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 Commissioner Selig and MLBPA Executive Director Donald Fehr have agreed to meet to discuss the recommendations within the Mitchell Report, which would further strengthen MLB’s drug policy.
(See Mitchell’s 20 recommendations) A date has not been set. As reported in USA Today: We had communication," Fehr said Tuesday, "and I'll be talking to Bud over the holidays about getting together soon. We'll probably meet after the first of the year." Selig sent a letter to Fehr last Friday to discuss recommendations by former Sen. George Mitchell in his report on performance-enhancing drugs, MLB spokesman Rich Levin said. Fehr confirmed he responded to Selig on Monday and accepted his formal invitation to examine flaws exposed by Mitchell.
Any change to the drug policy would require reopening the current collective bargaining agreement, which runs through 2011 (See the current CBA). If that were to happen, it would mark the second time that the sides have agreed to do so (the last time was with the prior CBA, and was reopened in 2005). As reported by The AP: "[The MLBPA] wrote back, and they were amenable to discuss the recommendations," said Rob Manfred, baseball's executive vice president for labor relations. […] "We have an agreement that we're going to discuss the recommendations. Nobody talked about agreeing, reopening," [Fehr] said.
Some of the Mitchell recommendations can be implemented unilaterally by Selig outside of collective bargaining. As further reported by The AP: Mitchell suggested the commissioner's office institute a department of investigations, that packages sent to players at ballparks be "logged and tracked" and that teams be required to report allegations of substance use or possession against players to the department of investigations. "The things I can do unilaterally I have done and will continue to do those," Selig said Tuesday during an appearance in Cleveland. "I think the recommendations that the senator made are very reasonable." (See our special section devoted to the Mitchell Report)
Maury Brown is the founder and president of the Business of Sports Network, which includes The Biz of Baseball, The Biz of Football and The Biz of Basketball (The Biz of Hockey will be launching shortly). He is also an author for Baseball Prospectus, Basketball Prospectus and is an available writer for other media outlets. Brown's full bio is here. He looks forward to your comments via email and can be contacted through the Business of Sports Network.
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