By Josh
I will be honest that this is a post that I would never have guessed that I would be writing this off season. I thought my off season articles would be full of who signed Machado and Harper stories, upcoming predictions and summer baseball trips people can take, but here we are.
Jenrry Mejia signed a minor league deal with the Boston Red Sox. I find this interesting since Mejia was served a LIFETIME BAN by Major League Baseball for three PED suspensions in 2015 and 2016.
So in less than three years time he went from lifetime ban to being given his 4th chance.
How is this good for the game of baseball?
Really Major League Baseball please answer this for me. A guy who thought so little of the game and his teammates that he would cheat, get caught and then suspended, repeat it over again for a bigger suspension. Then decide to do it again so that he would get a lifetime ban.
Maybe lifetime ban doesn’t mean what I thought it means. Maybe they don’t clarify that the lifetime involved in the ban is the specific player. Maybe they can designate someone else to serve the ban and once that person passes away the ban is over for the player.
I am for second chances for most things. That is why I am against a one offense with PEDs and receive a lifetime ban. I actually like the current PED discipline rules that are in place. A player who gets caught is punished (unless his last name is Braun), then they are given the opportunity to rejoin the game of baseball and do things the right way. Their name is forever linked to PEDs but they still get the chance to play the game.
However, when you know that the consequences of breaking the rules will lead to a lifetime ban and yet you still continue cheating to the point where you earn yourself a lifetime ban, then you deserve what you get. Your name shouldn’t just be linked to PEDs but all of your stats should be erased and you shouldn’t be any part of baseball’s history other than a warning to other players.
Major League Baseball doesn’t need Mejia and neither do baseball fans.