Starling Marte Suspended 80 Games for Violating MLB Performance-Enhancing Drug Policy

By Djack

Oh boy, haven't seen a big name player get suspended for PED use in awhile. Last big time player to get suspended for PED's was Dee Gordon almost exactly a year ago, it just happened to be following his best season where he won the NL batting title, fishy to say the least. Marte isn't coming off a batting title type season, although he is coming off his first and only all star season. Not saying he was juicing last season, buy ya never know.

This is a huge blow to the Pirates and any playoff hopes they had. I don't think they were good enough anyway to make the playoffs even if Marte didn't get suspended. Now that he is, the Pirates chances are slim to none. Even if they were to make it by some minor miracle, Marte wouldn't be able to participate due to his suspension, which doesn't allow him to participate in the postseason. This suspension doesn't just hurt the Pirates, it's also going to hurt Marte's wallet. Since he's suspended he won't get paid, obviously, so that'll deduct about $2.2 million from his earnings this year. That's what you get for cheating, plenty of players work their asses off to be in the same position he is and they aren't using drugs to help them. I got zero respect for players that try to cheat the game.

Well, Marte is paying the price, he let his team down, he's going to lose a bunch of money, and now who knows if he'll even be good. I don't know if he's being doing this for longer than reported, who knows, without the PED's he might be an average player. If that's the case the Pirates are pretty fucked since he signed a pretty big deal with them, although they do have a team opt-out clause in 2020. He'll return after the all star break, we'll just have to wait until then to see what he's really made of. For now, the Pirates are a man down with a roster that couldn't afford any losses.