Mejia’s Press Conference Didn’t Disappoint 

In all seriousness, the last thing I want to do is to write about Jenrry Mejia again. It’s going to be an exciting year for the Mets, and there are so many great and positive things to write about and discuss. 

However, he called a press conference, and WOW, do we need to address his allegations. 

First, Mejia alleged that baseball threaten him with a third suspension if he didn’t name names. Essentially, Mejia is asserting that the way MLB handles its steroid policy is nothing short of how the McCarthy hearings transpired.  For not naming names, Mejia alleges he was suspended a third time even though he was not using a banned substance at the time of the last suspension.

Now, Mejia only admitted to being guilty the first time, which he chalked up to an accident. He said the subsequent tests were no accurate. When pressed on whether MLB was issuing false positives, Mejia’s attorney said the information is confidential. Despite the confidentiality asserted here, it did not prevent Mejia from making that assertion. 

Second, Mejia has alleged that MLB has hacked into player’s social media accounts. Following the Cardinals’ hacking scandal this is no small allegation. Mejia is not only asserting baseball has infringed upon his rights, he is also accusing baseball of criminal behavior. If true, this is a scandal that could rock baseball. If false, these allegations are nothing short of defamation. 

Of less surprising news, Mejia says he is innocent, and he will appeal the suspension through the Player’s Union. As such, no court case as of right now. As we’ve seen in past cases, these appeals happen behind closed doors, which is a shame. With all that Mejia is claiming, I’d love to see this on live TV. 

This press conference has raised many issues regarding how MLB handles people who test positive for PEDs. If MLB is willing to bargain with a tainted player for information, it puts the legitimacy of the policy and what’s on the field in question. Conversely, if MLB is creating false positives and hacking into player’s social media accounts, it shows the great lengths baseball will go to in order to catch PED users. At this point, this all seems a little far fetched . . . at least I hope it is. 

The Mejia drama has taken some strange twists and turns thus far, and by the looks of it, the drama is not going away any time soon. 

Editor’s Note: this was first published on metsmerizedonline.com