Doping Experts Say Suggested Solutions Still May Fall Short

Mitchell, who authored the report along with attorneys at DLA Piper, his law firm, proposed that baseball put its testing program in the hands of an independent administrator but stopped short of recommending turning operations over to the highly regarded U.S. Anti-Doping Agency, one of the many national anti-doping organizations under WADA's umbrella. That option has long pushed for by lawmakers, the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy and many anti-doping experts.

Mitchell added that it was up to baseball's owners and players to decide the framework of the new testing system and even whether to address the matter before the current collective bargaining agreement expires in 2011. He also said Selig should create a "Department of Investigation" led by a senior baseball executive, who would report directly to baseball's president with the task of aggressively responding to allegations of illegal drug use or possession by players.

Several anti-doping experts said baseball's testing program would struggle for credibility unless it were handed off to a completely independent entity. "At the end of the day, they really need to get out of the anti-doping business," said Gary Wadler, chairman of WADA's prohibited list and methods subcommittee. "They don't have to invent [a new system]. They just have to adopt" the program accepted by Olympic sports and other international federations.

Any investigative arm, several experts said, should have the same independence. Pound questioned whether the department of investigation Mitchell prescribed could be either credible or effective.

"Baseball's going to set up a special 'baseball FBI' with no power to investigate, no power to seize evidence, no power to compel witnesses to come forward?" Pound said. "That's going to be kind of a farce."

The report stated that the various recommendations -- which ranged from instituting a stronger drug education program to logging packages sent to players at state ballparks -- were designed to work in tandem to create a state-of-the art program. The report maintained that "there are a number of methods by which true independence may be achieved."

Mitchell also recommended that Selig -- who hired him and his firm to produce the report in March 2006 -- forgo punishing the dozens of players implicated in the report unless their violations clearly demanded action. Pound decried Mitchell's recommendation as "outrageous and inappropriate."

Baseball is "at very much a fork in the road," Wadler said. "They have a chance to do the right thing, to take the right fork or incrementally respond to this crisis and tweak the program."