The NY Times remains skeptical about baseball's willingness to tackle the drugs issue. I agree that I'm not conivinced that the owners or players really want to root this out.
The Times advocates using track & field as a model. I agree to an extent. I too want to see stringent enforcement and long-term bans for any player caught cheating. However, (as a friend reminded me) I have no interest in banning players for drinking coffee with their breakfast or taking a Sudafed.
Serious drugs (not just steroids) should be banned and their use should be punishable with serious sentences (minimum of one-year-no-pay suspensions). The testing should also be more rigorous than that which is used in track & field. Blood testing and DNA (or whatever) tests (for those genetic engineering solutions that are coming to a ball park near you) should also be included.
The NY Mets are about to sign Pedro Martinez for more than $50m. Before the deal is final, they are insisting that he have a medical. If they didn't insist on a drugs test too, then they're fools. No team should sign any free agent without making these tests a pre-condition.
