Blue Jay 2012 first round draft choice Marcus Stroman has been suspended for 50 games for Performance-Enhancing Drug Use. Also suspended is Josh Sale from the Tampa Bay Rays.
Many of us thought that Stroman might be promoted to the Jays when rosters expand in September. I'm not sure if the Jays can still 'call him up' and have the September games count against his suspension. I'm sure the Jays will assign him to a full season minor league team next year, to start the clock on his suspension as soon as they can.
Stroman, drafted out of Duke University, has a 3.26 ERA in 19 pro innings this year, with 23 strikeouts and 9 walks, playing at Vancouver and New Hampshire.
It isn't the way we wanted him to finish his first year in the system, I was very curious to see him in September. I guess we'll save that till next year.
Update:
The Blue Jays have released these statements....
From Marcus Stroman:
"Despite taking precautions to avoid violating the Minor League testing program, I unknowingly ingested a banned stimulant that was in an over-the-counter supplement. Nonetheless, I accept full responsibility and I want to apologize to the Toronto Blue Jays organization, my family, my teammates, and the Blue Jays fans everywhere. I look forward to putting this behind me and rejoining my teammates."
From Alex Anthopoulos:
"This suspension is unfortunate and we are disappointed by this development. The Toronto Blue Jays however fully endorse the Major League Baseball's drug testing policy and support the discipline taken today."
Update 2: After asking around, apparently the rule is that when a player is suspended he is locked into the roster he is on at the time so that he can't be moved around to serve the suspension quicker. We are lucky he was moved up to New Hampshire from Vancouver. Vancouver is in a short season league, they start later, his suspension would have lasted most of their season.