M’s Franklin suspended 10 games for steroids
DETROIT – Ryan Franklin knew for 2 1/2 months that he’d tested positive on a May drug test and lived with the frustration, anger and embarrassment until Tuesday, when he became the second Seattle Mariners player suspended this season.
“The worst day? I appealed the finding and had two arbitration hearings, and one of them was a four-hour session in the morning – on the night I had to start against Oakland,” Franklin said.
What Franklin knew for months, the team and its fans learned when the right-hander was suspended for 10 days, a move that came after months of investigation during which Franklin thought baseball believed him innocent.
“I tested positive, and three weeks later I tested negative,” he said. “I took a protein shake and multiple vitamins – that is it – and I turned both over to baseball. Both tested negative.
“I just can’t believe this has happened. I’d never do anything like that. My performance never changed, my weight never changed. The first time they told me I’d failed a test, I honestly thought it was a joke.”
It wasn’t, and for the second time this season, a player on Seattle’s 40-man major league roster was suspended.
Ironically, the first Mariner suspended – outfielder Jamal Strong – was in Tacoma in April when his test results produced a suspension. The day Franklin was suspended, Strong was with the team and making his season debut with Seattle.
“I feel for Ryan. I can identify with what he’s going through,” Strong said. “I’ve been there. You’ve got to watch what you take – everything I took was bought over the counter.
“You play 180 days in a year, between spring training and the regular season and then winter ball, and you feel like you need supplements just to keep your body strong. But what’s in them? I don’t think you know, even if you read the ingredients. I know this, unless the trainer hands it to me, I don’t take anything now.”
Franklin, 32, may be the unlikeliest player caught thus far in baseball’s new drug testing.
“Over the past few years, I was one of the players pushing for testing,” Franklin said. “I’m embarrassed for myself, my family, the Mariners organization. I can’t believe any of this, but I just have to serve my 10 days and get on with my life.”
The Mariners had no comment, an organization-wide gag order that applied to general manager Bill Bavasi and manager Mike Hargrove, but the suspension further complicated a flurry of roster moves.
Jorge Campillo had been brought up from the Rainiers to start Tuesday in place of Jamie Moyer, sidelined by back spasms, and Felix Hernandez is with Seattle to start Thursday in the spot vacated by Aaron Sele, who was released Monday.
Now Franklin will miss two starts.
That leaves Seattle with a rotation of Joel Piñeiro, Gil Meche, Hernandez and – somewhere in there – Moyer, if his back recuperates. Tacoma right-hander Jeff Harris was brought up as a possible spot starter, but he was forced into action Tuesday when Campillo left the game after one scoreless inning with elbow stiffness.
Franklin said he first learned of the failed test early in May.
“I’ve never worried about a drug test in my life,” he said. “I took tests when I was on the Olympic team, then major league tests in 2003, when they were making a trial run at this policy. I took them last year and they were negative.
“I’ve had six or seven tests, and one was positive. Everything I’ve taken was purchased over the counter. For years now, I’ve come to spring training weighing 194 pounds and by the end of the season I’m down to 184 pounds.
“This year is no different.”
So what happened?
“I know they say it’s impossible, but I wonder if the test fouled up,” Franklin said. “Maybe they got my urine mixed up with someone else’s. I just can’t answer this, and I’ve known about it for months. That’s been a lot of sleepless nights.”
Franklin said he immediately appealed the test results and was given a stay by baseball that included testing of the protein shake and vitamins he’d taken, and underwent another drug test three weeks after the first one.
“I think they wanted to believe me, but we just couldn’t explain how this happened,” Franklin said.
Strong said the worst may still be to come.
“It bothers you, and on the road the fans get all over you, and you realize they think you tried to cheat,” Strong said. “I can’t blame anyone else. I did it my way. I bought products at GNC and I took them, but never with any intention of cheating.
“People who know you know that, and I’m sure it’s the same with Ryan, but your family has to deal with it, your coaches, the whole organization. It’s a terrible thing to go through.
“Do I have any advice for young players? You bet. Don’t take anything on your own, not a vitamin – nothing! It’s your career in the balance. I’m glad Major League Baseball is testing. But you’ve got to be careful of anything you put in your body.”