Ryan Braun will NOT be suspended

[Lucky]

Well, if he wasn't using any PEDs, then I say good for him, and I wish him the best. If he has a great season this year, it will vindicate him much more than having this panel toss out the original finding.

So, what's the consensus? Do we make him a top five pick?

[Sour Masher]

Look, I understand why folks are really jaded about this, but a long history of liars and cheats should not completely bias us from allowing for the remote possibility that Braun is in fact innocent. A lot of those screaming technicality don't seem to even be looking into the facts here. I certainly don't know the facts well enough to make a defintive judgment, but I've seen enough--from the INSANE levels of the testosterone in the test, to his clean tests before and after this test, to the broken chain of custody, to the plausible explainations for how that one sample out of the 20+ tests he's done could have been tainted without a grand conspiracy being involved for me to remain at least open to the idea that Braun is in fact innocent. Even if it is a long shot, isn't it better to let this go rather than continue to condemn someone who at the very least is possibily innocent?

Any boy, if he is innocent, I feel very bad for him. This will follow him forever, even with the suspension overturned. With all those liars and cheats that came before him, a very large segment of people will never believe him, and that is a real shame if he is in fact innocent. And again, I don't know how anyone can say with absolute certainty--with the plausible evidence that suggests the possibility that this was a tainted test--that Braun is guilty.

[Hornsby]

This excerpted from the NY Times article this AM:

[/Major League Baseball argued that there was no evidence that the sealed test had been tampered with, and it said that the collector had followed established protocol in storing the sample until a drop-off center was open. But the 48-hour delay proved to be the deciding factor in the case, one of the two people said.
“You’re not going to grow synthetic testosterone just because it sat in a refrigerator over the weekend,” said Travis T. Tygart, the chief executive of the United States Anti-Doping Agency. “It’s the best practice that when you can’t get it to the lab because it’s a weekend to keep it in the possession of the person who’s trained to handle it, the doping control officer.”

The 28-year-old Braun hired a prominent sports lawyer and assembled a public relations team to argue his appeal. He is scheduled to report for spring training on Friday at the Brewers’ complex in Phoenix, and in a statement issued after the ruling was announced he said he was “pleased and relieved.”

“It is the first step in restoring my good name and reputation,” he said. “We were able to get through this because I am innocent and the truth is on our side.”

The test in question was given to Braun after the Brewers’ first game of the 2011 postseason. In the game, Braun playing left field and batting third, got three hits in four at-bats as the Brewers beat the Arizona Diamondbacks, 4-1.


The tester claimed that by the time the test was completed afterward, there was no open FedEx center at which he could drop off the sample, the same person with knowledge of the case said. Instead, he said the tester followed established protocol that when a sample cannot immediately be dropped off at a FedEx center, it must be kept in a cold and secure place until it can be shipped.

In this instance, the person said, the tester took the sample home and stored it in a refrigerator until he could bring it to an open FedEx center on Monday.

Lawyers for Major League Baseball told the panel that the sample had been sealed in both a bag and then a box while Braun watched and that they showed no sign of tampering when they arrived at the Montreal laboratory.

[Moonlight J]

I'm glad it worked out this way. This is what baseball deserves for being unable to preserve its end of the bargain. This information should have NEVER come out before the appeals process had taken place. They "vehemently disagree" with this decision but they have never spoken up when this information has been leaked in the past because the court of public opinion helps their cause. They have rat(s) in their house they need to exterminate.

Meanwhile, roids only exist in baseball, right? See Laron Landry

[wannabegriffey]

No, but it is possible that he really wasn't using, and there was a mistake in the test. The test showed a 20:1 T/E ratio, which is absurdly high, and not consistent with any other test that Braun has taken.

Did you ever watch the episode of seinfeld in which jerry and kramer have a wager on the ice cream being fat free? On the way to the lab, it begins to melt and kramer says "oh, if it melts, it changes the molecules". Jerry rolls his eyes and says "no way". The lab guy confirms "no, it doesn't change".

Now to real life. If we are to trust the montreal lab (I shall trust before braun) which said the package was still double sealed when it arrived (jar and box) and if we are to trust the courier (who I shall trust before braun) and believe he did not use a cyringe full of the testosterone to sully the sample. The only logical assumption is the testosterone manifested itself while sitting in the beaker waiting to be analysed. #againeyesroll

And how many tests did a-rod, balcoboy, rappy palmeiro, etc, etc, etc, pass? Always remember dude got off because of transporting process, not because the sample was clean.

[Moonlight J]

Did you ever watch the episode of seinfeld in which jerry and kramer have a wager on the ice cream being fat free? On the way to the lab, it begins to melt and kramer says "oh, if it melts, it changes the molecules". Jerry rolls his eyes and says "no way". The lab guy confirms "no, it doesn't change".

