Mets “Disappointed” in Jenrry Mejia
The Mets are “disappointed” in Jenrry Mejia after the league announced he tested positive for PEDs and will be suspended for 80 games.
“It’s obviously disappointing. Not only do you cost yourself 80 games, and don’t get paid, but you’re hurting everybody in here,” David Wright said. “You’re letting down your teammates, and I think that probably means just as much, if not more, than hurting yourself.”
Terry Collins echoed the team captain.
“We’re very disappointed. I mean, extremely disappointed,” he said. “We came into this whole thing in spring training with huge expectations and the back end of our bullpen being very, very strong. So we’re all shocked and disappointed, but we stand by the rules and what Major League Baseball has put down. We’ll have to regroup and get through the next 80 games with somebody else.”
For his part, Mejia says he does not have the first clue how Stanozolol entered his body. He said in a statement released by the Players Association:
“I know the rules are the rules and I will accept my punishment, but I can honestly say I have no idea how a banned substance ended up in my system. I have been through a lot in my young career and missed time due to injury. I have worked way too hard to come back and get to where I am, so I would never knowingly put anything in my body that I thought could hold me out further. I am sorry to the Mets organization, my teammates and the fans, as well as my family.”
Whether Mejia is lying when he says he did not knowingly take the steroid is beside the point. If he was taking what he thought was a legal supplement, Mejia and every player should know exactly what is in it. League and team officials are just a phone call away to tell a player what he can and cannot take. So this is Mejia’s fault, even if he did not purposely take the steroid.
“We love Jenrry as a teammate, but when you make a mistake, you’re going to be punished,” Wright added. “Once Jenrry serves his suspension and comes back, we’ll welcome him and do whatever we can to make him feel like he’s part of this team. But for right now, he messed up, and he needs to be punished.”
The bottom line is the Mets were counting on Mejia and he let them down.