Marlon Byrd was suspended for 50 games today after testing positive for performance enhancing drugs, according to MLB's official PR department (on Twitter). Byrd issued the following statement:
“I made an inexcusable mistake. Several years ago, I had surgery for a condition that was private and unrelated to baseball. Last winter, I suffered a recurrence of that condition and I was provided with a medication that resulted in my positive test. Although that medication is on the banned list, I absolutely did not use it for performance enhancement reasons. I am mortified by my carelessness and I apologize to everyone who loves this game as I do. I will serve my suspension, continue to work hard and hope that I am given an opportunity to help a Club win later this season.”
Here are some additional links for your Monday evening…
- Royals general manager Dayton Moore told Jon Heyman of CBS Sports that he has received zero calls on Jeff Francoeur, Bruce Chen, and Jonathan Broxton (Twitter link).
- Sean McAdam of CSNNE.com tweets that the reason the Red Sox didn't get more for Kevin Youkilis is because some offers from interested parties simply stated that they would take Youkilis "for nothing," if the Sox were willing to pick up the entire contract.
- The imminent sale of the Padres could have a positive impact on the Mariners, writes Geoff Baker of the Seattle Times. The sale price is said to be $800MM — $600MM for the Padres and $200MM for a stake in their upcoming $1.2 billion TV deal with FOX. The Mariners can opt out of their current TV deal in 2015, and could be sitting on top of a "financial windfall," writes Baker. He writes that Mariners "should be able to get more in any pending sale if everything remains equal."
- Jeff Passan of Yahoo Sports writes that yesterday's Youkilis trade has kicked off the trade season, and runs through some big names that could be trade candidates at this year's deadline.
Hair plugs? Calf implants? The surgery is much more interesting than the suspension.
Why on earth would a doctor prescribe Tamoxifen for HPV? It’s a viral skin condition that is treated with immunotherapy injections, acids, cryosurgery, lasers, destructive ointments.
Smells like total BS from Byrd. Somewhere along the line it became a sort of thing for guys caught using performance enhancers and the associated hormone regulating drugs to make vague references to STDs as the reason they were using these medications.
Never mind that it doesn’t make a lick of sense.
but its not like it helped him at all. I know thats not really the point, but I just wished people (not you) stopped acting like PEDs are magical potions that help you hit homeruns.
We don’t really know whether or not Marlon Byrd was using performance enhancing drugs at an earlier junction in his career when he was a more skilled and productive player with more pop in his bat.
He’s obviously been entering his mid-30s as he has declined, and there was also that fastball that crushed his face.
Byrd didn’t fail a test in 2005… he failed it in 2012.
It’s pretty much irrelevant. Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens never failed any tests in any year.
The original supposition offered by Lunchbox45 was that steroids aren’t magical potions that help you hit home runs. It’s fair enough, but we have no way of knowing when Marlon Byrd first used.
We just know that he was a .701 OPS hitter in the show through his first 5 seasons with a total of 20 home runs and a .790 OPS hitter with a total of 61 home runs in the next 5 seasons.
His dreadful performance this year [and significant OPS drop in 2011] comes in the aftermath of getting his face obliterated by a 93 mph fastball.
we only ‘know’ he was using them in 2012 because all the tests he’s taken before then came off clean. If he was taking something MLB doesn’t test for, he wasn’t ‘cheating’.
unless somebody can come up with solid proof he’s been using for years, MLB (and everybody else, for that matter) should consider his numbers ‘untainted’ up until this year.
As I said to a friend, if this was Byrd’s “enhanced” performance, I shudder to think about how he would have played while “unenhanced.”
Heaven forbid someone own up to what they did without fudging it around. What a refreshing taste that would be.
You mean something like “When I turned 29 I was a career .238 hitter who had never batted better than .254 or slugged better than .420 so I knew using HGH would be the only way I could instantly become a feared .617 slugger capable of batting .302 for a full season. Although there is now HGH testing during spring training, I decided to continue taking HGH even though it would mean really lousy numbers for the first 4-6 weeks of the regular season. I apologize for my actions, especially to my fans who actually believed it was just a batting adjustment that instantly turned a journeyman player (6 teams in 8 years) into one of the most feared hitters in the game, at age 29.”
That’d still sound a lot more satisfying than blaming your wife’s fertility drugs or weaseling out on a technicality and proclaiming yourself the victim of a witch hunt… but that’s just me.
