The Biogenesis Scandal that rocked the MLB in 2013 still has Commissioner Rob Manfred on his toes. The recent PED suspensions of Ervin Santana, Jenrry Mejia, David Rollins and Arodys Vizcaino have caused the league to launch an investigation.
Both Santana and Mejia were suspended for 80 games this month after they tested positive for a steroid called stanozolol. Rollins and Vizcaino were also banned for 80 games within the past few weeks and tested positive for the same drug. The league will now investigate whether or not these cases were linked.
The Biogenesis Scandal resulted in 14 simultaneous suspensions, which were the most in MLB history, including Alex Rodriguez's record yearlong ban for the 2014 season.
"Other than the similarity of substance, I have no reason to believe right now that they're connected," Manfred said, via The Associated Press. "Having said this, whenever we have a series of tests for a single substance, we undertake an investigative effort to determine whether there's a connection and what that connection might be. If you look back, the very beginning of Biogenesis was the fact that we had a series of testosterone positives that began our investigative process, so we'll follow that same model."
The leader of the Biogenesis ring, Anthony Bosch, pleaded guilty in October and was recently sentenced to four years in federal prison. He avoided the maximum sentence of 10 years because he cooperated with the MLB and DEA investigations, which resulted in the suspensions of the 14 players as well as the arrests of various other criminals involved in the scandal.
Both Santana and Mejia said they never knowingly took a performance-enhancing substance, while Rollins admitted he used the drug to speed up his recovery when he injured his back over the winter. Vizcaino hasn't spoken since being suspended on April 2.
Santana, Mejia and Vizcaino are all natives of the Dominican Republic, where there have been reported steroid problems in the past. However, Stanozolol has been approved by the FDA for human use, so it's likely easily accessible since it can be obtained with a prescription.
The MLB is merely doing their due diligence as they continue to try and clean up the sport.
