Should the Detroit Tigers have been punished for the conduct of Jhonny Peralta? Should the team have taken responsibility?

Jhonny Peralta was punished then rewarded.  But his team, the Detroit Tigers, was never punished.

Wednesday, November 27, 2013  Jhonny Peralta: will vigilante players punish him?

Jhonny Peralta ... served a 50 game suspension during the 2013 season and lost $1.6 of his $6 million salary.  Peralta has just signed a free agent deal with the St. Louis Cardinals for fours years $53 million ...

It looks like Peralta made a good business decision. 
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Sunday, August 19, 2012  Melky Cabrera: should his stats be purged and his team's wins vacated?

Melky Cabrera was suspended 50 games by the Major Baseball League (MBL) ...

What about the record of Melky's team?  Without Melky the Giants would probably have won fewer games.  Shouldn't the Giants wins with Melky playing be vacated the way the NCAA does with rules violations in football?  And shouldn't the Giants be banned from the MBL tournament for a couple of seasons?
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Melky Cabrera was rewarded with a two year $16 million contract from the Toronto Blue Jays.

Wednesday, June 10, 2009  Black Sox: some thoughts.

Why don't we apply the commissioner Landis standard, which seems to be that of the U.S. military academy honor code:

"A cadet will not lie, cheat, steal, or tolerate those who do."
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Thursday, January 10, 2013  Honor Code: a player will not lie, cheat, steal, or tolerate those who do.

Fans should call for an honor code for Major Baseball League (MBL) players ...

Golfers call penalties on themselves.

Tennis players in juniors call the lines.

Instead of faking being hit by a pitch, +Derek Jeter would decline first base if the umpire mistakenly ruled HBP.  How refreshing would that be?
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It's clear that the contract that Peralta signed with the St. Louis Cardinals struck a nerve: cheating pays.  Arizona relief pitcher Brad Ziegler was among those players complaining and asking for stiffer penalties for players.  However, no one is asking for any penalties for others who also benefit: teammates and team management and ownership.  When those others share the punishment then the situation will change, but not before.

I've been recommending an honor code for some time.  About a year ago I was on the war path about this regarding the hypocrisy of Hall of Fame voting.

Now let's consider this in terms of the 2013 season and the obvious lack of interest in this by current commissioner Allen Huber "Bud" Selig.  Selig has not called for an honor code.  I do not know if there is even a corporate code of conduct.

The 2013 team that is analogous to the 2012 Giants is the Detroit Tigers who had the only significant player to serve a suspension and make the tournament.  Tiger Jhonny Peralta served a 50 game suspension for using performance enhancing drugs (PED), which may include steroids.  If that is to be taken literally, the performance of Peralta was enhanced and the Tigers benefited.  That includes individuals like staring pitcher Max Scherzer who won the Cy Young award as best pitcher.  Scherzer won 21 and lost 3.  How many of those wins were due to the enhanced performance of Peralta?

1. Why don't the players suggest that there be an honor code that would also apply to management and ownership?
2. During the period before that occurs, why don't people who want to change the corporate culture of baseball implement such a code for themselves.

Friday, January 11, 2013  Honor code: "not ... tolerate those who do (lie, cheat, steal)".

For those concerned about "clean" players, consider that they benefited from the improved performance of teammates who used steroids, etc.  Why shouldn't players turn in teammates who violated the honor code?  That's how an honor code works.

Most organizations have a code of conduct.  If a member steals, that person would be fired.  If another knew about the stealing and did not report it, that person would also be fired...

teammates of cheaters did benefit, at least those who played different positions and did not directly lose playing time.  Should the cheaters return playoff money earned?  If so, what about their teammates?

And cheating is more than using steroids.  Cheating includes:
- faking being hit by a pitch
- faking catching a fly ball
- faking tagging a runner
- pitcher intentionally hitting a batter with a pitch
- messing with the bat or ball.

With an honor code teammates must report all violations.  Otherwise, what's all the fuss?
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Mike Ilitch owns the Tigers.  In the absence of leadership by Commissioner Selig, after Peralta was suspended should Ilitch have asked that the league disqualify the Detroit Tigers from the 2013 tournament?  What a powerful message that would have been. An owner taking responsibility and imposing punishment on his own team, including himself.

With the type of honor code that I am recommending, players would be honor bound to report teammates who are engaging in any form of cheating.  So would the following: coaches, managers, general managers, team presidents and owners.

Monday, April 1, 2013  Melky and Buster, an odd couple. And is that TV money guaranteed?

Lest we forget that in 2012 Melky Cabrera had the highest batting average (BA) in the Major Baseball League (MBL).  This despite being suspended for the remainder of the season for violating MBL drug rules ...

Melky's agent last season, to mitigate Melky's suspension on his free agent status, had Melky issue a statement asking not be considered for the honor of leadership in BA.  It's not an honor, it's a stat.  What, you forgot how moronic it was? ...

MBL commissioner Bud Selig was urged by me to vacate Giant wins in games won with Melky playing.  He did not.  I also urged that at the very least the All-Star win be vacated.  It was not.

Instead Melky was banished, to take the brunt of the punishment for his transgression while his team and conference benefited from his rule breaking.

Buster Posey, through no fault of his own, benefited individually from his Giant teammate depriving himself of recognition as conference and MBL leader in BA.  Posey was voted conference MVP.  Leading in BA could only have enhanced Posey's credentials.
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Obviously, teammates and teams can benefit from a player violating the PED rules.  In fact there is no down side for the team.  The team benefits while the player's performance is enhanced.  The team suffers during a suspension but only if the player is caught and let's remember that while Cabrera was caught by a failed drug test in 2012 neither Peralta nor any of the other suspended players in 2013 failed a drug test, including Ryan Braun and Alex Rodriguez.  They were implicated because of a dispute between two sleazy men involved in that Florida clinic.

If the suspension of Alex Rodriguez is upheld or if Peralta fails a future drug test they are not paid during their suspension and that money does not count against the salary cap for purposes of computing the luxury tax penalty.  That greatly benefits the team.

As a practical matter teams should want their players to enhance performance any way possible, including use of PED.  The only reason to oppose that would be on moral grounds and so far no one has given any indication that they are willing to behave in any manner that is not expedient.  They support the PED policy and condemn offenders but do little or nothing to take responsibility themselves.  Has anyone resigned in disgrace saying that he should have known or done a better job of oversight?  Not even close.