If righthander Luis Vizcaino returns to affiliated ball, the game won't exactly welcome him back with open arms. Before suiting up for a minor league club, the 36-year-old free agent would first have to serve a 50-game suspension. The office of the commissioner announced today that Vizcaino tested positive for metabolites of Stanozolol, a performance-enhancing substance.

The Yankees signed Vizcaino to a minor league deal in early January, but they changed course in February and voided the deal. He did not pitch professionally in 2010, and his time with the ’09 Indians ended on a sour note. He appeared in 11 games for Cleveland and gave up seven runs on eight hits (plus 12 walks) in 11 2/3 innings.

Vizcaino spent at least a part of the 11 seasons from 1999 through ’09 in the big leagues, pitching mostly in middle relief and running up a 4.33 ERA and 1.34 WHIP over 547 innings. He pitched for eight teams, including the World Series-champion ’05 White Sox. (He tossed one scoreless inning in the Series.)

Almost more notable than his performance is the fact that Vizcaino served as the perfect complementary piece in trades. The Brewers included him in their trade with the White Sox for Carlos Lee in December 2004. A year later, Chicago tacked him onto their package to the Yankees for Javier Vazquez. A year after that, New York included him in their deal for Randy Johnson, then of the Diamondbacks