Major League Baseball

Conte: Half of MLB using PEDs

Published Aug. 16, 2012 1:00 a.m. ET

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Melky Cabrera did a big no-no, and now he's paying for it. But if you ask BALCO founder Victor Conte, Cabrera is one of many players pushing the limits of Major League Baseball's drug policy.

Conte spoke to USA Today following Cabrera's 50-game suspension for testing positive for testosterone, and, pressed to make an educated guess on just how many players still are taking illegal PEDs and circumventing the system, gave an alarming answer.

"I would say maybe as much as half of baseball," he said.

Now, this is a guy who served time in prison in 2005 after pleading guilty to conspiracy to distribute steroids and money laundering. He doesn't exactly have the best reputation, but he was a prominent figure of the steroid era, and he claims to still have connections within baseball.

"I'm not going to name names," Conte said, "but I've talked to a lot of top players in Major League Baseball, and they tell me this is what they're doing. There is rampant use of synthetic testosterone in Major League Baseball."

As you might expect, high-end officials of the MLB aren't too pleased with Conte smearing the game, especially in the wake of Wednesday's news. In fact, MLB vice president Rob Manfred isn't buying Conte's claims.

"There is no way that Victor Conte would have information that would allow him to have any basis on that," Manfred reportedly said. "He's just making that up. It's a guess.

"We use the very best, most sophisticated methodologies that are available.''

Cabrera is the fourth big leaguer suspended for drug use this season, so the testing is working to some extent. But if you believe Conte's assertions, it's not working as well as it should. Then again, Conte thinks it's so easy to get around the testing that he wonders whether MLB actually has a genuine interest in stopping PED offenders.

"To circumvent the test is like taking candy from a baby," Conte said. "It's so easy to circumvent. I call it the 'duck-and-dodge' system. The only people that get caught are the dumb, and the dumber."

So how do major leaguers apparently get around the league's drug testing?

"What these guys are doing is using fast-acting testosterone, creams, gels, patches and micro-dose injections," Conte said. "They put this stuff on after a game, let it circulate in their blood stream, and eight hours later, it's out of their system when they take a drug test. It's so simple."

So simple? Tell that to Cabrera.

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