Longtime Minnesota Twin Suspended for PEDs

It’s a joke that Major League Baseball has not enshrined Barry Bonds, Alex Rodriguez, and other past superstars linked to steroids into Cooperstown. Yes, they all (likely) used performance enhancing drugs, but who didn’t back then?

At the end of the day, the Baseball Hall of Fame is supposed to be a museum, and it will never be at its best without those players in it. Plus, the league has since taken a far different stance to steroid usage over the past couple decades

Every year now, we see big leaguers busted for using banned performance enhancing drugs of some kind. Sometimes, players admit to getting caught. Other times, they claim negligence, that they did not know what was being put into their body.

No matter, the punishment is almost always the same for first time offenders — a half-season suspension. There’s been a couple of Minnesota Twins players caught up in the PED crackdown, since.

The most notable one came back in 2018, when then starting second baseman Jorge Polanco was suspended for the first 82 games, for testing positive for a banned substance. Eleven years ago (2015), starting pitcher Ervin Santana was the first recognizable modern Twin suspended for PED use.

Former Minnesota Twins OF Max Kepler on the sauce?

On Friday, however, yet another former Twin was dinged with an 80-game suspension of his own. Turns out, longtime Minnesota right fielder (now free agent) Max Kepler — who spent the last summer in Philadelphia — is on the sauce.

NEWS: Free-agent outfielder Max Kepler has received an 80-game, PED-related suspension. MLB said he tested positive for the performance-enhancing substance Epitrenbolone.

— Alden González (@Alden_Gonzalez) January 9, 2026

Kepler, 32, signed with the Phillies last offseason, after spending the first decade of his career with the Minnesota Twins. Injury issues plagued Kepler’s career with the Twins. He played in just 105 games during his final season, after hip issues sapped his overall effectiveness.

Maybe that’s why why Max decided to start using performance enhancing drugs? If so… it probably wasn’t worth it since he batted a measly .216 with a .691 OPS during his one season in Philly, though he did pop 18 home runs to go with 19 doubles.

Kepler’s 88 OPS+ last season is awful for a corner outfielder, and his defensive prowess (-1 DRS, -2 FRV) has faded. And now, the former Minnesota Twins international signee is looking at a winter break that will extend well into summer, 2026.