Projo Sox Blog

J.C. Romero, the former Red Sox reliever who won the fifth and deciding game of this year's World Series as a pitcher for the Philadelphia Phillies, will be suspended for the first 50 games of the 2009 season and lose about $1.25 million as a result of his use of a banned supplement, ESPN is reporting.

Romero tested positive for the supplement, which he bought over the counter at a GNC retail store, in August. The pitcher says that before he began taking the supplement (which he is choosing not to name), he had it checked by a personal nutritionist, who told him that it was legal; he also showed it to the Phillies' strength and conditioning coach. There is some dispute about what the coach told Romero.

The ESPN report states that Romero declined to accept a lesser suspension that would have kept him out of the postseason, instead choosing to fight the punishment through an arbitration hearing. It also states that Romero tested clean on Oct. 1, before the start of the postseason.

According to the report, Romero and other players appear to have been misled by the players union into believing that products purchased legally at U.S. retail stores would not land them in trouble; the union has since contacted players to alert them about three substances legally available in the United States that can cause positive drug tests under MLB's program.

 Tags  J.C. Romero Philadelphia Phillies suspensions

Comments

felix said:

Why don't we ever hear of a 50 game suspension in the NBA? How about the NFL? I'm sure these extremely fast and hyper-active freaks we see on Sunday buy their supplements at K-Mart. It's o.k. for them to openly admit constantly using pot which is illegal in this country, and we laugh. Leave baseball alone and punish the 80% of the NFL and probably half of the NBA. Then, maybe, we will have a level playing field.

Link | January 7, 2009 7:28 AM
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katcelata said:

I hate the use of performance enhancing drugs. That said, if Romero purchased this product legally over the counter, had been informed by his union that it was acceptable to use, and checked with his trainer, I think this punishment is way out of line- it seems he truly believed he was using a legal non-prescription supplement available to any individual and had no intent of gaining an unfair edge or breaking the law. I don't see such heavy punishments being imposed on the true abusers in the sport, I think this guy is being hung out to dry and having his reputation unfairly blemished.

Link | January 7, 2009 10:33 AM
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