Jenrry Mejia to appeal MLB’s permanent suspension
Former Mets reliever Jenrry Mejia announced Friday that he will appeal his permanent suspension from Major League Baseball for performance-enhancing drug use.
Mejia received the permanent suspension in February after his third positive test for performance-enhancing drugs, the first under MLB’s current drug agreement. He was suspended in midst of a full-season suspension that dated back to July 2014, when he tested positive for Boldenone, an anabolic steroid.
“My client feels he has no choice but to fight,” Mejia’s lawyer said, according to the New York Daily News. He accused MLB of using “dirty cop tactics” to intimidate Mejia into testifying against another player.
Mejia and his lawyer said the league communicated they would “go out of their way” to find Mejia’s third failed drug test if he didn’t cooperate. Through an interpreter, Mejia said he was not using a banned substance when he tested positive a third time.
Major League Baseball released a statement Friday following Mejia’s presser.
“As we have said before, no representatives of Major League Baseball met or spoke with Jenrry Mejia regarding any of his drug violations,” the statement read. “In fact, MLB coordinates all 40-man roster player interviews with the MLBPA and they are present at the interview as the player’s union representative.
“Sadly, the comments made by Mr. Mejia and his representatives today continue a pattern of athletes hiring aggressive lawyer and making wild, unsupported allegations about the conduct of others in an effort to clear their names. Mr. Mejia’s record demonstrates that he was a repeated user of banned performance-enhancing substances. As such, per our collectively bargained rules, he has no place as an active player in the game today.”
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Mejia’s lawyer also told reporters that witnesses have said MLB hired third-party contractors to hack players’ social media accounts.
In a recent interview with the New York Times, Mejiacalled the suspension the result of a “conspiracy” against him.
