Commonly sold under the name Winstrol (oral) and Wonstrol Depot (intramuscular), Stanozolol is a synthetic anabolic steroid that began to be widely used in sports during the 80’s but which has actually been around since 1962.
It was in fact the steroid that Canadian sprinter Ben Johnson tested positive on in 1988. As of 4/14, Jenrry Mejia of the Mets, Ervin Santana of the Twins, Arodys Vizcaino of the Braves and David Rollins of the Mariners have all been suspended having tested positive for stanozolol. Per NBCSports, this has prompted MLB to launch an investigation. Rob Manfred made the following statement:
“Major League Baseball investigators have launched a Biogenesis-style investigation to determine if there is a link — a doctor, trainer, drug dealer or dietary supplement — between the four cases.”
This is going to get interesting. When Mejia initially commented on his suspension he seemed genuinely surprised by the result. Maybe I’m being naïve, but you’ve got to wonder … this stuff apparently was what the original steroid tests were designed to find, it would be beyond foolish to use stanozolol.
Although I don’t exactly look forward to another MLB witch-hunt, I do see the need. MLB tends to go in with crowbars and hammers where a scalpel might be better — trolling minor leaguers for information and bullying them into incriminating statements and penalizing them for not ratting out other players was certainly their MO under Selig, it will be interesting to see whether Manfred is perhaps more subtle. I don’t know … not sure I agree with the methods, particularly in light of how in the end, it wasn’t the thuggish bullying by MLB but the two excellent investigative pieces in the Miami New Times that broke the case.
Still, it’s nice to see MLB taking a prompt action on this outbreak. If indeed this is the result of a tainted or misrepresented substance you have to wonder whether the suspensions might be revoked and whether Mejia may yet be reinstated.
Given the recent controversy over tainted nutritional supplements it wouldn’t be entirely out of the realm of possibility. However, as Craig Calcaterra of NBC Sports noted, “More likely this was the result of someone telling the players that they can conceal it with some masking agent or system-beating scheme which makes the detection of this otherwise ridiculously detectable drug impossible.”
Thought provoking to say the least in light of last week’s Steve Kettman interview where he made the following statement:
“I’m not sure that we have entered a “post-steroid” era or that we ever will. The cheaters are smarter and more sophisticated now than they were, and juicing is less prevalent; we’d be naive to think it no longer occurs.”
It will be interesting to see where this latest can of worms takes us.
