Fear The Chorizo

From Fedex's website, there don't appear to be any locations within that 50-mile radius that have express or ground pickups after 5:00 PM on Saturdays or Sundays. There are by my count 29 staffed Fedex locations that are open until at least 7pm on Saturdays within that same radius. Both Braun's and the collector's statements are accurate now that I look closer at them, so it's not like either party was lying (just looking at different things to justify their position).

Link to Laurenzi's statement on WTMJ: http://www.620wtmj.com/news/local/140745823.html

The collector released his statement today - I think you can view it at WTMJ's website...here's a few interesting paragraphs: "I placed the two bottles containing Mr. Braun's samples in a plastic bag and sealed the bag. I then placed the sealed bag in a standard cardboard Specimen Box which I also sealed with a tamper-resistant, correspondingly-numbered seal placed over the box opening. I then placed Mr. Braun's Specimen Box, and the Specimen Boxes containing the samples of the two other players, in a Federal Express Clinic Pack. None of the sealed Specimen Boxes identified the players. I completed my collections at Miller Park at approximately 5:00 p.m. Given the lateness of the hour that I completed my collections, there was no FedEx office located within 50 miles of Miller Park that would ship packages that day or Sunday. "Therefore, the earliest that the specimens could be shipped was Monday, October 3. In that circumstance, CDT has instructed collectors since I began in 2005 that they should safeguard the samples in their homes until FedEx is able to immediately ship the sample to the laboratory, rather than having the samples sit for one day or more at a local FedEx office. The protocol has been in place since 2005 when I started with CDT and there have been other occasions when I have had to store samples in my home for at least one day, all without incident. "The FedEx Clinic Pack containing Mr. Braun's samples never left my custody. Consistent with CDT's instructions, I brought the FedEx Clinic Pack containing the samples to my home. Immediately upon arriving home, I placed the FedEx Clinic Pack in a Rubbermaid container in my office which is located in my basement. My basement office is sufficiently cool to store urine samples. No one other than my wife was in my home during the period in which the samples were stored. The sealed Specimen Boxes were not removed from the FedEx Clinic Pack during the entire period in which they were in my home. On Monday, October 3, I delivered the FedEx Clinic Pack containing Mr. Braun's Specimen Box to a FedEx office for delivery to the laboratory on Tuesday, October 4. At no point did I tamper in any way with the samples. It is my understanding that the samples were received at the laboratory with all tamper-resistant seals intact. " It should be easy enough to discern whether any Fedex locations within that 50-mile radius he cites actually would have been able to ship the samples that night or Sunday. His statement conflicts completely with Braun's assertion of 18-19 potential locations. It's one thing if the locations are merely open, but finding out which ones actually ship at those times would be very relevant. In the last paragraph I included the collector spcifically mentions that he did not tamper with the samples in any way. He states that he put the samples into a rubbermaid container in his basement, citing that it's cool enough to store urine samples - he makes no mention of a cooler, refrigerator, or ice. The other critical thing is the mention of the 2 other samples - if the Dan Patrick show source was correct in stating that those samples were thrown out for particular reasons, why wasn't Braun's? I tend to feel bad for this guy, but any sample procedure that says it's ok to store a biological sample in an unrefrigerated tupperware container for 2 days before shipment is indeed fatally flawed, because it leads to this situation.

Braun's failed test leak occurred almost 3 full months ago - with the amount of interest around this story, if people even had sketchy knowledge or evidence that Braun was taking something he shouldn't there would have been more than STD or medical condition rumors floating around. Networks were running with blind speculation and I still don't recall a story that cited any kind of source saying they knew Braun was cheating.

The two guys I trust the most who have either commented or played a role in this process are Will Carroll and Shyam Das. Carroll is a writer/blogger, but he has a very good reputation regarding medical/testing issues in sports - he knows what he's talking about. Shyam Das was revered by MLB for the entire time he was the independent arbitrator, right up until he levied a decision against MLB's wishes. I keep thinking that there's no way Das overturns Braun's suspension if his only defense was that "maybe this or that happened". He had to be shown additional evidence or information that swayed him away from ruling in MLB's favor like he's done every other time an appeal has occurred.

Why isn't that information being reported by all these media outlets? Probably because it doesn't create as much of a stir, and many of these writers have prior articles that jumped the gun on assuming Braun was a cheater. I think as long as MLB is publicly furious with the ruling, a good number of writers may not want to alienate themselves from their sources within that organization, and are presenting information accordingly. The unfortunate thing about the timing of this arbitration decision for all parties involved is that it occurred during probably the slowest time in the sports calendar - that means all the sportswriters who would otherwise have plenty of other things to write about have spit out articles and blogs on the Braun case, oftentimes using old and inaccurate information from sources of previous articles. This is still a huge story, but it wouldn't have nearly as long a shelf life if this ruling came down at just about any other time of year.

