Tougher Penalties For MLB Drug Violations Will Have To Wait Until 2014 Season
SARASOTA, Fla. (AP) — Baseball players' union head Michael Weiner says toughening penalties for drug violations will have to wait until the 2014 season.
"There are going to be talks. I don't know what the result is going to be," he said Sunday after meeting with the Baltimore Orioles as part of his tour of the 30 spring training camps.
The current sanctions have been in place since the 2006 season: 50 games for a first offense, 100 for a second and a lifetime ban for a third. Selig held a news conference Saturday and said he wanted increased penalties as soon as possible.
"Starting this offseason, we had substantial discussion among player leadership about whether the penalty structure we have is right — whether there should be increases — whether there should be a differential penalty for intentional or unintentional users," Weiner said.
"That dialogue is continuing. We had some dialogue even with the commissioner's office in the offseason that didn't lead to any changes, and I suspect that we'll have those discussions over the course of the year," he said. "But it's going to be a 2014 issue. We're not going to change the rules of the game in the middle of the season. In a sense, the drug-testing season started with spring training."
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