Nightengale: Peers won't soon forgive suspended players

Bob Nightengale | USA TODAY Sports

The moment of truth is almost here, and Major League Baseball informed the union Tuesday which players will be suspended this week in their performance-enhancing drug probe, a high-ranking official confirmed with USA TODAY Sports.

The official was unauthorized to speak publicly because there is no official announcement yet scheduled. The announcement could occur Friday, according to the Associated Press, with the two sides trying to reach agreements to avoid numerous grievance hearings. The announcements will be made simultaneously, with New York Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez expected to receive the longest suspension.

With justice, MLB-style, on its way, the affected players now must ponder their options, and their actions.

Maybe it wasn't that tough of a decision for them to cheat.

Perhaps it was just a fleeting moment of making a bad choice at the wrong time or, simply, they never imagined they'd ever get caught.

Now comes a far more daunting decision for those players receiving 50-game suspensions: Do they fight it or accept it?

Do they want to go through all of the proceedings, trying to prove in front of arbitrator Fredric Horowitz that they are innocent, risking a shortened 2014 season?

Or do they succumb, knowing that although their public reputation might forever be tarnished, at least they'll have a fresh start with a new team next year?

Ryan Braun surrendered, accepting his drug suspension, and is being mocked and ridiculed by his peers, with pitcher Zack Greinke saying his ex-teammate "was willing to use anyone that got in his path."

Rodriguez says he's going to appeal any suspension to the bitter end, refusing to go down without a fight and perhaps saving face for the dwindling few who still believe in him.

For the others, fighting like A-Rod or succumbing like Braun might be a delicate, personal choice and unfair for anyone to tell them what to do, but two players with the most to lose are Texas Rangers All-Star right fielder Nelson Cruz and Detroit Tigers All-Star shortstop Jhonny Peralta.

They are the two Biogenesis first offenders whose teams are smack in the middle of pennant races.

You figured all along they would appeal, making sure they don't let down their teammates, or ruin their teams' season.

Now, we're not so sure.

The Tigers' three-way trade Tuesday night to acquire Jose Iglesias from the Boston Red Sox, giving up prized prospect Avisail Garcia, perhaps indicates they already know that Peralta is accepting his suspension.

And that decision could leave lasting implications.

Clubhouse code

You see, Cruz and Peralta can be as guilty as Braun apparently was, or fight a mound of evidence as daunting as the one facing A-Rod. But if they don't fight it, they will forever be branded in Major League Baseball.

They will be known as deserters who quit on their teammates in the middle of a pennant race, infuriating the organization and embarrassing the fan base.

That never will be forgotten.

It's the clubhouse code.

If Peralta and Cruz indeed are suspended, and appeal, they can legally drag this through MLB's judicial system until the offseason. They will be permitted to remain in the starting lineups. They can help their teams into the playoffs, and maybe even bathe in confetti from the World Series parade.

The sacrifice could be painful. If they appeal now, they could be damaging their free agent value later.

Cruz and Peralta are having strong seasons and should be paid handsomely in free agency. Yet if they must serve a 50-game suspension in 2014, what team wants a player who will be sitting out until June?

Rangers general manager Jon Daniels and Tigers general manager Dave Dombrowski say they haven't directly asked Cruz and Peralta what they're thinking. They don't even know if they'll be suspended. No one is talking publicly. Cruz reiterated after Tuesday night's game that he hadn't yet made any decisions regarding MLB's investigation, and was staying in touch with his agent.

Yet there are indications. Players talk. Word spreads. And it gets filtered to management.

Maybe the Tigers know for sure, leading to Tuesday's trade.

Dombrowski, leaving little to chance, maneuvered deftly to add Iglesias, whose superior defensive ability perhaps makes the Tigers a better-balanced club than they are with Peralta.

Yet, the cost was not cheap. Garcia, 22, made the Tigers' postseason roster last year, has an intriguing blend of speed and power and would have fit rather nicely into right field after Torii Hunter's two-year, $26 million deal expires.

Now, he's with the division rival White Sox, apparently due to Peralta's actions.

Maybe the Rangers believe that Cruz is appealing since they haven't traded for another outfielder.

What we do know is that if they don't appeal and are simply looking to protect their own bank account, they deserve to incur the wrath and hatred from their peers, just like Braun.

By simply surrendering and calling it a season, they will forever be pariahs in baseball, leaving their peers and prospective employers to believe they are quitters. Surely the Rangers and Tigers wouldn't want them back.

It would be an easy decision for Cruz and Peralta, of course, if the Rangers and Tigers signed them to contract extensions now, alleviating stress from the Biogenesis outcome. Yet club executives from these teams know locking these players up can't be done without incurring the wrath of MLB, providing a financial reward to a suspected cheat in the middle of the drug probe.

So now the choice is theirs for all of the baseball world to dissect.