Mitre, Romero out 50 games

The Marlins and Phillies took hits to their pitching staffs with the 50-game suspensions of Sergio Mitre and J.C. Romero for the use of performance-enhancing drugs.

The Major League Baseball players union called the bans “unfair” because the relievers took supplements that failed to list a prohibited substance in its ingredients. A third-party arbitrator upheld Major League Baseball’s discipline, citing the sport’s drug agreement “no fault or negligence” standard, the union said in a statement.

“These players should not be suspended,” union general counsel Michael Weiner said. “Their unknowing actions plainly are distinguishable from those of a person who intentionally used an illegal performance-enhancing substance.”

Considering NFL players fought suspensions for unknown banned supplements in December, this could be players' attempt to fight back in baseball.