It may not be so much that Braun's questioning whether the collector tampered with his sample by breaking seals - he could be questioning whether the sample was actually stored in a refrigerated environment while it was at his house for 2 days. It's been a few days since any new information has come out, but I find a few things interesting... 1 - There was some talk earlier about how out of the loop Fielder seemed when asked about Braun's exoneration - what if he was one of the other 2 Brewers tested? I think the collector had three samples in his possession that day. If there were issues with the other 2 samples to the point of them being tossed out (according to the Dan Patrick show source), I wouldn't want to be saying much publicly right now, either if my sample was one of them. 2 - Interesting that everyone who knows the collector seems to be coming out in his defense talking about how great a guy he is, but we haven't heard anything publicly from the collector himself. I'm sure he doesn't want the attention but at this point it's unavoidable. If he does make a statement publicly at some point and doesn't flat out deny tampering or not properly storing the samples, there's smoke to Braun's accusations. If he doesn't make or release a statement publicly at all, there's fire. I also wish Braun had bit his tongue a bit more during his presser regarding the sample collector, but I also think with as much information that he gave up to that point of his statement, there is something to what he insinuated. Braun's camp had a long time to prepare his statement and it was obvious that he chose his words carefully. 3 - We're not going to get all the information on this until Das' decision is leaked, or until someone between Braun's camp and MLB exposes the original leak. Either way, more information is coming.

The "seals" on these sample containers and shipping packages are often adhesive labels that cover both the cap and container of the sample (or the lid and body of the cooler), so that it's impossible to open the sample without destroying the label. People who are tested typically have to write their initials or signature on these seals along with the collector to verify that the sample in the container is theirs. It wouldn't be the most difficult thing in the world for new seals to be forged/replicated by someone after tampering with a sample. The person being tested typically would also sign a form or possibly the chain of custody that goes with the sample containers - that's something that wouldn't have to be tampered with at all.

If the sample collector had additional materials, he could easily destroy the initial custody seals of a sample, tamper with it, and recreate them to make it look to the lab or MLB that the sample wasn't tampered with. The fact that the sample collector's son served as the chaperone (or witness) to this sample seems like this scenario could be possible.

You're absolutely right, jazzytrav. Part of confidentiality is that overturned suspensions were never made public. There honestly isn't a way to prove/disprove that Braun was the 1st player to overturn an pending suspension via appeal, because confidentiality means the general public shouldn't have any knowledge of the other instances. I believe the 13-0 number for upholding suspensions simply comes from the # of suspensions that have been issued.

Oh, and you know it's only a matter of time before the identity of the collector comes out - his name would be on so many different items, and if Braun's camp has the # of Fedex locations between Miller Park and his home identified.

Is it physically possible for the T:E ratio to increase in a urine sample if it is say left at room temperature A better question might be - if this collector also works in a hospital lab, does he have access to synthetic testosterone? It'd be just as easy to get something containing synthetic T outside the hospital, too. Braun's sample may have appeared unopened or untampered with when it showed up to the lab, but it would be quite easy for someone with easy access to lab supplies to simply open the containers, transfer the sample into similar containers that happened to have synthetic T in them, and reproduce the labeling. I'm sure the collector has all kinds of extra labels to use if neccessary. The guy did have an entire weekend.

I think the Brewerfan.net Winter Meetings location needs to be moved to "the collector's" basement.

I'm just curious if the collector had like 3-4 dozen samples from players sitting in a minifridge for a weekend (everyone's required to be tested during the postseason, correct?). If not, why is it just Braun's sample? I know there are certainly circumstances that require samples to be held by the collector for a period of time prior to shipment/delivery to the testing lab, but to think MLB couldn't coordinate a more efficient way to get these samples to the lab is silly.

Carroll may be the only one with the data because Braun's camp may have only given him information - he's a writer with alot of medical knowledge and probably the best option to write an article that could explain this situation without omitting or oversimplifying it. If Braun wants information to get out, you think he wants ESPN to have it first?

Let me rephrase - I think 100% of the information currently known publicly since the leak of his failed test has come from MLB sources - I do agree that the failed test leak could have come from anywhere...with how bad MLB looks right now, I wouldn't be surprised if their people that knew the particulars of this situation didn't want this to get out publicly, either unless a suspension was levied.

