Drugs aren't totally gone from game; in fact, they're still on the GNC counter

The Mitchell Report came out more than a year ago, and there was a lot of controversy about whether there was really enough proof to start naming the players who were accused of taking performance-enhancing drugs.

But there's doubt that naming the players has had a chilling effect. In fact, we had gone more than a year since any player on a major-league roster was suspended for violating baseball's drug policy.

That changed this week when J.C. Romero, who won two World Series games in relief for the champion Philadelphia Phillies, was suspended for the first 50 games of the season for a first offense. Romero said he took an over-the-counter supplement that's available at many stores throughout the country. And Sergio Mitre, who signed a minor-league contract with the Yankees this offseason, also will miss 50 games for taking another over-the-counter supplement that contained a banned substance.

The players' union fought the suspension, but lost in arbitration.

"We strongly disagree with the commissioner’s discipline and with the arbitrator’s decision," Michael Weiner, the union’s general counsel, said in a statement, according to the Associated Press. "Mitre and Romero both legally purchased nutritional supplements from national chain stores in the United States. Nothing on the labels of those supplements indicated that they contained a trace amount of a substance prohibited under Major League Baseball’s Joint Drug Prevention and Treatment Program."

That's all well and good, but these players should still know better. The nutritional supplement business is not known for being forthright about ingredients. Romero is angry about the decision, but Mitre seems to get it.

"I did take the supplement in question, and accept full responsibility for taking it," Mitre said, according to the AP. "It contained a 'contaminant' amount of an illegal, performance-enhancing drug. This was not listed as an ingredient on the packaging, should not have been in the supplement and certainly should not have been available for legal purchase at a store. Despite this, I do accept my punishment because, as a professional, I have a responsibility for what I put into my body."

And that's the lesson that every player on every level needs to remember.

More: List of players accused of using performance-enhancing drugs.