Over the past few years, hundreds of major and minor league players in baseball have been suspended for the use of either performance-enhancing or recreational drugs. Some have washed out, some are still playing. Let’s take a look at a few guys who have previously been suspended.
Jenrry Mejia, Pitcher
Date: February 2016
Length: Lifetime
Reason: Multiple Positive Drug Tests
After showing real promise early in his career with the New York Mets, Mejia has gone on to earn three drug-related suspensions within the past two years. His third positive test at the beginning of 2016 for the banned substance, boldenone, resulted in a mandatory lifetime ban from Major League Baseball.
It is a truly odd turn of events for Mejia, who was going to earn $2.47 million after avoiding arbitration with the Mets in the offseason. He was set to return to New York’s bullpen this past season after serving his previous suspension of 162 games.
In July, Mejia said he planned to sue the MLB for years of “corrupt mob-like activity,” claiming, among other things, that he was banned for not implicating another player.
Although he must be out of baseball for at least two years, Mejia can apply for reinstatement in March, when it will have been a full year since his initial lifetime ban. The commissioner will then have to decide if Mejia will indeed be eligible for reinstatement.
Currently, Mejia is out of professional baseball completely. The earliest he can possibly play in the majors again is 2018, but that looks like a long shot at this point. Over parts of five seasons in the MLB, he owns a 3.68 ERA.
Alfredo Aceves, Pitcher
Date: July 2014
Length: 50 Games
Reason: Drug Abuse
Aceves, previously a serviceable reliever for the Yankees from 2008-10 and the Red Sox in 2011, was suspended for recreational drug use in 2014. Aceves was pitching in the minors at the time and had been outrighted off the 40-man roster earlier that same season.
Players who aren’t on the 40-man roster are subject to drug tests for recreational drugs such as marijuana and cocaine. This was Aceves’ second such offense in his career, and the Yankees promptly released him.
Aceves has not pitched in the majors since his suspension. At the beginning of the 2015 season, he signed a minor-league contract with the San Francisco Giants but did not make the team. The past two years, he has pitched for the Sultanes de Monterrey of the Mexican Baseball League and posted a 3.81 ERA over 56 2/3 innings in 2016.
Chris Colabello, Infielder
Date: April 2016
Length: 80 games
Reason: Steroids
Chris Colabello had famously been signed out of an independent league back in 2012 and proceeded to bounce between the minors and majors in the season that followed. He never produced an above-average season before signing with the Toronto Blue Jays in 2015.
Colabello broke out in 2015 with an excellent .321/.367/.520 slash line and 15 home runs, all career-highs. The 32-year-old was suspended early this past season for dehydrochlormethyltestosterone, a steroid banned by the MLB.
After serving his suspension earlier this year, Colabello went on to hit just .180 and struck out in a below-average 30.1 percent of his plate appearances at Triple-A Buffalo, the Blue Jays affiliate. He also logged 32 plate appearances for Toronto before his suspension but managed only two hits.
Dee Gordon, Second Baseman
Date: April 2016
Length: 80 games
Reason: Multiple Banned Substances
After two straight years of above-average offensive production, including two straight years of leading the league in stolen bases, Dee Gordon signed a five-year, $50 million contract with the Miami Marlins with a vesting option for the sixth year worth $14 million this past offseason.
Shortly after the 2016 season started, Gordon received an 80-game suspension for performance-enhancing drugs. He lost about $3 million in salary due to the suspension.
Gordon later returned but managed well below average .268/.305/.335 slash line, well below his 2014 and 2015 numbers. Despite the drop-off, he is still guaranteed the remainder of his extension, which runs through 2020 and is likely to be Miami’s starting second baseman for the foreseeable future.
