On the heels of several recent PED suspensions, several additional players are expected to receive 80-game bans as a result of positive tests, according to a report form ESPN.com’s T.J. Quinn. Player identities are not known, but Quinn notes on Twitter that no major names are believed to be involved.
Interestingly, he notes, several of the recently busted players were caught with the steroid turinabol. That substance is known more for its role in pumping up eastern bloc Olympic athletes in the seventies than for cutting-edge performance enhancement.
It’s not entirely clear why that’s occurred, but Quinn notes that advances in testing have almost certainly played a role. While it used to be that turinabol could only be detected within about one week of its use, traces can now be found in a much larger window. With several players caught during Spring Training, when testing would be anticipated, it could simply be that drug handlers were not caught unprepared.
Beyond that link, though, Quinn says the recent run of suspensions — which has included, most notably, Dee Gordon and Chris Colabello — doesn’t appear to revolve around any single nexus, as occurred in the Biogenesis case.
Looking forward, Quinn says that the unnamed players who triggered positive tests have been informed of their pending suspensions and are in various phases of the “administrative process.” While it’s unclear how many of those names currently appear on big league rosters, any 40-man members would have the chance to initiate a grievance to challenge any suspension, potentially adding more delay before any bans are officially applied and announced.
Fingers crossed for Chase Headley you guys!
I dont know…I could see that happening. As a Padre fan, I saw Headley’s breakout year. It came outta nowhere…and even the local media/press types that had been following him since his minor league days, were surprised. Not because of the numbers, per say…but the fact that 80% of his production came in the 2nd half. As if “something” had been tapped into or used to enhance whatever ability he has in the first place. It just looked and felt strange.
I can tell you one thing. Here in San Diego, all kinds of folks thought he walked on water. I never liked the guy. Every year he got paid more, and did, less. When he got traded, screamed for joy..and the guy that we got for him, Solarte, has every bit the ability that Headley has/had, plus some.
so, I hope no one is shocked if Chase Headley gets popped. I wont be one of them..
So do you think you just start taking steroids and a couple days later you’re better at baseball. That’s not how this works.
One good half of baseball doesn’t immediately equal PED use.
He could have been seeing the ball well. Could have been excited for whatever reason.
If one span of 2-3 months makes us wonder if players are using PEDs, we have A LOT of players to suddenly look into.
A’s fans crossing fingers for Billy Butler and Mark Canha!
Billy Butler’s PED’s stands for Pizza, Eclairs, and Doughnuts.
He must be taking the wrong PEDs!
Mark Canha? Dude is making league minimum and has option years left. Why would you want someone like that to get suspended?
Rangers fans hoping for Shawn Tolleson so we will be forced to stop letting him blow leads in save situations
I saw him play in Double A/San Antonio. Nothing to be impressed about.
This delay between failed test and suspension needs to be reduced. If you use PEDs during the offseason or spring training, you should not be allowed to start the season.
There has to be an appeals process.
What if someone is accused of something & given a suspension. He sits out for 20 games while appealing, and a judge determines that a suspension is not warranted. You made that guy sit out for 20 games. The team and player can’t get those games back.
The appeals process is important in any suspension, otherwise the league would have no accountability in their issuance of suspensions.
The most they could do is to expedite the appeals process, but you have to allow players to have fair representation, and that’s tough to do while playing a full slate of games.
Is there any transparency on the steps of the process? I’m not opposed to it taking this long provided the extra time is devoted to confirmation of the results and auditing of the collection process. The penalties here are not light so I would hope that the delay is just a simple matter of making sure MLBs ducks are in a row before they cost someone 80 games of pay and saddle them with a black mark.
If nothing else, players who are actively using PED’s but haven’t been caught, have to think twice about what they are doing and to possibly curtail usage for a while. That said, I wonder if there will be any noticeable drop off in some players stats after the announcements are made.
Meanwhile Pablo Sandavol tested positive for McDonalds
No major names. Plot twist. All Milwaukee Brewers and Atlanta Braves suspended. No one notices.
Don’t forget most of the Indian’s roster.
Right, so no big names!
Also, I’m sitting in a mall and your comment made me laugh loud enough that people around me stared.
Could it possibly have anything to do with the February Al-Jazeera report, or is that 100% dismissed?
If Zimmerman and Howard get suspended, perhaps. But random PED suspensions doesn’t confirm that report.
Peter Gammons reporting Jake Arrieta’s name is involved! I hope his “protein shakes” don’t involve Sammy Sosa’s “Flintstone vitamins”
do you have a link?
god these comments sections have devolved into trash
LOL…no he hasn’t. Just checked his twitter.
Stop lying that’s a man that work out like a football player cross with a ballerina kung fu artists so get that lie out of your mouth stupid
I’m talking you who lied on Arreitta
Let the speculation games begin. Based on the two most recent suspensions, I am going to go with someone who did really well last year, is in their late 20s, and doesn’t have a huge track record of success prior to last year, and is struggling to start the season (due to the stress of awaiting the results of the appeal). My pick is: David Peralta. I sure hope I’m wrong though. I really like the guy.
