MLB Suspends J.C. Romero for 50 games
The Good Phight — This is gonna get messy:  While Major League Baseball never said J.C. Romero tried to cheat, the 33-year-old reliever who won the third and clinching games of the 2008 World Series has been ruled guilty of "negligence" and will be suspended for the first 50 games of the 2009 season. Romero said on Monday that he bought a supplement from a GNC store in Cherry Hill, N.J., last July. The Players Association had told players the supplement was acceptable, but now the Philadelphia ...

J.C. Romero Suspended 50 Games for Using Questionable Banned Substance
The700Level.com - Philly Sports & Minutiae — ... you read the entire article to see how J.C. really seems to be getting screwed over pretty bad here. Whether it's the Players Association failing him or the arbitrator, J.C. got misled. The thing I admire the most, faced with a reduced sentence if he admitted guilt, J.C. said he couldn't admit guilt because he didn't believe he did anything wrong. 50 games and $1.25 million is messing with a dude's life. That sucks for J.C. and Phillies fans everywhere. >>Romero Questions Suspension [ESPN] ...

50-game ban for Phils’ Romero
SmackCaster SmackBlog — ... Reliever J.C. Romero of the World Champion Philadelphia Phillies has been suspended for 50 games, according to an ESPN.com report. Romero says he bought a supplement in a GNC store in Cherry Hill, New Jersey, and that led to a positive test and the suspension that will cost him $1.25 million. ...

Phillies Reliever J.C. Romero Suspended 50 Games
SOX & Dawgs — ... reliever J.C. Romero has been suspended 50 games by MLB for testing positive for a banned supplement. Romero says he spoke with the MLBPA and they had said there was no problem with the supplement he purchased at GNC. It does appear that Romero may have been misled by the MLBPA and was offered a reduced sentence if he admitted guilt. He didn’t do that as he maintains his innocence. He will lose $1.25 million of his $4 million salary for 2009. [ESPN.com] ...

Phillies' Romero Suspended 50 Games
MLB Rumors - MLBTradeRumors.com — ... "I still cannot see where I did something wrong," Romero told ESPN.com's Peter Gammons. "There is nothing that should take away from the rings of my teammates. I didn't cheat. I tried to follow the rules." ...

Breaking News: Romero Out 50 Games For Purchasing Illegal Drug
Phillies Nation — Major League Baseball has suspended JC Romero 50 games for testing positive for a performance-enhancing drug. ESPN reports: Romero said on Monday that he bought a supplement from a GNC store in Cherry Hill, N.J., last July. The Players Association had told players the supplement was acceptable, but now the left-hander will receive a suspension and lose $1.25 million. “I still cannot see where I did something wrong,” Romero said. “There is nothing that should take away from the rings of my teammates. I ...

MLB to Romero: “You Got F’d In The A”
The Fightins — ... Using tactics employed by shady, imperious organizations past and present, the powers that be in Major League Baseball (”Taking Substance Abuse 33% More Seriously!”) have decided to suspend Phillies reliever J.C. Romero for fifty games next season. ...

J.C. Romero Banned 50 Games Because He Can't Read Minds
FanHouse — ... Mullet Filed under: Phillies, NL East, MLB GossipMajor League Baseball kills me sometimes. They want to get tough on enhancing your performance through drug use, but then a player does his due diligence only to get clipped because the league changes the list of banned substances without giving players enough notice or grace period. Take the case of J.C. Romero, who has found himself with a 50 game ban ... not for cheating, but for "negligence". Three months after Romero was tested before a Phillies-Mets game on Aug. 26, ...

The Morning After: January 6, 2008
Sparty and Friends — ... year with disappointment in a BCS game, losing to Texas in exciting fashion.  The difference in this game?  Colt McCoy didn’t skip 5 yard passes on the ground like Pryor. Now that most of the big FA dominoes have fallen in MLB, some of the “affordable” players are starting to sign deals.  Milton Bradley signed with the Cubs, and Pat Burrell is heading down to the team he just helped defeat.  The Rays have one hell of a lineup. So, why is JC Romero suspended? Kinda sad news out of Minnesota. Twins owner, Carl Pohlad, ...

