Sometime before Christmas, Major League Baseball is going to receive a
massive lump of coal in its proverbial stocking in the form of George
Mitchell's steroid investigation report.

In that report, it is assumed that players who used steroids/HGH or were
involved with their distribution will be named.

Quoted in the Los Angeles Times and reported by ESPN yesterday, Angels owner
Arte Moreno said, "The names of players will come out that people will be
mad about. Some of my information is secondhand, but I know there's going to
be names."

Exposing player names raises some intriguing serious questions:

Will releasing names accomplish anything or just be a way to make ourselves
feel superior to players by affirming that 'we knew it all along"?

What kind of justice will be served?

Will releasing names help the game?

Will releasing names lead to better drug policies and testing?

Finally, with names in hand and known, how we can honestly go back to
pre-2003 and post de facto erase the records and/or place asterisks by the
players who used a substance that was NOT illegal in baseball at the time,
and honestly believe that we are achieving justice and being fair?

Of all the questions open to debate, the final question is one no one
seemingly wants to answer. Even when critics attempt to address it, it is
summarily dismissed as a distraction or, worse, a defense of players using
steroids. It is neither of those.

But I will answer this question: It's preposterous and an
injustice to post de facto punish someone for something that wasn't illegal
then but it is illegal now. Not issuing punishment doesn't justify what the
player did, but issuing punishment is a gross injustice. Attempt this kinda
of post de facto silliness in any actual criminal court of law, and you'll
be laughed right out that court. But apparently some misguided and vengeful
folks think that baseball can and should do just that.

It is for this very reason that talk of issuing asterisks and suspending
players is ludicrous. And if MLB ever tries to suspend players, I hope the hell the Players
Union screams bloody murder.

There is, perhaps, some positive thing that can be wrought from releasing
names, and it is this:

This stale air has to be cleared in order for baseball and its fans to move
and heal from whatever perceived injustice and unfairness steroids and its
users have allegedly wrought upon the game. People have to see who was
"cheating". They have to know that, while he's been a lightning rod for this
whole controversy, Barry Bonds is NOT the only one involved in all this.

But still that is empty and self-serving.

All of this is why there is some discussion around baseball as to whether
those names will be released or not. Obviously, I don't believe they should
release them. Releasing them becomes news as meaningful as news in the
hallways of a junior high. ("Dude, did you hear that so-and-so just got
busted by Commisioner Selig?"). It's petty and juvenile.

Unless baseball is serious about placing asterisks next to players names
(and I don't think they are nor should they be), let the player live with
his or her shame and leave it at that.

It's this, or baseball becomes a version of the gossipy "Access Hollywood".
But it may be that already.