For the first time under Major League Baseball's Joint Drug Agreement, a player has been nailed for PEDs three times. It's former Mets closer Jenrry Mejia and the rule for a third violation is a steep one. He has received a permanent ban from baseball.
Mejia is only 26 years old and was the closer of the Mets for most of the 2014 season, when he went 28 for 31 in save chances with a 3.65 ERA, 1.48 WHIP and 98 strikeouts in 93 2/3 innings. If we used his stat line as a reliever only, however, his ERA was 2.72.
Regardless, it hardly matters now. Mejia's career is over. He was suspended for the second time while serving his first PED-related suspension and now he's been nailed a third time while still serving his second suspension.
In fact, this all went down in less than a calendar year.
It was in early April of 2015 when Mejia received his first suspension of 80 games for testing positive for stanozolol. On July 28, he again tested positive for stanozolol. A second positive test is a full season ban, so he was set to sit out this season until late July. Only he was caught once again and is now done for life.
Players don't earn salaries while suspended, so Mejia lost out on most of his $2.595 million deal last season. He was set to make $2.47 million this year. Prior to 2015, Mejia only banked roughly $1.13 million.