A failed test for performance-enhancing drugs carries the same penalty whether you fail for one PED or multiple.
Dustin Richardson must have known this because the former Marlins reliever was suspended 50 games for taking performance-enhancing drugs.
Typically, you hear of a player failing for one PED. Sometimes he takes two substances, usually an amphetamine and something else. Richardson failed for five.
The left-hander's test results showed he had tested positive for an amphetamine, Letrozole and metabolite, Methandienone metabolite, Methenelone and metabolite, and Trenbolone and metabolite.
Richardson did not pitch in the Majors last year. He compiled a 4.79 ERA over 62 innings while spending time with the Marlins and Braves Triple-A clubs in 2011. The left-hander has thrown just 16 1/3 big league innings in his career.
Acquired by the Marlins via trade in January 2011, Richardson was the alternative to letting Andrew Miller go for nothing. After the Marlins designated him for assignment in June 2011, it seems like a box of baseballs would have been more useful.
He was picked up by the Braves and finished the season at Triple-A Gwinnett, posting a 6.00 ERA over 30 innings. Atlanta released him earlier this month, making him a free agent.
Richardson's underwhelming numbers and unimpressive stuff were going to make it difficult for him to find work this off-season. A 28-year-old with his attributes is nothing more than organizational depth.
Now that he has a 50-game suspension attached to him, it should only be more difficult as he cannot serve his purpose as a minor league roster filler.
Richardson cannot begin serving his suspension until he signs with a big league team. At this point, it may never happen but that failed PED test is one of the more memorable ways to round out a career.
Hey, if you're going to go out, at least go out in a roid-induced whirlwind of glory?
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