Ryan Braun Biogenesis Scandal Shouldn't Keep Him From Participating In The World Baseball Classic

Ryan Braun is facing his second consecutive spring of questions about performance enhancing drugs, but the Biogenesis debacle shouldn't impact his ability to represent the US in the World Baseball Classic.

Jon Morosi of Fox Sports reports that Braun and Nationals pitcher Gio Gonzalez are still expected to play in the WBC, citing two sources as saying "any discipline arising from the Biogenesis investigation is unlikely to be announced soon enough to impact the WBC." If any suspensions were announced before or during the tournament, that player would be disqualified from competing.

With that said, I disagree with Morosi's implication that a Braun suspension is coming in either the short or long term. Braun has supplied a plausible explanation for his appearance on the Biogenesis records and was not linked to any specific performance enhancing drug in the files. Unless there's evidence we haven't seen, there doesn't seem to be actual proof of any wrongdoing here.

The US WBC team opens play on March 8.