Jhonny Peralta inked a contract worth over $50 million for four years after he received a 50-game ban from Major League Baseball for his connection to performance enhancing drugs and the Biogenesis scandal, but the shortstop's newfound income hasn't sat well with many players around the league, leading to Cardinals general manager John Mozeliak coming to his defense.
Mozeliak said that he did consider Peralta's suspension when thinking about trying to land the shortstop, but decided that his team was not "the morality police" and that Peralta served his time for what he considers to be an isolated incident.
"Character and makeup are something we weigh into our decision-making," Mozeliak told ESPN. "In his case, he admitted what he did, he took responsibility for it. I feel like he has paid for his mistakes, and obviously if he were to make another one, then it would be a huge disappointment."
Peralta, 31, served his suspension over this summer, and Mozeliak did agree that there should be stricter bans to deter players from cheating as the threat of 50 games hasn't stopped a lot of players from breaking the rules when it comes to banned substances.
"You do need a deterrent, and right now 50 games does not seem to be necessarily stopping it," Mozeliak said per ESPN."I think Major League Baseball has done a great job trying to clean up this game, and I feel like they've taken great steps."
Mozeliak and the Cardinals said they were "pleased" with being able to land Peralta, who reportedly said that St. Louis was the most attractive place to play out of any of the teams that were in talks with him, though the signing was met with some backlash on Twitter. Arizona Diamondbacks reliever Brad Ziegler, the team's union player representative, released a series of tweets shortly after the Peralta signing, saying it "pays to cheat" after the news broke of Peralta's deal.
It pays to cheat...Thanks, owners, for encouraging PED use “@JimBowdenESPNxm: Peralta - Cards agree to 4-year deal: https://t.co/rkpdAO3QaL” — Brad Ziegler (@BradZiegler) November 24, 2013
People really don't understand how this works. We thought 50 games would be a deterrent. Obviously it's not. So we are working on it again.
— Brad Ziegler (@BradZiegler) November 24, 2013
Just trying to make our game better when I leave it than it was when I got into it. Don't have all the answers, but trying, & MLBPA knows... — Brad Ziegler (@BradZiegler) November 24, 2013
Free-agent reliever David Aardsma, who pitched for the New York Mets last season, also vented via the social media site:
Apparently getting suspended for PED's means you get a raise. What's stopping anyone from doing it? #weneedtomakeachange
— David Aardsma (@TheDA53) November 24, 2013
I had 2 major surgeries in 5 months and made it back clean, nothing pisses me off more than guys that cheat and get raises for doing so — David Aardsma (@TheDA53) November 24, 2013
Peralta and Stephen Drew were the two most sought after guys in the free agent pool, but with Peralta gone talks with Drew are sure to heat up. Peralta will take over at shortstop for Pete Kozma, who is more defensively sound but has a much-less potent bat. Kozma may start 2014 in the minors.
Peralta hit .303 with 11 homers and 55 RBIs in 107 games last season.
The Cardinals made it to the World Series last season but fell to the Boston Red Sox in six games. St. Louis hopes adding a bat at shortstop in Peralta will help them make another trip back to the Fall Classic in 2014.
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