Washington Nationals catcher Tres Barrera has been suspended 80 games as part of MLB’s PED testing program, per Jared Diamond of the Wall Street Journal. Barrera tested positive for Dehydrochlormethyltestosterone.
Per Mark Zuckerman of MASNsports.com, Barrera’s said through a statement that he “…never, and will never knowingly use a banned substance.” Barrera lost his appeal and will begin serving his suspension, despite his insistence that he does not know how the banned substance got into his system.
Interestingly, Barrera has gone so far as to reach out on Twitter to the lead investigator on the BALCO case. Further, there’s some debate about the particular substance for which Barrera tested positive. Turinabol is a bit of an outdated substance, and it would be surprising for someone in such a public testing protocol to chose it over more modern drugs that leave the bloodstream more quickly, per T.J. Quinn of ESPN (via Twitter). Even if Barrera wasn’t actively seeking PEDs, there’s still some potential culpability depending on how it was the drug entered his system. Still, there is at least some reason to hold off on judgment of Barrera until we know more.
If there’s a positive side to this for Barrera, it’s that he knows that this brand of suspension is not a death knell for his career. Raudy Read served a similar 80-game suspension last season and returned to his slot ahead of Barrera in the organizational depth chart.
Barrera, 25, made his major league debut last year with a pair of at-bats at the end of September. He figured to serve as catching depth on the 40-man roster behind Yan Gomes, Kurt Suzuki, and Read. Still, there was a decent chance that Barrera saw some major league action this year. With Welington Castillo opting out, Barrera’s suspension saps them of further catching depth. The major-league club should be okay with Gomes, Suzuki, and Read, but the suspension will likely push the Nats at add another catcher to their 60-player pool, if nothing else.
The Nats selected Barrera in the sixth round of the 2016 draft out of Texas. He was their regular catcher in Double-A last season, which rostered many of the Nats’ eventual call-ups because of the geographical distance of their Triple-A club. The Texas-native is a defensive-minded catcher whose glove has generally trended ahead of his bat. He authored a triple-slash of .249/.323/.381 across 403 plate appearances.
Welp
only made him a mediocre hitter lol
Mediocre hitters in the majors make a damn good living.
“I have no idea how it got into my system.”
I’m so tired of this “excuse.” Know how it got in there? You used it. Admit to your mistake and it’s a lot easier on you. Sometimes, you’re prescribed something that has it in there and you don’t know because you take a doctor at their word instead of doing your own research. Admit it and stop trying to play a victim.
There always will be tainted supplements where guys do get screwed, but there is way too much boy who cried wolf. Hard to believe anybody when everybody has “no idea” how it entered their system.
If you want supplements go through the team trainer. Your on a multi million dollar baseball team there are people who’s job it is to keep you informed and supply you with what you need.
I agree, sadosfan… especially since MLB issues regular guidance regarding which specific supplements are MLB approved.
These are not chemists we are talking about. These are jocks who, in the case of most foreign players, didn’t even finish high school. I believe that is the reason a majority of the positive are from foreign players. It’s not culture or trying to get an advantage to get money, it is the lack of education. Take a 14 year old child,with average intelligence in regards to science and have them explain to you what every ingredient in GNC (or whatever store) is designed to do. Sure there are lists and people to help, but when you have Frank Thomas and Andy Van Slyke hawking PEDs on TV, how can you expect an undereducated player that barely speaks English to understand the difference?
Unfair statement. The suspended player is a college grad. Players need to vet any substance they consider using through the team trainers and medical staff.
College education doesn’t mean you are educated just as not having a college education doesn’t mean you are uneducated. These are professionals who have people around them who could hell with thread sort of things. Ask someone within the club or organization.
I didn’t call them uneducated, I called them undereducated. It’s unrealistic to expect grown men to depend on someone for every single thing they put into their body. It’s also unrealistic for a grown man to have to baby all of these players by taking calls all hours of the day from players buying vitamins. Of course, players should run new medication by the club or whatever, but if you are taking a legally sold vitamin product sold at Wal Mart, is it going to go through your mind to to check with people? And more importantly should it?
I’m all for getting illegal anabolic steroids out of the game, but that’s not what I am talking about here. We are talking about a 10 syllable word that no one here has ever heard of before today.
And yet thousands of players each year are able to produce on the field and avoid testing positive. No matter the background, these are professional athletes with the responsibility and opportunity to have experts make supplement and vitamin choices for them. I’m sure an appeal would stand a chance if an investigation determined that a player took advantage of every vetted resource and still tested positive.
Do people actually sincerely believe that the players don’t know anything about this kind of stuff and, despite their hearts being pure as the wind driven snow, they accidentally get tripped up using something out of the wrong aisle at GNC. Not just for one player – literally every one of these guys has essentially the same story.
