Howard unlikely to face discipline in PED investigation

SAN DIEGO — The months-long investigation into a report that linked Ryan Howard to performance-enhancing drug use is near its conclusion, officials from Major League Baseball said Tuesday.

All signs point to Howard's avoiding discipline from baseball.

Commissioner Rob Manfred declined to comment on the investigation because he said it is still ongoing.

Howard, along with Washington first baseman Ryan Zimmerman and athletes from other sports, were named in an Al Jazeera report in December that employed an undercover athlete to expose doping circles. Both Howard and Zimmerman sued the network for defamation and have repeatedly denied the claims made in the report.

"The investigation is ongoing," Dan Halem, MLB's chief legal officer, said Tuesday. "We're close to completing it."

Howard faced a possible suspension when the league began its inquiry before spring training. But he met in March with MLB investigators, who have spent months verifying the players' denials.

The Phillies first baseman has declined to comment on the matter, beyond a statement he issued in January when he filed his defamation suit, which is still in litigation.

"Their irresponsible reporting forced me to take this action," Howard said then, "to protect my name and to fight back against the spreading of these lies."

Howard, 36, is owed a little more than $20 million on the remainder of his contract, which will expire after the season when the Phillies decline his 2017 option. He batted .154 in the first half and 12 of his 31 hits were home runs.

Juiced baseballs?

Teams averaged 1.16 home runs per game in the first half of the season, the highest rate since 2000 — the height of the steroid era. The league conducts more than 20,000 drug tests a season, Manfred said, so the rise in homers must be for another reason.

Speculation centered on the baseballs, especially after a recent scandal in Japan that involved juiced balls sanctioned by Nippon Professional Baseball officials.

Manfred laughed at that suggestion.

"There are certain mistakes in life that if you pay attention to what's going on around you, you are not inclined to make," Manfred said during his annual meeting with the Baseball Writers' Association of America. "There was a scandal in Japan over the baseball being changed that cost the commissioner his job. I like my current gig, so I think you can rest assured that the baseball is the same as it was last year."

So, what is the cause for the uptick in homers?

"We think it has to do with the way pitchers pitch and the way hitters are being taught to play the game," Manfred said. "You've seen some unusual developments in terms of home run hitters being up in the lineup to get them more at-bats. So we think it has more to do with the game this time around, because we're comfortable we're doing everything we can on the performance-enhancing drugs front."

Extra bases

Manfred said any talk of expansion is premature until the league resolves stadium situations in Oakland and Tampa Bay. The A's have floated the idea of moving to San Jose, Calif., but Manfred said he was committed to Oakland. "I think the growth in that area, the way the growth has moved up into San Francisco, I think Oakland is more likely than not to be a better market five years from now than it is today," Manfred said. … In a pregame ceremony, Manfred announced that the awards for the National League and American League batting champions will be named for Tony Gwynn and Rod Carew.