Free-agent catcher Taylor Teagarden has been suspended 80 games for violating the league's Joint Drug Prevention and Treatment Program, MLB announced. The suspension takes effect Opening Day.
Teagarden was linked to perfomance-enhancing drugs in a recent documentary by Al Jazeera America. In fact, Teagarden admitted to using PEDs in undercover footage included in the documentary. Here's what he said in the Al Jazeera footage:
“I used it last year, I was very ... I was scared to be honest with you. I took it for like two weeks and I had a test four weeks after my last administration of it. Nothing happened ... And I was also taking peptides too but they were all urine tests, no blood tests ... Once a year, maybe twice at most.”
The nature of Teagarden's violation was not specified in MLB's release, so it's unclear if he failed a test or was suspended as a result of the Al Jazeera footage.
The documentary also linked Ryan Howard and Ryan Zimmerman to PEDs, though both have denied the allegations. The two have since filed defamation suits against Al Jazeera.
Teagarden, 32, appeared in eight games with the Cubs in 2015. He's a career .202/.260/.376 (67 OPS+) in 180 big league games with four teams in parts of eight seasons.