…and everyone who gets a DWI only had one beer, I promise, officer
Do you actually sincerely believe that the players have the intimate knowledge of chemicals equivalent to Bryan Cranston in Breaking Bad? I’m not saying no one has ever taken advantage of the system and tried to cheat. Obviously they have, but I don’t believe everyone that has been suspended was trying to cheat.
Some people want to be pessimists and always see the negative or worst possible outcome in any situation. I prefer to be an optimist and not see doom and gloom in every situation. I’ll never change and you probably won’t either, so I think we are done here. Have a nice day.
You know, maybe he is telling the truth. You ever consider that possibility? Especially given how ancient the steroid he tested positive for is. Of course some people like to jump to conclusions so they don’t have to think hard.
It worked well enough for David Ortiz. MLB just took his word for it, while others got roasted.
A name that belongs in the Star Wars universe.
Lol he’d be Saw Gerrera’s cousin for sure
Kudos for spelling the substance in question – almost an entire line.
Two writers had to proofread it, working in shifts.
80 games this year amounts to a season and a month
Yes, the first month of 2021. So he is on the shelf through roughly next May 1st.
Tres mal
And his dog ate his homework!
Shouldn’t suspensions be pro-rated this year as well? I don’t think players should get away with it or anything. However, the punishment right now is more severe in terms of salary loss and time lost than it was last season and than it will be next season. A 30 game suspension and loss of half your pay for the year seems completely appropriate for this season.
No
Yeah that’s what I was thinking. It seems very disproportionate.
This was in the agreement between players and owners. Pay is prorated, players can opt out without gaining service time unless they’re high risk, and all suspension times will stay the same length.
Honestly, with the shorter season, expanded rosters, and the plethora of players opting out of the season, this is incredibly dumb for a guy trying to break in this year.
I say no to prorated suspensions. In a way it might actually give a player more of an incentive to use PEDs or any other banned substance this season. Risk an 80 game suspension, which would be about 30 games prorated, and return in a month instead of three.
There’s going to be a handful of players that are going to parlay a huge 60 game season into a good payday, so the incentive to risk using PEDs probably increases if suspensions were prorated.
But you are still losing half your season and half your pay. An 80 game suspension means this guy will not get paid at all this year and part of next year. I get that PEDs are bad and all, but taking a man’s pay away for over a year without firing him is something that just shouldn’t be done.
Well now he’s free to go get a job and make money, correct?
Incorrect as he’s still contracted to his club and therefore won’t be allowed to work for anyone else.
Are you telling me he can’t go get a job at Walmart?
Say that 5 times fast!
Take that substance with a spoonful of bleach and eat a lightbulb, and you won’t get the virus.
Why they keep saying the same
I don’t know how that got into my body
You know how.
The MLBPA must have standard “me know nothing” soundbites for players who are caught cheating.
Yeah, either the union or the agents must script these lame non-denial denials for them. It’s the same song every time, just meant to give fans some plausible reason to believe the player wasn’t actually cheating.
Just like Sargent Schultz. I know nothing !!!!
Is Tres Barrera his parents’ third child ? If so they aren’t very creative. At least his name isn’t Sixto.
Felipe Barrera III. Tres is a nickname.
Josh Harrison to get his roster spot?
I’m always amused at the stock statements agents no doubt write for the guys getting busted for this stuff. Don’t vociferously deny it because you’ll look like a turd, but don’t own it outright either because that would require a nonzero amount of character.
Are they still doing PED testing at the same cadence since Summer Camp opened, or is COVID testing using up too many of MLB’s testing resources?
Chris Colabello got popped for this same substance, too. And used almost the exact same language after he got caught. must be a union-provided statement.
The MLB claims its test can find part per trillion of the steroid derivatives ( what they test for is the metabolized end product)… if that is true in some cities you could drink the water and test positive for steroids.. or eat a steak from Mexico… That is fact: ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3273502/
si.com/nfl/2016/05/04/ap-fbn-nfl-meat-warning
Dehydrochlormethyltestosterone.
If you can’t spell it or draw the molecular structure, maybe you shouldn’t take it. And if you can draw the molecular structure, you probably won’t take it.
Wait officer, you found dope in my pants pocket? Well, these aren’t my pants.
Just let them juice. This season only. Want home fun derby nightly.
Dehydrochlormethyltestosterone: What IS This Crap?
bluebirdbanter.com/2016/4/24/11497244/dehydrochlormethyltestosterone-what-is-this-crap
First, these days it’s not made by a pharmaceutical company any longer. It was discontinued as a sanitarily produced, quality controlled, dose accurate compound back in 1994. It is only available through black market labs. Most, if not all, of these are going to have dubious sanitary quality control, dose accuracy, and even compound/drug formulation quality.