Major League Baseball suspended righthander Brian Parker of the Orioles for 50 games after a second positive test for a drug of abuse, in violation of the minor league drug prevention and treatment program.

Parker, 24, finished last season by making two appearances and notching one save at Double-A Bowie after going 4-3, 4.31 at high Class A Frederick with 64 strikeouts in 64 2/3 innings. He's a sinker-slider reliever who did not make the Orioles' Top 30 prospects in BA's Prospect Handbook. He was a 19th-round pick in 2007 out of Lewis-Clark (Idaho) State.

Major League Baseball announced 50-game suspensions for two minor league players, including one who had just recently had his lucrative contract voided.

Earlier this week, MLB announced that it had voided the seven-figure deal that Dominican third baseman Duanel Jones had signed with the Giants. Now, they state that Jones has been suspended for "violating the minor league drug prevention and treatment program," providing no further details. His 50-game suspension will take effect if he signs with another team.

Marlins first baseman Adam Kam signed in August as Florida's 50th-round pick and played in two games in the Gulf Coast League, going 0-for-1 with a walk. A product of Douglas High in Parkland, Fla., the 18-year-old tested positive for the performance-enhancing substances Boldenone and Boldione.

Major League Baseball meted out 50-game suspensions to three players, a group including a 2000 first-round pick and a pair of Latin pitchers who spent '09 as teenagers in the Dominican Summer League.

• White Sox Triple-A outfielder Miguel Negron, 27, failed his second test for a "drug of abuse." Selected 20th overall by the Blue Jays back in 2000, the Caguas, Puerto Rico, native has also played in the Cubs, Mets and White Sox systems, never recording a big league plate appearance. Negron batted .279/.324/.365 with four homers and 14 stolen bases in 103 games for Charlotte.

• Yankees lefthander Rony Bautista (metabolite of Boldenone) and Angels righty Roberto Toribio (metabolites of Stanozolol) each garnered 50-game suspensions of the performance-enhancing substance variety.

Major League Baseball recently announced 50-game suspensions for a pair of minor league players, one who just completed his 13th professional season and the other his first. Each failed his second test for a drug of abuse in violation of the minor league drug prevention and treatment program. Both suspensions take effect on Opening Day.

• Slick-fielding Marlins shortstop Gookie Dawkins, 30, batted .241/.307/.336 last year in 423 at-bats spread over two Triple-A stops. He entered pro ball as the Reds’ second-round pick in 1997 and has suited up for eight different organizations. He signed on with the White Sox for ’09 but a midseason trade to the Marlins sent him not only from Charlotte to New Orleans but also from the International to the Pacific Coast league.

• The Cardinals’ 18-year-old Tyler Bighames played mostly the corner outfield for the Rookie-level Gulf Coast League Cardinals in 2009, his first pro season as St. Louis’ 31st-round pick last June. A product of Estero (Fla.) High, he batted .300/.330/.330 with one homer and one stolen base in 88 at-bats.

Major League Baseball, in an announcement Friday evening, saddled four minor league players with 50-game suspensions for failed drug tests.

• Free agent catcher Matt Tupman, who finished the season with the Diamondbacks’ Double-A Mobile affiliate, tested positive for the second time for a drug of abuse. The suspension will take effect when he signs with a new organization. Tupman, 30, batted .254/.305/.325 in 126 at-bats with the Bay Bears.

• Diamondbacks minor league righthander Daniel Vasquez tested positive for metabolites of Stanozolol. The 23-year-old Dominican struck out 55 batters in 69 innings, while walking 19, for low Class A South Bend. He finished 4-1, 4.57 over 28 relief appearances (plus one start).

• A pair of Dominican Summer League righthanders failed tests for performance-enhancing drugs: the Cardinals’ Jefferson Segundo (metabolites of Stanozolol) and the Marlins’ Joel Tamares (Boldenone).

This offseason will be longer than most for Double-A corner infielder Ron Bourquin. He won’t be able to suit up for a Tigers affiliate until early next June after he drew a 50-game suspension for testing positive for an amphetamine, MLB announced today.

Bourquin, a second-round draft pick in 2006 out of Ohio State, ranked as the team’s No. 20 prospect in 2007, but has not been in the Top 30 since then.

He spent most of this season with low Class A West Michigan before being promoted to Double-A Erie, where he finished the year. Over 424 at-bats, the 24-year-old hit .267/.361/.408 with 30 doubles and eight home runs.

Cardinals minor leaguer Alan Ahmady, most notable for driving in 92 runs for Fresno State’s national championship team in 2008, was suspended for 50 games for violating MLB’s performance-enhancing drug policy. Ahmady tested positive for an amphetamine.

