PED Suspensions Reactions

I decided to do my Wednesday blog a few days early to at least get what i felt about the situation out there before we talked about it on Turdken is Tasty.

PED Suspensions Reactions

Well it finally happened, we finally got the suspensions we were waiting for all this time.  Today I want to take a quick look, and hopefully the last look since this is starting to get old to me, on the players suspended and what kind of an impact it will have on their teams.  So lets start with the person I personally feel makes the biggest impact Ryan Braun.

Ryan Braun: Milwaukee Brewers- 65 game suspension. BA-.298, HR-9, RBI-38, SB-4.  Now why do I feel he is the biggest loss out off all these guys?  He was baseball elite, unlike everyone else on this list he was considered to be one of the top 5 best players in the game today.  Not only that he still has 7 years on his deal and that’s a big blow for a team that chooses him to be the centerpiece.  Personally I have kind of hardened my view on Braun since I stated I was ready to put it behind me. Why?  Well mainly cause I’ve reread some of the comments and noticed how laid back he’s taking this and not really accepting responsibility for the people he’s just lied to.  The team itself is going to have a hard time since they put all their time and money into this guy and now they have to defend themselves for what he did.  Sad days in Milwaukee, Braun has a lot to atone for when he gets back.

Nelson Cruz: Texas Rangers- 50 game suspension.  BA-.269, HR-27, RBI-75, SB-5.  This may be the deathblow to the Rangers whose bats have been quite of late.  Nelson is a free agent at the end of the season so he’s not hurting the team like Ryan Braun is but at the same time he was one of the major forces behind the Rangers offense.  My guess, and from what I’m reading, Cruz isn’t going to be a Ranger next year because of this and at 33 he may find a pay day not happening.

Everth Cabrera: San Diego Padres- 50 game suspension. BA-.287, HR-4, RBI-31, SB-37.  This one is defiantly one that seems the biggest blow to any of these teams to me.  Its not that he’s a super star but with the speed he has he was a major game changer and was helping the Padres this season and making them look like they had a very good future.  Braun is the most disappointing by a long shot but Cabrera is the 2^nd guy on that list, really hurt his future and team.

Jhonny Peralta: Detroit Tigers- 50 game suspension. BA-.305, HR-11, RBI-54, SB-3.  This is the same deal as Cruz hence many group them together, the main difference the Tigers actually saw this coming and traded for a new SS of the future.  In the end this won’t hurt the team as much as the other teams that are competing for a playoff spot since the Tigers were smart.  Peralta is also a free agent at the end of the season and I feel he will be the same as Cruz, don’t see the Tigers needing him and he may have a hard time finding a new team because of this and his age.

Alex Rodriguez: New York Yankees- 211 game suspension. NA.  Well this is one that I wish never comes back.  Now that I’ve gotten that out of the way in all fairness this can hurt the Yankees just as much as help them.  The team has one of the worst offenses in baseball and 3B is the worst of the worst.  One of baseballs worse people and no one will miss him when he’s gone but in the end he could have helped a bad lineup.

Francisco Cervelli: New York Yankees- 50 game suspension. NA.  He hasn’t played all year but he could have helped.  Cervelli is a good catcher and a good bat and currently on the DL, so even worse than just being suspended you can’t be suspended on the DL so he has to come off the DL before he starts his time.  Very sad for the Yankees again.

Antonio Bastardo: Philadelphia Phillies- 50 game suspension. ERA-2.32, WHIP-1.27 K-47.  This guy was a surprise to me, he hadn’t been named at all as of this point and when he was suspended my first thought was “huh that’s odd”.  He’s nothing special just a relief pitcher though he comes at a sad story in a way, Dan Meyer posted on twitter today reminding Bastardo of when they competed for a job and Bastardo won.  Kinda sad but really no impact to the team, a team that’s not that good anyways.

The rest of the players suspended are minor league players and not that good of ones at that.  Its just a sad day in baseball but a bright day as well, even though we have some of the baseball’s elite are gone for cheating this brings about the change we need.  A tougher PED system will come from this and PED’s will fade into a very bad memory.