Jeff Kent Is In Favor Of Blood Testing

Dodgers second baseman Jeff Kent told The Los Angeles Times on Thursday that Major League Baseball players should undergo blood testing to detect whether they are using banned substances, particularly human growth hormone.

Kent, praised in the Mitchell report for telling reporters in September that "Major League Baseball is trying to investigate the past so they can fix the future," is among the first players to suggest using blood tests. The Major League Baseball Players Association has been against it, citing unreliability.

In September, USA Today reported that MLB was eyeing the development of a mass-use blood test for HGH and would push to have it implemented for the 2008 season if a reliable test was available.

"If there is a valid blood test, I'm sure baseball will consider it," MLB spokesman Rich Levin told USA Today in September. Adding a blood test would be subject to collective bargaining between MLB and the players' union.

"I'd like to see every player take a blood test and have the samples frozen," Kent told The Times. "Not everyone in the game is using HGH, but I would bet it still is being abused.

"Why not have blood tests? If ultimately you want a clean game, then it needs to happen.

"They ought to be testing for drugs in the playoffs, too. They [MLB] never do that."

I feel like players such as Jeff Kent are delighted that big name all-stars are getting busted for steroids. It gives the lesser known players (possibly Jeff Kent for example) a chance to rise up. Of course players like Jeff Kent would throw his two cents in about steroid users. He will never become as great as the power hitters in baseball, but speaking out against steroids gives him a chance to throw his name out there and look good to the public. I mean, c'mon. Jeff Kent? Who is he anymore? That's a random player to speak out.