Since major league Baseball began testing for amphetamines in 2006, it has been difficult to determine how much of a deterrent the policy was. Players who tested positive for the first time were neither identified nor punished, so there was no way of knowing if 20, 30 or 100 players had been caught in a particular year.
Only the identities of those who tested positive more than once were revealed. Only those players were suspended. That group has been small -- two players in the past three years -- which suggests that those caught once are not tempting fate and have stopped using amphetamines. But what about first-time positives? Is that annual number substantial? If so, that means players are using amphetamines until being caught.
Baseball is about to provide an answer. In early January, the organization's testing administrator will release the number of first-time positive amphetamine tests for 2008, along with other data about the testing program.
Previously, Baseball made public only the number of players who had tested positive for steroids. The decision to release more substantial data from the testing program stems, in part, from one of the 20 recommendations that George Mitchell made in the report he released last December on the use of performance-enhancing drugs in Baseball.
Up ante for Sabathia? If the Los Angeles Angels deliver a competitive offer to CC Sabathia, the New York Yankees must decide whether to raise their own bid for him. The Yankees are debating that issue internally, but the majority of their decision-makers support the idea of going higher for the coveted left-hander, a person familiar with the situation said.
The Yankees extended a six-year offer to Sabathia for about $140 million on Nov. 14, knowing full well that Sabathia, a California native and resident, prefers the West Coast and the National League.
Neither the Dodgers nor the Giants have expressed anything more than a cursory interest in Sabathia, but the Angels have now engaged Sabathia's representatives in serious discussions.
