Reds pitcher Volquez suspended for drugs

[Guest metsguyinmichigan]

50 games, says a scroll from AP. No idea if it's roids or other something else.

[Guest Edgy DC]

Fifty games is the standard for a first-time failure of a random PED test.

[Gwreck]

He's been out since last summer after having Tommy John surgery so expect more of the usual "I just did it to recover from injury."

[Guest attgig]

from mlbtr:
"Plus, he'll be able to serve the suspension while on the DL - it begins tomorrow."



that's freakin retarded. that should NOT be allowed... seems like anyone having a major surgery would have an excuse to take some HGH....

[Guest Edgy DC]

It would certainly be an effective deterrent for everybody if teams were forced to carry players under suspension on their active roster. Forcing them to play a man short for 50 games.

[seawolf17]

Not on the active roster, per se, but to allow him to serve it while on the DL seems odd. If it was, say, a five-game suspension for fighting, I'd think he'd have to serve it when he gets back from the DL, no? Or am I making that up?

[Guest sharpie]

He does lose 50 games pay which is probably a boatload of cash.

[TransMonk]

Per Cot's, Volquez is only* making $445,000 this season.

*I say "only" realizing that it is more than 10 times what I'm going to make. And taking PEDs won't increase my salary at all.

[Guest attgig]

I think volquez is in his arb years, is he not?
so, if he can get back quicker, and pitch well during the second half of the season, that could be used in arbitration negotiation processes, vs coming back slower, and having a major injury and no proof that he's healed and back in form being a detraction from his negotiations.

in other words, the ~100k or so he's losing this year can pale in comparison to the negotations he does for arbitration.

[Guest LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr]

He's recovering from Tommy John anyway, so it may be 2011 before he's back, anyway.

TransMonk wrote: *I say "only" realizing that it is more than 10 times what I'm going to make. And taking PEDs won't increase my salary at all.

Yes, but blasted tris and a nice, general juicy rip* probably won't hurt your convincing ability come renegotiation time, Bro Mauer.

*Part of me is horrified that people-- men-- actually talk like this about their bodies, and part of me loveloveloves this sh*t.

[G-Fafif]

I heard he tested positive for an extra consonant in his first name.

[metirish]

There were some rumors floating around yesterday that it was a Mets player and another had it as Mark Texeria......which wold have been super cool.

[soupcan]

I thought I saw on sportscenter or somewhere that Volquez said the positive test had something to do with his trying to start a family. Insinuating that HE was taking some sort of fertility drug.

Or maybe I was drunk when I heard that?

[ashie62]

soupcan wrote: I thought I saw on sportscenter or somewhere that Volquez said the positive test had something to do with his trying to start a family. Insinuating that HE was taking some sort of fertility drug. Or maybe I was drunk when I heard that?

Wasn't Manny Ramirez trying to get impregnated also?

[soupcan]

That's right - Manny had the fertility drug excuse too. Now I remember - it later came out that taking those types of drugs is either typical when a steroid user comes off a cycle or to mask the 'roids or some such thing.

[Guest LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr]

Also... Volquez is 26.

Is he saying that, as a 26-year-old with an apparently-clean health history,* he opted for a fertility aid?

*And-- not for nothing-- but steeped in a culture where virility-- natural, unaided virility-- is everything, too.

[MFS62]

Gwreck wrote: He's been out since last summer after having Tommy John surgery so expect more of the usual "I just did it to recover from injury."

IIRC, the rules about such stuff say that if there is a medical reason, the player/ doctor can apply for a waiver to permit the player to use some of the banned substances for medical purposes. But this approval must be granted before the players starts taking them.

As for the fertility medication, it may be testosterone-like drug, which is on the banned substance list. And I don't think that it helps heal an injured arm, even thought the player may have injured the arm while, uh, ... practicing.

Later

[Fman99]

I am very dinsappointed in Edinson.