Andy turns down Yanks
The Sommer Frieze — ... Reading Peter Gammons column, it seems like an innocent mistake, if a mistake at all, but J. C. Romero of the Phils has been suspended for the first 50 games of 2009. Romero, 32, was 4-4, 2.75 (ERA+ 160) for the Phils in 2008 and pitched in 81 games. He’s 32-28, 4.14 (ERA+ 111) for his career and won two games in last year’s WS. ...

JC Romero Is A Dirty Cheater (Who Cares?)
Amazin' Avenue — ... Whatever. Philadelphia reliever JC Romero was suspended for 50 games for "negligence", which so far as I can recall is not one of the banned substances agreed upon in the current collective bargaining agreement. Actually, the name of the substance Romero was found guilty of using has not been released, and there is plenty of confusion about its legality and who was actually aware of it. ...

Speed Read: Cosby Show Gives Texas Title Claim
SPORTSbyBROOKS — ... J.C. Romero got a 50-game suspension for using a banned substance for the third time, but he’s blaming GNC. ...

Romero’s Suspension
The Hardball Times — Peter Gammons has a very detailed piece about J.C. Romero's 50-game suspension for taking, well, something: ...

Free J.C.
Balls, Sticks, & Stuff | Phillies, Eagles, golf and other matters of great importance... — Peter Gammons does an excellent job of reporting the details on J.C. Romero's suspension. Romero has been suspended 50 games and fined $1.25 million for "negligence" in regards to an over-the-counter supplement he took after -- repeat after -- the supplement was cleared by the players' union, two nutritionists and the Phillies' strength and conditioning coach. According to Gammons, Romero failed several drug tests in August and September, appealed the findings, and actually had an arbitration hearing during the playoffs and World Series. It's amazing to think how well he ...

Former Sox pitcher J.C. Romero faces 50-game drug ban
Projo Sox Blog — ... J.C. Romero, the former Red Sox reliever who won the fifth and deciding game of this year's World Series as a pitcher for the Philadelphia Phillies, will be suspended for the first 50 games of the 2009 season and lose about $1.25 million as a result of his use of a banned supplement, ESPN is reporting. ...

Tuesday (Erin Andrews, Mike Tice and Carl Pohlad) edition: Wha’ Happened?
Randball — ... yesterday. Regardless of what you thought of Pohlad the man or the owner when he was alive, dancing on someone’s grave is crass at best. *It was an entertaining fourth quarter in the Fiesta Bowl, but in the end — with a Texas comeback negating an equally impressive Ohio State comeback — the Big Ten fell to 1-6 in bowl games this year, 9-20 over the past four years and 0-6 in its recent BCS matchups. That’s what we call a trend, not a mirage. *Former Twins pitcher J.C. Romero received a 50-game suspension for what looks to be similar to the Williams Wall situation. Considering ...

The baseball gods giveth away…
Bugs & Cranks — ... the baseball gods this past October. Well clearly, Charlie Manuel had made some deals, because the baseball gods are exacting their revenge on my team. First, Chase Utley reveals that he played the 2nd half on 1 hip, and needed surgery that could sideline him until June. Next, the Phillies decide to remain stagnant in free agency, swapping Chan Ho Park for Tom Gordon, and of course, Raúl Ibañez for Pat the Bat, which did not exactly scream improvement. Now, we are losing our top lefty reliever for 50 games ? ...

Free J.C.
The Sports Complex — ... In my opinion, the J.C. Romero suspension has been very well covered. Peter Gammons knocked the story out yesterday, Phil Sheridan ...

Confusion controversy gives birth to Free JC Romero movement
Big League Stew — ... To try and sum up a complicated situation: Last July, Romero bought a supplement from GNC. The MLBPA had previously approved the supplement and Romero says he was under the belief he was doing nothing wrong. He had the supplement approved by two different nutritionists (though he failed to call the drug hotline). He was tested twice during the season and when one of the tests came up positive on Sept. 23, he immediately stopped taking the supplement. (The other test came back positive on Oct. 12). On Nov. 21, the MLPBA sent out a letter to players saying that it had made just a ...

