2007 Season, Players

Neifi Perez suspended 25 games

42 Comments

The Ryan Raburn roster spot mystery has been cleared up. He’ll take Neifi Perez’s spot as Perez was suspended 25 games by MLB for use of a banned stimulant. This is according to WXYT.

So first it was Alex Sanchez, and now Neifi Perez getting nabbed by drug screens. I really didn’t see this one coming.

I am a little surprised (not disappointed mind you) they called up Ryan Raburn to fill Perez’s role instead of Ramon Santiago. Santiago held the same duty last year and is already on teh 40 man roster. Plus, while Raburn was formerly an infielder he has been working exclusively in the outfield this year. My guess is that Omar Infante is now the primary infield back-up and Raburn will serve as Granderson’s platoon partner in centerfield with occasional spot duty at 2nd base.

42 thoughts on “Neifi Perez suspended 25 games”

  3. I know. How absurd that two of the worst hitters I’ve ever seen are two of only a handful of people suspended for performance enhancement. Or maybe in Neifi’s case it wasn’t a performance enhancer. Maybe the dude likes his blow.

  6. I wouldn’t be surprised if they use him to sit Monroe until he’s out of this slump. I’d hate for them to bring Raburn up and sit him as much as Neifi sits when Ryan is doing so well in Toledo.

  10. From Escanaba to Benton Harbor, children are dancing in the streets and sailors are kissing strange women as the ticker tape falls from the sky. This is like VJ Day and the day they stopped making K Cars all rolled into one!

    And it saves the Tigers more than 400 grand in salary. It’s win-win!!

    This is our year! I am, in fact, walking on sunshine.

  11. Does anyone know…Raburn was playing CF and LF in Toledo this year? All three spots?

  15. Here’s the edited highlighst of Bilfer’s Perez is acquired post from last year. Our web host is a baseball Nostradamus:

    In light of Placido Polanco’s injury, the Tigers have traded for Neifi Perez. The player they sent to the Cubs is Lakeland Tiger Chris Robinson…..Neifi Perez is pretty much awful offensively with a career OPS of 677. Yet he is 33 and still in the big leagues, and teams have given him 5000 at-bats which tells you a little something about his glove. He can play 2nd, short, and 3rd base.

    UPDATE: Shame on me. I didn’t even think to look into Neifi’s contract status. Turns out he’s signed for $2.5 million next year making this deal absolutely awful. The fact that the Tigers are taking on that contract should have meant giving up nothing.

    Not only is it the money that is being committed to next year, but it’s a roster spot as well. In addition to sucking up a spot on the 25 man roster next year, a spot on the 40 man roster will need to be cleared this year.

    Maybe it’s the losing streak making me grumpy, but I can’t see anything I like about this trade.

  16. I assume Neifi has played his last game as a Tiger. Although Young got a long leash last year, I doubt Mr. Perez warrants that much patience. My question is do they drop him from the 40-man roster immediately, or do they wait until the suspension is up? Are there some issues with the Player’s Association involved here that prevent an immediate boot?

    In the meantime, we get to take a look at Raburn as the possible extra outfielder as we ponder Monroe’s/Thames fate. Santiago maybe comes back when the divorce with Neifi becomes official?

  17. I don’t think this gets Neifi canned from the team. It is, afterall, a stimulant. So, isn’t that essentically some sort of an upper, rather than steroids? I don’t think these are as frowned upon by the media/players as HGH or other things of the sort are.

    Also, unlike DY, who was terrible at the dish and can’t play in the field in the AL, Neifi can field his position which does allow him to have some amount of value. I’d be shocked if he were let go/traded (because, honestly, who would trade for him?)/whatever once his suspension is complete.

  18. I don’t mind Perez being on the roster once it expands to 40 in September. I don’t know if they can send him on a rehab stint for 20 days of August. (Haven’t done the math, but with the all-star break and a few off days I’m guessing this suspension should take him to abt Aug 6). But if they could, then you have to only carry his sorry ass on the 25 man roster for a week or so..

  19. I don’t think teams will ever release players for testing positive because it sets a precedent for if/when a player they value tests positive. It’s easy to let Neifi go, but what if Guillen or Bonderman were to test positive for something? I’m not implying anything, just giving a couple of wince-inducing examples.

