Valdespin and Puello suspended for connection to Biogenesis

On Monday, Major League Baseball announced that suspensions of a handful of players around the game for their involvement in the Biogenesis clinic. Two of these players are from the Mets organization: Jordany Valdespin and Cesar Puello. Both players have accepted their 50 game suspensions, and will miss the rest of the season. Also, the two were on the 40 man roster, but while serving their suspensions, they will not count towards the 40 man roster.

 

Puello's name has been linked to the Biogenesis investigation for a couple of months now, so a suspension for him was expected. Puello, 22, was named to the Double-A All-Star team in 2013. The outfielder hit .328 with 16 home runs and 73 RBI this season for the Binghamton Mets.

 

Valdespin was never named as an involved player in the investigation, so this comes with much surprise. The team optioned him to Triple-A Las Vegas on July 13. Before his demotion, he was hitting .188 with 4 home runs and 16 RBI in 144 plate appearances. Oddly enough, he begin to hit extremely well in Triple-A. He had a line of .466/.533/.759 during his brief stint with the 51s.

 

I'll start off with the easy part here. It was expected that Cesar Puello would have a season-ending suspension. We all knew about his involvement with the Biogenesis scandal, so we weren't particularly surprised to see this happen.

 

Puello, had he not had been suspended, would've likely gotten a look with the major league team during the September call-ups. He had an unbelievable season in Double-A, and is still young enough to have a good future role with this club. Despite his involvement, I am still very excited to see what he can provide for the team somewhere down the line. At this point, he'll likely make his Major League debut sometime in 2014.

 

As for Valdespin, there really isn't anything much to say but Wow. At first, I had sympathy for the guy because he would rot on the bench while Terry Collins played veterans who were worthless. Now, I understand why the organization was so tough on Valdespin. His attitude is certainly one of a kind, and is what is holding him back in his career.

Valdespin has all the talent in the world, but he was given time to mature and it just never happened. This incident now seems like icing on the cake for the 25 year old outfielder.

 

I don't care if he comes back next year and hits .500 in Triple-A, I do not want him back on the Mets. He could either get his act together in the minor leagues, and get packaged off in a trade, or released. The Mets should not have to deal with this immature loser, and I truly believe that eventually he'll get the fate he deserves.