J.C. Romero Suspended For 50 Games
Total Pro Sports — ... Total Pro Sports - J.C. Romero today was booked for a banned nutritional supplement's and suspended 50 games by Major League Baseball.  The 33 year old relief pitcher said he bought the nutritional supplement from a GNC store in Cherry Hill, New Jersey. ...

Nothing Good Has Ever Come From Patronizing Vitamin Shoppe and GNC
Can't Stop The Bleeding — ... To borrow from my Internet friend Stu’s optimistic take, the Philadelphia Phillies have just made a dramatic middle-of-the-season move, picking up overused lefty reliever J.C. Romero well before the trade deadline. That’s because he’s been suspended 50 games. ESPN’s Peter Gammons had the story, which everyone in baseball managed to keep under wraps (somewhat impressively, I’d say) during the playoffs. ...

AIE: Todays Top Stories That I Have Read
Hardcore Detroit Fan — ... Although Major League Baseball never said J.C. Romero tried to cheat, the 33-year-old relief pitcher who won the third and clinching games of the 2008 World Series has been ruled guilty of “negligence” and will be suspended for the first 50 games of the 2009 season. Here is the article Suspended Romero ‘didn’t cheat’ by Peter Gammons ...

More on Mitre; Dissecting Romero's claims
It's About The Money - A New York Yankees Blog — ... IIATMS: It was noted in Peter Gammons’ original article that Romero claims he was offered a more lenient suspension (25 games) if he plead guilty. Was Mitre offered that same deal? ...

An Innocent Man?
Mike's Mets — ... Perhaps you have been following the drama surrounding Phillies reliever J.C. Romero's 50-game suspension for testing positive for a banned substance. There have been several articles written from Romero's point of view, including this one from Peter Gammons, where Romero presents a case for what he believes to be his innocence. ...

A Word on the JC Romero Debacle
BadSnap — ... has screwed up. The point is that this is just another example that MLB, despite popular and even legal pressure to execute a legitimate anti-drug program, is still incapable of doing so. That they bungled this (read bungled one of two ways 1. inadvertently misled/misinformed players* or 2. let a “cheater” participate and subsequently contribute to championship)** is just another indictment, the latest in a long line, that their leadership is either incompetent, negligent, or both. * Gammons : "Somehow, after MLB was warned in early July, those concerns about three supplements ...

A-Rod allegedly tested positive for steroids: Who cares?
Mets Tailgate — ... Major League Baseball screwed up. It turned a blind eye to steroids in return for revenue created by the 1998 home run race and increase in offense that drew fans to the stadiums. That stinks. Since then, MLB has created stiff penalties for players caught using (see J.C. Romero), and generally tried hard to remove PED's from the game. So please, let's move on. Let's not waste our time talking about spineless unnamed sources divulging information about a supposed-to-be anonymous steroid test from 2003. Especially when pitchers and catchers report in a few days.

Jeter and Posada Say No to Drugs
Respect Jeter's Gangster — ... Translation: "I didn't take any PED's, but after what happened to Romero, I can't be sure that the mixed berry protein shake I bought at GNC will generate a positive test. My first language is Spanish, which means that I don't know what things like "anaroxibolactyx" mean and therefore have it checked out before I take it, but since Romero also ran his substance by a specialist and was given the okay before testing positive, who knows what will generate a positive test any more." ...

J.C. Romero files a lawsuit he's going to lose
Circling The Bases — Phillies reliever J.C. Romero is serving a 50 game suspension for testing positive for a banned substance found in an over-the-counter supplement. His defense back when this all broke in January was that he was misled by the Players' Association, the supplement retailer, and his nutionist, all of whom represented to him that there was nothing illegal and/or banned by baseball to be found in stuff you could buy over-the-counter. That didn't get him anywhere with baseball, ...

Big Papi: Blame It On The Gee-Gee-Gee-Gee-Gee-Gee-En-See
WasWatching.com — ... So, Big Papi is playing the J.C. Romero card on this one, as opposed to the Mark “Not Going To Talk About The Past” McGwire card, or the Sammy “No Habla Ingles” Sosa card, or the Roger “Deny, Deny, Deny” Clemens card, or the Alex “Young, Dumb, And Naive” Rodriguez card, or the Andy “Yup, I Did It” Pettitte card… ...