  20. 100% agree with Matt in Toledo. Neifi’s not getting released during or immediately after his suspension. And we’ve already ate 3/4ths of his contract the last year and a half, it’s not like we’re saving much. And with his weight loss he was fine in the field when Guillen and Inge were hurt earlier this year. I know he’s not going to hit, but his limited value is his glove, which was atrocious as he was overweight last year. He looks physically better and if his glove can remain solid, then he’s not that big of a waste of the roster.

  21. With his prior weight issues, maybe it was diet pills he got busted for. Those are basically aphetamines, aren’t they?

    Neifi, lay off the Dexatrim!!!

  24. He did preserve the no-hitter with an outstanding double play. Not sure if a gimpy Carlos or a rusty Infante could have pulled that off.

    So he’s got that going for him….Which is nice.

  25. The butt of all jokes for so long and now he’s suspended. July 11th the no hitter will be retelivised and we will all witness that tremendous save of his at the ss position. Many have questioned whether Carlos could have made that play. Why didn’t he just get a prescription?

  26. You’re right, only a hopped up out of his mind on dexedrine Neifi Perez could make that play! It’s not quite Dock Ellis pitching a no-no on LSD, but still.
    I love the Tigers, but in the past year we’ve employed a left fielder who lifted a belt at the mall, a first baseman with alcohol and assault issues, a star pitcher with an odd brown stain on his pitching hand and only a couple years removed from his infamous cameraman moment, a AAA pitcher who punched a teammate in the face, and, now, a scrub infielder on drugs.
    These guys are baseball players not role models.

  27. Whatever he was taking, he should get his money back or go to extra strength.

  31. No we’re not. He’s getting paid 2.5 million a year, he’s not any good, and he’s a cheat. Plus, per the collective bargaining agreement, you don’t get suspended 25 games for your first offense. Which means he’s a repeat offender. He’d have left his team in the lurch if he wasn’t so bad.

  32. Other fun fact: $31 million. That’s what Neifi has earned playing a kids’ game. The least he can do is stay away from the tubs of ice cream without resorting to illegal pills.

  33. I believe it was changed to 25 games as of the opening day of spring training this year. A second offense is now 50 games – just in case you’re thinking of slipping something into Neifi’s coffee later this season.

  34. He got caught with a stimulant. Most likely taking greenies. Which have been in baseball for decades upon decades. Let’s not blow this out of proportion.

  35. I’m not making a moral judgement. I don’t think smoking pot should be illegal, but if my company tests for it i need to take some responsibility for the consequences including letting my colleagues down.

  36. Nefi becomes the posterchild for performance reducing drugs.

    Maybe MLB could put out a poster with a picture Placido on the left and Nefi on the Right with the caption This is a Baseball Player under Placido and This is a Baseball Player on Drugs

  37. Nefi becomes the posterchild for performance reducing drugs.

    Maybe MLB could put out a poster with a picture Placido on the left and Nefi on the Right with the caption This is a Baseball Player under Placido and This is a Baseball Player on Drugs.

  38. I understand that, I just don’t get too upset over something like greenies.

  39. The whole situation is fairly hilarious – it’s like Neifi found the one way remaining to make himself even less popular. It’s just like the Alex Sanchez thing, though without Alex’s empty-calorie-batting- average.

    It’s worth noting that we don’t really know exactly what counts as a banned stimulant – or at least I don’t. He might have been taking amphetamines, but he also might have just been on Provigil for all I know.

  40. Raburn for Neifi? Now that’s a helluva midseason trade. Anyone else get the feeling Raburn is being showcased for purposes of the Otsuka deal? Texas sure could use a young outfielder to go with Marlon Byrd. Catalanatto, Sosa, and Lofton are all well on the downside.

  41. From what I hear he had to fail three tests to be suspended. So, IF he was taking diet pills then he’d have been instructed to lay off any pills in order to ascertain the issue. Ceratinly too a doctor would have made the connection here too. These guys have some of the best docs out there.

    On the same note, one of my buddies in the Army tested positive twice and was released from duty as a result of what later was determined to be a false reading for opiates. He was a health nut who ate lots of poppy seed muffins and bagels. So many it affected the test. He got the proof and his dishonorable was overturned and made an honorable. So these things aren’t entirely foolprrof either.

    Any body seeing a really bad pattern forming for the Tigers organization? How many have had drug problems now?

Comments are closed.