Former (?) Mets reliever Jenrry Mejia was handed a permanent ban by Major League Baseball on February 12 after a third positive test for a banned substance. His first suspension came during the 2015 season and he returned to action in July. Seven games later, he was suspended again, this time for a full 162 games. He would have had to sit out another 99 games this season to finish the second suspension, but then he got suspended for a third time last month and now he's permanently banned. It's a pretty amazing sequence of events, one that had everyone scratching their heads. Most of us were scratching our heads wondering how this guy could be so dumb, but Mejia has a different take. He's not stupid or careless; he was set up by MLB.Speaking to the New York Times on Thursday, Mejia copped to the first offense, but denies the final two positive tests as part of a grand scheme to … keep Jenrry Mejia out of baseball?
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Now, "somehow inaccurate" is an interesting phrase, but MLB has flatly denied this. A league spokesman told the Times no one at the league has ever met with Mejia to discuss any of his violations. Mejia has also never appealed a suspension before, so it's not real clear what he's trying to say here. He seems to imply that he was punished for appealing his second suspension—which he did not do—by being suspended again in short order.Mejia—who denied the third positive test when it was announced, saying, "It is not like they say. I am sure that I did not use anything"—also has a gripe with the players union, which he says did nothing to help him with his most recent ban. He felt MLBPA should have done more and "should have found something to appeal for." Mejia has hired a lawyer, but he is unsure of his legal options at this point. He will be able to apply to commissioner Rob Manfred for reinstatement in 2017, but he must sit out a minimum of two years anyway, so the earliest he could conceivably return is 2018.[New York Times]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."