In other words, you’re just pulling a name out of your behind with no informed information.
Future earning potential is a big motivating factor here. How about every player, mlb or milb, with a suspension on their record is tagged with an additional 25% “tax” required if they ever sign a contract. The tax money would fund drug test detection research. The signing teams would be on the hook for this tax and would not want to pay a player 125% of what they’re worth, plus the PR headache. After 2 suspensions, player banned for life. Current contracts can be grandfathered in, and exempt, to keep the union happy.
What bothers me is contracts like J Peralta and N Cruz, getting paid big bucks on contracts they signed post-suspension…their years of “dirty” muscle mass gets to stay and aid their power numbers, and a suspension does not level the playing field. Teams will pay for production, regardless of one’s past…they can pay a substantial tax too if production is so important.
Great idea! This makes the consequence not only ‘player’ but also ‘player team’ (if they ever sign)
This plus some ability for the existing contract to be ‘affected’ (I know ‘voiding’ of the contract goes too far). I don’t have a good answer for this
There’s no way to make teams pay 125% of what a player is worth. The market will pay him exactly what he’s worth as teams negotiate against one another. The face value of the contract will simply be less to adjust the total back to “normal.”
I suspect that’s the point of the suggestion. It cuts the player’s earnings.
Keeping fingers crossed Albert is on the list!
Yeah then Cron will full time 1B good luck with that
I assume the answer is yes, but does anyone know for certain whether teams are notified in the same manner as players when they are “informed of their pending suspensions” and move through the “phases of the “administrative process” along the way?
If I’m a GM and know that a suspension could be on the near horizon, it would likely influence some of my roster decision-making, right?
Teams only know if the player tells them. Otherwise they find out when process is complete, appeals are exhausted, and the suspension is official. It then goes into place immediately. They might hear rumblings, since rumors float around about everything; but the league tells them nothing about what’s in process.
I know this as a Twins fan, because the Ervin Santana suspension last year caught the team completely by surprise and had to shift plans at the last minute with a pitcher who was going to go to the bullpen; even though Santana had been going through the appeals process in secret for some time. Terry Ryan (Twins GM) and Dave St. Peter (Twins President) were both interviewed multiple places and explained that the team is not told anything at all until the process is complete. The player can tell the team they tested positive and are appealing, but they are under no obligation to do so.
Much appreciated, thanks!
Jose Bautista come on dowwnnnnnn
What if a player tests positive for pilates?
Mandatory truck nuts.
I’m going jimmy paredes on the Os
It’s kind of fun to guess… But we owe it to all players to bite our tongues… Not fair to those we name and associate their names (even in jest). Will be interesting to see who does get named
Huh? We don’t owe the players anything.
If we’re going to play the “who on our own teams are we worried about game”, I’m crossing my fingers that we don’t hear the names Travis Shaw or Hanley Ramirez
It would be humorous if Pablo got named.
That’s classy, half the people here are hoping for their least favored players to get pinched. I hope that the highest WAR player on each of their favorite teams gets suspended.
So does Manny Machado, Travis Shaw, Masahiro Tanaka, Logan Forsythe, Josh Donaldson, Adam Eaton, Francisco Lindor, Jordan Zimmermann, Mike Moustakas, Joe Mauer, Jose Altuve, Mike Trout, John Axford, Robinson Cano, Adrian Beltre, Mallex Smith, Christian Yelich, Noah Syndergaard, Vince Velasquez, Joe Ross, Jake Arrieta, Zack Cozart, Ryan Braun, Starling Marte, Aledmys Diaz, Jean Segura, Nolan Arenado, Clayton Kershaw, Wil Myers and Brandon Crawford make sense to you?
That would officially make this the most interesting season ever
I’m going to go out on a limb and say John Danks was NOT one of the guys nabbed.
Are managers covered under the PED testing protocol? Because something is WAY different with Robin Ventura’s managing this season. Just sayin’.
Jake Peavy needs to start taking some PEDs, either to get better or suspended.
