When Burlington Bees manager Jim Gabella met with his team after Major League Baseball announced it was implemented random blood testing for human growth hormone in the minor leagues, his message was simple.

"You're not supposed to do it, don't do it. There's certain rules that you have to follow," Gabella said. "One thing I told our guys right from the get-go, I have two rules on this team. One is to follow all the rules that are put towards you, all the organizational policies. If you follow them, there's not a problem. That's a rule so we have to follow it. The other rule I have is to play as hard as you can. If we're doing what we're supposed to do, we shouldn't have any kind of problems with it."

The blood testing becomes part of the Minor League Drug Prevention and Treatment Program, which commissioner Bud Selig introduced in 2001 to test for performance-enhancing drugs.

"The implementation of blood testing in the minor leagues represents a significant step in the detection of the illegal use of human growth hormone," Selig said in a statement. "HGH testing provides an example for all of our drug policies in the future."

Testing will be limited to players with minor-league contracts because they are not members of the players' association, which means blood testing is not subject to collective bargaining.

"They're really trying to clean that stuff up," Gabella said. "It starts in the minor leagues really. We've got to clean it up here. If we do it here, then they won't do it when they get to the big leagues."

Outside experts have long questioned the union's logic against blood testing. Told of baseball's announcement, Gary Wadler, who chairs the committee that determines the World Anti-Doping Agency's banned-substances list, said it was "a significant step forward."

"One important thing is, as young players evolve through the minor leagues, the concept of a blood test will no longer be alien to them," Wadler said. "It will be easier to implement it in the major leagues as more players in the minor leagues recognize it makes sense."

Travis Tygart, the CEO of the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency, also welcomed the news.

"This is another important step in the fight to return all of the playing fields in the U.S. to clean athletes," he said. "We applaud MLB's efforts in this regard."

Tigers president and GM Dave Dombrowski said in an e-mail to The Associated Press: "Seems like a positive step for the game."

Dodgers manager Joe Torre said: "Whatever has to be done to gain the full trust of the fans, we have to do what we can."

Blood samples will be collected after games by the National Center for Drug Free Sport, the organization that currently collects urine samples in the minor leagues. The blood samples will be taken from the non-dominant arm of players who are not members of a major league team's 40-man roster, and sent to a testing laboratory in Salt Lake City for analysis.

Testing was set to begin immediately, but Gabella did not know when officials may be showing up at Community Field.

"We never know when that's going to happen. We could come in tomorrow and they could be sitting in the clubhouse," said Gabella. "There are so many teams you don't know when they're going to get to your team. It could happen any time."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.