DURHAM -- Two veteran infielders for the Durham Bulls are pretty far apart on the topic of Major League Baseball's decision, announced Thursday, to begin testing minor league players for human growth hormone.
While they didn't agree on whether testing was a good thing, neither was surprised with the decision and both were critical of Major League Baseball, which isn't requiring major league players to be tested.
"I'm happy they did it," Chris Richard said. "It's about time. I want to know what the technology is because from what I understand, it was hard to test for HGH. If it's a good test, I'm really happy. ... I wish we had it back in the '90s."
Richard's teammate, Elliott Johnson, didn't want to be considered as pro-HGH.
But he's unhappy that minor league players were never asked, and he said minor league players are being used as leverage in the next collective bargaining agreement.
"When I test negative, I'll feel the same way," Johnson said. "They're doing this because they can, not because it's going to help clean up baseball. ... It upsets me because we have no union in the minor leagues. We have no representation. There's no voice for minor league players. ... It's basically, this is what you guys are going to do whether you like it or not."
Until recently, the test was criticized for being unreliable by baseball commissioner Bud Selig because nobody had tested positive in seven years of testing Olympic athletes, according to The New York Times. But a positive test of an English rugby player in February changed minds.
Johnson said he still isn't convinced of the accuracy.
Gary Wadler, chairman of a committee that sets the World Anti-Doping Agency's banned substances list, said the test is reliable.
"The testing works," Wadler said in a telephone interview. "It's effective. It's a sophisticated test. ... The science behind it has been studied for years. I think we have a high degree of confidence."
Minor league players are not covered by the major league collective bargaining agreement, although minor leaguers on the major league team's 40-man roster are, and that's where Richard gets critical.
"I think the owners and the commissioner really missed out on an opportunity to just go, 'Look, we're putting in the test. We're implementing it. We'll lock you guys out if you don't agree to some type of testing,' " Richard said.
"Drug testing, to me, is nothing that can go to collective bargaining if you want the ethics and the integrity of the game."
Many observers see the move as the first phase in ultimately testing major league players for HGH. Urine testing for steroids in the major leagues began in 2003, two years after Major League Baseball began testing minor league players.
"We'll be the testing ground for this, and they'll get all the bugs out, and eventually it'll be in the big leagues," Richard said.
Richard and Johnson both doubted that HGH use is widespread among minor league players.
"If it's one guy per team, then maybe that's too many," Johnson said. "If it's less than that, I don't know that it's worth mandating a blood-driven test."
Richard is hopeful that the testing for both steroids and HGH will eventually clean up the game.
"I would think that everybody wants an even playing field, no matter what," he said.
"There's a lot of, 'If that guy's doing it, then I'm going to do it, just so I can survive.' "
