MLB’s ongoing tangle with performance-enhancing drugs finally hit the roster of a Chicago baseball team Thursday with the 80-game suspension of Welington Castillo. The White Sox catcher tested positive for a Erythropoietin, a banned substance, becoming the first active big-league player from the Sox or Cubs to be punished for PEDs under the current system.
It’s a little amazing that both teams had managed to skirt a PED suspension since MLB first implemented its drug policy in 2005. According to the Baseball-Almanac, the White Sox are the 27th team to have a big-league player suspended. The Cubs are one of three remaining holdouts with the Red Sox and Angels.
Every other team has had at least one player off its MLB roster suspended. Some franchises have had several.
For example, when Mariners second baseman Robinson Cano got an 80-game ban earlier this spring, he became that franchise’s sixth player to be suspended for PEDs, joining Jamal Strong (2005), Ryan Franklin (2005), Mike Morse (2005), Jesus Montero (2013) and David Rollins (2015). The Mets have also had a number of culprits, including Jennry Mejia, the only player ever to receive a lifetime ban.
Big-league players from the Cubs and White Sox, on the other hand, had managed to go unscathed. Until Thursday, that is. That was unusual in baseball.
MLB PED suspensions since 2005, by team
Above is a look at the number of PED suspensions given to each MLB team for players on 40-man rosters, according to Baseball-Almanac.
It’s important to note this does not include punishments for “drugs of abuse,” such as cocaine, only those designed to improve performance. This also counts players who drew multiple suspensions multiple times, so Mejia counts for three suspensions for the Mets, for example. That’s as many or more suspensions than 23 respective franchises have recorded.
In total, there have been 74 big-league suspensions triggered by positive tests for performance-enhancing drugs in the last 13 years. Over 40 percent of them have involved seven teams: the Mets, Mariners, Phillies, Yankees, Rays, Padres and Royals.
Before Thursday, the Cubs and White Sox accounted for zero of those suspensions. However, that’s only if we focus on the majors.
But what about the minor leagues?
Minor League Baseball suspends far more players than MLB, especially at lower levels where many prospects have little to lose by pushing the rules. Nobody from the White Sox or Cubs’ big-league rosters had been suspended for PEDs until Castillo, but there’s a long list of prospects to be busted, even if you go back just a few years.
There’s no comprehensive list available of every suspension handed out by Minor League Baseball dating back 13 years, but here is everyone from the Cubs or Sox organization suspended by MiLB since 2012, sorted by organization, then chronologically. You can see suspensions for all organizations in 2018 here.
CUBS
RHP Ricard Esteves
Date: April 10, 2012
Team: n/a
Substance: Stanozolol, Nandrolone
Suspension length: n/a
RHP Juancito De La Cruz
Date: July 18, 2012
Team: DSL Cubs
Substance: Stanozolol
Suspension length: 50 games
RHP Antonio Encarnacion
Date: July 18, 2012
Team: DSL Cubs
Substance: Stanozolol
Suspension length: 50 games
LHP Andin Diaz
Date: Aug. 8, 2012
Team: DSL Cubs
Substance: Stanozolol
Suspension length: 50 games
RHP Pedro Silverio
Date: April 10, 2013
Team: DSL Cubs
Substance: Stanozolol
Suspension length: 50 games
RHP Assael Aquino
Date: June 18, 2015
Team: DSL Cubs
Substance: Stanozolol
Suspension length: 72 games
RHP Luiz Escanio
Date: June 18, 2015
Team: DSL Cubs
Substance: Stanozolol
Suspension length: 72 games
RHP Tanner Griggs
Date: Nov. 25, 2015
Team: AZL Cubs
Substance: Amphetamine
Suspension length: 50 games
RHP Luiz Escanio
Date: Aug. 10, 2016
Team: DSL Cubs 2
Substance: Boldenone
Suspension length: 144 games
RHP Anyel Beato
Date: Sept. 22, 2017
Team: DSL Cubs 2
Substance: Stanozolol
Suspension length: 72 games
RHP Wilfre Delgado
Date: Jan. 12, 2018
Team: DSL Cubs
Substance: Stanozolol
Suspension length: 72 games
WHITE SOX
RHP Andre Rienzo
Date: April 26, 2012
Team: Advanced Class A Winston-Salem
Substance: Stanozolol
Suspension length: 50 games
2B Carlos Gonzalez
Date: Aug. 24, 2012
Team: DSL White Sox
Substance: Stanozolol
Suspension length: 50 games
RHP Pedro Rodriguez
Date: Aug. 23, 2013
Team: DSL White Sox
Substance: Stanozolol
Suspension length: 50 games
C Nick Parent
Date: Aug. 29, 2013
Team: Rookie Sox (Bristol)
Substance: Stanozolol
Suspension length: 50 games
RHP Nick Blount
Date: Nov. 1, 2013
Team:Class A Advanced Winston-Salem
Substance: Amphetamine
Suspension length: 50 games
OF Adam Heisler
Date: June 25, 2014
Team: Class A Advanced Winston-Salem
Substance: Amphetamine
Suspension length: 50 games
RHP Kameron Loe
Date: March 29, 2016
Team: Class AAA Charlotte
Substance: Testosterone, Methasterone
Suspension length: 80 games
RHP Joselo Pinales
Date: July 20, 2016
Team: DSL White Sox
Substance: Stanozolol
Suspension length: 72 games
1B Telvin Nash
Date: Aug. 19, 2016
Team: Class AA Winston-Salem
Substance: Amphetamine
Suspension length: 50 games
LHP Yogensy Arias
Date: Sept. 22, 2016
Team: DSL White Sox
Substance: Hydrochlorothiazide
Suspension length: 72 games
That’s 11 suspensions for Cubs prospects and 10 suspensions for White Sox prospects.
However, Castillo goes into history as the first MLB player from either team to earn the league’s wrath for PEDs. We’ll have to see whom among the Cubs, Angels and Red Sox holds out the longest without a suspension.