There Will Be No Written Decision in Ryan Braun’s Steroid Case

Shyam Das has agreed not to release a written opinion on the case that has enraged fans, players, and Major League

Baseball.  It is also the case that has provided vindication for those skeptical of the steroid testing in baseball and the effects of steroid on players.  According to Sports Illustrated, Major League Baseball and the player’s union agreed there would be no written opinion on the overturned drug case for Ryan Braun.

Shyam Das, the arbitrator who made the deciding opinion to overturn Ryan Bruan’s PED suspension, has since been fired by the league and replaced.  The overturned suspension was based on a technicality, but Das applied the rules as they were written in awarding Braun the win of his appeal.  The ruling has lead to changes in the drug policy.

MLB and the union have agreed to alter the agreement so that such a technicality could not allow a player to escape punishment in a similar case.  As part of the new agreement, both sides agreed that Das would not release a written opinion on the appeal.

According to the SI report:

The new agreement replaces that language with “absent unusual circumstances, the specimens should be sent by FedEx to the laboratory on the same day they are collected.” It also says unusual circumstances may include “inclement weather,” “a personal emergency,” “traffic accident” or “completion of the collection at a time when the collector was unable to reach either of the two FedEx offices identified by CDT prior to their closing.”

Das was baseball’s arbitrator since 1999.  He has been replaced by Frederic Horowitz.

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