming the new CBA raised that amount). If that's considered "below poverty", the whoever is in charge of defining what "poverty" is does not have a grasp of reality.

[TheCrew07]

Again, that's AAA plus being on the 40 man roster, there are no longer MLB contracts being offered to draft picks so very few players below AA would end up on the 40 man.

 

From the same article talking about A ball players:

Somehow six players had crammed into the small two-bedroom apartment. Two slept in each bedroom, one slept in the living room, and another slept in a tiny den. All slept on air mattresses.

 

The apartment was in Norwich, Conn., then the home of the Giants' Double-A affiliate. An X-box noisily projected itself on a TV still displaying Walmart stickers; it would go back to the store just before the 90-day return policy expired. Empty McDonald's bags littered the floor, while an old Kara Monaco poster provided the only relief from the sterile whiteness of vacant walls.

 

To an outsider the setting might seem peculiar, but many minor leaguers live in such circumstances due to the strain of low salaries. If players choose not to cram together in an apartment, they often bunk with host families, as Barbara Rothstein can attest.

 

Rothstein, whose family served as a host for the Norwich club when it was a Yankees affiliate, lives with her husband in a ranch home on the outskirts of town. Their basement is littered with futons in various positions, monuments from their hosting days.

 

"We had 12 players, two wives and a baby staying with us all at once," Rothstein says. "We didn't charge them a dime. One month we had a $5,800 food bill and we tried collecting $20 from each, but some of them couldn't even afford that."

 

Rothstein is shocked there is less discussion about minor league salaries. Media attention focuses on major league salaries, which have risen exponentially in the last 35 years, but minor league salaries have barely budged.

 

"My first year in pro ball was 1974. I made $500 a month," said former Red Sox pitcher Bob Stanley, who now works as a private pitching coach. "When I got to Double-A, I made $1,000."

 

Today, many players receive only slightly more. In 2004, I made $850 a month. Fresh out of college, I thought I was rich. Then I realized that I had bills to pay. Luckily I had received a modest signing bonus that helped at first, but most players receive no such bonuses. Many are forced to ask their parents for help.

 

Five Myths about Minor League Baseball

 

5.

Minor league players make big money.

 

The fact that some top prospects receive huge signing bonuses or contracts – Stephen Strasburg signed for $15.1 million with the Washington Nationals in 2009 and Bryce Harper did the same for $9.9 million in 2010 – leads many to think that minor league players are making “major” money. That is simply not the case.

 

While first-round picks (a small subset of the players who are playing in the minor leagues at any given time) and “bonus-baby” international signees (an even smaller category) can see million-dollar signing bonuses, most players receive little or no bonus.

 

All players (even those with large bonuses) are paid “minor league scale” once they sign. Minor league scale at the TinCaps’ level is currently $1,100 per month (and players only get paid during the season) plus $25 per day in meal money when the team is on the road. Even at the “highest” level of the minor leagues, AAA, scale is only $2,150 per month plus the same $25 per day in meal money.

 

So while each roster will include some high-profile signees who received large bonuses – last year’s TinCaps, for example, had first-rounder Donovan Tate, who received a $6.25 million signing bonus, the sixth-highest in history, and Adys Portillo and Luis Domoromo, signed out of Venezuela for $2 million and $1.25 million, respectively – most minor league players struggle to make ends meet as they pursue their dream.

[1992casey]

So this will take another interesting twist. Eliezer Alfonzo had his suspension overturned for the same reason Braun did.

 

http://espn.go.com/mlb/story/_/id/7927275/mlb-drops-drug-ban-colorado-rockies-eliezer-alfonzo

Actually, the suspension was dropped by MLB before the case was ever heard by an arbitrator.

[Glennron]

Anyone have any idea of Alfonzo will be getting any back pay from the time he missed? That's a good chunk of change he'd be missing out on.

[ELCABALLO45]

So this will take another interesting twist. Eliezer Alfonzo had his suspension overturned for the same reason Braun did.

