Indians' Marlon Byrd Suspended 162 Games

[Giantmetfan07]

Indians outfielder Marlon Byrd was officially slapped with a 162-game suspension after testing positive for a performance enhancing substance, as Vince Grzegorek of Cleveland Scene first reported on Twitter. Byrd had previously been hit with a 50-game ban, meaning he was a second-time offender for purposes of the league’s more punitive current PED regime.
 
Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports noted via Twitter that Byrd chose not to appeal. The veteran has released a statement disclaiming fault, as has his attorney, both via Rosenthal (here and here). They suggest that a tainted supplement is to blame for the growth hormone secretagogue Ipamorelin that was found in Byrd’s system. Given his age and history, it’s fair to wonder whether this is the end of the line for the veteran, who has seen action in fifteen major league seasons.
 
Cleveland added the 38-year-old on a minor league deal to shore up an outfield that had several question marks — due, in part, to the PED suspension of presumptive center fielder Abraham Almonte. His own 80-game ban will finish up early next month.
 
Byrd had performed as hoped, posting a .270/.326/.452 slash with five home runs over 129 plate appearances. As usual, he’s done most of his damage against left-handed pitching. With his glovework in the corner outfield rating as at least average by measure of both UZR and DRS, and solid baserunning valuations added in, he’s been a sturdy contributor at the bargain rate of a $1MM annual salary.
 
Unfortunately for Cleveland, that wasn’t meant to last. With Almonte and Michael Brantley still out of action, the Indians are left with an outfield of Jose Ramirez, Rajai Davis, and Lonnie Chisenhall. All three have been rather productive this year, though it may be a lot to ask of that trio to make up an everyday unit.
 
The club has Michael Martinez on hand as a utility option, and seems likely to bring back Tyler Naquin to add another corner option. Naquin, 25, showed well earlier in the year, and both Joey Butler and Collin Cowgill provide depth on the 40-man roster.
 

 

 

 

[Big Bid'Ness]

Not surprised, he played in every division in the MLB for the longest lol.

 

[PWNdroia]

Not surprised at all, this guy is a product of steroids.  He's been a mediocre hitter all of his career until he starts to miraculously hit better than he's ever done at the age of 35?  Yeah, that's not right.  He was waiting for a suspension to happen.
 
I'm so glad he got caught.  This guy was so overrated the last couple of years and regarded as an integral trade piece last year.  He should have been caught long ago.  3 consecutive seasons of 20+ homeruns after 11 seasons of not reaching 20 homeruns at any point.  And he starts at the age 35.  What a phony.  The truth comes out yet again.

 

[elcheato]

The sad thing is, this actually hurts the Indians. The outfield is so depleted, and just terrible in general sans Brantley, but he's still hurt. 

 

[PWNdroia]

The sad thing is, this actually hurts the Indians. The outfield is so depleted, and just terrible in general sans Brantley, but he's still hurt. 

Trust me, they're better off without Marlon Byrd.  That guy is easily replaceable.

 

[elcheato]

The Indians are playing a 2nd baseman in left field, and Rajai Davis and Lonnie Chisenhall round out the rest of the outfield. He was having a solid year, they'll miss him until Brantley is back. 

 

[Big Bid'Ness]

The Indians are playing a 2nd baseman in left field, and Rajai Davis and Lonnie Chisenhall round out the rest of the outfield. He was having a solid year, they'll miss him until Brantley is back. 

 
Better throw Clint Fraizer into the fire lol.

 

[PWNdroia]

The Indians are playing a 2nd baseman in left field, and Rajai Davis and Lonnie Chisenhall round out the rest of the outfield. He was having a solid year, they'll miss him until Brantley is back. 

And that's still better than having a guy who's a product of steroids on the field. Marlon Byrd was only half decent because of the juice.

 

[cruzg24]

These guys make so much more money cheating than not, its tough to hurt their pockets after doing this but I wish there was a way.

 

[A.E]

These guys make so much more money cheating than not, its tough to hurt their pockets after doing this but I wish there was a way.

 
Exactly. Byrd went from $700k in salary to $8M at 36 years old. He knew what he was doing, he owned up to it, and he would probably do it all over again. We're talking about making millions versus the integrity of the game. Humans always chase the money.

 

[cavsfan817]

The Indians are playing a 2nd baseman in left field, and Rajai Davis and Lonnie Chisenhall round out the rest of the outfield. He was having a solid year, they'll miss him until Brantley is back. 

 
Lonnie moving to the outfield last year was one of the biggest reasons that they went from having a historically bad defensive unit in the first half of the season to one of the best in the league. Of course, having Lindor at short is a tremendous help too, but Lonnie played pretty well out there last year. 
 
At least someone on the Indians is willing to go all in to win (looking at you, Dolans) lol

 

[elcheato]

 
Lonnie moving to the outfield last year was one of the biggest reasons that they went from having a historically bad defensive unit in the first half of the season to one of the best in the league. Of course, having Lindor at short is a tremendous help too, but Lonnie played pretty well out there last year. 
 
At least someone on the Indians is willing to go all in to win (looking at you, Dolans) lol

Lonnie is great defensively, but I was referring mainly to his bat. He's had a good start to the season, but it's not sustainable. They already lacked depth in the outfield, all I'm saying is this (obviously) does not help. 

 

[cavsfan817]

Lonnie is great defensively, but I was referring mainly to his bat. He's had a good start to the season, but it's not sustainable. They already lacked depth in the outfield, all I'm saying is this (obviously) does not help. 

 
Yeah, his bat leaves a lot to be desired I agree with you there. I really liked Byrd with the team. It was pretty obvious that he had done something to elevate his game the past few years at his age, and it sucks that he was caught NOW. I'll be curious to see what the team does to combat it. Jose playing in the outfield is definitely not the solution moving forward (although he hasn't been terrible out there). Bottom line is that the team needs an offensive power hitting outfielder EVERY. SINGLE. YEAR. and they neglect it. This just furthers the point that they need one.

 

[JZsportswhiz]

They need to make these suspensions without pay, only problem with that though is you'd have teams like the Phillies spiking Ryan Howard's protein shakes lol