MLB Suspends Giants' Mota 100 Games
By Nick Ostiller
San Francisco Giants reliever Guillermo Mota was suspended for 100 games on Monday, becoming the third major league player penalized twice for positive drug tests.st
The commissioner's office said the 38-year-old right-hander tested positive for Clenbuterol. In Nov. 2006, while with the New York Mets, Mota was suspended for the first 50 games of the next season.
Mota's agent Adam Katz said in a statement that the Clenbuterol was in children's cough medicine.
"Players are responsible for what they put in their bodies. Guillermo understands that,'' Katz said. "A 100-game suspension for taking a children's cough medicine that contains trace amounts of a prohibited substance, which is what happened here, is severe and unfair and does not reflect the intention of the Joint Drug Prevention and Treatment Program. We will appeal it.''
Many Santa Clara students are Giants fans, and have expressed their frustration with the suspension.
"I'm disappointed in Mota in the aspect that he is a pretty good relief pitcher and I'm kind of disappointed that he had to rely on performance enhancing drugs to, you know, better himself in pitching," said junior Andrew Dugoni, a self-proclaimed die-hard Giants fan. "We've been plagued by injury and this is just adding more problems to our problem-filled lineup. The Giants need to get back on track and this is just not helping.
The Major League Baseball Players Association filed a grievance challenging the suspension that will be heard by an arbitrator. Under the MLB's drug agreement, grievances for initial positive tests are heard before a suspension is announced, but cases involving second or third positives are argued after the penalty is made public.
Clenbuterol acts as a stimulant, increasing heart rate. In medicine, it is used to treat asthma. Like some steroids, the drug also has anabolic effects. Athletes and body builders use it to build muscle and burn fat.
Outfielder Manny Ramirez, now with the Oakland Athletics, and former Giant Eliezer Alfonzo are the only previous players to test positive twice. No player has tested positive a third time, which would result in a lifetime ban.
Mota was 0-1 with a 5.06 ERA in nine games for the Giants this year. This is his 14th season in the majors.
Junior Chris Mora, a Dodgers fan, was happy with the news.
"Now it's just more guaranteed that the Dodgers will capture the division and World Series and crush the Giants," said an optimistic Mora.
Mota has been a setup man and middle reliever throughout his long career. He is 39-45 with 10 saves in 726 games while playing with Montreal, the Los Angeles Dodgers, Florida, Cleveland, the New York Mets, Milwaukee and San Francisco.
"Got rid of that guy just in time," said Mora about Mota's past stint with the Dodgers.
This is Mota's third season with the Giants. He was with the Mets when he was previously suspended and missed the first 50 games of the 2007 season.
Contact Nick Ostiller at nostiller@scu.edu or (408) 554-4852. The Associated Press contributed to this report.