The Angels’ Josh Hamilton is already set to miss the next few months recovering from shoulder surgery, but now he’s in New York meeting with MLB officials and potentially facing disciplinary action. The Angels have confirmed that Hamilton is doing so and while it isn’t official, Jon Heyman of CBS tweeted he heard Hamilton had a relapse with “involved at least cocaine.”
Josh Hamilton meeting with MLB for potential disciplinary action
Robert Hanashiro-USA TODAY Sports
According to Heyman, it appears Hamilton did not fail a drug test and instead told MLB about the relapse.
There's no word of a failed test. Word is, Hamilton told mlb about relapse. He'd be put in program as 1st time offender.
— Jon Heyman (@JonHeymanCBS) February 26, 2015 Hamilton is drug tested three times per week by MLB, as part of the agreement that saw him reinstated to the league eight years after Tampa Bay (when they were still known as the Devil Rays) drafted him in 1999. While Heyman’s report has yet to be confirmed, it meshes with other reports that indicated the situation was not PED related.
Asked a baseball executive if Hamilton’s discipline was for PEDs. His response: "Worse." The executive declined to elaborate.
— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) February 25, 2015 It’s still unclear whether “worse” means worse for Hamilton from a penalty standpoint, worse from a health standpoint, or worse from whatever morality-based standpoint you could imagine MLB taking when it comes to PEDs remains unknown.
The Angels have the 34-year-old Hamilton under contract for another three seasons at a total of $83 million. He has been a disappointment for Los Angeles in the first two years of the deal, batting a combined .255/.316/.426 (110 OPS+) that, while solid, does not bode well for the more expensive years of his deal where he’s older and his bat is presumably slower.
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