With Tejada, what I want to know, Mr, McLane, quite bluntly, is can this trade be annulled? Given the fact we now know within reasonable doubt that our new shortstop is a cheat and a criminal, can't we send him back whence he came?

If it helps any, the Mitchell Report doesn't indicate that Clemens and Pettitte were using PEDs while they pitched with the Astros.  For most of their tenure with the Astros, steroids testing was in place (though that doesn't detect HGH). Perhaps that preserves a bit of honor for the Astros 2005 World Series run.

I agree with much of what Stros Bro wrote.  In fact, I found myself thinking yesterday that perhaps Wade wanted to hurry up and get the trade done, because of the liklihood that any disclosure of Tejada's PED use would make it difficult, if not impossible, to consummate the deal in the face of strong public condemnation.

I agree with Mitchell's view that MLB should not suspend or penalize players for past steroid use, unless the acts are so egregious that they threaten the game.  Selig should discard his "get tough" mask and announce that he will take Mitchell's advice and move forward, rather than getting involved in protracted litigation with the players' association in an effort to impose suspensions.  The Report had its intended impact of showing the pervasiveness of the problem and the complicity of all parties.  Now baseball needs to set a strict system in place going forward and commit itself to implementing the report's recommendations.

My advice to the players is that they should "come clean," tell the truth, and apologize to their fans.  That can happen more readily if Selig doesn't threaten to suspend everyone who apologizes.

The only way to move on is to aggressively identify what went wrong and why, and outliune a plan to do exactly the opposite in the future.

But why do that when platitudes appear to work?

As an example from the Report...the Indians' team physician wrote a memo to the team owner after attending a MLB conference in 1999.  The MLB's medical director had made a slide presentation which emphasized the research showing that steroids were very effective in improving baseball skills and downplayed any harmful effects.  The physician was aghast, because he thought the presentation encouraged GMs to welcome steroids in order to improve their team.

If anything the report makes me less angry with Barry Bonds, because I realize that he shouldn't be singled out.  I am now convinced of something I had previously just feared to be true: that baseball was awash in steroids and PEDs were likely used by a large number if not most MLB players.  The 80-some names surely are the tip of the iceberg.  Tejeda and Clemens just got caught up with the two dealers who happened to be caught by the feds.  Is it believable that these are the only two sources of steroids in baseball?  No.  The fact that many, many more players were doing exactly what they were doing at the time is one reason I think imposing penalties for actions before 2005 (when HGH was banned and steroids testing was in full force) isn't worthwhile.  I also think that legal battles between players and MLB are both costly and counterproductive to the task at hand, which is putting as transparent a testing and enforcement scheme in place as possible.

Because the Report is a small sampling of the problem, I don't agree that it demonstrates that the Astros' players were any better or worse than other teams.  (Now, Wade's decision making on the Tejada trade is more problematic, and something I have difficulty understanding.) Given the fact that steroids use was so pervasive, I'm not as willing to throw Clemens, Pettitte, and Tejada under the bus, and I'm not even sure it reveals something bad about their character.  However, if the named players continue to lie and make up stories, then it will not reflect well on their character. If the player's association continues to resist needed changes (like testing for HGH, once a test becomes viable), that will bother me also.

A passage from that article:
"That story was about the so-called "buscones" -- unlicensed street agents who gather up all the young ballplayers they can find on the streets of the Dominican and "groom" them to become professionals as young as age 16. How are these prospects groomed? Well, for one thing, major league teams scouring for talent at that age will want to see young players who physically show them something.

How does a great young player gain physical maturity by age 16 or 17? Well, some are truly gifted, freaks of nature. Others get help from a needle. Even the truly gifted ones get a needle boost at times. Injections are nothing to young Dominican boys, who start taking vitamin B-12 shots given by their teams and "buscones" at ages as young as 11 or 12. Mix some performance enhancing drugs into those shots and well, the vitamin "boost" becomes bigger.

How did Rafael Palmeiro say he wound up with the anabolic steroid stanozolol in his system? Why, from a B-12 shot given him by then-Baltimore teammate Miguel Tejada, subject of today's big swap with the Astros. Yeah, still taking B-12 shots in the majors. Some habits die hard.

That's kind of my point. You can pass all the rules you like, provide education to players about the harm such drugs can do to their system, but the bottom line is: old habits are hard to break. When you've been groomed on steroids or farm animal supplements from even before you're a teenager, it's going to be psychologically difficult to break your dependence -- even if it's only a mental one -- on such performance enhancers. Ballplayers are a very superstitious, highly-regimented bunch. The Dominican ballplayer who escaped a horrible life of poverty by hitting a baseball further than anyone else is going to be reluctant to stop taking enhancers if that's something he's been doing all of his life."

This article at ESPN about the use of B-12 shots by Latin American players is also related to the Tejada situation.
http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=2763270

Every one of the players named in the report should be summarily fired.  Outright, and on principle.  

The CBA should be revoked and not signed again until the player's union agrees to severe penalties for the accused players.  For instance, steep fines (millions), salary caps, automatic years off (at least two, if not five), forever banished from possibly appearing in hall of fame... That's just a start.

If it provokes another strike, I would do it, as an owner.  I'd pick up the scabs from the Round Rock Express and Corpus Hooks and use them for the next five years before agreeing to a CBA that doesn't punish the implicated players with as big a stick as is accessible.

THEN, in about ten years, after players and owners have been in the doghouse, perhaps a message will have been sent that this crap will not be tolerated.

I can't think of anything else which would cause a player to think twice, no three times, no four times, no five times, when confronted with the temptation to use a performance enhancing substance more powerful than Gatorade.

Looking back, it is clear that Tejada used steroids, it is likely that he quit, or so his performance stats would indicate.  It is likely that several other Astros were on the stuff but their names haven't yet surfaced. Perhaps we will all be much better off if they don't, as our perceptions of at least one of our all time favorites might be forever altered. For sure, there was much opportunity to use when Camminiti was on the team. Looking back is only useful for the purpose of learning how to control future usage.  And I would remind each of you that there is still no viable way to detect or control HGH, usage of which may yet continue to be a problem.

Looking ahead, there must be spirited and sincere cooperation between the players and management if this problem is to be controlled.  That should be the number one priority, as history shows that such cooperation on any issue has never existed in the past for any significant period.  The real value of all of the reports and investigations will be measured by how effectively the problem can be managed, if not completely solved.

Other than that we have little choice but to get over it and hope the game moves ahead.