Jays learn much in meeting with Fehr
03/02/2006DUNEDIN, Fla. -- The usual clubhouse guests waited patiently outside the entrance to the Blue Jays' clubhouse at Knology Park, uninvited to the closed-door Players Asscociation meeting being held inside.
Donald Fehr, the executive director of the Major League Baseball Players Association, is making his way around the various Spring Training sites, and he stopped in Dunedin to sit down with the Blue Jays on Thursday morning. The meeting served as a question-and-answer session to allow the players to address some of the issues facing the game today.
"We talk about what's coming up and answer questions -- provoked some discussion," Fehr said. "You can assume we talked about anything of topical interest."
While Fehr wouldn't go into detail about the specifics of the meeting, the assumption is that the players -- led by alternate player representative Reed Johnson -- discussed everything from the new drug policy to the collective bargaining agreement, which expires in December.
Johnson confirmed that it was less of the latter and more of the drug issues swirling around baseball.
"We talked about the economic issues and the drug-prevention issues," said Johnson, who was filling in for Toronto player rep Vernon Wells. "As far as drug prevention goes, that was one of the main issues that we talked about. It was more of an informal meeting as far as letting us know what [the drug policy] contains, because a lot of guys out there don't know.
"For a lot of guys, it was new news," he added. "A lot of guys didn't really understand what was going on if they didn't go to the meetings or they didn't read their memos. A lot of guys just get those things and throw them away. It's just one of those things."
On Nov. 17, the owners approved a new drug policy that called for tougher penalties for the use of steroids and amphetamines. The punishment for steroids use will be 50 games for a first positive test, 100 games for a second and a lifetime ban for a third, with reinstatement possible after two years. Those penalties are up from last season, when it was 10 days for a first offense, 30 days for a second, 60 days for a third and a one-year suspension for a fourth.
A player who tests postive for amphetamines is subject to a mandatory follow-up test. If another positive test occurs, that player would face a suspension of 25 games for a first offense, 80 for a second and a lifetime ban after the third.
Johnson said that a lot of players have been afraid of using any kind of supplement since the new policy went into effect. So bringing up the issues with Fehr was a way to ease some of their fears.
"Guys are scared that if they go to GNC and take something that they think they're supposed to be able to take, they're afraid they'll test positive," Johnson said. "Last year, you saw a lot of guys taking creatine or whatever, and a lot of guys stopped that right away when they found out about the new drug policy. They were afraid that they were going to get a false positive [test result].
"They reassured us that those situations aren't going to come up -- that if you go to GNC, if you get products through EAS, which is one of those companies that is going to be able to supply us with supplements, that those companies are safe, and that we need to trust in those companies," Johnson added. "The problems like that aren't really go to arise."
Johnson said that there are laboratories that players can send supplements to in order to have them checked before they start using them. He also said that players are told to keep samples of the supplements they do use in case a false positive test result does occur.
The players also asked Fehr about the new, stricter guidelines regarding amphetamines.
"Guys still have issues about amphetamines, like, 'What can you take?' and 'What can't you take?' " Johnson said. "If you take a rip fuel that says 'ephedra-free,' is it guaranteed that there's not going to be any ephedra so I don't test positive? Obviously, there's no guarantee in anything."
Johnson also said that it's his responsibility, along with Wells, who is in Arizona with Team USA, to help educate the team about what is or isn't allowed. Johnson noted that Major League Baseball is also reaching out to Latin American countries to try to educate players coming from from that region as well.
Fehr wouldn't comment on discussing the drug policy with Toronto's players, but he did acknowledge that economic issues were brought up -- perhaps revenue sharing and the collective bargaining agreement.
"You have to look at it, in particular, with respect to all the teams and then make some judgements about how it's operating overall -- whether it's fair, whether it's appropriate, whether it has the right kinds of incentives in it," Fehr said about revenue sharing. "I'm sure that's something we'll talk about at bargaining.
"We never talk about our internal discussions with players," he added. "They have a right to have those [talks] confidential."
Source: http://toronto.bluejays.mlb.com/
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