Tuesday Rockpile: PED armageddon could be on the way

The Rockies can totally salvage a 7-3 or 8-2 homestand.

But, that's not what I'm going to write about today, because today is about PED's and what baseball is going to do about the epidemic going forward.

That is what today is about, right?

All over the Internet, sports talk radio and something called newspapers, sportswriters are mashing and jabbering away about how the players association finally wants baseball to be clean after a decade-plus of defending those who have cheated. Milwaukee Brewers players are supposedly angry about Ryan Braun's suspension. However, they're surprisingly not angry at baseball, according to Yahoo! Sports' Jeff Passan; they're angry at Braun.

Word out of the Brewers clubhouse almost universal: They were glad Ryan Braun got suspended. He straight-up lied to teammates. They're mad.

— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) July 23, 2013

In addition to the lies on top of lies on top of lies that Braun has told his teammates, the press and the fans over the past year-plus, he also made a sample collector look horrible in the eyes of the naive public. That sample collector was not innocent, folks; he had one job to do and failed to do it properly.

But, much like how the subject of how Rockies can still finish up their current homestand on a strong note, I won't write about that today.

I will write about the apparent transformation that the players -- who are the most important cog in the crazy wheel known as baseball -- have gone through over not only the past decade, but even the past year. If Passan's comments about the Brewers players are true, it's kind of mind-boggling. Will players continue to support these cheaters in public? Sure, they've probably held reservations about PED users in private for many years, but I get the feeling that some sort of PED armageddon is going to make its way into baseball soon.

The league has wanted these guys out for years. Now, the players are finally on the same page.

What does that mean? Well, the next collective bargaining agreement is set to be put into place in December of 2016. Many pundits believe the MLBPA would never sign off on, among other things, teams being able to void the contracts of proven PED users. But, if the tide is truly turning like people who are in the know claim it is, then how can those pundits be so sure?

Not every case of the next (reportedly) 20-plus will be as high-profile and polarizing as those of Braun and Alex Rodriguez, but it will certainly be interesting to watch either way.

One that's a little bit close to home will be the reported inclusion of Yasmani Grandal and Everth Cabrera on the Biogenesis list. Grandal has already served a 50-game ban, and his usage has already caused a rift in the Padres clubhouse. If he and Cabrera wind up going down with the rest of the players on the list, that will impact the NL West for not only this year, but possibly 2014 as well.

Off-topic

Links

Troy Renck sums up a scout's thoughts on Drew Pomeranz's latest horrible outing.

The Marlins will promote highly-touted prospects Christian Yelich and Jake Marisnick prior to tonight's game against the Rockies at Coors Field. I can't think of a better place for them to start their big-league careers.

Matt Kemp might hit the disabled list for the third time this season. The Dodgers will probably still win the division.