I might have reported on this yesterday had the blog been working, but it’s just as well that I couldn’t. Here’s a short ESPN summary:

Former major league pitcher Danny Rios was suspended for one year by Japanese baseball on Saturday after testing positive for a banned substance. Rios, a 35-year-old right-handed pitcher with the Yakult Swallows, was tested on May 21 and again on June 21 with both tests showing traces of the banned substance hydroxystanozorol, Nippon Professional Baseball announced on its official Web site.

Rios held a press conference yesterday  and says he received the injections “late last year in the United States as a dual pain therapy/muscle regeneration program.” He added he will not fight the suspension and will discuss the matter with his family before deciding what his future in baseball holds.

Rios has already been taken off Yakult’s active roster after a disappointing 2-7/5.46 ERA start to his 2008 season.   Rios was the MVP of the KBO last year, becoming the first pitcher in over a decade to win 20 games. Hopefully Rios knows he always has a home here in Korea.  

If he did return to Korea he would still be property of the Doosan Bears. I don’t know the exact rule, but KBO teams hold the rights to foreign players for (I  believe) five years after they leave the country. This  would be the same rule that brought  pitcher Gary Rath back to  Doosan this season.