Colabello suspended 80 games for PEDs

Chris Colabello, the 32-year-old journeyman who was a major part of the Toronto Blue Jays' magical 2015 campaign, has been suspended 80 games for testing positive for a performance-enhancing substance, the league announced Friday.

Pursuant to the league's drug policy, Colabello - the first player ever to test positive for PEDs while on Toronto's 25-man roster - will be suspended without pay.

On Friday, more than a month after testing positive for an anabolic steroid called dehydrochlormethyltestosterone, Colabello called a team meeting to inform his teammates of his suspension, according to Sportsnet's Arden Zwelling, who noted that the veteran first baseman was "very emotional."

In a statement released by Blue Jays general manager Ross Atkins shortly after the suspension broke, he stood behind the veteran, while accepting the league's punishment.

"This is obviously an unfortunate situation that we are in with Chris. We believe in him as a person and player. We also fully endorse the Major League Baseball drug testing policy.

"Chris has overcome a great deal in his career and has been a key contributor to this team. While we are certainly disappointed with today's news, we're confident he'll return ready to compete and will have taken the steps needed to ensure that this does not happen again."

"I love the guy," manager John Gibbons told John Lott. "He's fought the odds his whole life. He'll fight this."

Last year, Blue Jays fans fell in love with Colabello, too, after the oft-discarded, former independent league star arrived in Toronto in May and never stopped hitting. Colabello, who managed a .649 OPS over parts of two seasons with the Minnesota Twins before being claimed off waivers by the Blue Jays last December, hit an improbable .321/.367/.520 (142 OPS+) with 15 home runs after joining the Jays, becoming an integral part of the lineup that managed an MLB-best 891 runs last year. After helping Toronto snap a 22-year postseason drought, Colabello continued to deliver throughout the playoffs, too, managing an .830 OPS in 41 plate appearances while smacking big home runs in Game 4 of the ALDS and Game 5 of the championship series.

Regression had hit Colabello hard through the first few weeks of 2016, though, as he went just 2-for-29 (.069) with no extra-base hits, two walks, and nine strikeouts through his first 10 games.