Former Mets closer Jenrry Mejia is in a fight for his baseball life right now. It’s a fight that nobody has yet had to face, as he’s the very first player to earn a lifetime ban for violating Major League Baseball’s “three strikes and you’re out” drug policy. It’s a sad tale, and one we thought the book would be closed on with relative ease.
Mejia, however, just may be a Dylan Thomas fan. Rather than accept the ban and move on, possibly taking one of the several offers he alleges he has to play in South Korea, he will not go gentle into that good night. He’s fighting, and boy is he coming out swinging. It seems as though he jumped immediately to his Hail Mary pass, though, spinning a yarn complete with league threats, pressure to turn on fellow players, and even hacking into personal social-media accounts.
It’s easy to dismiss these allegations because, let’s be honest, they sound utterly ridiculous. The media reaction has been predictable, calling Mejia “sad” and essentially urging him to just go away. The fact that the Players Association hasn’t backed him in any way speaks volumes, but you can’t blame them for wanting to be far away from the circus this has become.
Still, what if Mejia is telling the truth? At the very least, what if there are elements of truth to what he’s saying about MLB pressure and scare tactics? Preposterous? Probably, but let’s stop pretending that the MLB is some holy sanctum that is pure and morally unquestionable. The league proved they were willing to get their hands dirty when they pulled out all the stops going after Alex Rodriguez during the Biogenesis scandal.
If the MLB were willing to knowingly purchase stolen records, and allegedly have a more active role than simply buying them, it stands to reason that it’s not above strong-arming a relatively unknown player like Mejia if it meant taking down other players that may be involved. In fact, Mejia alleges that the MLB demanded his cooperation in taking down a player they’ve apparently been investigating for PED use. That’s probably the most interesting, and believable, of his claims. After all, we bore witness to the extremes that the league would go to get their man. Mejia is clearly small fish to them, so it’s certainly possible that this unnamed player that the MLB may be targeting is high-profile.
Hacking into social-media accounts and fabricating failed drug tests seem outrageous, for sure. Reality is stranger than fiction sometimes, however, and maybe this thing blows up and reveals some nefarious doings at the MLB level. Crazy, right? It seems ridiculous by all accounts. How ridiculous did a team executive hacking another team’s player database seem before it actually happened, though?
The MLB surely wished for Mejia to take his ban and quietly put this to bed without further fanfare. Mejia clearly had something else in mind, and we get front row seats to whatever this thing becomes. Depending on how far this actually goes, it could lead to revelations of real corruption within the league. Of course, the more likely outcome is that Mejia, gently or not, is forced to go into that good night after all.
Ideally, Mejia would have disclosed these alleged strong-arm tactics when they were first used on him, not after he was already banned. But that’s easy for me to say, as a native speaker in my homeland.
This is an excellent point, and one I’m willing to bet the Players Association was asking themselves as they chose to distance themselves from him.
The whole situation just screams nonsense to me. Just too many square pegs in a round hole, e.g. not saying anything while this happened or not having the union’s backing.
And yet, nothing is ever black and white. We learned in J school to always search for nuggets of truth. I agree with you, Rob, I’m almost expecting MLB to be involved in some shady s**t. After all, we watched the Biogenesis saga and then the NFL proved how trustworthy it is.
I’m also suspicious of the allegations against him considering the timeline and drugs involved. He was “caught” three times using Stanozolol and Boldenone. Both of those steroids have been around for some time and are easily detectable. Factor in how not only was he accused of taking just these two easily-found drugs in three separate instances, but also in less than a year. Many jocks have earned the stereotype of being stupid, but to get caught waving the same neon-colored flags repeatedly after getting a slap on the wrist each time redefines stupid.
Again, I’m not saying Mejia is innocent. It’s hard to imagine him being anything but guilty. But there are just too many little details that don’t jive completely…
Yeah I don’t think it’s hard to imagine how aggressive the MLB probably is with players in these situations, especially if they do think they can nail another player too. I mean, the most plausible scenario is that he’s really that dumb. It’s just that, it’s actually hard to believe that someone can be that dumb, but here were are.
The problem is thinking that it’s somehow a level of dumb beyond imagination. These guys dope all the time with a pretty clear sense that getting caught is minimal. The present system is not a deterrant at any level…so they dope without concern. He’s a bit of a dunce for not figuring out how not to get caught.
