Mark Teixeira had his suspicions about Robinson Cano.
The former Yankee first baseman, who now works as an analyst for ESPN, told The Michael Kay Show on Thursday afternoon that he wasn’t shocked by the news of Cano testing positive for a banned substance.
“I don’t really want to get into too much detail, I love Robbie, but I’m not surprised,” Teixeira said. “I don’t want to get too much further but I think a lot of people are trying to say the same thing. [Brian] Cash[man] had to catch himself in an interview a couple days ago, but yeah, not surprised.
“Listen, Robbie, look at his situation here: Robbie Cano’s assistant was on the list for Biogenesis. Of course, he has an assistant, you know, buys stuff for him. Alex Rodriguez got popped by Biogenesis. Melky [Cabrera] got popped. They’re best friends. When someone gets lumped into that group, it’s because there’s evidence. There’s a paper trail. There’s a smoke trail.”
On Tuesday, Cano received an 80-game suspension for violating Major League Baseball’s joint drug agreement. He was banned for using a diuretic called Furosemide, which is commonly used to mask performance-enhancing drug (PED) use. Although Cano initially appealed the suspension, he later dropped the appeal, and as a result, he will will be ineligible for postseason play.
Before Cano signed a 10-year, $240 million deal with the Seattle Mariners during the 2013 offseason, he was teammates with Teixeira in New York for five years. Teixeira retired from baseball in 2016.
Although Teixeira has stated several times that he never took PED’s during his career, he believes players are “50-50” on knowing which players are juicing and which players are not. Teixeira also said that he’s confident that he played with several others who used PED’s — and he noted that some of them may already be in the Hall of Fame.
“Everyone knows those guys. There are guys in the Hall of Fame that never got exposed,” Teixeira told The Michael Kay Show. “It is what it is. Guys have done it, guys have gotten away with it, guys have gotten popped. There’s a story for everything.
“I agree we need to look at longer bans, or if you get popped your contract can be voided. Absolutely look at those things. If we’re really going to get tough on these guys we need to get tougher penalties.”
If you want to connect with Tom Hanslin, email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter @tomhanslin.
