10:39am: Gordon tested positive for the pair of substances in Spring Training, a league source tells ESPN’s Jayson Stark.
12:20am: In a stunning development, Marlins second baseman Dee Gordon has been hit with an eighty-game suspension for PEDs, according to a league announcement. He tested positive for the banned substances exogenous testosterone and clostebol.
Needless to say, the news represents a sudden turnaround for a player who had risen to become one of the game’s more celebrated personalities. Gordon, the 28-year-old son of longtime major leaguer Tom Gordon and brother of Twins’ prospect Nick Gordon, inked a five-year, $50MM extension with the Marlins over the winter after an excellent 2015 season.
Gordon will sacrifice about half of his $3MM salary for the present season under that contract. He’ll also obviously miss out on a chance to defend his National League batting and stolen base titles from a year ago. And if Miami manages to right the ship — an even taller order now with Gordon out — he won’t be eligible for postseason play.
It seems likely that the Fish will turn to Derek Dietrich to occupy at least a good portion of the time at the keystone. He has plenty of experience there, though he’s not much of a fielder. The left-handed-swinging 26-year-old is a promising hitter, though. Alternatively, the club could utilize Martin Prado at second while deploying Dietrich and/or Chris Johnson at third base.
Regardless, the overall mix is substantially weakened. Gordon was off to a slow start this year, but he doesn’t need to keep up quite his 2015 pace to be of value. He had already enjoyed a breakout in the season prior before being dealt by the Dodgers, but Gordon stepped up even further in his first year in Miami with a .333/.359/.418 slash, 58 stolen bases, and highly-regarded glovework.
To be sure, Gordon is not the lumbering slugger who is traditionally associated with performance enhancing drugs. But this represents the latest reminder that such substances aren’t reserved for bulking up; they can also improve athletic performance in other ways and, especially, aid in injury recovery.
Quite unlike the situation facing the Blue Jays with regard to Chris Colabello, who was also just suspended, the Marlins are committed to Gordon via the aforementioned contract. Miami will simply need to hope that he’s able to repair his image and maintain his performance on the field upon his return.
That’s the message given by club president David Samson, who said the organization was disappointed but would welcome Gordon back when his suspension ends. (Video via the Miami Herald.) The Marlins did not learn about the suspension until today, per Samson. Miami has obviously have placed high expectations on Gordon to “do whatever is necessary to make it up to our fans, to his teammates, and to this organization.”
Gordon apparently decided to drop his appeal at this time, making the suspension effective after tonight’s game, Tim Brown of Yahoo Sports tweets. (Notably, Gordon just finished helping the club to a four-game sweep of his former team.) It’s still not clear precisely when the positive test occurred, though it’s certainly possible that — as with Colabello — it took place at some point during Spring Training.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
So that explains how Barroid was able to get Dee to “bulk up.”
Hahaha
ridiculous; a little too on the nose – thus only funny to the lowest of brows.
Terrible pun aside, isnt the fact that the Marlins’ second best player is caught with roids right after Bonds joins the team? Wouldnt you say thats a little… fishy?
That’s P.E Dee Gordon for you
I can always appreciate a good pun. What I think is ridiculous is the hurricane of highly improbable, hackneyed accusations.
Bonds would have had to step off a plane in Miami, immediately rapid-fire proselytize to convert a clean player to all the benefits of steroid use _so convincingly_ that Dee drops everything and runs to a dealer and gets his first doses – and then he immediately gets tested afterward – for this to be something that you can legitimately “blame Barry” for doing.
And you would have to expect that Bonds is incredibly, devastatingly stupid. Barry Bonds is a lot of things, but he is NOT stupid. He is trying to redeem himself, which would be exactly the wrong time to decide to start behaving against his personality (self-centered, focused on his own greatness, focused on clearing up his reputation so he can try to crack the Hall, trying to walk in the footsteps of his dad) and advise how or assist other players in using drugs.
