Source: AP -- Read Full Story

Baseball players and owners agreed Friday to amend their drug agreement, a decision that allows for more frequent testing and eliminates 15-day suspensions assessed in December against Jose Guillen and Jay Gibbons. The deal, reached after months of negotiations, strengthens the authority the independent administrator has over the drug program, giving him an initial three-year term and specifying he can be removed only if an arbitrator finds cause. But baseball did not heed advice from the World Anti-Doping Agency and turn drug testing over to an outside agency. In addition, the decision over whether a player can be subjected to reasonable cause testing will remain with management and the union, with any disagreement decided by the sport's regular arbitrator. Also, a joint management-union body called the Treatment Board will supervise the part of the program relating to drugs of abuse such as cocaine.