Article: Jorge Polanco Receives 80-Game Suspension For PED

[Squirrel]

 

you had me until Lewis. Don’t mess with him out of necessity.

Yeah ... Chattanooga is quite a jump.

[Squirrel]

Question - how soon does the team find out about these things? I'm just wondering, given Polanco's play so far in ST, if maybe his mind was on other things, and this was it?

[rdehring]

WOW, what a shock!  But in his defense, almost all players have trainers they work with over the winter.  Those who live in the D.R. have local trainers.  If you have someone like that, you trust them.  Was it an error by the trainer or intentional, we will never know.  

 

Problem is easily solved, IMO.  Move Adrianza into the starting shortstop role with Escobar as the backup, who can also play third base if/when Sano is sidelined for a suspension or injury.  If Sano is out for just a short time, you only need another infielder short term.  Could start the clock with Gordon or go with one of the other guys who have been in camp (would need to be added to the 40-man).  Who knows, Adrianza just may take the opportunity and never look back.

 

And as Carole hinted at above, maybe he did know this could be coming and that was on his mind while playing in the field this spring.

[Richie the Rally Goat]

Question - how soon does the team find out about these things? I'm just wondering, given Polanco's play so far in ST, if maybe his mind was on other things, and this was it?

the team must administer (or schedule w/ the third party) the test, no? Maybe not the analysis, but the collection. Or do you mean when the team gets the results?

[Squirrel]

 

the team must administer (or schedule w/ the third party) the test, no? Maybe not the analysis, but the collection. Or do you mean when the team gets the results?

Yeah ... when do they get the results? Have they known this for several days or a couple weeks already? And just now announce it? Is that why Aybar is still here?

[bluechipper]

I'm willing to forgive a guy for "making a mistake," but I'm getting tired of these metaphorical kicks to the groin right before the season starts. C'mon man!

[Rosterman]

So, will Jorge be housed in Ft. Myers doing daily workouts in the instructional camp. Ca he do that, as long as he doesn't play in any games...or can he play in the daily pickup games before short-season ball begins?

[Thrylos]

 

So, will Jorge be housed in Ft. Myers doing daily workouts in the instructional camp. Ca he do that, as long as he doesn't play in any games...or can he play in the daily pickup games before short-season ball begins?

 

He can play in EST games

[Dave The Dastardly]

Maybe more than the balls were juiced for the last couple months of last season.

[big dog]

I think in a case like this, the trainer's name should be announced so that other players know who they might want to avoid.  If the trainer denies it, fine, but let's air all this out.  Players deserve to know.  If they blame their trainer wrongly, let the trainer sue them.  This will never stop otherwise.  

[DaveW]

The mlb “performance enhancing drug” rules are stupid and unfair.

 

Between this nonsense and collusion this off season the players definitely need to strike.

[Mike Sixel]

The mlb “performance enhancing drug” rules are stupid and unfair.

 

Between this nonsense and collusion this off season the players definitely need to strike.

Agree they are stupid. But they are the rules.

[twinstalker]

 

This sucks. I'll give Polanco the benefit of the doubt and believe his story...

 

LOL. Andrew Wiggins is good because Glen Taylor/Thibs say he is. Twins are done with free agency because Falvey said they are. When are people, especially the media whose job it is, going to stop blindly believing what people with an agenda say? So many examples of it here in town. 

 

 

[mikelink45]

Bring in Gordon.  We will soon have a logjam at 2B/SS so take advantage and do some experimenting.  Do not go to old utility players - look to the future. 

[BJames]

If Sano is not suspended, I don't see second backup infielder Aybar get any playing time.  But the way this team is right now I don't see keeping two backup outfielders either. I still would of like Vargas on the Bench over Aybar or Two outfielders on the Beach

[JustinCB]

If you want to take B-12 and an iron supplement, then go to the damn drug store and buy it yourself. Don't trust anyone else.

He knew what he was doing. They all say some version of that when they get caught. Why they still think they can get away with it is the real question.

[Nine of twelve]

I suspect a lot of front offices know/suspect that their players are doing this and are ok with it so long as they don't get caught. It's hard to imagine why front offices let players continue to train with Angel Presenal back in the day if they didn't think PEDs were in use.

I remember googling stanozolol when Ervin went down. If you are juicing this is not the drug to take. Apparently it is almost always detected and the test is very specific for that drug.

[Vanimal46]

Agree they are stupid. But they are the rules.

Rules that 99% of players have no problem following.

[Minfidel]

 

Can JJ Hardy still play a little or is he still pissed at the twins?

There's really no one left with the Twins for him to be pissed at. 

[DaveW]

They should trade a PTNBL for Profar.

