Seattle Mariners second baseman Robinson Cano is currently serving an 80-game suspension for testing positive for a banned substance. Given Cano’s status in the game, the news was surprising. But Mark Teixeira, Cano’s former teammate with the New York Yankees, was far from surprised.
Citing Cano’s friendship with Alex Rodriguez and Melky Cabrera, as well as his assistant’s name on the Biogenesis list, Teixeira sounded as though he almost expected the news.
“Robbie Cano’s assistant was on the list for Biogenesis,” Teixeira said on The Michael Kay Show, per NJ.com’s Brendan Kuty. “Of course he had his assistant buy stuff for him. Alex Rodriguez got popped by Biogenesis and Melky got popped. They’re his best friends. When someone gets lumped into that group, it’s because there’s evidence, there’s a paper trail, there’s a smoke trail.”
The sad reality of baseball is that Teixeira is right. All things considered, it’s actually surprising that Cano wasn’t at least somewhat linked to PED use in the past — even without any hard evidence.
That’s not to say that everyone who’s ever been accused of PED use or linked in a distant way to someone is guilty. But the truth is that many have been. Far too many, in fact, to give anyone the benefit of the doubt. As unfortunate as that sounds, that’s what baseball, and sports in general, have become.
The only thing that fans can do is train themselves to not be surprised when news like this breaks.