Read The Secret Race. It’s fast to burn thru. It will open your eyes…it did for me.
Hes a doper. Hes a liar. And this is not a hollywood conspiracy movie. He’s a filthy cheater. period. Entertaining anything other than that is pure coo-coo for cocoa puffs.
Pull out all the stops going after Rodriguez? Are you crazy? He did do everything they said…and he cheated his whole career. How is that MLB fault? The more Mejia protests this the more he looks like the infantile dope he is. Remember, the MLBPA also said hes nuts.
This conspiracy stuff is absolute insanity.
It’s a hypothetical, Chris. One sprouting from two things. First, the fact that he’s legitimately chosen to go this “coo coo” route despite the evidence. It’s bonkers. Second, how can anyone be that stupid?!?!?
I don’t get what you’re saying about Rodriguez. Maybe you misunderstood? My point was that MLB resorted to what appeared to be dirty tactics to nail Rodiriguez, including knowingly buying stolen documents and, perhaps, being involved in the setup of the “theft.”
This wasn’t to suggest they shouldn’t have nailed A-Rod. He absolutely deserved the hell fire that came down on him. However, MLB showed that they’re not afraid to take morally questionable/ambiguous actions themselves.
Instead of dreaming about unicorns and fairy dust, you should read and study about elite athletes that dope and exactly how it is done — how easy it is done. Baseball is in the doping dark ages as far as testing goes. In other sports like cycling and athletics testing goes on all the time, regularly off season and unannounced…the USADA shows up at your door during dinner and you have to yield to them. All of your travel needs to be logged so that USADA or WADA can find you in a moments notice. The baseball half-assed testing program is a joke.
Lance Armstrong was doping constantly while testing negative over 500 times. He is one of the most tested athletes in all of history. Furthermore we know elite athletes cheat nearly by default. Even a single percent improvement can be the difference between millions of dollars in contracts. And as far as baseball is concerned, the penalties are so small (see Melky Cabrera and Jhonny Peralta, and…, and…, and… the list is endless) that cheating is worth it especially given the lax testing program (although its better than football etc). People dont get caught cheating “three times” they dope constantly and get swept in the net 3 times.
Cheaters love to play an ignorant public who love the notion of conspiracies perpetrated against the working man. They use this ploy to garner popular support for article exactly like this — what if? And what if the world is flat? etc. in fact, what cheaters dont want is for the general public to be informed about cheating, the testing system, and how easy it is to defeat, because it would shock you. They also love the approach of “theres two sides to every argument”, which is such an old and stale tale its hard to believe anyone can fall for it. Ya know, 1+1=3 is just as likely as 1+1=2, except its not. Cheaters also capitaize on the good will notion we mostly have: most of us could never imagine cheating like this, and transfer our personal feelings into other people. Whats different is the bazillions of dollars at stake for people that do cheat…which is something the rest of us dont know, and so we dont have the motivation or access to do so. This is a test of science versus liars and cheaters, not “he said, she said.”
Don’t imagine that the drug testers dont understand things like compound half life in your system, secondary metabolites generated during drug use, synthetic v natural hormones. Just because the every day person cant explain how the machines that make these type of measurements work or how the tests work, doesn’t make them any less like 1+1=2. The testing system is complicated and carried out by MD and PhD scientists in labs that would amaze you (yes, I know it first hand) using endless measurements of standards and double blind sample labeling. It is a mistake to transfer ignorance about the system to saying the testing system is a failure or done by college interns pissing in cups for fun.
Below is a link to the USADA “witch hunt” against Lance Armstrong. After all this time, the witch hunt turned out to be 100% true — so it wasn’t a witch hunt, just an investigation to catch another filthy cheating doper. I would also encourage you to look at the biogenesis scandal (something like 50 cheaters caught), which was true, and the BALCO scandal, also true. And to demonize the approach by offering reduced penalties etc for cooperation is ridiculous, the legal system does this all day every day. I suggest reading a book called The Secret Race, which explains doping from a first hand elite athlete who doped, and got away with it for ages, and explains just how easy it is in a sport where testing is far more extensive and where penalties are far more extensive.
http://cyclinginvestigation.usada.org/
Chris, I love your “take no prisoners” comment.