[Minfidel]

 

Defensively, isn't Adrianza supposed to be, uh, good? I'd guess he would be the main replacement at SS with Esco jumping in?

 

That said, Polanco has been having a rough spring, lots of errors so far. Maybe this time off gives him time to get it together. I've never been that high on him as a full-time SS but where do you go from here at this point?

Adrianza is good defensively, and has shown more pop in his bat lately. Uh-oh....

[Mr. Brooks]

Take a look on who gets busted the most. Also most ‘drug laws/rules’ decided by a bunch of old white men always end up being racist in who they punish and target the most.

 

Manfred and co are a freaking joke for suspending 80 games across the board for ANY drug.

 

Dumb, dumb, dumb.

Isn't the punishment a set number of games? How do they target minorities with their punishment?

 

The only thing I agree with here is that 80 games for juicing is stupid. That is far too light, IMO. That's not really enough to deter anyone when the reward for getting away with it is tens to hundreds of millions of dollars.

[Richie the Rally Goat]

Yeah ... when do they get the results? Have they known this for several days or a couple weeks already? And just now announce it? Is that why Aybar is still here?

http://www.mlb.com/pa/pdf/jda.pdf

According to the policy, the team, the players association, and the league knows 72 hours before the player does.

 

My guess is this has been a week or less. My employees were non-union, but i suspended my reports as soon as I found out or at the beginning of their next shift if they were off. I’d literally find them in the plant or at the beginning of the shift wait at the time clock.

 

Everyone knew someone got popped if I greeted everyone at the door, which was once or twice a month.

[Squirrel]

 

Take a look on who gets busted the most. Also most ‘drug laws/rules’ decided by a bunch of old white men always end up being racist in who they punish and target the most.

Manfred and co are a freaking joke for suspending 80 games across the board for ANY drug.

Dumb, dumb, dumb.

Dominicans. It's not even close in being spread throughout Latin American players ... it's Dominicans who are being busted. In the DR steroids are legal and all one has to do is walk into any pharmacy for them. They are common place. I'm not saying that Polanco knew exactly what he was taking ... if he didn't, he should have known better; if he did, he should have known better. But until you casually throw out the race card ... and I'm not saying it's not racist ... but I'm saying you need to look further at exactly who is getting busted for this ... beyond just 'Latin American players' because it's predominately Dominicans.

[Puckett34]

Disappointed is a understatement.    C'mon man

[ChrisKnutson]

Without out Sano, Santana, and Polanco for a good portion of the season, I'm starting to have doubts on MN even winning the wildcard (could be wrong tho). 

 

Because my confidence in Aybar and or Gordon starting is so low, I believe the Twins should bring back Trevor Plouffe to hold down 3rd, play Escobar at SS, and leave Adrianza as the utility.

 

Other options would be: Jurickson Profar, Taylor Motter, Devin Marrero, Ketel Marte, Adeiny Hechavarria, and Aledmys Diaz

[howeda7]

 

There's really no one left with the Twins for him to be pissed at. 

I was excited seeing he was available for about 30 seconds. Then I looked at his stats the last two years. Woof. 

[howeda7]

 

Without out Sano, Santana, and Polanco for a good portion of the season, I'm starting to have doubts on MN even winning the wildcard (could be wrong tho). 

 

Because my confidence in Aybar and or Gordon starting is so low, I believe the Twins should bring back Trevor Plouffe to hold down 3rd, play Escobar at SS, and leave Adrianza as the utility.

 

Other options would be: Jurickson Profar, Taylor Motter, Devin Marrero, Ketel Marte, Adeiny Hechavarria, and Aledmys Diaz

 

Santana will be back by May 15th or sooner. I'll be surprised if Sano is suspended for more than 15-20 games tbh. There's almost no way they have any 'proof' of anything 2.5 years after the fact. Unless there are additional accusers, my guess is a short suspension and some community service etc. 

Edited March 19, 2018 by howeda7

[slash129]

Maybe a Dozier extension will come of this ... If Gordon can come up and suck just enough to get the FO to realize that they need to move on negotiations, there could be a silver lining here.

[Dozier's Glorious Hair]

 

Yeah, that’s sort of my point, it’s racist or prejeduice against Dominicans (where FWIW is where the most ‘latin’ players in MLB are from, and minor leaguers. Major league for example has more Dominican players then the rest of the Latin countries combined)

Nobody may have meant it to be racist, but it is racist, just again much like any law dealing with drugs that a bunch of old white men come up with.

 

So, what's your solution to fix this supposed racism against Dominican players? Don't test them? Test them less? Give them more of a warning before there's a test? Do away with testing altogether?