Bobby Valentine Says He Thinks PEDs Will Eventually Become Mainstream in Sports

Former Major League Baseball manager Bobby Valentine has a different take on performance-enhancing drug use in sports, stating he thinks they could be a good thing.

During an appearance on SI Now with Maggie Gray, Valentine said that PEDs are good for sports "if you want to see the best out of your athlete."

Expanding on that comment, Valentine stated that there are already things athletes use to make them feel and perform better:

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This idea that because it’s a drug, and you’re taking it from the outside, that’s bad. But there’s a lot of really good drugs out there that we do take that make us feel better and perform better, and I think these PEDs that people talk about, that are performance-enhancers, will eventually get into the mainstream.

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It's an interesting theory, though Valentine didn't explicitly state what kind of PEDs he is talking about. There are certain types of steroids that can be used to treat medical conditions, though athletes would need a doctor's prescription to obtain them legally.

MLB adopted a drug prevention and treatment program in 2005. Sporting News provided a list of 39 major league players who had been suspended under the policy entering this season.

The sport was rocked by a scandal involving PEDs in January 2013, when Tim Elfrink of the Miami New Times broke a story suggesting several players, including former MVPs Alex Rodriguez and Ryan Braun, received illegal drugs from the Biogenesis clinic in Miami. 

The Olympics has one of the most stringent drug-testing programs in all of sports, with Olympic.org noting the International Olympic Committee tested more than 5,000 athletes during the 2012 Olympic Games in London. 

No one has ever accused Valentine of being shy about offering a different perspective on things. But he doesn't seem to be factoring in the various health risks and other problems associated with PEDs.