NEW YORK — Los Angeles Angels outfielder Josh Hamilton will not be disciplined by Major League Baseball for his latest problems involving cocaine and alcohol. Team officials responded by saying they were surprised and disappointed. ADVERTISING NEW YORK — Los
NEW YORK — Los Angeles Angels outfielder Josh Hamilton will not be disciplined by Major League Baseball for his latest problems involving cocaine and alcohol. Team officials responded by saying they were surprised and disappointed.
Angels general manager Jerry Dipoto said he disagrees with the ruling by an arbitrator appointed under MLB’s joint drug program with the players’ association. MLB said earlier Friday that it disagreed with the ruling.
Hamilton, a five-time All-Star and the 2010 AL MVP, has played poorly during the first two years of his five-year, $125 million contract with the Angels, who still owe him $83 million in salary over the next three years.
He is subject to the treatment program for prior violations involving cocaine stretching back a decade.
The Angels’ public stance supporting punishment of Hamilton is the most visible evidence yet of the club’s disenchantment with the high-priced outfielder, who has been injured for long stretches of two largely miserable seasons in Orange County.
“Do I agree with the decision that was made by the treatment board? Absolutely not,” Dipoto said before the Angels’ exhibition game against the Dodgers. “But that’s not my decision to make.”
In a statement, MLB said it will “seek to address deficiencies in the manner in which drugs of abuse are addressed under the program in the collective bargaining process.”
Hamilton self-reported a new issue this year involving both cocaine and alcohol, a person familiar with the case said.
MLB said it took “the position that Hamilton violated his treatment program and is subject to discipline by the commissioner.”
Baseball defines cocaine as a drug of abuse, which is covered by different rules than those for performance-enhancing drugs, such as steroids.
A four-person treatment board created by the joint drug program, which includes one lawyer and one medical representative each appointed by management and the players’ association, deadlocked 2-2 on whether Hamilton’s conduct was a violation of his treatment program and was subject to discipline. That created the need for an arbitrator to break the tie.
A person familiar with the process said the arbitrator was Roberta Golick, a former president of the National Academy of Arbitrators. That person spoke on condition of anonymity because her name was not announced.
A hearing was held before Golick, and Hamilton was represented by lawyers Jay Reisinger and Tina Miller. The arbitrator said only that Hamilton was not subject to discipline and did not give reasons for the decision, the first person familiar with the case said.
The Major League Baseball Players Association said in a statement that it will “respect the integrity of the negotiated joint drug agreement process and protocols, as well as any decisions that are the result of that process.”
Hamilton, who turns 34 in May, won the AL MVP award with Texas during a six-year stretch as one of baseball’s best all-around players for the Rangers and Cincinnati Reds. But his career headed downhill in his final season in Texas, and it has picked up speed with Los Angeles.
Hamilton has managed just 31 homers and 123 RBIs in two seasons with the Angels. He played in just 89 games because of injuries and struggled at the plate throughout last season, culminating in an 0-for-13 performance in the Angels’ three-game loss to Kansas City in the AL Division Series
