Robinson Cano A Cautionary Tale All of Baseball Must Pay Attention To
By Kit Anderson
Robinson Cano has been suspended by Major League Baseball for 80-games. Cano tested positive for a banned substance. His suspension should be a wake-up call for all baseball players.
Luckily the city of Atlanta and Braves teams have had very few cases like the one Robinson Cano is dealing with. The Braves have a history of clean players who age normally and avoid cheating. Cano is an example of the opposite.
Perhaps the most telling thing about Cano’s suspension are the words of his former teammate. Mark Teixeira is a former Brave and had this to say on Cano via ESPN.
“Yeah, I don’t really want to get into too much detail. I love Robbie. I’m just not surprised, don’t really want to go too much further, but I think a lot of people are kind of saying the same thing. Let’s just use this situation here. Robbie Cano’s assistant was on the list for Biogenesis. Now, of course, [Cano] had an assistant, you know, buy stuff for him. Alex Rodriguez got popped by Biogenesis, and Melky [Cabrera] got popped. They were best friends. When someone gets lumped into that group, it’s because there’s evidence. There’s a paper trail. There’s a smoke trail.”
This is a very telling statement from one of the good guys in baseball. Cano’s poor decision points to the fact baseball’s penalties are not strict enough on those who cheat.
If cheating were met with stricter penalties right away how many players would chance it? As the rules stand they can get away with it long enough to earn a paycheck. Do you really think Cano just now has begun to cheat?
It is time for baseball to take notice and enforce penalties that will scare players away from taking a chance.
Robinson Cano is just the latest in a long line of players who are continuing to cheat to attempt to get ahead. For Cano, he simply will spend a bit of time suspended most of which he was already losing to injury.
Another factor is how many games did Cano influence based on cheating? Those wins are in the books and hypothetically changed the course of some seasons.
Will baseball finally take notice and do something to prevent players like Cano from cheating?