In a strange, unpleasant and downright ridiculous turn to the off-season, key Phillies reliever J.C. Romero has been suspended for 50 games to start the 2009 season.
He must have done something terribly wrong, right? Tested positive for steroids? Linked to purchasing HGH? Killed kittens? Right? RIGHT!? Uhh, no…
While Major League Baseball never said J.C. Romero tried to cheat, the 33-year-old reliever who won the third and clinching games of the 2008 World Series has been ruled guilty of “negligence” and will be suspended for the first 50 games of the 2009 season.
Romero said on Monday that he bought a supplement from a GNC store in Cherry Hill, N.J., last July. The Players Association had told players the supplement was acceptable, but now the Philadelphia Phillies left-hander will receive a suspension and lose $1.25 million.
From ESPN.com
The article goes on to say that Romero had the substance cleared by the Phillies strength and conditioning coach and then a nutritionist before taking it, following all the MLB guidelines except calling the MLB “drug hotline.” There was no warning on Romero’s bottle, but there was on the bottle they used at his hearing.
I’ve read the rest of the article about 3 times, and I really don’t understand how they could possibly rationalize suspending him. It looks like he tested positive on August 26th for a substance that was fine. Then, on Nov 21st, the Players Association sent a letter saying it wasn’t fine. But, the article also says this…
In Romero’s arbitration hearing that was held in Tampa during the first two days of the World Series, it was claimed that in early July the Center for Drug Free Support had notified MLB of questions about the supplement Romero had purchased. Somehow, MLB and the Players Association never got that straight, according to Romero.
So was it July or November that the drug was illegal? When was Romero alerted? Because it CERTAINLY seems like it was November, AFTER he tested positive. Reading on, it seems like the same thing confusing me was what was confusing Romero. It appears he had NEVER been alerted…
There seems to be little question that the Players Association unwittingly misled Romero — and other players — about over-the-counter supplements purchased in the United States. Somehow, after MLB was warned in early July, their concerns did not reach the Players Association about three supplements available at every GNC store.
Unless something else comes out, this is just downright unfair and an embarrassing attempt at bravado by the MLB. Showing that SOME part of them must know they are being ridiculous, the MLB offered to reduce Romero’s suspension to 25 games if he admitted guilt. He didn’t, because he wasn’t guilty and appears to be a man of great pride. $625,000 worth of pride.
Someone needs to make this right.
Stuff like this bothers me so much about professional sports. And it’s not just about Romero and the Phillies. How about when Stoudemire got suspended during that playoff series against the Spurs for stepping “out of the bench area” after Nash got jacked up by Robert Horry? I feel like it is just misplaced, irrational punishment masquerading as following the letter of the law.
there’s no consistancy.
Just like with the criminal court system and Michael Vick, MLB is just trying to send a message that the consequences will be dire when “performance enhancing substances” are used. They got excited over what would appear to be their first victim and did not even consider the fact that THEY were at fault. Jumped protocol and the rest to hand a moderately high profile athlete (WS appearance) a ridiculous suspension. It appears to project some kind of tough-crack-down-law type of image i guess… after they cruised through the steroid era in laxity and lackadaisical indifference. thats my take anyway.
poor JC, he’s probably gonna lose salary on this one.
wonder if they are any Mets fans on the board that levelled this stupid sanction; its got sabotage written all over it. haha
well Amaro, you might wanna start searching for some temp help.
by the way; THIS IS ABSOLUTELY RIDICULOUS!!!
BoomDizzle : you are right. what you fail to rememeber is that what caused Stoudemire and Diaw suspended is that THEY LEFT THE BENCH!! thats all they had to do. see NBA was so terrified of another PR fiasco after infamous the Pacer-Piston brawl. thats what caused them to panic, quite predictably so.
Maybe if Romero was predicted to hit 50+ homers he would have gotten off the hook? Better use this time off for batting practice.
Boomdizzle, like slapping an exteammate on the butt [Korver], and getting a T, ridiculous. If he admits guilt ,sentence gets cut in half; doesn!t a real sarcastic admission of guilt maybe accomplish 2 things; draw attention to stupid situation and cut suspension time. Find a lawyer that can write a statement that borders on remorse but makes your point also.
Agree with everyone — MLB is just trying to flex some muscle. Yes, they should show some strength with their drug policy, but it is clearly misplaced here.
To make matters worse, I think the ESPN.com article actually said that JC will lose about $1.25M, although if Pete says $612K, I’m more inclined to belive him.
I also like how the ESPN.com article mentions Cherry Hill twice as the place where the supplement was purchased. Nothing like boosting Cherry Hill’s rep as the place to go for performance enhancing drugs.
Rich-
he does lose 1.25 mill. However, if he had “plead guilty” they would have reduced it by half. So to keep his pride, he sacrificed half of that, $625,000 (it did originally say $612,000, due to some terrible math on my part)
Hopefully he can get an intelligent attorney and appeal this to a logical thinking judge and have the ruling overturned. Seems as though the players association is in the wrong here for not making things clear enough and/or communicating the rules to the players. He even went above and beyond that and consulted with 2 professionals before taking the supplement.
