Report: MLB Stops Testing for Steroids After Drug Agreement with Players Expires

Major League Baseball reportedly stopped testing players for steroids after baseball's drug agreement between the league and MLBPA expired on Dec. 1, per Ronald Blum of the Associated Press. 

It's the first time in nearly 20 years that MLBPA players aren't being drug tested and comes as a result of the ongoing lockout. 

"It should be a major concern to all those who value fair play,” the chief executive officer of the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency, Travis Tygart, told the AP.

"If it's just a simple matter of agreeing to it, you would have hoped [the MLB and MLBPA] would have been able to get that figured out, so that when the game does restart, you don't have questions hanging over individual players based on size, speed, batting percentage, home run numbers, whatever it may be, that people are going to call into question again," he added.

The league and its players agreed to drug testing in 2002 amid the sport's steroids scandal, adding urine testing for performance-enhancing drugs and penalties for failed tests in 2004, testing for banned amphetamines in 2006 and blood testing for human growth hormone (HGH) in 2012. 

The MLB and MLBPA remain at odds on a new collective bargaining agreement, with the owners instituting a lockout in December. The standoff has even caught the attention of politicians in Washington, D.C. 

"I have spoken to both the MLBPA and MLB about the ongoing contract negotiations and encourage both sides to continue engagement," United States Secretary of Labor Marty Walsh said via a spokesperson, per Evan Drellich of The Athletic. "Like any contract negotiation in any industry, I stand ready to help facilitate productive conversations that result in the best outcome for workers and employers."

Per that report, the players are not interested in negotiating through a third party such as Walsh or the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service at this time.