I’ve avoided many of the articles about steroids and the Mitchell Report. Mostly for reasons I got into toward the end of Phase 1. But of the few articles I’ve read this is the best: “Mitchell is the Wizard of Oz and His Report is Little More Than Kabuki Theater Because Because Because….” written by Gary Garland who’s maintained the japanbaseballdaily.com site for a number of years.

Ostensibly it’s about steroids in Japan, but eventually it (thankfully) digresses into more of a rant about the Mitchell Report and everyone’s role in what he believes is one big stylized drama. If you’re going to read an article on this subject, read this one. Just make sure to put on your seatbelt.

Before I start in I want to mention the piece has several typos. I say this, not to call out Garland (because I can be guilty of it too), but to be upfront about it in hopes it won’t detract from the text itself as you read.

Garland starts by going through the list of current and ex-NPB players being accused of using steroids and/or human growth hormone. It’s not clear in the article if all these guys are in the Mitchell Report. I assume they are.

As you’ll see from the article the NPB is and has been rife with players doing steroids, most of whom are from the U.S. Some of the players mentioned: Adam Riggs and Jeff Williams, spakin’ new signees Larry Bigbie and Termel Sledge, former players Chris Donnels, Phil Hiatt, Mark Carreon, Matt Franco, and perhaps the most famous MLBer formerly of Japan — Cleveland Indians setup extraordinaire Rafael Betancourt.

And of course Alex Cabrera…

But the biggest name in all this is Alex Cabrera, who says that he never used steroids at all, ever even with the evidence of being sent a big heapin’ helpin’ of the stuff while a member of the Arizona Dimaondbacks. Cabrera has also tested negative in Japan, but Seibu officials have said that since testing has been implemented, Cabrera seems to be losing bulk and muscle definition. The Lions initially believed that Cabrera was clean during his years in Tokorozawa, but now merely say, “we don’t know.” None of the accusations against the big Venezuelan has deterred Orix form pursuing him.

Another interesting case Garland mentions is that of Yusaku Iriki, who tested positive last spring as a member of the New York Mets. According to Garland:

Yokohama recently picked up former Mets and Toronto farmhand Yusaku Iriki, who tested positive a couple of years ago. Iriki asserts that the dirty result was due to his not paying attention to what was in a supplement he was taking. However, no news has since been disclosed that would back up Iriki’s claim. So one can conclude that they believe Iriki because, well, he’s Japanese.

Despite this, Garland argues, there’s nothing to be done. The Mitchell Report is a piece of garbage (or as he calls it “Kabuki Theater”), rendering it useless in Japan, in a league that clearly has a lot of players who have either used, are using, and continue to be signed despite the fact they used (or are using). If it’s useless in Japan, he argues, then what the heck is it to Major League Baseball in the country the investigation was carried out in? Garland explains:

Mitchell, in calling for no players named in his exegesis to be held accountable makes him kind of a Wizard of Oz like-figure. Nothing to see here, all smoke and mirrors meant to make MLB appear to be getting serious about performance enhancing drugs when, in fact, its milquetoast handling of the amphetamine issue puts the lie to that. Mitchell also rather disgustingly used his experience helping to negotiate the end of the nearly four decades long most recent series of so-called “troubles” in Northern Ireland in calling for going easy on players caught up on this in the name of the amorphous “moving forward.” Someone needs to clue Mitchell in that a fate of a nation isn’t at stake here, but rather the credibility of a sport that makes him and his fatcat buddies big bucks.

A great point, and there’s more.

Selig also referred to Mitchell as “the greatest diplomat of our time.” Nobody in the media noticed that statement missed the point. The idea was to produce a thorough investigation, not a diplomatic exercise geared to reconciling two warring factions. That the Mitchell team had no subpoena power and that the revelations contained in the report were mostly due to the aid of federal investigators underscores just how unsatisfactory and pallid the final product was.

Then Garland moves onto what he believes amounts to a complicit media. He questions the $60MM given to Mitchell by MLB, and laments the fact that Don Hooton, whose son tragically killed himself as a result of steroid use, has been dragged onto the stage.

In the article Garland throws out a couple names that he (evidentally) thinks ought to be on the report. One being Mike Piazza, and the other, a name you certainly haven’t heard mentioned, despite the fact that two of his teammates are the most famous cases in the Mitchell Report, Jorge Posada, who at age 36 had a career year “when most catchers have either moved to first base, DH or to the civilian sector.”

He concludes with the hope that swift moves to “call MLB on the carpet” will make for an “intense grilling.”

It is time for Congress to put U.S. pro sports drug testing under the purview of WADA and push for offseason screening as well. MLB says that the new regime, which Congress forced them to devise, is working. But what is actually happening is that players are now moving to HGH and maybe even designer steroids to avoid detection. MLB’s insistence that there is nothing more to see here doesn’t wash.

Like I said, this is both the most vociferous and compelling case about the Mitchell Report I’ve heard. Well worth the full read.