Now to real life. If we are to trust the montreal lab (I shall trust before braun) which said the package was still double sealed when it arrived (jar and box) and if we are to trust the courier (who I shall trust before braun) and believe he did not use a cyringe full of the testosterone to sully the sample. The only logical assumption is the testosterone manifested itself while sitting in the beaker waiting to be analysed. #againeyesroll

And how many tests did a-rod, balcoboy, rappy palmeiro, etc, etc, etc, pass? Always remember dude got off because of transporting process, not because the sample was clean.

I think Calcaterra is speaking directly to you in his column today

no scientific protocol has legitimacy if only some parts of it are adhered to and others aren’t. When you go with testing, you go with everything. You can’t say that the preliminary test results matter and the chain of custody protocols don’t. It’s all of a piece. It’s the entire process that lends drug testing its legitimacy, not just part of it.

But hey, if you still want to crap on Braun — if you still want to say “but his testosterone levels were high, so he’s suspect” or “MLB has egg on its face because the testing failed” — fine. Do so. It’s a free country. But if you do so, admit that you do it because you simply don’t like the results here. And spare me any whining about the past, and about how Major League Baseball was so lax in testing for so many years before now. Because as is evidenced by your Ryan Braun reactions, you wouldn’t have cared regardless.

http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/2012/02/24/think-braun-is-still-dirty-fine-but-at-least-admit-you-dont-care-about-drug-testing-then/

[OaklandA's]

Now to real life. If we are to trust the montreal lab (I shall trust before braun) which said the package was still double sealed when it arrived (jar and box) and if we are to trust the courier (who I shall trust before braun) and believe he did not use a cyringe full of the testosterone to sully the sample. The only logical assumption is the testosterone manifested itself while sitting in the beaker waiting to be analysed. #againeyesroll

So what is your explanation for why this one test showed such dramatically different results than all of his other ones?

[B-Fly]

"Technicalities" like dismissing evidence because of concerns around chain of custody don't exist for nothing. They exist to guard against real risks of tampering or spoilation of evidence.

[gcstomp]

The failed test was an off the charts, higher than any athlete ever tested before, jaw dropper reading. While every other test Braun has taken has been solidly issue free.

[Hornsby]

The failed test was an off the charts, higher than any athlete ever tested before, jaw dropper reading. While every other test Braun has taken has been solidly issue free.

Again, we don't know that. We're taking the word of the Braun camp in that regard, just as his accusers are taking the word of the person who leaked it in the 1st place. He's never been suspended, or disciplined...that's all we know for certain.

[popeye]

Again, we don't know that. We're taking the word of the Braun camp in that regard, just as his accusers are taking the word of the person who leaked it in the 1st place. He's never been suspended, or disciplined...that's all we know for certain.

If the failed test wasn't off the charts, as claimed, I'm confident that eventually, the record will be set straight in that regard.

[ChaseMutley]

no scientific protocol has legitimacy if only some parts of it are adhered to and others aren’t. When you go with testing, you go with everything. You can’t say that the preliminary test results matter and the chain of custody protocols don’t. It’s all of a piece. It’s the entire process that lends drug testing its legitimacy, not just part of it.

This is nonsense lawyer talk with absolutely no scientific legitimacy. Changing some parts of a testing process might alter results. Changing other parts will not. Calcaterra is basically saying that he cares only about the letter of the law being followed.

Look, I think MLB screwed up big time here, and I think they need to makeover their entire process if they're relying on a courier who can't follow simple directions - they may need to staff the whole thing top to bottom with MLB employees. But Calcaterra is taking the position that Braun's actual guilt or innocence doesn't matter and this whole thing was about dotting every i and crossing every t. And that's nonsense.

Ryan Braun won't be suspended. But there's nothing here yet that takes his reputation off the hook.

[Gregg]

I do not own him. It would be better for me if he was suspended. That said I am glad he is not.

The evidence points to something wrong. What I am not sure. It is hard not to believe he is dirty, given all of the other cheats and liars. But what if he is not dirty?

If he has been "getting away with it" for years and it has helped him, we should see a significant drop in production this year.

I for one am hoping he shows well. If he is guilty I hope he has the worst year in Baseball History.

[Moonlight J]

If this were you on trial, wouldn't you be arguing the same exact thing Braun and his team did? The only person that did anything wrong here was the dumbass who violated the contract between MLB & MLBPA when he leaked the information to ESPN. That right there should have voided the entire case because the contract between the two parties was broken. The player was entitled to an appeals process and that process was compromised by the experts in the court of public opinion.

The chain of custody being compromised is just icing on the cake to the core issue here and that is MLB first violated the process and then its handler doubled down on that violation.

[BigJonEmpire]

Supposedly, the courier was extremely nervous on the stand and couldn't even stutter out his own name while on the stand let alone defend his actions.