 

http://espn.go.com/mlb/story/_/id/7927275/mlb-drops-drug-ban-colorado-rockies-eliezer-alfonzo

Actually, the suspension was dropped by MLB before the case was ever heard by an arbitrator.

 

That is correct. I was just trying to say the case was dropped due to same procedure issues.

 

Probably should of made that part more clear.

[burnzy24]

The MLB and MLBPA agreed to modify the joint drug agreement http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/2012/06/07/mlb-mlbpa-announce-modifications-to-joint-drug-agreement/

 

Included modifications include:

Modifying the Collection Procedures of the Program to clarify when collectors must deliver specimens to the courier, and how specimens should be stored prior to delivery to the courier.

 

Obviously this is in direct response to Braun's case. Its funny, I'm not sure why this would be necessary if the collector did everything correct as he and the MLB claim.

[clancyphile]

The MLB and MLBPA agreed to modify the joint drug agreement http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/2012/06/07/mlb-mlbpa-announce-modifications-to-joint-drug-agreement/

 

Included modifications include:

Modifying the Collection Procedures of the Program to clarify when collectors must deliver specimens to the courier, and how specimens should be stored prior to delivery to the courier.

 

Obviously this is in direct response to Braun's case. Its funny, I'm not sure why this would be necessary if the collector did everything correct as he and the MLB claim.

 

My thoughts as well. Something very fishy is going on. First, no written ruling, then Das gets fired, and now MLB is making what look to be major changes to their procedures.

[Invader3K]

It reeks of a cover up, but it's MLB, so who knows. I'm usually on board with Selig's decisions, but the way this whole thing has been handled has been pathetic. I know he's not directly involved, but you'd think the commissioner would have stepped in at some point.

[Nottso]

I think Selig may have stepped in if it had been a player from any other team but being a Brewer there was no way he was going to.

 

Sometimes "friends in high places" isn't such a good thing.

[jjfanec]

Here an article from today with some quotes by Braun.http://sports.yahoo.com/news/braun-never-going-away-know-173015326--mlb.html

 

Braun statements stay very strong and very consistent.

 

"It's never going to go away, I know that," Braun told USA Today of the February decision that cleared him of wrongdoing based on a technicality based on excessive lag time in handling his urine sample. "But we didn't win because of a technicality. We won because we deserved to win. We won because we proved I didn't do it. Right now, it wouldn't do me ... or the game any good to talk about why."

[JackNicholson1974]

The fact that there has been no written decision and another case overturned leads me to believe that Braun is 100% correct. It would do baseball no good which is why they didnt have Das do a report.

[Patrick425]

Here an article from today with some quotes by Braun.http://sports.yahoo.com/news/braun-never-going-away-know-173015326--mlb.html

 

Braun statements stay very strong and very consistent.

 

"It's never going to go away, I know that," Braun told USA Today of the February decision that cleared him of wrongdoing based on a technicality based on excessive lag time in handling his urine sample. "But we didn't win because of a technicality. We won because we deserved to win. We won because we proved I didn't do it. Right now, it wouldn't do me ... or the game any good to talk about why."

 

I find it interesting that he uses the words "Right now", which to me means that he fully intends to tell his whole story at some point and time.

[Fear The Chorizo]

I think it reeks of a cover-up of Braun's defense that led to him being exonerated. MLB can rightfully claim the collector followed the formerly acceptable protocol, that's fine. The problem, and probable reason for the failed test, was that the handling protocol deemed acceptable to MLB actually contributed to the sample degrading in a way that Braun's team was able to replicate. That's the only reason why sample handling specifics needed to be added to the policy (why they weren't there in the first place when games are always played through weekends should be the bigger issue at this point). If that's the case, it calls into question years' worth of testing performed by MLB in effort to clean up their game. Right now in the general public's eyes, Braun's still a cheater who found a loophole - MLB's terrified (and rightfully so) that showing how their testing program could botch a PED sample from the league's MVP could severely damage their credibility in the public eye.

 

I still think there's no reason for MLB to withold Das' written decision if all it used to exonerate Braun was a technicality of the sample not going to FedEx immediately. If that was the entire defense with nothing else supporting it, I would think MLB would make Das' decision public to justify their decision to relieve Das of his independent arbitrator duties.

