Lightweight penalties no deterrent

DETROIT - To some, Bud Selig now resembles John Wayne’s eye patched Rooster Cogburn in “True Grit,” mercilessly hunting down the lawless. But this impression of impassioned heroism in baseball’s fight against performance-enhancing drugs is as fraudulent as Ryan Braun’s mea culpa.

MLB didn’t hammer Braun with the cold, sharp steel of justice. Instead, it negotiated a halfhearted plea bargain with the Milwaukee Brewers outfielder, costing him the season’s last 65 games and subsequent pay loss ($3.25 million).

The punishment is laughable. But it’s the best Selig and his brethren could do within the framework of a joint drug policy with the players’ association that doesn’t go far enough in dissuading the terminally self-absorbed from believing that the rewards for cheating far outweigh the risks.

Until a first-time PED offender risks a lifetime ban and the ensuing voiding of his multimillion-dollar contract, everybody’s kidding themselves thinking minimum 50-game suspensions will scare would be PED offenders straight.

The players are all for stronger drug testing. But what about stronger penalties for first-time offenders?

That sound you hear amid the silence is crickets rubbing their hind legs together in the distance.

Have those conspiring to impugn the integrity of fair competition learned their lesson?

I doubt it.

I’m tired of the “we all make mistakes” reflex when facing accountability for serious, potentially criminal matters. Nobody ever has demanded perfection from athletes. And if I could paraphrase: Stuff happens.

But there’s no ambiguity between what’s right and what’s wrong, what’s permissible and what isn’t.

It’s chic dumping on Braun right now. He was a pompous blowhard a year ago after successfully overturning a positive urine test through a technicality. Braun defiantly swore on his life that he never once used banned substances.

He’s a liar and a bully. But although Braun has forever lost his reputation, he still has his career. He is guaranteed more than $113 million through 2020.

There no doubt remains many ballplayers who would happily sacrifice the first if they can keep the last two.

So tell me again what exactly is the motivation for the very good players to fear the consequences more than they embrace the treasure?

How Braun’s guilt affects others reportedly implicated in this investigation remains to be seen. Those who are truly innocent should strenuously fight, employing every avenue available to them.

But as I’ve written many times, the only effective drug policy for baseball is one that inspires prevention.

Punishing Braun by suspending him for the remainder of a meaningless season and by taking not even 3 percent of what he stands to make the next seven years doesn’t achieve that objective.