Taylor Teagarden Suspended 80 Games for PEDs and Other Bullets

steroids needle syringeThe weather took a turn today, so I think I’m going to take the kids to a movie later this morning. It’ll be my first solo trip with them to the movies, which should be fine (the kids are 3 and 5). The nature of movies – being quiet, being in a confined space, sitting still for two hours, etc. – make it a little trickier to manage than, say, taking them to the park. But we’re ready.

  • The Cardinals picked up Ruben Tejada to cover them at shortstop because of injured starter Jhonny Peralta, but now Tejada, too, is injured. After straining his quad, Tejada is expected to start the season on the disabled list. The injury doesn’t sound too serious, but it’ll leave the Cardinals, for now, to fall back on Jedd Gyorko at shortstop and Greg Garcia as the backup.
  • Do you recall the Al Jazeera PED documentary that implicated a number of big league players (and Peyton Manning)? Most of the players implicated denied their involvement with any kind of performance-enhancing drugs, and two Major Leaguers even filed suit against the makers of the documentary to clear their names. One player implicated who did not file suit is former Cubs catcher Taylor Teagarden, who appeared to admit to PED use in the documentary (the timing was not entirely clear). Teagarden, who has not signed a deal since, was suspended for 80 games by MLB for an unspecified violation of the league’s PED policy.[adinserter block=”1″]
  • We’ll always have the Taylor Teagarden Game.
  • Kyle Schwarber has put in his work behind the plate this spring, and the Cubs are comfortable having him back there, even when the late-inning relievers come in (Tribune). Although Schwarber will mostly be catching Jason Hammel this year, we know that Joe Maddon likes to move guys around, and we also know that relievers eventually do enter the game, so Schwarber will still have to be familiar with other pitchers.
  • Mike Trout has been dealing with a really bad stomach bug that has kept him from doing much lately and has lost some weight. No one thinks he’s in danger of missing the opening series against the Cubs, and he’s still got a little time to get back to 100%.
  • Patrick Mooney writes about Kris Bryant, Bryce Harper, and livening up the game of baseball a bit.
  • Get ready: in advance of Opening Day/Night, Michael and I will have a live stream on Monday, probably in the evening before the game begins. We’ll keep you posted on the details.[adinserter block=”2″]
  • Long live Luis Valbuena: yesterday, he took a two-out, bases-empty walk (in a Spring Training game), and he flipped the heck out of his bat.
  • If you missed it this morning, A.J. Pollock broke his elbow, which is significant news in the NL.
  • Do you have yourself a safe yet? If you’ve got some things you want to put in a safe, this one is 50% off today only at Amazon. Someday, I want to get one of those safes you put behind a piece of art work. Those are classy! I guess I gotta get me some art work …
  • Funny? Scary? Both:
  • Enjoyable:
  • Details for the Cubs’ opening home stand:
  • written by

    Brett Taylor is the Lead Cubs Writer at Bleacher Nation, and you can find him on Twitter at @BleacherNation and on LinkedIn here. Brett is also the founder of Bleacher Nation, which opened up shop in 2008 as an independent blog about the Chicago Cubs. Later growing to incorporate coverage of other Chicago sports, Bleacher Nation is now one of the largest regional sports blogs on the web.

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