Month: September 2023

Major League Baseball announced thatMilwaukee Brewers pitcher J.C. Mejia was issued a 162-game suspension without pay or a second failed test for stanozolol, an illegal performance-enhancing substance.

The 27-year-old Dominican right-hander, who appeared in nine games this year for the Brewers, first tested positive for the banned anabolic steroid in May of last year and received an 80-game ban from MLB. Mejia’s second positive test for the performance-enhancing substance led MLB to issue what equals a full season ban to the Brewers reliever immediately as a repeat offender under its Joint Drug Prevention and Treatment Program with the players union.

Brewers general manager Matt Arnold said in a statement: “The Milwaukee Brewers fully support MLB’s Joint Drug Prevention and Treatment Program and share in the goal of eliminating performance-enhancing substances from our game.”

Mejia, who made his MLB debut in 2021 with Cleveland, was re-signed by the Brewers to a minor-league deal in the offseason. He was 1-0 this season with a 5.56 earned-run average, 13 strikeouts and three walks over 11 1/3 innings. He was on the Brewers’ 60-day injured list with shoulder inflammation at the time of his suspension.

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Detroit Tigers president of baseball operations Scott Harris announced Thursday that Jeff Greenberg has been hired as the team’s new general manager.  Greenberg, 37, was a former assistant GM with the Chicago Cubs, and associate GM with the NHL’s Chicago Blackhawks. Greenberg replaces Al Avila, who was GM of the Tigers from 2015 until his firing in August 2022; the position has remained vacant since then.

Harris said in a team statement: “I’m thrilled to add an executive of Jeff’s quality to our baseball operations leadership team Throughout this search, it was important for me to find someone who can fit seamlessly into the culture we’re building here. I also wanted to bring in someone with a fresh perspective and new ideas that could challenge us on a daily basis and make us all better as we strive towards our goal of bringing postseason baseball back to Detroit. We’re excited to welcome Jeff, his wife, Erin, and their sons, Leo and Sam, to the Tigers family.”

Greenberg said: “It’s an extraordinary honor to take on this role with one of the most historic franchises in Major League Baseball. Throughout my conversations with Scott, Chris Ilitch and the rest of the team with the Tigers, it became clear that this organization is headed in a great direction with an incredible culture of development and innovation that I’m excited to be part of. Another constant message in those conversations was that Tigers fans want to see winning baseball deep into October. I’m excited to get to work with our front office on off-season and longer-term plans to make that our reality.”

Greenberg began his career in baseball as a minor-league video intern in the early 2010s. He held multiple jobs with the Cubs including director of pro scouting and baseball operations, director of baseball operations and assistant to the general manager, with his last three years spent as assistant GM. According to MLB.com, Greenberg’s work with the Blackhawks as associate GM spanned numerous areas, including scouting, development, coaching and operations.

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The Minnesota Twins announced Wednesday that they have placed shortstop Carlos Correa on the 10-day injured list with plantar fasciitis in his left foot.

Correa was removed from Monday’s game against the Cincinnati Reds after experiencing a popping sensation in his left heel when tracking down a shallow fly ball. He has played through the injury since May but Minnesota thought this was the right time to sideline him. Minnesota (80-72) leads the American League Central by eight games with 10 remaining in the regular season.

Correa has played in a team-leading 135 games this season, hitting .230 (118-for-514) with 29 doubles, two triples, 18 home runs, 65 RBI, 60 runs scored, 59 walks, a .312 on-base percentage and a .711 OPS. To replace Correa on the 28-man roster, the Twins recalled outfielder Trevor Larnach from Triple-A St. Paul in a corresponding move. In 72 games for the Saints this season, Larnach has hit .271 (71-for-262) with 14 doubles, one triple, 15 home runs, 47 RBI and an .888 OPS. In 50 games for the Twins this season, Larnach has hit .216 (35-for-162) with six doubles, three triples, six home runs and 32 RBI.

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Just days after the Browns lost Nick Chubb to a season-ending knee injury, Cleveland re-signed running back Kareem Hunt on a one-year deal on Wednesday worth up to $4 million. Hunt, who spent the last four years with Cleveland, tried out for the Browns on Tuesday.  This will be his fifth season with the Browns.

The 28-year-old Hunt will begin his seventh NFL season, after breaking into the league as a rookie with the Chiefs in 2017, when he led the NFL in rushing. The running back has tallied 1,874 rushing yards, 973 receiving receiving yards and 23 total touchdowns during his time in Cleveland, but had a disappointing campaign in 2022, running for 468 yards last season in 17 games, along with a career-worst 3.80 yards per carry.

Hunt requested a trade and sat out training camp; the Browns tried to trade him leading into the trade deadline, but were unable complete a deal.  Hunt struggled to find work despite visiting with other teams like the Colts and Saints.

Browns head coach Kevin Stefanski said Tuesday that 2022 fifth-round draft pick Jerome Ford will be Cleveland’s featured starter: “You don’t replace Nick Chubb. You just don’t do that. Great players in the league, you look around, they go out. It’s always not one person that replaces a player of [Chubb’s] caliber. So, everybody’s got to do a little bit more, a little bit more everywhere.”

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