Robinson Cano, second baseman for the New York Mets, has been suspended for the 2021 season after testing positive for a performance enhancing drug.
Cano, 38, tested positive for stanozolol, MLB.com reported Wednesday — marking the second time the athlete has tested positive for a banned substance.
Cano has been suspended for 162 games, the MLB said, and is forced to forfeit his $24 million salary during the suspension.
"We were extremely disappointed to be informed about Robinson's suspension for violating Major League Baseball's joint drug prevention and treatment program," Mets President Sandy Alderson said in a statement Wednesday.
"The violation is very unfortunate for him, the organization, our fans, and the sport," Alderson said. "The Mets fully support MLB's efforts toward eliminating performance enhancing substances from the game."
Cano accepted responsibility for the violation in a prepared statement, per MLB.com.
"I understand that everything that goes into my body, I’m responsible for that," he said.
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The athlete previously tested positive for furosemide — a diuretic that can reportedly be used to try to hide other drugs in urine tests — in 2018 while playing for the Mariners. This second violation of the MLB’s Joint Drug Prevention and Treatment Program is an automatic 162-game suspension.
In 2018, Cano said that he had been prescribed furosemide by a doctor in the Dominican Republic for a "medical ailment" and was unaware that the substance was banned.
"For more than 15 years, playing professional baseball has been the greatest honor and privilege of my life. I would never do anything to cheat the rules of the game that I love," he said at the time, adding that he had "never" taken a performance enhancing substance.
Cano is currently still on contract through 2023 and has $48 million remaining from both the Mariners and the Mets.
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