Rockies’ reliever Justin Lawrence has been suspended without pay for 80 games, MLB announced today. He tested positive for dehydrochlormethyltestosterone, a performance-enhancing substance.
Lawrence, 25, was selected to the Rockies’ 40-man roster last offseason, although he has yet to make his MLB debut. After breaking out with a strong season in High-A and in the Arizona Fall League in 2018, Lawrence regressed last season. In 37 innings between Triple-A Albuquerque and Double-A Hartford, he managed just an 8.76 ERA with 29 walks and 32 strikeouts. In their postseason write-up of the Rockies’ farm system, Fangraphs’ Kiley McDaniel and Eric Longenhagen called Lawrence “an upper-90’s siderarmer with very poor pitch execution.”
Got PEDS
AAAAHH CHEATING!!! LYNCH HIM AND THE ENITRE ORGANIZATION!! -How most MLB fans sound nowadays
Fans really sound that way? Are you serious?
You think that Cano, Marte, Polanco, Cruz, Pineda, Montas, Gordon have a huge stigma attached to them. The Twins don’t have any issues signing them or giving them extensions. The Mets happily took on Cano. And so on.
A_Rod is the voice of ESPN baseball. Bonds and Clemens will get over 60 percent of the Hall of Fame vote.
If you ask me, the stigma is far too silent.
yes this. you forgot mark McGwire who admitted to taking steroids. where’d he end up? coaching in MLB, respected and revered by broadcasters. MLB doesn’t care about cheating.
Well said macstruts, if the player has taken with full knowledge to gain an unfair advantage. MLB needs to be tougher on cheating overall otherwise what’s the point?
I don’t know if Pineda should be included in that list. The league determined he didn’t take them for performance enhancing reasons.
JD, I don’t follow the Twins that closely but it seems like everyone always has an excuse. If you have an issue with Cano, and Cruz and Polanco but don’t have one with Pineda and believe he’s different, you might be right.
But typically, PED users don’t face the stigma they should. I.M.O.
If a guy’s served a half-season suspension, paid what amounts to a multi-million dollar fine in lost income (a larger fine than pretty much any other real crooks on the planet, in some cases more than Jim Crane), I feel they’ve paid their dues. IMO. That having been said, I do agree with your proposal that the suspension should be for a year, two years for the second offense, then life. Put a deeper bite in it should reduce the cheaters. Though I do think we need a more aggressive, intrusive testing program. I think too many are getting away with it. In closing, I don’t think ostracizing someone for life is the answer. Not if they admitted their transgression and paid their dues.
I really wish people would stop crying about A-Rod working as an analyst. His prior PED use as a player does not strip him of his right to seek and obtain employment as a TV commentator.
The two are mutually exclusive. Stop trying to punish people by banning them from being gainfully employed..
He replaced Schilling. If it was all about baseball, then why was Schilling fired?
ESPN fired Schilling to take the high road, so what did they do? They replaced him with A-Rod.
Probably because Schilling was bound to implode On Air. Guy’s out of control.
Schilling has a tact and filter issue. No question about that.
A lot of hate as well.
The guy had a .876 ERA last year, clearly PEDs dont matter and there should be no stigma about it. There’s nothing wrong with doing everything you can to prevent injuries.
8.76 era. He have up about 2 hits per pitch and 3 runs per hit
I agree….far to silent!
I’d replace MLB fans with Red Sox and Astros fans… who are trying to pretend that a few individual players on EVERY team (though again they like to forget their own offenders and focus mostly on the Yankees and dodgers) taking steroids is as bad as their sign stealing scandals.
Obviously this isn’t every fan of these teams but I’ve heard this argument from enough from many of them over the past few days my eyes are starting to hurt from rolling them too much.
The Yankees have had zero players fail a PED test. We know about A-Rod and Pettite because they admitted it, and Clemens because Pettite and the Mitchell Report “implicated” him. Others were “implicated” in the Mitchell Report. So the last NYY we know did PED’s for the NYY was A-Rod in 2009. Melky Cabrera and Robinson Cano failed their tests years after they left the NYY. It’s been 10 years clean of PED’s…
Agreed….this Cancel Culture BS has to stop…its not just baseball fans its society…
Found the Astros fan
Imagine thinking the actions of one player compares to a teamwide systematic scheme to successfully steal the world series and MVP awards.
with those numbers? yikes!
Right. Career over
He might want to get a refund on those PED’s if he was walking almost as many batters as he was striking out.
Yup, its almost like baseball is a skill game and PEDs dont actually matter.
