Blue Jays' Orelvis Martinez gets 80-game drug suspension, 2 days after his major league debut
CBC
Toronto Blue Jays infielder Orelvis Martinez was suspended for 80 games by Major League Baseball on Sunday following a positive test for the performance-enhancing drug Clomiphene, an announcement made two days after his major league debut.
Martinez, 22, has been on the Blue Jays' 40-man roster since November 2022. He went 1 for 3 with a strikeout on Friday at Cleveland.
He issued a statement apologizing to the Blue Jays and their fans.
"For the past two years, I have been trying to start a family with my girlfriend. During the offseason, we visited a fertility clinic in the Dominican Republic and after getting lab work done, we were prescribed a treatment, which included a medication called Rejun 50," Martinez said in a statement released by the players' association.
"Unfortunately, Rejun 50 contains a banned substance called Clomiphene. We wanted to keep this matter private, even within our family, and trusted the doctor who assured us this treatment did not include performance-enhancing drugs. Therefore, I made the mistake of not disclosing this to my team or the MLBPA. With that said, I took full responsibility for my actions and accepted my suspension."
Martinez signed with Toronto in July 2018 for a $3.51 million bonus and climbed his way up the Blue Jays' minor league system. He hit .260 with 16 homers, 46 RBIs and an .867 OPS in 63 games this season at Triple-A Buffalo.
"The Blue Jays fully support Major League Baseball's Joint Drug Prevention and Treatment Program, and strongly believe in keeping the game on a level playing field.
"We were both surprised and disappointed to learn of Orelvis Martinez suspension," Blue Jays general manager Ross Atkins said in a statement. "We will do everything in our power to ensure Orelvis has learned from this mistake."
Martinez will lose about half his salary. His contract calls for $740,000 while in the major leagues and $120,600 while in the minors, both the minimum.
"I will learn from this experience and come back to the field in September," Martinez said.
He became the eighth player penalized for performance-enhancing drugs this year, the second under the major league program. Noelvi Marte, a 22-year-old infielder who is the Cincinnati Reds' top prospect, was suspended for the first 80 games of the season under the major league program following a positive test for Boldenone.
Five players have been suspended under the minor league program and one under MLB's new drug program for minor league players assigned outside the United States and Canada.
School is out again on the northeast Avalon, as the region continues to dig out from this winter’s biggest storm.
Wikwemikong Tribal Police Servce (WTPS) said a drop in the number of charges against teens last year, particularly boys, is an encouraging sign that early intervention programs are working.
Christian Herridge’s life has not been easy.
Ken Stannix saw a community in economic decline when he retired from a career in the military and moved home to McAdam in 2012.
When Alexe Frédéric Migneault suddenly began experiencing hair loss, they thought a haircut would be just the thing to help them feel confident again.
Members of the Métis Nation—Saskatchewan (MN-S) who had come to rely on a mental health and addictions support program say the organization should have done more to prepare for the end of federal funding that will force it to close next month.
Islanders applying for or renewing their Prince Edward Island health card after April 1 will see a new optional question about their race or ethnicity.
This winter's lack of snow and mild conditions have impacted the economics of the skiing and biking industry in B.C.'s Interior.
In this city-run seniors' building, Hamilton residents say needles, urine, feces are only steps away
When Rose Hamilton stepped into the stairwell of her apartment building one evening in January, it wasn’t the first time she says she encountered a puddle of urine and feces.
Democrats in Washington are expanding their probe into the circumstances around U.S. President Donald Trump's recent threat to block the opening of the new Gordie Howe bridge connecting Windsor, Ont., and Detroit.
Library and Archives Canada is wrapping up one of its largest digitization projects after processing roughly six million federal Indian day school records.
Canadians should learn more about the history of the land they live on, says Cindy Daniels, chief of Cowichan Tribes, as its legal counsel prepares to defend a contentious land claim involving private property, not far outside Metro Vancouver.
Nicole Chantal Pauluzzo says she almost lost two of her fingers to frostbite last month while trying to stay warm in a bus shelter in Thunder Bay, Ont.