Phillies’ Freddy Galvis Suspended 50 Games For PED Use

CBS Philadelphia, PA The Phillies were on a 10-game homestand that had the potential to make or break their season before they had played a game when the following news broke and went viral: Major League Baseball has suspended Phillies second baseman Freddy Galvis for 50 games, the commissioner’s office announced Tuesday afternoon.

According to MLB, Galvis tested positive for a metabolite of the performance-enhancing drug Clostebol, which is against the Joint Drug Prevention and Treatment Program of MLB. The suspension takes action right away.

Although it’s upsetting, we completely back the player and the choice in these circumstances, as well as the program,” Phillies general manager Ruben Amaro stated. “We just want him to get healthy and get back on the field for us.”

The 22-year-old Galvis was hitting.226 with three home runs, 24 RBIs, and 14 runs scored. Galvis’s back issue has put him on the disabled list for the time being. On June 6, he made his final appearance against the Los Angeles Dodgers in the fifth inning. He was lifted from the game due to a lower back fracture. Galvis will immediately start serving out his suspension.

However, the news could not have come at a worse moment for the struggling Phillies, who are nine games behind the Washington Nationals in first place in the National League East and have lost 12 of their past 15 games. The Phillies are nine games behind the leaders in the NL East, which is the most they have fallen since September 14, 2006, when they lost to the New York Mets by 16.5 games.

In a way, Galvis denied taking any illicit performance-enhancing drugs, saying as much in a statement:

I’d like to apologize to my all my fans, especially here in Philadelphia and back home in Venezuela, to my teammates and to the Phillies organization. I am looking forward to putting this behind me, rehabilitating my back and returning to the Phillies as soon as possible to try to help them win another World Series.”

The Phillies issued the following statement in response to Major League Baseball’s suspension of Freddy Galvis:

“The Phillies continue to believe in and endorse Major League Baseball’s drug policy. We also support Freddy Galvis in his determination to put this matter behind him and we look forward to his