Robinson Cano has been suspended for 80 games after he dropped his appeal of a failed performance-enhancing drug test, and many have assumed he made that decision since he is injured and won’t be able to play for a while. According to one report, the timing is merely a coincidence.
ESPN’s Jerry Crasnick was told by a source that Cano was in the process of dropping his appeal before he was hit by a pitch over the weekend and suffered a fractured hand.
Cano was in the process of dropping his appeal before he suffered a broken hand in the #Mariners game against the Tigers on Sunday, sources said. The injury was purely coincidental. His hearing had been scheduled for today.
— Jerry Crasnick (@jcrasnick) May 15, 2018
Cano is expected to miss several weeks with the hand injury, and he can serve his suspension while he sits out. He will not receive game checks and has been ruled ineligible to participate in the postseason if the Mariners make it that far, however.
The fact that Cano was already prepared to drop his appeal makes his explanation for testing positive even tougher to believe. The All-Star second baseman tested positive for Furosemide, which is commonly used to mask performance-enhancing drug use. However, Major League Baseball needs to prove it is likely that the substance was used to mask some sort of drug use before handing down a suspension. As we laid out for you in detail earlier, Cano’s decision to drop the appeal is not consistent with the excuse he has given.