On Marlon Byrd—since he is unsigned right now, this exposes a flaw in the CBA – the suspension should not start until someone is on an active roster and healthy—with the MLB service time clock stopping (if applicable).
I agree. I also think Freddy Galvis of the Phillies suspension shouldn’t start until he comes off of the Disabled List.
He’s still under contract, though. So it’s taking away that money and preventing him from signing.
(That said, I’m inclined to agree, especially for people on the DL and stuff)
“…some offers from interested parties
simply stated that they would take Youkilis ‘for nothing,’ if the Sox
were willing to pick up the entire contract.”
Am I reading this right? One of more GMs wanted the Sox to just give them Youkilis AND pay the entire rest of his contract? Why would anyone ever do that instead of just keeping the player on in a bench role.
I was thinking the same thing. This statement makes no sense.
to prevent the player from being a distraction. no different than waiving him
Maybe, but it still seems like a real jerk-ish thing to ‘offer’ :P
That’s the way I read it. It would make more sense for the team receiving Youk to pay the rest of his contract and the Red Sox get nothing in return but salary relief. Maybe that’s what the statement is meant to say.
Ohhh, maybe “Sox” meant “White Sox” in the quote?
I think you read it correctly the first time. People were making “something for nothing” offers.
Byrd might have some credibility if he wasn’t a client of BALCO and didn’t have Victor Conte as his personal trainer, just sayin’
except BALCO and company went out of business years ago and Byrd never failed a drug test until just now… ‘just sayin”….
Man you jumped into this thread and did nothing but tell everyone how clean Marlon Byrd has been up until this test.
Marlon Byrd has been juicing for years. Since at least the minor leagues. He got caught this time.
because as far as baseball’s concerned, Marlon Byrd HAS been clean up until this test… hence why he only got 50 games for a first time offender.
You say he’s be juicing for years…. prove it. Don’t tell me what you think, feel, or suspect… show me the proof. Otherwise it’s all just suspicions and assumptions.
I can say “hey, doesn’t Albert Pujols’ head look a little big to you? That COULD be steroid related, you know”… and boom, by your standards he’s a cheater… even though i really have nothing besides a amateur observation based on what i’ve heard others say about Barry Bonds….
So yeah, As far as i’m concerned, every year he’s passed an MLB administered drug test, he’s clean… and if he was using before testing… well, it was legal.
Tell Marlon I said “Peace out” the next time you see him.
damning proof indeed….
You realize that MLB doesn’t bother to test your testosterone to see if it is synthetic as long as your ratios are within the acceptable range, correct?
You realize that Tamoxifen is used as post-cycle therapy to keep estrogen levels in check after your body stops producing natural testosterone during the steroid cycle, right?
i know that by the rules of major league baseball, anything that doesn’t come up positive on their CBA approved drug screening isn’t illegal. ANYTHING he was doing that didn’t result in a positive drug test is simply not cheating.
And tamoxifen, as i understand it, actually retards the growth of breast tissue. It’s used by cancer patients to prevent future tumors… and yes, by athletes who don’t want embarrassing side effects of steroid use.
So either Byrd’s using it to mask steroid usage… that so far is undetectable by MLB drug screening, which means he’d have to be a flaming idiot to start using a masking agent that IS detectable… or he’s got a legit medical reason for it… and while rare, breast cancer actually DOES effect men…
So yeah, i understand exactly what all the implications of it are. But you know what? all it means in any real sense is that Marlon Byrd failed a drug test, will serve a 50 game suspension, and then resume looking for a new place to play.
Any other spin others may try to put on it is pure speculation. asserting that him using a masking agent in 2012 is proof that he’s been using for 10 or more years is simply illogical and hysterical.
Maybe he can try looking in the Independent Leagues.
And I have no idea why you keep saying “masking agent”. Tamoxifen is not a masking agent. He doesn’t need a masking agent.
All he has to do is make sure his testosterone ratios are not out of the acceptable range and his sample will never be tested further.
Speaking of salary relief, I would like to hear a phone call between Dayton Moore and Ben Cherington. This is how IMO it should go: “Hey Dayton, we needs a starter seeings that Morales has been our best starter this past week. Lefties don’t typically do too well in Fenway, but we are willing to gamble, and we know you are a small market (payroll) team. We are willing to take Chen and Broxton, and in return we will pay any remaining contract.” “Sweet Ben, sounds good, I’ll go tell Heyman or Rosenthal.”
Because that’s what it Should take. Reality might differ as lord knows Moore will expect a prospect for each player listed..