Tell that to the 08 pads who went on a tailspin after an embarrassing piece of history against them
The next collective bargaining agreement, make it one year for first offense, two for a second, then life.
Enough is enough.
I agree but they have to improve the testing, too. I think there are a lot of guys sneaking through. I don’t think the half-dozen guys getting caught each year are doing it thinking it’s a high risk that they’ll get caught. I believe they are doing it because it’s low risk, because lots of guys are doing it and getting away with it. I don’t believe guys would be doing it if they thought they were bound to get caught. So the testing program must change. And that may have to wait for the new CBA as I believe it is the players who are blocking a thorough, intrusive, lockdown testing program.
Mo4ever……
What improvements would you like? Would you like to see WADA style testing? MLB already does that.
Gone are the days of a simple urine test. Every player’s past results are kept on file to establish a biological profile so that any and all increase in testosterone level triggers a failed test. Gone are the days of cycling through so that the drug can’t be detected in the sample. Samples are now subjected to IRMS (Isotope ratio mass spectrometry) that detects the biological markers of substances months after use.
MLB uses one lab and one lab only the “World Anti-Doping Agency certified laboratory known as Laboratoire de Controle du Dopage (INRS – Institut Armand-Frappier) in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.” One and only one person “The Director of the Montreal Laboratory shall be the Medical Testing Officer and shall conduct all of the testing of Player specimens”
MLB’s program is much tougher than the NFL etc. Even during the off-season players must let the league know where they are (at home, vacationing etc) because if their name is selected for a random off-season test and they cannot be reached it is considered a failed test.
Personally I believe they should increase the # of off-season urine tests and blood tests for hGH and maybe they will. They have slowly increases them since they got serious after Biogenesis.
Testing needs to happen every game. Every clubhouse should have an independent tester (testers rotated among teams every two weeks to minimize special relationships and biases and the corruption that could engender; testers replaced with new testers every year for the same reason). 5 random players tested before each game, 5 random players tested after each game.
You’re talking about drawing vials of blood and testing instantly. Can likely not be reasonably done at this time with the level of testing equipment and professionals to verify results.
Mechano Growth Factor is used up in the body quickly like insulin over a couple of hours and at this point is undetectable.
Mo4ever…………
The logistics alone of such an endeavor is crazy. Where are you going to find 30 trained and unimpeachable “testers”. Are you going to build 30 full labs on site? How do you keep the labs secure? The list goes on and on.
There is a reason the WADA and USADA yest as they do and why MLB and UFC are the only pro sports to use their protocols and facilities.
They can test and collect the blood on site at the stadiums before and after each game and ship the samples to regional or one national lab for analysis. The analysis does not have to happen same day. If they find out someone has failed a week after the blood is drawn, so be it. The important thing is constantly drawing blood to prevent players from getting around the infrequent tests with short-acting drugs.
How about 3x year test everyone. spring training, allstar break, offseason
cysoxsale
Too many PEDs are in and out of the body in hours. Taking tests at specific times gives the players a head’s up. Testing has to occur daily to keep up.
Mo4ever……..
Here is what you keep ignoring about the current testing. Each player’s results are kept on file and that includes their Testosterone to Epitestosterone (T:E) ratios. Prior to Biogenesis a 4:1 T:E ratio was fine. That allowed players testosterone level to vary and fluctuate and at that time the urine was tested for specific anabolic–androgenic steroids using very elementary testing.
Now if there is a variation in T levels that triggers a isotope ratio mass spectrometry test. An IRMS can detect the biological markers of any of the banned substances months after it has “cleared” the system under old testing.
Testing has changed drastically, your understanding of it has not.
Since you can’t seem to comprehend that all I can say is have a nice day.
cysoxsale……
Players are given a urine test a minimum of 3 times a year, ST, in season and off-season. Sadly there is only one mandatory blood sample drawn for hGH testing during the season.
There are 4,800 random urine samples taken during the season and 350 random off-season random tests. There are also 500 random hGH blood samples drawn each season and 400 drawn each off-season.
Here is a link to the JDA PDF through BR…. baseball-reference.com/bullpen/Joint_Drug_Preventi…
macstruts……
The JDA (Joint Drug Agreement) is not tied to the CBA. Any changes are addressed on a yearly basis after the end of the post season.
Heh heh. Hey Bevis, he said joint! Heh heh, heh, heh.
Yeah, better ban the guy with 8.76 ERA for life. Coward take. PEDs dont matter.
Keep saying it over and over to make yourself look uninformed over and over again.
