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By Jackson Roberts
Contributing Sports Writer
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Philadelphia Phillies free-agent outfielder Max Kepler already knew he was going to need to find a new team. That task just became immensely more difficult.
On Friday, Major League Baseball announced that it had suspended Kepler for the first 80 games of the upcoming season, following a positive test for the banned substance epitrenbolone.
"The Office of the Commissioner of Baseball announced today that free agent outfielder Max Kepler has received an 80-game suspension after testing positive for Epitrenbolone, a performance enhancing substance, in violation of Major League Baseball's Joint Drug Prevention and Treatment Program," the statement read (via Jared Diamond of the Wall Street Journal).
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Kepler, 32, just completed his first season in a Phillies uniform after 10 with the Minnesota Twins. Playing left field against right-handed pitchers, he slashed a mediocre .216/.300/.391 with 18 home runs , 52 RBIs, and 58 runs scored.
Kepler has had some strong seasons, including a 36-homer campaign for the 2019 Twins team that set the major league record for home runs in a season at 307. He hasn't been an above-average hitter since 2023, however, according to the OPS+ metric.
The Phillies signed Adolis García, the former Texas Rangers two-time All-Star, to a one-year contract in December. President of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski hinted heavily at the time that the Philadelphia outfield was a finished product, and all but closed the door on a new deal for Kepler.
It will now be difficult for Kepler to find a new deal anywhere. A team could try to jump the line by signing him before his suspension is served, but knowing that he'll play his first game of the season around July 1 at the earliest could mean he signs closer to that date.
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