Brewers slugger Braun suspended for rest of season
NEW YORK – The first star to fall in baseball’s latest drug investigation is one of its biggest: Ryan Braun.
The 2011 National League MVP was suspended without pay for the rest of the season and the postseason Monday, the start of sanctions involving players reportedly tied to a Florida clinic accused of distributing performance-enhancing drugs.
The Milwaukee Brewers star accepted the 65-game ban, 15 games more than the one he avoided last year when an arbitrator overturned his positive test for elevated testosterone because the urine sample had been improperly handled.
“I am not perfect. I realize now that I have made some mistakes. I am willing to accept the consequences of those actions,” he said in a statement.
Braun, injured Yankees star Alex Rodriguez and more than a dozen players were targeted by MLB following a report by Miami New Times in January that they had been connected with Biogenesis of America, a now-closed anti-aging clinic.
“For these guys still to be involved with this stuff just baffles me,” Marlins manager Mike Redmond said. “The education’s there and everybody knows what you can and can’t take. It baffles me that this continues to be a black cloud over the game. I know Major League Baseball’s done a great job of cleaning up the game and the testing policy and all that. And it’s working. But at the same time, too, it seems like we’ll go through a lull and then, bam, here comes another guy that gets suspended. It’s got to stop.”
MLB Commissioner Bud Selig announced Braun’s penalty, citing the outfielder for unspecified “violations” of both baseball’s drug program and labor contract. Braun will miss the Brewers’ final 65 games without pay, costing him about $3 million of his $8.5 million salary. With the Brewers in last place in the N.L. Central, they aren’t likely to have any playoff games for him to miss.
“I wish to apologize to anyone I may have disappointed,” Braun said. “I am glad to have this matter behind me once and for all, and I cannot wait to get back to the game I love.”
Under the agreement reached by MLB and the players’ association the specifics of Braun’s admission were not made public.
A person familiar with the deal, speaking on condition of anonymity, said 50 games of the penalty were connected to Biogenesis. The additional 15 games stemmed from Braun’s actions during the grievance that overturned his positive test from October 2011. The suspension will count as a first violation.
Union head Michael Weiner said last week that arbitration hearings for players contesting suspensions likely would not start until September.