So one guy has a high ERA on steroids and now they don’t matter? Obviously you still need skill to be a professional baseball player but steroids very clearly matter. They aren’t going to make you or I a pro but they could get a fringe guy into the show or turn an average player into an above average player. I can tell you as a doctor who treats athletes that there are a LOT of long term health effects with many of these substances and it would be irresponsible of MLB to allow their use. I don’t think athletes would risk the suspensions and fines if they didn’t matter.
…long term health benefits …. exactly! players KNOW the long term benefits of hgh are strengthened tendons and ligaments and new muscle growth within striated muscle cells.
There are dozens of players who played for a decade or longer with NO TIME on the injured/disabled list – playing between 155-162 games season after season – these players used hgh during the off-season when there was no testing being done. AND…. many of these players are STILL playing with multi-million dollar contracts.
= and they are in record books for setting new records and breaking records of honest players – ROGER MARIS for one!
MLB D O E S “DOES” – YES! DOES Allow these players to still play with the long term benefits of hgh!!
I can’t actually tell if you’re being sarcastic… It has literally been proven by study after study that the overall health effects of PED is overwhelmingly negative. Obviously many of these substances we don’t have good trials or data on but I would love a reference to your sources that say there are long term health benefits. And no saying a couple guys did it and were done does not count as proof.
This statement shows your ignorance on PED’s. Anyone who lumps them all together and says that everything about them is negative has no clue. HGH is far different than those cheap German steroids that half the power lifters at your local gym take. It’s not solely you. It’s probably a slew of people on here who wouldn’t know the difference between HGH and D-Bol or Winstrol. HGH, unlike the other crap has been show to have long term health benefits. There is also a huge price difference b/w HGH and that other stuff. It’s about 20x as expensive.—Too pricey for most of your meat heads at your local gym to consistently cycle.
jbigz12………
I have noticed that you have glossed over some of the side effects of hGH like – nerve, muscle, or joint pain – swelling of the arms and legs from fluid retention (edema) – high cholesterol levels an increased risk of heart disease and diabetes – growth of cancerous tumors – growth of facial features, hands, and feet (acromegaly) – mood changes, dependency, and withdrawal – an enlarged heart – low blood sugar – liver damage – fatigue and enlarged breasts in men (gynecomastia). I guess those don’t matter.
Sounds like you’re reading the side effects on the pill bottle of your cholesterol medicine.
No drug is perfectly “safe.” To lump HGH in with that other garbage is laughable.
jbig212 imagine airy people brah.
are we sure he wasn’t taking “performance ‘de-hanceing’ drugs” ? he had a 8.78 ERA in AA/AAA last year lol… anyway sucks for him but at this point how are players dumb enough to think they’re going to get away with it!? baffles me every time
They must be thinking they’ll get away with it because lots of guys are getting away with it. It must be low risk enough to make the gamble of getting caught worth it.
Whoa!
BAN HIM! Take his monies! Run him off!
try pronouncing dehydrochlormethyltestosterone
It was actually easier than I thought.
Yeah, but did you try to do it in Daffy Duck’s voice? You could water your plants in just a few syllables!
PEDs don’t make your control better. So, he’s an idiot.
PED’s don’t make anyone better, period. They simply prevent injury. Baseball is a skill game and if you dont have the skills, PEDs dont matter at all and we should make the suspensions more lenient because teams the Astros are really cheating for real.
Get a clue, you ignorant, broken record.
The Rockies protected a guy with a 8 plus era between the pcl and the Texas league? Ouch
They protected him last off-season. He was awesome in 2018. One of best reliever in the minors.
He’s destined to pitch for the Astros one day.
That’s proof right there that PED’s don’t do you any good!!
If you don’t play by the rules you shouldn’t be playing at all, simple as that.
For pitchers they help them heal quicker than other methods. For that, steroids do actually help them and give them an advantage over others. Of course you also have to pair that part by having some semblance of talent in your chosen sport that you decide to illegally take a banned substance for….
That ERA is from performance ENHANCING drugs? Sounds like bull to me.
Blossom’s bro?
If this is the worst thing he’s ever done he’s a better person than me. We’re all human. Good luck Justin
If this is the worst thing he’s ever done he’s a better person than me. We’re all human. Good luck Justin
PEDS and he had an ERA close to 9.00 last year lmao.
Mariners!!!!!!!