Maybe Jeff or someone else can confirm this, but I’m pretty sure the way the process works is if a sample tests positive, the B-sample is automatically tested to confirm the result. If the result is confirmed by the B-sample, the team and player are then informed, and the player has the right to have the samples retested by another accredited lab, or if the appeal centers around a tainted supplement, or possible errors in the processing of the test or chain of custody of the sample, to provide evidence to that effect. I imagine a tremendous amount of thought and care goes into every step of the process on both ends, so a month after the season starts (assuming the majority of these cases originated from Spring Training) doesn’t seem particularly delayed when considering all of the steps in the process, and that’s not even accounting for bureaucratic delays…The Colabello response is very intriguing to me. It doesn’t seem like he’s trying the Ryan Braun approach, which obviously won’t work this day and age. If a bunch of players are testing positive for an antiquated anabolic steroid that modern testing has no difficulty picking up, I’m curious if a tainted supplement could be the root of some of these. Time will tell, I suppose. Haven’t heard much fuss about any of the other ones, so perhaps they were all warranted. I think a lot of the steroid craze is a bit silly, since steroids have hundreds of legitimate current medical applications. I think the image of a jacked guy with slicked back hair wearing a wife-beater peddling mystery drugs in the alleys of gyms is a bit out of date. I imagine a lot of these drugs are coming from doctors, and are being taken under medical supervision. I’m sure that’s not always the case, especially in the case of players that train in third-world countries in the offseason. All in all, I’d be in favor of easing up on some of the banned substances, and increasing the penalties for the really nasty ones that have the most adverse medical effects. With so much financial motivation, and so many different types of banned substances, it turns everything into a tightrope walk that is clearly difficult to walk for so many athletes who most wouldn’t consider “dirty” players. These guys are paid millions of dollars, and so much more is at stake in terms of future earnings. I find it pretty naive to expect guys to just drink water and protein shakes and let natural talent take care of the rest, and then demonize anyone who deviates from that righteous path. I know if the difference between taking something that won’t have a very negative effect on my health and working at Home Depot the next year were the choices, I know which choice I’d make
I don’t recall the details offhand, but you can find the JDA online and read up on all the details. The biggest reason for the delay would be dealing with appeal.
Otherwise, I certainly agree that it’s silly to ban substances if they aren’t detrimental to a person’s health, but I haven’t seen anything suggesting that any currently banned substances would meet that definition.
The thing is. I don’t care if steroids are in baseball. I don’t. And neither should MLB. Peds saved the game after the strike of ’94-95.
MLB turned a blind eye to it when Sosa and big Mac were in the hr chase and only cared when Bonds was going for the all time record and Congress embarrassed so many at one time. Id rather watch Stanton hit a 500 foot home run off a 99 mph fastball than watch someone like Jeter poke it thru first and second for a single on a 90mph fastball.
And don’t tell me it’s a bad example for your kids. These men are not role models and should never be treated as such. It’s your job to teach your kids. Heck I bet if baseball finds away to get an endorsement deal they will make players trot out there with ads like they do Gatorade. I’m not saying find a horse farmers stash but if there is something for recovery to keep stars out there I’m all for it. I accept hate mail from baseball purists.
I vote to let them take whatever they want but MLB and teams are not responsible for future health problems. We allow growth hormones used in our food but not in our entertainment. All the food being sold in the parks is loaded with GMOs. We should be more concerned about our own bodies before worrying about guys getting millions of dollars to entertain us.
There’s pretty overwhelming scientific evidence that the current types of GM foods have little effect on the body as opposed to organic foods. The main argument against GMO is based in that we have no idea how future forms of GMO are going to affect the environment.
Papi! Papi! Papi!
It would be nice to know just how players failed the test, whether they are over the testosterone limit as Braun was for instance (20:1 epi/testosterone ratio). Or if they’re actually doing more CIR testing that can detect drugs at any level. The allowable testosterone ratio of 4:1 is ridiculous. If they really want to catch everybody doing what Bonds did, with quick acting synth testosterone that gets out of your system overnight, they need to lower that limit to something more like 2:1. Players like Pete Rose may have been around there naturally, but most men, including athletes don’t get higher than 1:1 naturally.
And the charade continues.
Let’s be honest. Steroids have been one of the greatest things to have happen to baseball. Sosa and big Mack saved the sport after the strike of ’94-95. They embraced it. Even had little cute saying like “chicks dig the long ball” no one batted( pardon the pun) that guys looked like gorillas. Not until Bonds was to break old Hank. I don’t care that there are peds in baseball and all the fake outrage from MLB has only come since they were embarrassed by Congress. These guys are athletes not hero’s so I don’t want to hear about them being bad influences on kids. Teach your own kids. I’ll accept hate mail from baseball purists. If this is repeated from another post of mine I am sorry. It didn’t go through last time.
I agree. What I don’t understand is why baseball gets singled out. Almost all other sports are loaded with PED users and no one even cares. Hell, look at the Olympics, the highest held sporting event in the world; almost all Olympic athletes don’t get drug tested and many admit to using PEDs. But baseball (and lance Armstrong) get all of the bad rap.
Completely agree. I certainly wouldn’t want my kids to take any financial influences from professional athletes. Blow all money and then want their respected sports to take care of them after.
Chris Young ?
It’s definitely not Pablo Sandoval
I hope Bryce Harper gets nailed
I’m thinking it will be Ron Gardenhire, Tom Kelly, and Paul Molitor. Maybe Tom Terwilliger and Mark Salas. Bruno and Hrbie as well.