The arbitrator's written decision has not been released (not sure if it ever will be). All of the speculation to this point has been from information that has been leaked by someone familiar with the process. Based on MLB's whining about this and insistence on trying to defend their testing program, it's pretty apparent to me that the news of the "technicality" of the chain of custody problem came from someone at MLB. 100% of the information from this process has come from one side of the aisle, starting from the leak of Braun's failed test. There's more to this than what is currently known by media outlets who have been blindly speculating since mid December. Braun gets to start telling his side of the story publicly at noon during his presser, and I really hope he does. Any semblance of confidentiality with this has been shattered by the other side, so there's no reason for him to follow the rules either. His case was solid enough to be the first player to overturn a failed drug test - a chain of custody issue seems trivial, but there's ALOT of things that cause a chain of custody/sample handling problem that are anything but technicalities.

I'm hoping this whole ridiculous process leads to an adjustment of the appeals process - why not have a panel of 3 or 5 independent arbitrators? To have only 3, when the player's union and MLB reps essentially having their votes cast before the appeal is heard leaves it to one man's opinion every time. MLB has egg on its face, and the more they squeal about it the worse they look.

So Carrol writes for reputable sources AND his specialty lies in issues very closely related to this situation...and the alternative is to get information from a network who broke this story and desperately doesn't want to look stupid and from MLB, who views letting a guy keep urine samples in his beer fridge for several days as acceptable procedure for its drug testing program? I think I'll side with Mr. Carrol on this one.

Braun's had to deal with this speculation for the better part of 4 months, more than half of which after this was leaked - here we are 5 hours after news broke that he was exonerated and MLB, ESPN, and other hacks are jumping to conclusions dealing with "technicalities" and twitter posts citing close sources again. If I'm not mistaken, the written decision hasn't been made available yet, correct? Braun hasn't talked with reporters yet, either. There's going to be more to this than a simple technicality of a courier keeping Braun's sample in his fridge over a weekend - if that was indeed a common practice (if it is, MLB's testing system is ridiculous, frankly), there HAS to be more to it that led to Braun overturning his suspension. Braun's too smart to not tell his entire side of the story - MLB's crazy statement after the result came out all but guarantees that Braun's going to defend his name. I bet he's just sitting in his hotel room wearing an affliction T-shirt and reading all the articles and posts from the baseball "experts" that have no idea what they're talking about, and he can't wait to clown them as more information from this comes out.

I imagine it not being Braun's actual pee could pose a problem. No idea how that could happen though depends on how the samples are identified - I'm sure the procedure is to label the samples in a way that doesn't allow the lab to know who's it is. If the sample ID for Braun's sample was incorrectly identified by the sample key, it would be very easy to have a mislabeled sample. There are also occasions where quality control samples are included with batches of samples (duplicates, trip blanks, matrix spikes, etc) to check the accuracy/integrity of the lab. If there was a spike sample included in a batch of samples that was potentially mislabeled, it isn't inconceivable that a previously prepared sample containing synthetic T was misidentified as Braun's urine sample. Braun's camp could have argued looking at the lab report to see if a spike sample that was supposed to have a high result ended up testing clean, and Braun's ended up testing ridiculously high. sounds like a huge reach, but everything else that's happened in this situation has been, too...

Well that would be a fun twist...kind of makes Rodgers' tweet talking about people slamming Braun getting off on a technicality eat crow look pretty good. so chain of custody issues AND possibly a sample identification error...and MLB still tried to suspend Braun with this sample AND leak the info to ESPN?? MLB's ticked off because their testing process makes them look like amateurs right now.

my guess is the sample sat in the collector's apartment prior to it being analyzed at all, or before the high levels of testosterone in it were known.

I'd love to have some news outlet find out who "the collector" is and sit him down for an interview. This is egg all over MLB's drug testing face - you are MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL and you can't get a sample transferred to a lab without having some schmo "allegedly" take it home and set it next to his case of busch light in his fridge? I put "allegedly" in quotes because that's what MLB claims their collector did without any legal proof of it.

A "technicality" of a broken chain of custody for 2 days is a big flippin' technicality. I work for an environmental consulting firm that deals with alot of litigation cases, and if any sample being used to support a case doesn't have airtight chain of custody records, it's thrown out. temperature changes alone can cause all kinds of false detections or non-detects of compounds, depending on analytical methods and what you're testing for. Also, chains of custody are scrutinized more closely on samples that appear to be outliers in data sets. Legally, a broken chain of custody invalidates the sample results because the result can't be proven or disproved - it's like the sample never existed. The solution is to resample. 2 days of a broken chain of custody is a huge timeframe for this sort of thing, too. I'd be interested to know what the acceptable holding time is for a sample like this that isn't frozen/chilled. Biological samples tend to alter themselves more quickly if they aren't properly stored.