Ryan Spilborghs has some suggestions for battling PED use
Former Colorado Rockie and current Seibu Lion Ryan Spilborghs has some ways for MLB to curb PED use.
By
Mike Axisa
•
2 min read
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Outfielder Ryan Spilborghs had a nice run with the Rockies from 2005-11, hitting .272/.345/.423 (93 OPS+) with 42 home runs in 619 games. He spent last year in the minors and is playing in Japan for the Seibu Lions this year.
Spilborghs, 33, is chronicling his life and career in Japan on a blog at the Denver Post, and his latest entry touches on the subject of performance-enchanging drugs. Here's a snippet:
Let’s just cut to the chase, the root of the problem is simple, it’s money and the means to make it by everyone involved in the sport. Trying to get money is always going to be a problem. It isn’t a baseball-specific problem, we know that. It simply drives the baseball industry to create the actual monster. The length of the season.
A baseball season is a marathon. It is an absurd amount of games –162 games in 184 days! Not to mention spring training, and for many guys (the majority of Latin players) winter-ball, as well as offseason conditioning (which changed drastically from when I first signed in 2002, can you say ‘high force plyometrics?’). The amount of travel, the amount of days you are expected to perform (your performance leads to your salary), the lack of sleep, the lack of proper nutrition all push players’ bodies to their limits. Often you hear veterans of baseball say “you can’t play this game on just coffee and water,” and it’s more or less true.
(snip)
Now I am not condoning the use of anything, but merely pointing out that some of the events and sports we’ve created (MLB, NFL, NBA) are pushing athletes too far without giving enough proper rest to allow them to recover. Again why are seasons so long? Money! Because sponsors, cities, owners and networks all make money. The athletes, in turn, reap the benefits financially.
Spilborghs mentions they play 144 games in more than 180 days in Japan, with built in off-days for potential rainouts and usually one off-day per week (typically Monday). He also notes there is no chance MLB will shorten the season because there is too much money to be lost, so he makes some other suggestions on how to cut down the demand on players:
- Expanded rosters. Instead of a 25-man roster, let teams carry 30 players at a time. That makes it easier to rest players nursing day-to-day injuries, etc.
- Maximum game rule. Spilborghs suggests a rule saying no player can start more than 146 games in a season or play in more than 10 consecutive games without a mandatory day of rest.
Would those suggestions cut down on PED use in baseball? Maybe, there's no real way to know. I like his creative solutions, however.
Players are always going to find ways to cheat, it's just the way things are. As long as there is money to be made and fame to be had, they're going to look for an advantage over everyone else. MLB's testing program is, by far, the toughest in the four major sports, but eliminating PED use all together is an unrealistic goal.
