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Pittsburgh Pirates outfielder Starling Marte was suspended 80 games for violating MLB’s drug policy. The two-time gold glove winner and 2016 All-Star tested positive for nandrolone, an injected steroid. Not only is Marte suspended for 80 games without pay, but he will not be eligible to play in the postseason if the Pirates make the playoffs.
The news of Marte’s suspension was announced on Tuesday afternoon and Yahoo! Sports baseball blog Big League Stew was able to get Anthony Rizzo’s immediate reaction. Rizzo made his Chicago Cubs debut in 2012, the same year that Marte made his MLB debut with the Pirates. Both players have faced each other for the past five seasons in the central division and Rizzo didn’t hold back when he was told about the suspension.
We were talking to #Cubs star Anthony Rizzo when the Starling Marte news broke. This is what he had to say about it. pic.twitter.com/106kLGjXfy
— Big League Stew (@bigleaguestew) April 18, 2017
Marte isn’t the first big name to be suspended in recent years because of PEDs. In 2016, Dee Gordon was also suspended 80 games, a season after leading the NL hitting. In January of 2016, the Miami Marlins gave Gordon a five-year, $50 million extension.
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Marte received a six-year, $31 million deal prior to the start of the 2014 season.
MLB has made it tougher for players to get away with PED use, but obviously there are still ways to beat the system. It seems like Rizzo wouldn’t mind even more testing, as he brought up the fact that he hasn’t been tested once since the start of spring training. That was back in February.
By the way, Marte issued a statement and it is hilarious.
There’s no excuse when you get busted for PEDs. These guys are with their team for at least seven months in a year and have all the resources available to them to find out if they can or can’t take something. It doesn’t matter if it was injected or not.
Starling Marte hit with an 80-game suspension after testing positive for Nandrolone. That's an old-school steroid. No designer drug there.
— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) April 18, 2017
Correction on Marte drug: Nandrolone rarely taken orally, but Deca Durabolin — which can test + for Nandrolone — is often orally consumed.
— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) April 18, 2017
Lesson, don’t do drugs. Or you know, don’t get caught, or actually it’s not that big of a deal because even after the fact people really don’t seem to care all that much. So, MLB either needs to hit the players with tougher penalties or they will still continue to use PEDs.
