MLB fires arbitrator from Ryan Braun case

Apparently not everyone was satisfied with the decision handed down by MLB arbitrator Shyam Das in the Ryan Braun case.  Major League Baseball management has fired Shyam Das. Das overturned the Braun suspension in February. Das was informed by major league baseball last week of their decision. Das had served since 1999 as baseball’s permanent arbitrator. The current baseball CBA (collective bargaining agreement)  allows for arbitrators to be removed by the players Association or management at any time with written notice

“Shyam is the longest-tenured panel chair in our bargaining relationship,” union head Michael Weiner said. “For 13 years, from the beginning to the end of his tenure, he served the parties with professionalism and distinction.”

“I had the distinct privilege to serve as chair of the MLB-MLBPA arbitration panel for almost 13 years,” Das wrote in an email to The Associated Press. “I have the greatest respect for the representatives of both parties I worked with during that period, and I wish the parties well in their ongoing relationship.”

Until the Braun decision, no cases involving suspensions of players testing positive for performance-enhancing drugs had been overturned. Das ruled in February that the collection of the Braun sample was not completed in accordance with baseball’s agreement with the players Association.

Braun’s attorneys never argued about the content of the sample only the procedure in which it was collected and tested.   The Braun case served as a precedent as the 100-game suspension of Colorado Rockies catcher Eliezer Alfonzo for a second positive test, announced last Sept. 14, was rescinded in an agreement between management and the union on Monday.

“Alfonzo’s grievance challenging his suspension raised issues that were nearly identical to those resolved in the arbitration involving Ryan Braun,” MLB said in a statement. “It is not anticipated that any other future cases will be impacted by the circumstances raised in the grievances of these two players.”

You can expect new procedures for collections to be negotiated between the players Association and Major League Baseball. A new arbitrator has yet to be named, although that person will have a case waiting as San Francisco reliever Guillermo Mota was suspended for violating baseball’s drug policy for the second time and was issued a 100 game suspension and has filed a grievance.