Biogenesis: Who Else Is Affected?

Will Rhymes

Three Chiefs players weigh in on suspensions

by Norman Seawright III - The recent suspension of 13 Major League Baseball players for using performance-enhancing drugs from the Biogenesis of America clinic has consequences that reach beyond just the players in the major league. Will Rhymes, second baseman for the minor league Syracuse Chiefs, spoke to reporters between the doubleheader games between the Chiefs and the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders on Tuesday. Rhymes, who was drafted by the Detroit Tigers in 2007, signed by the Tampa Bay Rays in 2012, then to the Washington Nationals, said he is frustrated by players who use performance-enhancing drugs.

"The vast majority of us are pretty upset about it," Rhymes said. "Especially guys like me who have been up and down for the last several years."

The Chiefs are the AAA affiliate to the Washington Nationals. The Chiefs lost Tuesday's first game in extra innings to the RailRiders, AAA affiliate to the New York Yankees. The game was a continuation from a rain suspension on July 12th. Before the game was halted, RailRiders' left fielder Fernando Martínez, one of the recently suspended players, hit a home run in the seventh inning to tie the game. Rhymes said performance-enhancing drugs affect more than just the player who uses them.

"The reason we were in extra innings was because Martínez, who just got popped, hit a homer," Rhymes said. "It has a ripple effect through the pitcher who gave up the home run, his stats, and my stats now, because I wore another at-bat that I shouldn't have had to have."

The Chiefs went on to win the second game 3-2. After the second game, Chiefs' left fielder Tyler Moore said one reality of baseball is that some players will try to find shortcuts to boost their careers.

"What they do is on them," Moore said. "It's good to have guys that play the game clean, but it's unfortunate, and it's something that just happens, and the MLB is just trying to clean it up."

Chiefs' General Manager John Simone, said he hopes the league's crackdown changes the way players choose to play the game.

"Down at this lower level, the guys have a little bit more stringent testing," Simone said. "It's not like that at the big leagues, unfortunately."

Erik Davis

Stricter testing rules at the AAA level aside, Chiefs' pitcher Erik Davis said after the second game that the decision about whether or not to take performance-enhancing drugs is a personal one.

"That's not my game," Davis said. "The hardest thing is taking care of yourself. I go out there, and at the end of the day I can look myself in the mirror and know I did things the right way."

Alex Rodriguez is the only player of the thirteen suspended who is appealing his suspension. Rhymes said he is disappointed that the players' union fights to protect players like Rodriguez, and he believes that penalties for steroid usage should be harsher.

"They're forgetting about those of us who are grinding it out for the minimum," Rhymes said. "It's not fair."

Rhymes said the fact that only three players were suspended after being drug tested, while it took a former Biogenesis clinic employee coming forward to help expose the other thirteen, shows that the system is not working.

"That's twelve jobs that one of us could have had," Rhymes said.