Boog Powell suspended 80 games for PED use

Throughout the years, even as the Mariners have seemingly only existed as a sort of existential torture project for a gleeful, Ramsey Bolton-esque deity, I have always been grateful that no high-profile players wearing a Mariner uniform have been suspended for PED use. Beyond the difficulty of coping with the loss of the player for an extended period of time, I loathe the moralizing and grandstanding that seems to surround the issue.

The Mariners still don't have any high profile players (knock knock) who have tested positive for PEDs while in Mariner colors, but with Nori Aoki a glaring deficiency and the season rapidly feeling lost, this news could not have been much worse timed:

Boog Powell suspended for 80 games pic.twitter.com/I68DBoMVKK

— Ryan Divish (@RyanDivish) June 23, 2016

For those that think you're going to parse anything of value or interest from such things, here is Powell's statement:

Statement from Boog Powell pic.twitter.com/lPecnQ917Q

— Ryan Divish (@RyanDivish) June 23, 2016

It just, it sucks. It's Powell's second positive PED test, after being popped for amphetamines back in 2014. This suspension carries over into the beginning of 2017, as the Rainiers only have 72 games remaining on their schedule.

I have no clue as to the how, why, where, or when, and I don't particularly care. This news doesn't make Boog Powell a bad person, or a dumb person. It doesn't make him anything. He's just Boog Powell, and he ingested something that was against the collectively bargained joint drug agreement, and now he's suspended for 80 games. These are the rules and laws that the players and owners have agreed to in order to keep up the appearance of "fairness" that is so vital to holding the interest of the viewing public.

So, I'm not going to expound on that much further. People will be mad at Powell, and people who are mad at the Mariners are going to carry that over to Powell. I completely understand all of that. I'm just not going to participate in it. I hope he figures out where he went wrong, whether he ingested this stuff intentionally or accidentally, and goes about ensuring that it never happens again, both for his sake and the team's.

With a roster spot in AAA open the Mariners have promoted Guillermo Heredia to Tacoma, and with good play the 25 year old Cuban will have a chance to take Powell's place as the player I can imagine being a Mariner instead of Nori Aoki. As for this news, this day, and this month? Screw it all. Just get to July, flip the calendar, and let's try and start fresh.