All of it defies even a superficial application of reason, and therefore it sounds just like sleazy reporters oozing out clickbait and schoolyard clowns laughing at underarm fart noises.
Dont you steal my line! In the same comment section, no less.
I mean, that’s “P.E Dee Gordon” for you” -Soxfan912
Blame Barry
ha ha
wow this is shocking, he was making the dodgers trade look bad too
He still is.
Nah. They got Barnes, Kiki, Hatcher, and Heaney. That was a good trade for the Dodgers.
Wow, that came out of nowhere. I never would have expected it from a guy like him.
I’m shocked!
Maybe the grumblings about a rogue tester are true….
Thats a shocker, mainly because he is a young star player who is also cost controlled, and those positive results must have been going into the paper shredder because we never see such players suspended before Dee
Its a fallacy that only power hitters use steroids. Many benefits even for single hitters who rely on speed and durability, and a bit more exit velocity helps those singles get through into the oF
Not to mention that everyone always seems to forget that pitchers are responsible for about 50% of all cases. Everyone likes to focus on the strong guys that hit the ball a mile simply because home runs are sexy and sell news stories.
Chicks dig the long ball
In Gordon’s first official press conference he’ll say: “I have no idea how I could have tested positive. I’ve never taken a banned substance. This must be some kind of mistake.”
My boy Bonds with the joog
People taking medicine to speed injury recovery…what is the world coming to?
People rationalizing anabolic steroid use that vastly exceeds medically recognized safe dosages, so in the long term it self destructs your joints and the problem is widely recognized as a major problem in sports across the globe… what is the world coming to?
Wow, that sucks to see. Wish this wasn’t the reality, but part of the game still.
MLB basically has three ways to go. It can just keep on with this, and there will continue to be failures, including high profile ones. It can increase testing and invest in trying to keep up with the chemistry. It can enhance penalties. It’s pretty clear that usage is still there (and no, I don’t believe that Bonds is suddenly to blame) and what it comes down to how much effort the league is willing to make–and realistically, how much they care. And what the Union is willing to accept. But I just don’t see a time where PEDS are eradicated. The incentives are always there.
I can see that. Look at some careers the things have made, or guys who would be out of the game by now without them.. Marlon Byrd was toast, then he all of a sudden comes up with a great season out of nowhere and gets busted for PED’s the following season. Ditto melky Cabrera. Neither of those would be anything more than AAAA players, if that without taking banned substances.
List is longer than that of course.. Colon.. Unless the league makes penalties where players will suffer severe consequences.. Like 1st offense is 1 year suspension and 2nd year permanent ban? They might as well overlook them altogether and turn a blind eye like in the 80’s and 90’s and just attempt to enforce street drugs, such as marijuana and heroin etc..
Good point. There are bizarre incentives here. Both players and management have an interest in improved on the field performance. Players want to make more, management wants a better product, which can sell more tickets, ads, etc. When the drama of McGwire/Bonds/Sosa was putting fannies in seats, no one got too squeamish about what needles were going into what backside. I don’t know what the right answer is. But you also have to think about unintended consequences as well when you make penalties so severe.
Marlon Byrd never tested positive for PEDs. No need to throw him in with the others. He was using Tamoxifen for a legitimate medical reason. Tamoxifen is not a PED but it can “mask” PED use, so he was suspended anyway, despite having a genuine use for it. There has never been any evidence for him actually using PEDs, and his resurgence was linked to a new approach at the plate. He taught that approach to Justin Turner, too, and it’s turned out really well.
Byrd knew it was banned and took it anyway. He also admitted he worked out with steroid users before
If he needed it for medical reasons, he would have had a TUE like Chris Davis in 2013 (before his suspension in 2014)
espn.go.com/mlb/story/_/id/8095053/outfielder-marl…
Has anyone coined P-E-Dee Gordon yet?
P-E-Dee Gordon = Brilliant.
He’s an innocent victim of a Barry Bonds contact high.
