Mets pitcher Jenrry Mejia 1st to draw lifetime drug ban

Major League Baseball (MLB) issued a lifetime ban on Friday to former New York Mets pitcher Jenrry Mejía, after he tested positive a third time for a performance-enhancing substance.

He was suspended 80 games last April 11 following a positive test for Stanozolol, a drug popular among bodybuilders.

He made his major-league debut in 2010 but hit his stride in 2013, when he posted a 2.30 ERA in five starts. He agreed to a one-year $2.47 million deal and his salary was to be prorated due to the second suspension. Mejia was the star of the Mets’ bullpen in 2014, recording 28 saves and starting seven games, finishing with a 3.65 ERA.

October 21, 2015: Mejia’s teammates top the Cubs in the NLCS, moving onto the World Series for the first time since 2000.

In just a year, Mejia has gone from the Mets’ closer to permanently banned from Major League Baseball.

In a statement, the Mets said “we are deeply disappointed” that Mejia violated MLB’s drug prevention program.

I’d say this is unfathomable, but that word was already used to describe Mejia’s actions past year, when he was suspended for steroid use a second time.

Mejia’s third failed drug test will result in a permanent ban from baseball. With so many positives occurring during the 2015 season, one of the negatives had to be Jenrry Mejia.

Major League Baseball’s policies to prevent the use of performance-enhancing drugs seemed created to keep anyone from ever risking the full extent of the punishments.

For the Mets, they haven’t really missed Mejia at all, having just won the NL Pennant last season with Jeurys Familia holding down the fort in the ninth inning.

The reliever returned in July only to be suspended once more for Stanozolol and Boldenone.

MLB suspensions may be honored in leagues in other countries such as Japan, South Korea and Mexico, but that is each league’s decision.

Despite the stupidity that had to be involved in the whole process – by Mejia as well as those around him – it is hard not to feel sympathy for the right-hander from the Dominican Republic.