Being that Alex Reyes was on track to potentially impact the Cardinals as soon as 2016, this is probably pretty significant news. The hard-throwing righty, who’d worked his way comfortably into the top 30 prospects or so in all of baseball, has been suspended 50 games for a second positive test of a drug of abuse.
You can see MLB’s statement, as well as one from Reyes, here:
Statement from Cardinal prospect Alex Reyes. He's been suspended for 50 games for violating drug program: pic.twitter.com/AR0fpY3Fe6
— Jesse Sanchez (@JesseSanchezMLB) November 9, 2015
With about 10 games left in the AFL season, Reyes will miss the first 40-ish games of the 2016 season. That could mean he won’t be as likely to impact the Cardinals in the second half (he’s pitched only 34.2 innings above High-A).
This is far from a huge deal for the Cardinals, but it probably hurts the plans just a little bit, and could affect Reyes’ development slightly (the punishment, I mean; I can’t speak to any on-field impact from the off-field decisions).
(In the spirit of intellectual honesty, I want to express my belief that it’s crazy that a player is suspended for 50 games for smoking weed. I understand the connection between the penalty for non-performance-enhancing drug use and sports – it mostly has to do with role modeling for kids – but I don’t think any of the major sports get this issue right. I don’t have all the answers – and I can understand some penalty – but it just feels like this isn’t it.)