Not as good as F.P.-E-D Santangelo though
ha ha
Penalties must become much more harsh. Current system allows players like Gordon to serve a relatively minor penalty while reaping the benefits of large contracts ($50MM). Testing must become more robust, starting with amateur players signing their first professional contracts, then regular (not random) testing throughout the year (not just the season), and penalties should include contract termination for each offense and restarting the accumulation of ML service time that impacts arbitration and free agency.
A lot of the speed based players of the late 70’s and through out the 80’s were hooked on cocaine (definitely had performance enhancing affects) but are not viewed as negatively as Gordon will be I’m not sure what is fair or foul any more.
Going to add Bouton and Bill Lee’s 2c from their memoir’s here.. They both wrote that “greenies” had the opposite effect.. Felt like were throwing the ball as fast as a speeding train, but you weren’t doing much of anything and were awful… Now.. Bouton was a knucklballer by then and Lee was a junk throwing left hander, but both were describing the overall affect of greenies numerous times throughout their books and their memoirs are great reads for baseball purists.
A lot of people in general in the 70’s and 80’s were hooked on cocaine. It was the Disco Drug back then.
The penalties are pretty severe now, so I don’t really see an issue with the penalties. Three strikes and you’re out, with the first action being half your season lost (including half a season’s pay.) That’s a pretty big deterrent..
Ugh, everyone lay off with the Barry Bonds connections already, its sooo hacky….
So sick of cheaters ruining the game that I love.
Agreed.
Yeah, the game would be oh so much better if it were filled with guys hitting .205 like Rafael Belliard. Cheating has gone on in baseball since long before you were born and it will go on for long after you are dead. Just sit back and enjoy the game instead of getting all tore up about it.
People are shocked a professional athlete cheated? What world do you live in?
I’m shocked there aren’t more suspensions.
Bottom line… it pays to cheat.
Disappointing. Struck me as odd that Dee Gordon signed a five year, $50 million contract, seemed to me he could have got much more. This failure might explain Gordon’s haste to ink such a deal. Again, disappointing, I enjoyed watching him play.
Why can’t you still enjoy watching him play? He didn’t kill a baby duck or anything.
May Gordon have a “speedy” recovery
must be the snake oil from bonds,
My Dee Gordon for Buster Posey & Chris Archer trade in my ESPN Fantasy League is looking even better now.
You fleeced whoever traded you this regardless. Gordon isn’t even worth one of posey or archer let alone both
Tested positive in Spring Training then played for a month of the regular season? An explanation for the delay will be forthcoming, no doubt.
I believe he was appealing it, so under appeal he can continue to play. He dropped his appeal (yesterday?), thus the suspension now begins.
I guess but has anyone yet successfully appealed a positive drug test?
Ryan Braun comes to mind.
It probably happens more than you’d think. Doesn’t behoove anyone involved to make it public
Not to suggest it’s frequent by the way- just would imagine it happens sometimes and stays hidden
Good point, but you’d think the loophole Braun used to escape would be closed by now.
Under the CBA a player can appeal a suspension; just because he tested positive doesn’t mean he loses his rights legally or otherwise.
and players are taking doctor prescribed medication for ADD. heard a few years ago approximately one in seven players had gone that route. not much mlb can do about that type of abuse. chris davis was taking meds that were league approved,53 hrs, the following season was doing poorly and started taking the meds again without league approval, failed test and was suspended, went thru the process of getting the meds approved and hit 47 hrs last year. davis is just an example. guys, mlb is dirty, and probably always will be.
The USA in general is horrendously over-medicated. The MLB, is very much a micro-ism of a larger problem, if there are gains to be had, players will find them.
I could get a script tomorrow for a handful of desirable drugs as long as I know what to say to my doctor.
It’s sad, really.
Big hit for the marlins.
I guess Bonds was trying to use PEDs to his advantage once again without him taking them himself. The best hitting coach ever!