The Boston Red Sox reported signing of former New York Mets reliever Jenrry Mejia comes with baggage. Absent from Major League Baseball since 2015, Mejia had shown promise up until that year. Whether or not that was solely thanks to his PED use remains to be seen.
It’s hard not to assume his pitching was heavily impacted by his PED, given his repeated usage leads one to believe he needed it, as well. Three times. Three times Mejia tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs. That’s supposed to translate into a lifetime ban. Instead, Rob Manfred waived Mejia’s expulsion from the game, welcoming him back to the game in July of 2018.
Talk about mixed messages.
Hows my offseason going? This guy had a lifetime ban and still signed before me!!! #wtf https://t.co/NhzCAiePbT
— Pete Moylan (@PeterMoylan) January 30, 2019
Major League Baseball has gone to great lengths to ensure cleanse the game of its black mark that plagued the game from the late 1980s to the early 2000s. Improved testing, intense suspensions, the whole nine yards.
Yet after going to great lengths, Manfred and whoever advised him on the issue decided to give Mejia another shot. For those wondering, Mejia was the first baseball player to receive a lifetime ban for PED use. Actually, he’s the only one to receive a lifetime ban.
So why not reinstate Pete Rose? Sure, what he did was the one thing you couldn’t do back when he played and managed, but this is supposed to be on a similar playing field. Or has Major League Baseball’s stance on PEDS in today’s game changed? It’s impossible to know now.
Same goes for the Red Sox and any other team that considered signing Mejia.
When Dee Gordon was suspended in 2016 there was clamoring from Major League front offices about how a situation like this would impact the teams. Understandably so. You play for a player who’s supposed to be able to perform and he doesn’t you ask why. If it’s because he was cheating before signing and the franchise had no idea, there’s a legitimate gripe. Though, whatever momentum that argument had is gone thanks to this move. Teams can’t care that much about PED use if they’re signing known users who’ve been caught repeatedly, right?
