Cincinnati Reds starting pitcher Edinson Volquez was suspended for 50 games yesterday by Major League Baseball for violating the substance abuse policy. His excuse: he was taking fertility pills to increase he and his wife's chances of having children. Sound familiar? Manny Ramirez was suspended for roughly the same thing last year. As a baseball fan and scientist, I have three issues with these athletes and their excuses. First, if Volquez, or Ramirez were using these drugs to increase fertility, they could have requested an exemption through MLB to use the drug. Last year, MLB granted 108 such exemptions. Many times fertility drugs are cycled along with steroids in an attempt to make the body produce more testosterone. So, if these drugs were really being taken for fertility reasons, why not get an exemption. Second, there is no scientific evidence that performance enhancing drugs make you a better pitcher or better hitter. However, there is research about the many negative side effects of these drugs. Why take a drug where there is no scientific evidence that it will enhance performance, but there is evidence of the negative side effects? Third, and this is more of a baseball issue, Volquez is currently on the disabled list recovering from Tommy John surgery, and isn't projected to be back in the majors until July/August. However, MLB is allowing him to serve his 50 game suspension while on the disabled list. This does not seem very fair, allowing a player to serve a suspension when the cannot play due to injury? Hopefully this issue will be addressed in the future.
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