Jae C. Hong/AP
Milwaukee Brewers' Ryan Braun states, the case after the National League batting champ sees his 50-game steroids suspension is overtuned by arbitrator Shyam Das.
Major League Baseball terminated arbitrator Shyam Das on Monday, almost three months after he outraged league officials by overturning Milwaukee Brewers star Ryan Braun’s 50-game steroid suspension.
Braun became the first player to have a suspension overturned when he convinced Das that an employee from a company that collects urine for MLB’s drug-testing program had mishandled his sample in October. The collector stored the sample at his home for two days before shipping it to a lab for testing.
MLB executives were furious at the decision, and they were probably just as angry after Das overturned Colorado backup catcher Eliezer Alfonzo’s 100-game steroid suspension last week. Like Braun, Alfonzo based an appeal on storage and shipment issues.
Major League Baseball and the Players Association can fire the arbitrator â€" the third member of a panel that also consists of union chief Michael Weiner and MLB vice president Rob Manfred â€" at any time with written notice.
Das, a graduate of Harvard and Yale Law School, had been MLB’s arbitrator since 2004. He is also an arbitrator for the NFL and is expected to hear a grievance in the New Orleans Saints bounty case later this week. A NFL spokesman said MLB’s decision to fire Das has not affected his role with the football league.
MLB’s steroid policy calls for players to be suspended for 50 games for the first failed test and 100 games for the second. Alfonzo was suspended for 50 games in 2008, when he was on San Francisco’s roster.
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