Orza prepared to flex muscle

FORT MYERS, Fla. -- Labor union lawyer Gene Orza yesterday dismissed criticism of baseball's testing program for steroids and in strong terms rejected the possibility that any changes would be made in the program, which is part of baseball's collective bargaining agreement.

"We have an agreement with the clubs," Orza said in a telephone interview yesterday. "There is a basic agreement provision in place. It will be the provision we operate under. There will be no other provision. This is the provision through December 2006. Nothing is going to happen. We're not going to change it."

Orza also downplayed reports that Major League Baseball might invoke a "reasonable cause for testing" provision in the CBA that would allow additional testing of players suspected of steroid use within the last 12 months.

"If the clubs want to invoke that provision and refer a player they believe has used a Schedule 3 steroid in violation of the program, they know how to do that," Orza said. "They can give us the evidence of their beliefs. But if it's newspaper reports, it ain't going to go anywhere.

"The fact you don't know the truth or somebody else is wondering about it is completely irrelevant in our system of government. If Gary Sheffield and Barry Bonds took tests tomorrow morning, how many reporters would say, `Oh, sure, they passed those tests, but those tests don't tell us anything about [previous years].' It's a no-win situation for everybody."

Orza was in Newport Beach, Calif., yesterday, attending the World Sports Congress. He said he could not comment on the attempt by the US attorney's office in San Francisco to subpoena the results of steroid testing that Major League Baseball players underwent last season, as part of its investigation of the Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative (BALCO), a California nutritional supplement laboratory.

"There may be developments in the next couple of days," he said.

Lawyers for the union and for Major League Baseball are in discussions with the government seeking to retain the confidentiality of the tests, and may go to court to have the subpoena quashed.

Earlier this week, the San Francisco Chronicle, citing federal investigators, reported that Giants slugger Bonds, New York Yankees stars Jason Giambi and Sheffield, and three other major league players -- Benito Santiago, Randy Velarde (who retired after the 2002 season), and Marvin Benard -- received steroids from BALCO. Bonds's personal trainer, Greg Anderson, was among four men indicted on steroid conspiracy charges.

The men are charged with conspiring to distribute performance-enhancing drugs, including human growth hormone, and a new synthetic steroid called THG. Federal investigators, according to the Chronicle, say Anderson admitted supplying steroids and human growth hormone to Bonds, who in 2001 set a major league record with 73 home runs.

All four men have pleaded not guilty. Bonds, Sheffield, and Giambi have all publicly denied using steroids. If they are later proven to have lied to the grand jury, they could face perjury or obstruction of justice charges.

The mushrooming scandal has overshadowed spring training camps in Florida and Arizona. Colorado Rockies pitcher Turk Wendell accused Bonds of using steroids, while Bonds's former teammate, Andy Van Slyke, said in a radio interview that Bonds, "without equivocation," used the illegal substances.

Orza complained about "the amazing, truly amazing commentary out there showing such little regard for the presumption of innocence. As I understand what happened at BALCO, the government has a massive investigation under way. It doesn't charge any baseball players, but the baseball players are associated with those charged, so therefore, fans want these guys tested. That's crazy, absolutely crazy."

Several players, including Houston second baseman Jeff Kent, Texas pitcher Kenny Rogers, and Atlanta pitcher John Smoltz, have been critical of the testing program, while commissioner Bud Selig has called for "zero tolerance." Congressman John Sweeney, a New York Republican, recently introduced legislation to bar Androstenedione, the steroid precursor used by former Cardinals slugger Mark McGwire when he became the first player to hit 70 home runs in 1998. Sweeney blamed the union for baseball not having a stricter testing program, calling the union "an obstacle ignoring its own membership."

Orza said he "couldn't care less" about the criticism. "If John Sweeney believes that he's better attuned to our membership, I'll make him a deal, OK? We'll put it to a secret ballot after a 30-day campaign that he can run and I can run, whether they want to remove me or don't want to remove me. If they say yes, I'll step down and he keeps his seat. But if they say no, he loses his seat and I'll keep mine. Anytime he wants to make that bet, I'll make that bet with him."

The reasonable-cause provision allows officials to seek immediate testing at any time if there is evidence a player has used steroids in the previous year. Any reasonable-cause testing would require the approval of baseball's Health Policy Advisory Committee, comprising two union representatives, two MLB officials, and a fifth member, who is appointed in case of a split vote. Orza said the provision has been invoked in numerous instances, never for steroids.

"It is not an obscure provision," he said. "It has always been a provision that allows a club to make an evidentiary showing to the Health Policy Advisory Council [HPAC] of why it believes a player is using a prohibited substance. They can always make that showing. That does not mean that it is going to result in testing. That will be determined by the HPAC. But any club can always refer a player. A club can refer a player to the HPAC for the use of heroin, the use of marijuana, spousal abuse, manic depression, whatever they want to refer them to.

"The fact of the matter is, the drug testing proposal in baseball was negotiated over the course of many, many months . . . Now, because there is heat in the public relations arena -- several players, a couple of coaches have said a few things -- the media want to say, `Gee, maybe there is time for the union to do more than it already has done.' "

That, Orza said emphatically, isn't going to happen.