Hey Pete, is it ok for me to post on this blog or are you gonna suspend me for 50 days??
Just plain ridicuous. Makes you wonder who they are paying to oversee these types of things.
Who really thinks that this will hold? I sincerely doubt it. This will end once Romero files suit against the strength coach, the nutrionist, the club for hiring them, the MLB Player’s Union, and the MLB. I actually like how he said that MLB thought he was just going to take it even though he didn’t do anything wrong because he was a “dumb Peurto Rican”. Bringing the race card always adds fuel to the fire. Any additional cards he can bring into play he should.
JDubbz-
Actually, i’m going to make a rule 2 months from now that no one can use the word “oversee” on the blog. I will then retroactively suspend you for being negligent. Sound fair? Sure would to the MLB.
This news was a slap in the face when I was driving to work today and herd it on 610. But once they started to describe what went on it sounded as if he can get out of it. The best thing he did was not admit guilt. MLB is trying to make examples of people and picked a bad way to do it. Once this goes to court and all the truth comes out I think that this will not only make MLB look bad but once again prove how badly they have been handling the performance/steroid drug policies. Why didn’t the players association take care of this for him? Isn’t that what they are supposed to do. Players have been caught with much worse, admited guilt and nothing happened to them (eg Andy Petite). A 50 game suspension seems a little extreme.
This suspension is baffling. Good point about Jason Giambi, I never understood why he could just pretend like nothing happened and keep playing.
Until all facts are in, the preliminary rush to defend Romero and castigate MLB, Players Association & Selig by Phillies’ fans is the equivalent of “my son is innocent; he doesn’t do those kind of things.”
Vitamin Shoppes/GNC peddle health, body and diet enhancers. Following steroid-crazed 90s and subsequent fallout, Romero is at least guilty of an indiscretion for entering either of those additive emporiums on business. You’d think he’d know unequivocally that ‘natural’ is the new Andro. Dumb.
50 games, WOW?!?
Even if Selig walked in on him getting HGH shot in his ass by Steve Hess the penalty would be excessive. Where do you draw the line? When in professional sports everyone is taking something to stay competitive, how can you penalize someone for taking something that you told them was okay before they did?
This is just another example of the MLB focusing too much on what they can’t control, and it’s just another face and name to point the finger at to show their audience that they are trying or that they “care”.
At the end of the day, how many of us actually even “care” anymore? Like the great comedian Bill Burr once said, “I don’t care if Barry Bonds takes so many steroids he turns into one chest muscle with a bat sticking out of it, just keep crankin’ em’ over the fence big boy.”
Ryan F – The “great” Bill Burr is right. Just watched his comedy special late night on comedy central (he is uncensored), was dying from 2a.m. to 4
Saw him live when he was in Philly not to long ago as well. Dude his hilarious.
Dannie – I’m jealous, I’ve yet to see him in person. I know he’s playing Boston next month. Me and the girlfriend are thinking about making the trip up. We love the Quincey Market area anyway. At the least, I know he is back around town later this year. I won’t miss him this time.
On you tube there are a bunch of his skits. There is one about the palace brawl. If you haven’t heard it, take the 2 minutes and check it out.
Here is an update on the Romero situation, posted on espn.com at 2:55pm. It’s too long to post here so you’ll have to go and check it out.
Sounds like the decision is final and will start the suspension upon opening day. Guess we’ll see you in June JC. There must be something going on that we are not hearing as it seems that no one but Romero is publically upset about this situation. If my top set-up guy (and top left handed RP) was getting suspended for over 30% of the season, I’d be pretty pissed about it, if it were unwarranted.
Ruben is a company man and the new kid on the block guys. He’s not going to throw MLB under the bus. JC should be pissed as all hell if he’s telling the truth and the organization isn’t going to bat for him.
I hate to say it, but I already have an eerie feeling about Ruben. I’ve had one since the middle of the season when it was pretty much set in stone that he was getting the job.
Here is an article with a little more “dirt”.
FYI, the Phils signed Marcus Giles, 30, to a minor-league contract as more Utley insurance. Giles last played well in 2005 and did not play in 2008.
Is the Phillies World Series Championship tainted by the disclosure of Romero’s direct yet “blind” association with 6-OXO or does full civic pride in team and individual accomplishments remain? J.C. pitched effectively in 8 postseason games for a total of 7 1/3 innings. Did the health “hors doeuvre” help him? Should people care?
jjg-
i’d say no. he was tested before the postseason and it came back negative. all the stuff had left his system.
Pete Don’t you see his purchase and use as cheating, even though he stopped in Sept. when informed of positive testing?
jjg-
I interpreted your question to mean did it affect his play in the playoffs, which I don’t think it did.
doesn’t seem like cheating to me. at time of purchase and use, MLB had not banned it.
Pete Understand your position, just disagree. I’m a purist in the sense that I think chemical enhancers – banned or not - strike at the heart and spirit of fair play. I know sports history is littered with a lot of clandestine “advantage-seeking” but I don’t like it. It disgraces the
competitions and disrespects faithful adherents of same.