But sometimes it has to be to send the message that no one is above the law. Despite years of aberrant, criminal behavior, Strawberry has hovered above the same law for stuff that would have sent you or I into prison for similar behavior. But time and circumstances have caught up to Strawberry, and the line of credit he built up over the years is gone. The system has bent over backwards to give Strawberry the help he needs, and he has not taken advantage of it. That's no one's fault but his own.
Reports say that Strawberry had stayed off drugs for five months and was doing well in the program.
Maybe Strawberry can't help himself. Maybe drugs have ingrained themselves so deeply and so permanently in his soul that nothing will make a difference. If that's the case, maybe he should be left to handle it in the way he's most comfortable with. There was a time when he was one of baseball's most feared hitters and certainly it's most prolific left-handed slugger. But that seems so long ago.