However, that is no fun. What is fun is “what if”… The player would have to be Dominican, like Mejia, and be in line to make a fortune. Otherwise, why bother? Two such players come to mind, both have their production fallen off after testing became harsher; one plays on the Angels and one plays on the Mariners. Both are owed a couple hundred million dollars each with production nowhere near their previous levels. One of these two players had suspicions of drug use in St. Louis.
of course, theres nothing like the drama of a great conspiracy theory…the problem is separating television fantasy versus some sort of objective reality.
As a point of clarification from above:
The system of testing broken and is easy to cheat because the workload to do the analyses is staggering. There simply are not enough labs and time do all the analyses needed. I do not want that to be confused with the actual testing measurements. Analytically, the science behind all this is phenomenal, as well as precise and accurate.
The number of dopers that proclaim innocence but are guilty in reality staggeringly overwhelms the number of false analytical positives or bad measurements. I cannot think of a single high-profile example where the results were actually turned over. Braun tested positive, conjured up some debate-team lawyerese BS and got an overturn, but as we know in fact cheated like the slime-ball he is. And made his 120M$ to boot. I wonder about that normal working stiff he tossed under the bus who lost his life so that Braun could propagate his conspiracy (read lie).
Chris, what goes around, comes around. Hopefully, that guy has lawyers also.
When Mejia can corroborate any of his allegations then I will begin to pay attention. Untill then, he broke the established rules put in play by the union and management and will now have to pay the consequences.
I will only add this: it is not in the best interest of MLB to “catch” an established star such as Derek Jeter (who I think doped). Given a choice, baseball gains nothing by tearing down its stars. So I suspect there’s a double stardard in effect. Getting tough on minor leaguers and fringe guys like Mejia seems like a reasonable strategy, from
An MLB point of view.
you mean like A-rod, Braun, Bonds, Clemens, Sosa, McGwire?
JP… you “Think” Jeter doped. That suggest you have a rational Reason, evidence.
BTW…. the strongest indication for a “Doper” is David Wright…other than Bartolo, who mysteriously did almost nothing for 3-5 years and then “amazingly” recovered. Wright Tanked Up in his mid 20’s, well beyond his initial physique at 22-24. ….it’s more fun to talk about Yankees?
Great post Rob. I really appreciate the alternate angle. I’ve read in a number of places that the particular steroid he took stays in your system a long time so it’s possible he got dinged multiple times for one mistake. As Brian pointed out, there’s also a language and cultural hurdle that may have led to misunderstanding. Though it makes you really question the bad advice or lack thereof that Mejia must have gotten or not gotten from his agent, trainers, etc.
“I’ve read in a number of places that the particular steroid he took stays in your system a long time so it’s possible he got dinged multiple times for one mistake”
That is wholly preposterous Matt. Im sorry to be so direct on this topic. You do not have idiots doing this type of analytical work. These drugs have particular half lifes, in this case 14ish days for Boldenone, so it is very possible to determine the level and back calculate the time of intake. Boldenone is used as a front loading steroid because with a 14 day half life it can stay in the system for some time, while Stanozolol is much shorter, <24 hours. So when these labs do detections it is not only presence/absence but also levels. It is easy to detect "new" injections.
Every excuse Mejia has made, every threat, every supposed effort to get rid of him has all been heard before. If MLB wanted to clear up its drug problem it would have tossed rodriguez, braun, etc. the idea that they’re out get Mejia is ridiculous because they don’t need to go through him to get rid of people or uncover some secret doping ring. Cheaters cheat and cheaters lie, its what they do. This guy sensed the MLB union was in effect to help idiots like him get their suspensions overturned, and when he found out this wasn’t the case, he starts throwing around hollow threats and extortion, etc. he doped, he got caught. and no player in any sport, no matter how dumb they are, isnt dumb enough to get popped for a drug that stays in your system for two tests. the availability of PEDs that are in and out of your system with an impact on performance is so easy. this is exactly the “reasonable doubt” mejia wanted to raise with his threat because he saw no other way out. he’s guilty, he got caught, he’s done. not much more to it. Where there is smoke there is fire.