The Cardinals drafted Ahmady in the 11th round this season after he batted .326 for the Bulldogs as a junior. He was a crucial middle-of-the-lineup force for the Bulldogs’ 2008 national champions, batting .382-13-92, ranking second only to Buster Posey in RBIs among Division I batters. In his pro debut with short-season Batavia, Ahmady played both third base and first base, with a little catcher and left field thrown in, while batting .292/.407/.391 with three home runs. His on-base percentage ranked second in the New York-Penn League.

MLB suspended two more minor league players for 50 games after each tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs, in violation of the Minor League Drug Prevention and Treatment Program.

One was third baseman Stephen King, the Nationals’ third-round pick in 2006. He’s the second ‘06 Nats pick suspended this year, joining Stephen Englund, another prep infielder who was converted to pitching this year. King, 22, spent the last two seasons in high Class A Potomac and hit .222/.304/.340 this season. King tested positive for Ritalinic Acid, a stimulant.

The other is catcher Wilson (also known as Willson) Contreras, in the Cubs organization, who was in the Rookie-level Dominican Summer League this season, batting .205. He tested positive for metabolites of Nandrolone.
 

For the record, a pair of second-round draft picks recently were hit with 50-game suspensions for each testing positive for an amphetamine, a performance-enhancing substance under the minors’ drug-testing system.

• Nationals outfielder-turned-righthander Stephen Englund, 21, began serving his suspension on Aug. 11. Washington’s second-round selection in ’06 from Bellevue (Wash.) High, he had been in the process of converting to the mound when the suspension was announced. In three appearances for the Rookie-level GCL Nationals, Englund struck out four batters and walked none over 2 2/3 perfect innings of work. [...] Continue Reading »

Astros Double-A outfielder Mitch Einertson will miss the remainder of the season after twice violating terms of the minor league drug-testing program, the commissioner’s office announced Friday. A 50-game suspension, effective immediately, resulted from the 23-year-old’s second failed test for a drug of abuse.

In his second season with Corpus Christi, Einertson batted .250/.321/.389 in 288 at-bats, contributing eight home runs and 13 doubles to the last-place Hooks. A six-year pro, he burst on to the scene in 2004, tying a 44-year-old Appalachian League record by bashing 24 homers in just 63 games of the Rookie-ball season. He won league MVP honors while also topping all Appy League batters in RBIs (67), slugging (.692) and extra-base hits (39). To top things off, his Greeneville team took home the title. 

Houston selected Einertson out of a Vista, Calif., high school in the fifth round of the ’04 draft. After slumping through two seasons at low Class A, he appeared to have his career back on track in ’07, when he batted .305/.365/.847 with 11 homers and 87 RBIs for high Class A Salem of the Carolina League. Since then, the 5-foot-10, 178-pound Einertson has fared only modestly in two Double-A seasons.

Well-traveled reliever Rafael Cruz’s journey comes to an end—for the next 50 games, at least—after the Braves righthander received a suspension yesterday for testing positive for metabolites of Stanozolol, a performance-enhancing substance.

The 32-year-old native of Santiago, Dominican Republic, had yet to surrender an earned run in eight relief outings with Triple-A Gwinnett. On the season, spent mostly at Double-A Mississippi, Cruz has appeared in 30 games, striking out 25, walking 10 and allowing three home runs in 31 1/3 innings. His record stands at 1-3, 3.45. [...] Continue Reading »

Diamondbacks third baseman Agustin Murillo and Cardinals righthander Kenny Maiques were suspended for 50 games for violating Major League Baseball’s drug prevention and treatment program. Murillo tested positive for Clenbuterol, which MLB classifies as a performance enhancer. Maiques was suspended for testing positive for a drug of abuse.

Murillo, 27, was hitting .317/.388/.475 for Triple-A Reno in the Pacific Coast League. He passed his drug tests this spring, apparently, as he played for Mexico in the World Baseball Classic. He also had a strong Mexican Pacific League this winter, hitting .345 with 11 home runs and league highs of 87 hits, 30 doubles and 150 total bases. Murillo signed with Arizona in October 2002 and spent both 2007 and 2008 on loan to the Mexican League.

Maiques, 23, was having a rough season at Double-A Springfield, walking 13 in 3 2/3 innings. He signed in 2006 as a draft-and-follow out of Rio Hondo (Calif.) JC. He was a 37th-round pick in 2005 and touched 94 mph with his fastball prior to having Tommy John surgery. Maiques had 31 saves in 2007 at low Class A Quad Cities.

Rockies minor league outfielder Kevin Clark received a 50-game suspension, effective immediately, in a disciplinary action announced today by Major League Baseball. The 23-year-old failed a test for amphetamines, which qualify as a performance-enhancing substance under MLB guidelines. 

