Jenrry Mejia Says He Was Set Up By MLB
Tom Ley
Filed to:scary scary drugs
So this is pretty weird. Mets pitcher Jenrry Mejia, who recently became the first player in MLB history to receive a lifetime ban for failing three PED tests, has told The New York Times that his third positive test was the result of a conspiracy carried out against him by MLB.
From the Times:
But Mejia, 26, said in an interview Thursday that he was guilty only of the first doping offense. After the second positive test, which he said was somehow inaccurate, he was pressured by Major League Baseball officials to share information about his doping connections, he said.
Mejia said that baseball officials told him that if he appealed the punishment for the second doping offense, "they will find a way to find a third positive," Mejia said through an interpreter. "I felt there was a conspiracy against me. I feel that they were trying to find something to bring me down in my career."
Given MLB's previously demonstrated affinity for G-Men cosplay, I can buy that the league leaned on Mejia to give up some names, but it's a big leap to go from there to the commissioner fabricating a positive test as punishment for not cooperating. But conspiracy theories are fun and baseball's war on drugs has always been bullshit, so the only logical thing to do here is get on Team Jenrry. I bet this goes all the way to the top.
[NYT]
Contact the author at ley@deadspin.com.