Speaking generally about the MLB testing procedures, Professor Christiane Ayotte, director of the WADA-accredited lab in Montreal where Ramirez's sample was tested, said her facility reports test results "as precisely as possible," knowing what substances are on a specific sport's banned list and detailing if exogenous testosterone (steroids or its precursors) or DHEA provoked the elevated T-E ratio.
The lab report would include whether the individual tested positive for DHEA even though Ayotte added, "We know DHEA is not on baseball's prohibited list of substances."
The authorities with knowledge of baseball's testing procedures stressed that MLB would not have declared a drug test a positive if the Montreal lab reported that DHEA had caused the elevated T-E ratio.
One of the three sources with information about the test results said baseball had three "powerful analytic foundations" to say the positive drug test was not caused by DHEA.
First, scientists have testified in other doping cases that DHEA does not raise an average person's T-E ratio (1:1) to more than 4:1, where Ramirez's was, the source said. Second, MLB could produce the player's urine sample showing how much manufactured DHEA was in his system. Finally, the WADA lab conducts a Carbon Isotope Ratio (CIR) test on DHEA that identifies the level of the substance and whether it was naturally occurring or manufactured.
"We can show the difference, with DHEA [and] testosterone . . . the CIR tells us if it's natural or doping," Ayotte said, again speaking generally about her lab's procedures. "There's no miracle in nature."
Even if previous DHEA use boosted natural testosterone production after the substance had left the system, Ayotte said the CIR can establish if synthetic testosterone caused a significant T-E ratio spike.
One of the sources familiar with the test result said baseball officials were confident in their case against Ramirez. Once they found a prescription of HCG, which Ramirez has said he was given, then the 50-game suspension was clinched -- the same penalty Ramirez would have received if it had been proved he used steroids.
Performance-enhancing drug experts said Ramirez's best legal argument in an appeal would have been to prove he has a naturally high level of testosterone -- for example, that his T-E ratio was naturally around the 3:1 range -- and to argue that any manufactured DHEA in his system caused the elevated result.
