Kepler Suspension Background Story

[MN Brian]

Found this on the Phillies Nation site and found it interesting in terms of the background on Kepler’s PED suspension.  He acknowledged being responsible but not guilty, which is an interesting positioning.  If true, it's a sad by-product of the need to crack down on PED use.  Of course, no way to know if there was an intent to take PEDs or not.

https://philliesnation.com/2026/09/philadelphia-phillies-arizona-diamondbacks-max-kepler-ped-suspension-september-3-2026-mlb-update/

[Dave Borton]

Extremely interesting article from PhilliesNation.

From the US Anti-Doping Agency, "...Testing positive due to meat contamination is exceedingly rare. Since 2019, USADA has conducted more than 60,000 tests on almost 11,000 athletes, and there have been two cases where positive tests were attributed to consumption of meat in the U.S. food supply, specifically from liver and oxtail."

https://www.usada.org/spirit-of-sport/anabolic-agents-meat-contamination/

[Linus]

I’m still waiting for the first doper to say “yea I took them”. 

[Parfigliano]

2 hours ago, Linus said:

I’m still waiting for the first doper to say “yea I took them”. 

"And I'd do it again."

[MN Brian]

2 hours ago, Linus said:

I’m still waiting for the first doper to say “yea I took them”. 

Maybe it's not the standard, but it's not that unusual (Jose Conseco?  Mark McGwire?).  Certainly not the norm however. 

But the main point being that nothing of this nature gets implemented without mistakes.  That's not to say that most testing is not accurate or that the testing shouldn't be done.  But it is to say that it would be crushing as an individual if you devoted your life to a sport only to have your reputation dirtied by a bad test, or by an accurate test that did not capture intent.

[strumdatjag]

19 hours ago, MN Brian said:

Maybe it's not the standard, but it's not that unusual (Jose Conseco?  Mark McGwire?).  Certainly not the norm however. 

But the main point being that nothing of this nature gets implemented without mistakes.  That's not to say that most testing is not accurate or that the testing shouldn't be done.  But it is to say that it would be crushing as an individual if you devoted your life to a sport only to have your reputation dirtied by a bad test, or by an accurate test that did not capture intent.

These admissions were not contemporaneous with the allegations. I remember “a friend” at the Dome repeatedly shouting “Steroids” at Canseco in the on-deck circle.  Jose would respond by angrily looking up in the stands and scanning side to side like he was looking for the heckling accuser.   He was not admitting anything at that time, only after retirement. 

[bean5302]

The chances Kepler was impacted by cross contamination from eating red meat is exceedingly low. No company "contaminates their meat." The steroid is a tablet placed behind the cow's ear. The steroid used in cattle is also totally banned in the E.U. where Kepler has typically spent a fair bit of his offseason.

The bottom line is he almost certainly doped. He got caught, he got punished. End of story. 

[Linus]

And now he has been released by Arizona. 

[Woof Bronzer]

On 9/5/2026 at 12:36 AM, MN Brian said:

 But it is to say that it would be crushing as an individual if you devoted your life to a sport only to have your reputation dirtied by a bad test, or by an accurate test that did not capture intent.

Here's what Kepler says in the article:

“If you really want to go into what happened, the substance that I took is trenbolon,” Kepler said. “Trenbolon, if you do your research on it, it’s to bulk up. It’s what meatheads take in the gym and it has no benefits to baseball."

So, I did what Max asked.  I "did my own research".  Trenbolone is an anabolic steroid not approved for human use.  It's mostly used on cows.  You've got to be f-ing kidding me.  

This is a man who skipped work for a series in Toronto, because he was so concerned about a vaccine that helped save many lives.  Injecting himself with cow steroids, sure, yep, no concerns there.  

Now he's blatantly admitting to taking steroids, while also denying using steroids, and asking us to feel sorry for him.

What an unbelievably massive piece of s%@#.  

[Linus]

I dont think Max is the sharpest knife in the drawer.