It is possible he took them unknowingly, there are multiple otc supplants known to contain it, and I’m sure some unknown. That doesnt really excuse anything since mlb will test supplements for free for players, but makes him stupid rather than an intentional cheater. Doesnt really matter, prolly ended his career. U put up numbers like that and then test positive, ull likely be dfa at end of season an DC never sign with another major league team
And of course they ignore the breaking news on Trout’s HGH accusation. Time to come clean MLB.
sports.yahoo.com/mlb-mlbpa-dismiss-wild-claims-tha…
Statement from David Brosius – the son of ex-Yankee third baseman Scott Brosius who started the rumor
“I’d like to clear the air about a comment made earlier this week about Mike Trout potentially using HGH. The statement in question was taken from a conversation where I was explaining how there are certain situations in which actions that would usually be against the rules and considered cheating, are deemed okay for medical or other reasons, thus not cheating. The example I used of Mike Trout does not stem from information from my Dad or sources within the MLB and has no evidence behind it. I had no intention of this becoming an accusation against Mike Trout or causing the uproar it did. Mike Trout has been the face of MLB for good reason, as he is an amazing player and even better example for baseball players like myself. I would like to sincerely apologize to him and his family for the unfair statement I made and the negative fallout it has had on them. No criticism or skepticism should be pointed at him, it should all be at me. I had a lapse in judgment when posting the comment and have learned my lesson on how powerful and dangerous social media can be.”
Backpedaling, that’s what happen the rich and powerful exert pressure on people.
Ever wonder why the NBA stays silent on PED testing? Yeah, me too.
*…happens when
And the Earth is flat, the moon is a hologram and lizard people secretly rule the world.
The ‘giants’ in NBA who are the size of two average people have ALL used HGH in their adolescent years when bones were growing and have likely continued to use throughout their careers.
jrbw? You sound unwell or 12yrs. old
It’s ok, cecil. Not everyone understands biochemistry.
David – some people should not drive a car. Some should not have kids be married or be given a microphone or allowed to type. Yeah you are forgiven. That is easy. We do not forget people with inferiority complexes dissing our heros. Get help David. Makes you sound like a punk.
And there have been no situations., right Dave?
OK you blew your 15 minutes. Or not.
Thank you Cat for doing due diligence.
You mean like Charles Lindberg?
If it was done ‘knowingly’, he may have figured — considering his numbers — that he had no chance of making the bigs w/o PEDs. So in a sense he would have had nothing to lose by trying them. Jails are full of people who commit crimes out of a similar sense of desperation. People are capable of rationalizing any darn fool thing that improves their lot in life.
I was curious what this substance was so looked it up. It was the steroid used by East German olympic athletes in the 70s and 80s.
And it typically flushes from your system in 16 hours. This dude must have been taking these horse steroids every day or just got really unlucky.
Not necessarily Bobby B.. Unlike a standard urine test a IRMS (Isotope ratio mass spectrometry) for Turinabol will detect the biological markers months later. That is why MLB upgraded their testing and continues too after the embarrassment that was Biogenesis.
Bonilla – thank you for that info.
16 hours and out of the system? Dang man that is tough to control.
That’s why the tests have to happen every game. 5 players on each team before each game, 5 players from each team after each game. Every game. It has to be so intrusive and intensive that players feel they have no chance of getting around it.
MLBPA is complicit—they’ll never agree to that degree of testing. They need to start handing out lifetime bans the very first time. Know what’s going in your body. If it’s not on the “allowable” list, don’t use it.
The 2012-13 Biogenesis scandal brought to light that players were buying for personal use human growth hormone. Those players received insignificant suspensions and went on to get multi-million dollar contracts, some are still playing and making millions every year.
That is why so many other players since then continue to use peds.
Carlos Gomez has now retired since he can no longer play like he did during his glory days 2010-15 when he was using hgh during every off-season.
Whatever is accepted, whether right or wrong, will eventually be embraced.
The steroid long balls of the ’90’s-2000’s dropped off, so MLB just changed the balls to go farther faster when hit. Russian drug makers also came up with an undetectable Mechano-Growth Factor that was available ( and used by? ) Eric Thames while playing in Korea for 3 years. They don’t test much in Korea.
scientificamerican.com/article/the-scientific-amer…
“Oral GH “secretalogues” are small peptides that stimulate the natural production of growth hormone via the pituitary. More recently, a Russian scientist has developed a drug called “Full Size MGF,” a cousin to IGF-1 that is both potent and undetectable.”
Five random guys each game. Outstanding! I vote for you.
Well it didn’t exactly enhance his performance, or hopefully it didn’t. My gosh those numbers are terrible