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Everybody has their opinion on how the make the Major Leagues a “better place” by implementing stricter rules or by adding blood tests. David Ortiz of the Boston Red is no different. During a recent interview, Ortiz claims that he wants Major League Baseball athletes who yield positive tests to have more severe punishments than just a 50-game penalty during the first offense. Ortiz said that guilty players should be suspended for an entire year. Everyone in the league should be tested and not just pick athletes at random.

From Daily News:

Ortiz, who emerged as one of the premier sluggers in the game in 2003 with Boston after spending six largely forgettable years in Minnesota, believes all players on all teams should be tested three or four times a year, and any players testing positive should be banned for the rest of that season.

“If I test positive by using any kind of banned substance, I’m going to disrespect my family, the game, the fans and everybody,” Ortiz said. “And I don’t want to be put in that situation. So what I will do, I won’t use it. I’m pretty sure everybody is on the same page.”

Ortiz is a good friend of Alex Rodriguez, the top-earning baseball player who had admitted to steroid use. While Ortiz commends A-rod coming clean, he is quite fed up with baseball being bombarded with news of steroid use of different players. Nevertheless, Ortiz says that A-rod is going through some tough times and that he is still young. Ortiz attests that the baseball superstar has been working hard and has really been performing well even six years after having used steroids. According to Ortiz, he did judge Rodriguez but it’s time to put the past in the past and move on. Rodriguez is still one of the best players in the game and he has been clean and still as effective ever since 2003.

Category: Anabolic Steroids | Tags: 50-game suspension, Alex Rodriguez, David Ortiz, drug testing, first offense punishment, Major League Baseball, performance enhancing drugs, steroids