MLB To Test Minor Leaguers For HGH

MLB will begin testing for human growth hormone in the minor leagues.

Testing will be limited to players with minor-league contracts (not on teams' 40-man rosters) because they are not members of the players' association.

This news appears to be little more than PR bullshit. NBC's Craig Calcaterra writes that

the test gives almost universal false negatives [and] HGH's duration in the blood stream -- 24-48 hours according to most experts -- is too short for random testing to ever work. ... No one except the most clueless will ever be caught by this test ...

The test MLB will be using has caught one person in six years -- and that success story was because of outside information, not solely the test itself.

Victor Conte, of BALCO fame:

A baseball player could possibly inject HGH as soon as leaving a ballpark and test negative from a blood sample collected post-game the following day. HGH injections are routinely done at night before bed, so a morning blood sample would be the target.

MLB will be doing the exact opposite -- taking post-game samples.