{"id":722261,"date":"2026-06-08T03:27:22","date_gmt":"2026-06-08T03:27:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/722261\/"},"modified":"2026-06-08T03:27:22","modified_gmt":"2026-06-08T03:27:22","slug":"max-kepler-signs-diamondbacks-contract-amid-80-game-mlb-suspension-for-failed-drug-test","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/722261\/","title":{"rendered":"Max Kepler Signs Diamondbacks Contract Amid 80-Game MLB Suspension for Failed Drug Test"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"MuiTypography-root MuiTypography-bp_small__body__article__medium css-1vqr2el\">Former Philadelphia Phillies outfielder Max Kepler has signed with a new team amid an 80-game suspension for a positive PED test.<\/p>\n<p class=\"MuiTypography-root MuiTypography-bp_small__body__article__medium css-1vqr2el\">The Arizona Diamondbacks are signing Kepler to a one-year deal, the club announced Sunday (h\/t Arizona Sports&#8217; <a class=\"MuiTypography-root MuiTypography-inherit MuiLink-root MuiLink-underlineAlways MuiTypography-root MuiTypography-bp_small__ui__link__medium_strong css-lu48cp\" href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/alexjweiner\/status\/2063776919913640051?s=20\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\">Alex Weiner<\/a>).<\/p>\n<p class=\"MuiTypography-root MuiTypography-bp_small__body__article__medium css-1vqr2el\">Kepler, who was a free agent, remains on the restricted list after MLB <a class=\"MuiTypography-root MuiTypography-inherit MuiLink-root MuiLink-underlineAlways MuiTypography-root MuiTypography-bp_small__ui__link__medium_strong css-lu48cp\" href=\"https:\/\/www.mlb.com\/news\/max-kepler-suspended\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\">announced<\/a> in January he had tested positive for a banned substance.<\/p>\n<p class=\"MuiTypography-root MuiTypography-bp_small__body__article__medium css-1vqr2el\">He will be <a class=\"MuiTypography-root MuiTypography-inherit MuiLink-root MuiLink-underlineAlways MuiTypography-root MuiTypography-bp_small__ui__link__medium_strong css-lu48cp\" href=\"https:\/\/www.mlb.com\/news\/max-kepler-suspended\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\">ineligible<\/a> to play in the postseason as a result of the suspension.<\/p>\n<p class=\"MuiTypography-root MuiTypography-bp_small__body__article__medium css-1vqr2el\">Kepler, who turned 33 in February, played last season for the Phillies on a one-year, $10 million deal.<\/p>\n<p class=\"MuiTypography-root MuiTypography-bp_small__body__article__medium css-1vqr2el\">He appeared for the Phillies in 127 games, during which he slashed .216\/.300\/.391 with 18 home runs and 52 RBI.<\/p>\n<p class=\"MuiTypography-root MuiTypography-bp_small__body__article__medium css-1vqr2el\">Prior to arriving in Philadelphia, Kepler had spent the entirety of his MLB career with the Minnesota Twins, where he slashed .237\/.318\/.429 over 10 seasons.<\/p>\n<p class=\"MuiTypography-root MuiTypography-bp_small__body__article__medium css-1vqr2el\">Kepler received his suspension ahead of the 2026 season after testing positive for the banned substance epitrenbolone, according to MLB.<\/p>\n<p class=\"MuiTypography-root MuiTypography-bp_small__body__article__medium css-1vqr2el\">ESPN&#8217;s <a class=\"MuiTypography-root MuiTypography-inherit MuiLink-root MuiLink-underlineAlways MuiTypography-root MuiTypography-bp_small__ui__link__medium_strong css-lu48cp\" href=\"https:\/\/www.espn.com\/mlb\/story\/_\/id\/47562910\/of-max-kepler-banned-80-games-violating-mlb-drug-program\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\">Alden Gonzalez<\/a> reported at the time that Kepler would &#8220;receive credit against his 80-game penalty through games played by the Phillies if he is not on a team before the season.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"MuiTypography-root MuiTypography-bp_small__body__article__medium css-1vqr2el\">As of the time of Kepler&#8217;s signing with the Diamondbacks, the Phillies have played 65 games.<\/p>\n<p class=\"MuiTypography-root MuiTypography-bp_small__body__article__medium css-1vqr2el\">Should Kepler serve out the final 15 games of his suspension based on the Diamondbacks&#8217; schedule, he would be eligible to return during Arizona&#8217;s upcoming road series against the St. Louis Cardinals on Wednesday, June 24.<\/p>\n<p class=\"MuiTypography-root MuiTypography-bp_small__body__article__medium css-1vqr2el\">The acquisition of Kepler, who bats left, comes after Diamondbacks general manager Mike Hazen <a class=\"MuiTypography-root MuiTypography-inherit MuiLink-root MuiLink-underlineAlways MuiTypography-root MuiTypography-bp_small__ui__link__medium_strong css-lu48cp\" href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/MLBNetworkRadio\/status\/2063661194330653097?s=20\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\">said<\/a> in a Sunday appearance on MLB Network Radio on Sirius XM his club was looking to add left-handed power behind Corbin Carroll in the lineup.<\/p>\n<p class=\"MuiTypography-root MuiTypography-bp_small__body__article__medium css-1vqr2el\">Diamondbacks are heading into next week&#8217;s road series against the Miami Marlins with a 34-31 record, good for second in the NL West.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Former Philadelphia Phillies outfielder Max Kepler has signed with a new team amid an 80-game suspension for a&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":722262,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[558],"tags":[64,63,591,85],"class_list":["post-722261","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mlb","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-mlb","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/722261","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=722261"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/722261\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/722262"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=722261"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=722261"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=722261"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}