[RockCoCougars]

I don't know. If MLB wanted to throw someone under the bus, why Braun? Why would you want a reigning MVP to come off tainted? To me, that hurts the game. It'd have been far easier to let the collector take the fall.

[Patrick425]

I don't know. If MLB wanted to throw someone under the bus, why Braun? Why would you want a reigning MVP to come off tainted? To me, that hurts the game. It'd have been far easier to let the collector take the fall.

 

Because, as Fear the Chorizo stated, it would call into question years worth of testing.

[Invader3K]

Good points, FtC. I have to believe there's a lot more to it than a simple technicality, based on Braun's comments and MLB not publishing Das' ruling.

[fondybrewfan]

Didn't Braun explain his side of the story to his teammates during Spring Training. Assuming he told them the actually story it is only a matter of time before some second half anonymous info comes out. Maybe I am misremembering.

[pebadger]

MLB had to "go after" Braun when they got a result that the science people said was a positive. Consider what would have happened if they hadn't gone after Braun and then somebody leaked the fact that MLB had refused to prosecute a case in which the reigning NL MVP tested positive.

 

Without rehashing everything in the thread, the major tipping point in this case happened when ESPN ran with a leak. It had the effect of hardening MLB's position. MLB had to know, or should have known, there was at the very least a procedural problem with the case at the time it went before the arbitrator, but given the leak there was no way they could back off the case even if they wanted to for very valid reasons.

 

I continue to believe that there was more than just a procedural problem in this case. I continue to be infuriated by the fact that, despite a complete lack of hard evidence as to the reasons behind the decision, the entire media establishment has run with the "just a technicality" story, which, for reasons I've repeated a number of times, is in itself misleading even if true.

 

Someday this will all come out. It will be interesting when it does. For now, my interest in the whole PED parade has shifted to the Lance Armstrong situation. Regardless of what Armstrong did or didn't do, the procedural side of the case, and USADA's insistence on dredging up stuff that is over a decade old and related to a sport in which Armstrong no longer compete, will be worth keeping an eye on.

[rluzinski]

Didn't Braun explain his side of the story to his teammates during Spring Training. Assuming he told them the actually story it is only a matter of time before some second half anonymous info comes out. Maybe I am misremembering.

Blind speculation of course but I just don't get the impression that Braun would have told them anything very specific.

[endaround]

MLB had to "go after" Braun when they got a result that the science people said was a positive. Consider what would have happened if they hadn't gone after Braun and then somebody leaked the fact that MLB had refused to prosecute a case in which the reigning NL MVP tested positive.

 

Without rehashing everything in the thread, the major tipping point in this case happened when ESPN ran with a leak. It had the effect of hardening MLB's position. MLB had to know, or should have known, there was at the very least a procedural problem with the case at the time it went before the arbitrator, but given the leak there was no way they could back off the case even if they wanted to for very valid reasons.

 

I continue to believe that there was more than just a procedural problem in this case. I continue to be infuriated by the fact that, despite a complete lack of hard evidence as to the reasons behind the decision, the entire media establishment has run with the "just a technicality" story, which, for reasons I've repeated a number of times, is in itself misleading even if true.

 

Someday this will all come out. It will be interesting when it does. For now, my interest in the whole PED parade has shifted to the Lance Armstrong situation. Regardless of what Armstrong did or didn't do, the procedural side of the case, and USADA's insistence on dredging up stuff that is over a decade old and related to a sport in which Armstrong no longer compete, will be worth keeping an eye on.

 

Hey the Celemens trial ended, we need another steroid boogey man out there!

[jjfanec]

Didn't Braun explain his side of the story to his teammates during Spring Training. Assuming he told them the actually story it is only a matter of time before some second half anonymous info comes out. Maybe I am misremembering.

Blind speculation of course but I just don't get the impression that Braun would have told them anything very specific.

 

Lucroy made some sort of comment about how if we knew what he did we would believe Braun