Reds Pitcher Edinson Volquez Receives 50 Game Ban
Edinson Volquez was today banned from baseball for 50 games following a violation of MLB's performance-enhancing drug policy. The Cincinnati Reds starting pitcher made a brief statement that he tested positive when he reported for spring training and cited that the cause of the positive test was due to prescribed drugs he took to treat a fertility issue. The labor contract of MLB does not allow it to name the particular drug which triggered the positive test so the statement by Volquez can not be confirmed; neither can it be confirmed if it was the same female fertility drugs which landed Manny Ramirez with a 50 game ban last season.
Although Volquez will lose around a third of his $450,000 salary this year, he is not expected to lose any playing time since he is on the disabled list, following Tommy John surgery in August 2009, and he is not expected to return to the mound until after the All Star Game. Or, to put it another way, since the punishment is permitted to takes place when the player is unable to play it renders the punishment pretty much non-existent aside from the small monetary loss and the embarrassment of being caught. With MLB rules open to such abuse, Joe Nathan could certainly benefit from a regime of HGH to aid a speedy recovery as he is also recovering from Tommy John surgery.
Volquez was traded to the Reds from the Texas Rangers as part of a swap for outfielder Josh Hamilton and was one of the rare trades that paid dividends for both teams. Hamilton, the number one overall pick in the 1999 Draft, started to show the potential that his documented years of substance abuse had tarnished as he won the Silver Slugger Award in 2008 as well as his first of his two All Star selections. Volquez too had a breakout year as he went 17-6 with a 3.21 ERA in 2008 after going a combined 3-11 in three years with the Rangers but was shut down in June 2009 in preparation for his surgery with a 4-2 record.
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Originally Posted by Fischnasty
