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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

List of suspended players includes two Indians

Two of the five Texas Rangers farmhands – among 38 players suspended on Monday for violating baseball’s minor league steroid policy – played for the Spokane Indians last year.

Catcher Lizahio Baez and pitcher Willy Espinal received 15-game suspensions given to first-time offenders. Espinal and nine other players were released by their parent clubs before the suspensions were announced. Baez has been assigned to Bakersfield in the Class A California League.

“It’s completely a Texas Rangers and Major League Baseball issue,” Indians president Andy Billig said Thursday. “The minor league team has really no say in it because the players aren’t our players. They’re not under contract to the Spokane Indians. They’re under contract to the Texas Rangers.”

The players were tested in spring training. The recent suspensions, which included eight players from the Seattle Mariners’ organization, were only for those clubs that train in Arizona. It is expected there will be another announcement regarding the organizations that train in Florida.

The other three Rangers, Justin Hatcher, Robert Machado and Christopher Russ, did not play in Spokane. The Indians are entering their third season as a Texas minor league affiliate. No players from Kansas City, Spokane’s previous parent club, were suspended.

Billig said there has been testing in the minor leagues for about a decade.

“Minor league baseball has a very strict policy,” he said. “There is frequent and comprehensive testing, which is great. They test all the time and they have for years and years. They do these unannounced and surprise visits. … That’s why minor league baseball has had almost no problems.”

The suspensions apparently resulted from a new testing procedure that is part of the new Major League Baseball policy.

“Major League Baseball tests once a year, but they can test individuals two or three times if they want,” said Gregg Elkin, public relations director for the Rangers. “Major League Baseball worked with Minor League Baseball to do them as a group.”

Paul Barbeau, general manager of the Indians, said he didn’t know the ins and outs of the new policy or if the spring training test would mean an end to the surprise in-season testing. He said Rangers officials assigned to the team bring up the subject of testing during their orientation.

Both of the former Indians are veteran farmhands from the Dominican Republic.

Baez, listed at 6-foot-1, 208 pounds on last year’s roster, appeared in 22 games, hitting .262 with four homers and 10 runs batted in. Baez, 21, was signed in 2001, played one season in the Dominican League and two with the Rangers’ rookie team.

Espinal (6-0, 178) also appeared in 22 games, posting a 1-0 record with one save and a 4.30 earned run average. He allowed 47 hits in 44 innings with 29 strikeouts and 16 walks. Espinal, 22, played two years in the Dominican League and two with the rookie team.

The Indians begin their Northwest League season on June 21.