A lefthanded batter and fourth-year pro, Clark was batting .241/.313/.345 with three doubles in 29 at-bats for high Class A Modesto at the time of the suspension. Colorado selected him in the sixth round of the 2006 draft, out of Manatee (Fla.) CC.

Major League Baseball announced today that it has suspended Brewers minor league righthander Pedro Lambertus for 50 games. He tested positive for metabolites of Boldenone, a performance-enhancing substance.

The 20-year-old, who signed with the Brewers out of the Dominican Republic in 2006, was 0-1, 4.91 with three strikeouts and three walks through 3 2/3 innings, covering three relief appearances, for low Class A Wisconsin.

Another season, another reason to believe Twins first baseman Henry Sanchez will not be able to fulfill his prodigious power potential.

The 2005 supplemental first-round pick—drafted 39th overall and signed for $900,000—was suspended Friday for 50 games for testing positive for a drug of abuse, in violation of the Minor League Drug Prevention and Treatment program.

Sanchez, 22, played high school ball with 2004 No. 1 overall pick Matt Bush at Mission Bay High in San Diego. He has had injuries throughout his career but also has just never hit. In four seasons he has just 310 at-bats and has hit .216/.297/.358, with eight home runs. He was 3-for-13 for low Class A Beloit this season prior to the suspension. [...] Continue Reading »

Two Royals minor leaguers were suspended for 50 games by Major League Baseball yesterday for failing tests for performance-enhancing substances.

Low Class A Burlington shortstop Juan Rivera, 22, tested positive for metabolites of Nandrolone. He had played in three games for the Bees this season, going 2-for-9 (.222) with a walk and three strikeouts. Signed out of the Dominican by the Dodgers in 2003, Rivera was traded to Kansas City last June for Angel Berroa.

Catcher Joe Billick, 23, finished last season with Burlington but had not yet made his debut this season. A 19th-round pick in 2007 from Southern Poly State (Ga.), he batted .240/.387/.340 in 21 Midwest League games last season. Billick tested positive for metabolites of Stanozolol.

Kelvin Pichardo, who was added to the Giants’ 40-man roster over the winter, will open the season on the restricted list.

Major League Baseball on Monday slapped the 23-year-old Dominican with a 50-game suspension for testing positive for a performance-enhancing drug.

The righthander was targeted to open the season at Triple-A Fresno. Last summer at Double-A Connecticut, he struck out 61 and issued 35 walks in 61 2/3 innings as a reliever. He was 2-4, 3.21 and also had seven saves.

The suspension will cost Pichardo more than just games. The Associated Press is reporting that he will lose $65,000 on the minor league side of his contract.

Jarrod Dyson became the second Royals minor league in less than a month to be handed a 50-game drug-related suspension.

The Commissioner’s office on Saturday slapped Dyson with a 50-game suspension after he tested positive for an amphetamine, a performance-enhancing substance, in violation of the Minor League Drug Prevention Program. In late January, the Commissioner’s office announced that infielder Jason Taylor was facing a 50-game suspension for test positive for a recreational drug.

Dyson, 24, was Kansas City’s 50th-round pick, 1,475th overall, in 2006. An outfielder from Southwest Mississippi JC, he hit just .260/.337/.288 with eight doubles but no home runs and 24 RBIs in 288 at-bats in the Carolina League last season. Speed has been Dyson’s biggest calling card throughout his career–he has 61 career steals in 154 games, but only 19 extra-base hits and no home runs in 486 career at-bats.
 

Marlins righthander Pascual Arias, who pitched in the Dominican Summer League last season, has been slapped with a 50-game suspension after testing positive for a performance-enhancing substance, the Commissioner’s office announced Tuesday.

The Commissioner’s office said it was for metabolites of Stanozolol.

Arias, a 6-foot-1, 165-pound righthander, turned 20 last September. He was 0-1, 4.50 with 26 strikeouts and eight walks in 24 innings.

His suspension will begin at the start of the 2009 season.

Royals third baseman/first baseman Jason Taylor had helped regain his prospect status with a solid 2008 season, but his long-term future is once again in doubt after Major League Baseball announced he will miss the first 50 games of the 2009 season after testing positive for a drug of abuse.

This is Taylor’s first MLB-sanctioned suspension for drugs, but he also missed the entire 2007 season after the Royals sent him home for disciplinary purposes. He had helped his cause with a solid return to the game in 2008, as he hit .242/.372/.418 for low Class A Burlington. He also stole 40 bases in 54 tries. But with the suspension, he will now miss a significant portion of the 2009 season, and faces a 100-game suspension if he fails another drug test.

Coming out of a Virginia Beach, Va., high school, Taylor was not projected to go until later in the draft, but the Royals selected him with the first pick of the second round in 2006, and signed for $762,500. Taylor has played third base during most of is career, but he moved to first base when paired in Burlington with Royals’ top prospect Mike Moustakas.