Major League Baseball announced this afternoon that Brewers reliever J.C. Mejía has been suspended for 80 games after testing positive for the performance-enhancing substance Stanozolol. He heads to the restricted list, freeing up a 40-man roster spot. Milwaukee selected right-hander Trevor Kelley onto the big league roster in a corresponding move.
Mejía has made just a pair of appearances as a Brewer. Acquired from the Guardians last November after he’d been designated for assignment by Cleveland, he’s allowed six runs through 2 1/3 innings with Milwaukee. He’d been much better with Triple-A Nashville, however, tossing 10 2/3 frames of one-run ball across six outings. Mejía walked six batters with the Sounds, but he also punched out 15 and allowed just four hits.
Milwaukee has deployed the 25-year-old solely in relief this year. Mejía started 11 of his 17 appearances with Cleveland last season, his first crack at the major league level. That didn’t go especially well, as he was thrust into the rotation while the club dealt with various injuries and managed just an 8.25 ERA.
Mejía won’t be paid or receive service time for the next couple months. He’ll be eligible to return in mid-August but won’t be allowed to participate in postseason play this year. Mejía becomes the second player the division-leading Brew Crew have lost to a PED suspension in as many months; catcher Pedro Severino was suspended 80 games on the eve of Opening Day after his own positive test.
Kelley, 28, signed a minor league contract with Milwaukee last November. The right-hander appeared in 14 MLB games with the Red Sox and Phillies between 2019-20, allowing 12 runs in 11 2/3 innings. He spent all of last season with the Braves’ top affiliate in Gwinnett, never getting an MLB call from the eventual World Series champs despite posting an excellent 1.52 ERA over 41 1/3 frames.
Assigned to Nashville to open the year, Kelley has picked up where he’d left off at the minors’ highest level. He has allowed only two runs in 13 innings out of the bullpen, racking up 17 punchouts against four walks. Kelley has a pair of option years remaining, so the team can shuttle him between Milwaukee and Nashville while keeping him on the 40-man roster.
That ERA and all those years and dollars on his deal were a bald faced lie, I guess. Brewers are losing a key piece of their pitching staff with this one. Did not see it coming. That’s a lot of money on the books that they can now save. Wonder if they can void his mega deal.
What???
Sarcasm.
Stick with yo numbers. You know… your strong suit 🙂
A horrible effort at it
Mejia is making league minimum,. What mega deal are you referring to?
ERA over 23 I’m not sure exactly what performance he was enhancing…
He got one strikeout.
He was enhancing his ERA.
“ ERA over 23 I’m not sure exactly what performance he was enhancing…”
Imagine if he *wasn’t* using?!
The second Brewer this year?
Both new guys. Bad luck. Are teams allowed to screen guys for steroids in the physicals before signing contracts?
I think the J.C stands for “Just Cheating”.
Just Caught
That made me laugh
Just checking
I’d hate to see his un-enhanced performance…
Why are these players now getting caught for Stanozolol?
His seasonal and career ERA’s are not the strongest endorsements for PED’s. It may not help you and you risk suspension.
Rumor was it would slide past the system- but it doesn’t? Lol
This just goes to show that PEDs don’t help you if you can’t already pitch. Like, Gallo could use PEDs, but as long as he uppercuts right underneath middle-middle pitches, missing them completely, Sylvester Stallone could be his pharmacist and he would still hit .190 with a 50% SO rate.
Not to say it doesn’t help those who actually do have talent, because it certainly does.
gets lit up then suspended not fun year for him
apparently he was only doping in AAA
This drug was developed in 1962. Why would anyone be using such an old steroid 50 years later??
60 years later even
Needs a math enhancing drug.
It must be because it’s what is available in the Dominican Republic.
Most of the guys getting caught are from there.
Anybody trying to escape the poverty of the DR would have done the same thing, let’s not kid ourselves. They’ve got plenty to gain and nothing to lose. It’s not their fault they can’t afford the good stuff, cut them some slack.
It’s a pretty common PED because it’s easy to find and typically does what it’s supposed to.
