In The Clear

I think I have a pretty lovely solution to the debacle swirling around the list of one hundred-plus names of players who failed the random testing for performance enhancing drugs in 2003. Two names have been released, Barry Bonds and Alex Rodriguez. I understand the argument that this is not fair to the two. However, one could easily turn around and question why it is necessary to handle these two fairly when they didn't seem much concerned about fairness before they were caught breaking the rules.

More than anything, though, I want baseball to save face, and I think I actually even have a solution.

Why not leak the names of people who passed in 2003? Players who are, you know, actually clean? I'm sure that somewhere in the list of people who passed are at least a few big names. We only ever hear about people who tested positive for steroids. Isn't it time we heard about someone testing negative? How about lots of people testing negative?

By doing this, Major League Baseball does not necessarily have to turn around and name the other hundred-plus who failed. They also do not do so by default because not everyone was tested, so if a player is not named as "clean," it may simply mean that he wasn't tested in the 2003 random testing. I see no reason, however, why they not clear some people's names and clear the organization's image in the process?