Major League Baseball is expected to announce the punishments for players involved in the Biogenesis clinic steroids scandal at 3:00 p.m. News has broken, however, that Nelson Cruz of the Texas Rangers, Everth Cabrera of the San Diego Padres and Jhonny Peralta of the Detroit Tigers are among the players who have earned 50-game suspensions. According to Fox Sports, they will begin serving the penalties immediately.
According to Yahoo! reports, Antonio Bastardo of the Philadelphia Phillies, Jordany Valdespin of the New York Mets and Sergio Escalona of the Houston Astros are among those expected to be suspended.
Those three join Alex Rodriguez, Francisco Cervelli, Jesus Montero, Cesar Puello, Fernando Martinez, Jordan Norberto and Fautino De Los Santos as players who can expect 50-game suspensions, or in the case of Rodriguez, much longer.
Gio Gonzalez, Bartolo Colon and Melky Cabrera have also been linked to the scandal, although Colon and Melky have previously served PED bans and it is unclear whether the link to those suspensions was related to Biogenesis. Ryan Braun has already accepted a 65-game suspension and is currently serving.
Of all the involved players, though, A-Rod is the big fish. Speculation has ranged from 50 games for Rodriguez to a lifetime ban, but most reports agree that he will be able to play while appealing MLB's punishment.
He is expected to don Yankees gray tonight in Chicago against the White Sox, and play third base in New York's series opener. Manager Joe Girardi has said if he's available he has him "penciled in" at third base.
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