I see your point but you are making too sweeping of a generalization. Are you suggesting that EVERY player from the DR has used PEDs?
All about what they think the test will or will not detect, if you really want to know…
Relax guys. Him and Severino were trying to make babies with each other
*insert pregnant man emoji*
Ewwwwwwwwww
One way to get taken off the roster. I want Gustaval and Mejia off the 26 man roster but not this way lol
How the mighty have fallen.
Heh, at first I thought it said “Jennry” and I was like you’ve got to be kidding me
They should start penalizing the team as well as the players.
If MLB had any sort of integrity, they’d put a stop to the pipeline. Obviously they have no intention of doing so.
Bob, that’s actually a good idea. Not entirely sure it would work but it’s interesting to consider.
Wait Severino wasn’t even Brewer when he tested positive and Mejia was just brought into the Brewers system this winter. You can’t expect the team to be with these guys 24/ 7.
Bobcastelliniscat………
If you are charged with a DUI, B&E, theft, perjury, hit and run or even jaywalking should your employer be penalized?
Cat Mano: false equivalency. DUIs aren’t a direct part of someone’s job (unless the are a driver). Players using PEDs are breaking rules WITHIN THEIR OWN WORKPLACE (with possible team compliance). Biiiiiig difference.
My point is this. Is an employer responsible for every aspect of an employees life? If an employee is a thief at night and the employer does not know is the employer responsible?
If the team does not know a player is juicing how can they be held responsible? Answer – they can’t.
I hate PED cheaters – I even skip Phillies games on ESPN because I can’t stand the sound of A-Roids arrogant voice but I don’t blame Seattle, Texas or NY for his actions.
No. No one is saying an employer is responsible for everything in a workers life. Absolutely no one is holding that position. But PED usage DIRECTLY affects the job and, thus, is a major concern for all involved.
So tell me….how do you justify holding a team responsible for a player using PED’s. Explain why they should be held accountable when they have no knowledge of the players use.
I agree that PED usage is a major concern and MLB has the most advanced and comprehensive testing of all the major sports. The teams pay for this program as well, so once again explain why they should be penalized.
I don’t completely justify it. I just think it’s an interesting idea. I’m not totally sold on it at all.
Sorry, you seemed to be siding with Bobcastelliniscat and I just don’t see holding teams responsible without solid and empirical evidence that they were compliant. It’s a non-starter just like the other comment saying “If MLB had any sort of integrity, they’d put a stop to the pipeline. Obviously they have no intention of doing so.”. LOL…..how do the stop the “pipeline”? That is just rhetoric for the sake of rhetoric.
Yea I was advocating the position so I see why you thought that. But at the end of the day I can certainly imagine several reasons why it probably wouldn’t work.
Is your employer supposed to handhold you through adult decision making skills?
They are supposed to be involved in issues that directly impact the business. PED usage isn’t extra curricular to baseball, rather it is a direct part of baseball. Big difference between drug usage and using drugs for the purpose at cheating at your job (which can benefit the employer, thus there is responsibility there.)
Bob, former Commissioner Fay Vincent sent a leaguewide memo demanding a tough anti-drug program that included a $250,000 fine to be levied against any club that harbored drug cheats. A year later, the owners had forced out Vincent and replaced him with Bud Selig.
I don’t know how much the drug policy might or might not have affected the owners’ animus towards Vincent; they had a lot of reasons not to like him, including this statement by Vincent:
“The single biggest reality you guys have to face up to is collusion. You stole $280 million from the players, and the players are unified to a man around that issue, because you got caught and many of you are still involved.”
Here’s the text of Vincent’s memo:
espn.com/espn/eticket/format/memos20051109?memo=19…
I guess these guys are told then can “cycle though” and not get caught like in “the good ole days”. That is just not true anymore with IRMS (isotope ratio mass spectrometry) and “biological passports”.
A juicer from the Dominican Republic.
Shocking.
Did they find Brauns leftover stash?
He needed the steroids to be just good enough to play in mlb. Fringe guys man.