51s’ Garcia suspended for positive drug test

Major League Baseball suspended 51s infielder Sergio Garcia for 100 games for violating its minor league drug policy and testing positive for performance-enhancing substances a second time.

The 5-foot-10-inch, 170-pound Garcia also was suspended 15 games in June 2005 for using performance-enhancing substances.

"I was extremely shocked, frustrated and disappointed," first-year Las Vegas manager Lorenzo Bundy said. "He had become one of my guys, and he was playing very well.

"I didn't even know about the first offense until I heard about the second offense. That really disappointed me, and I know he's disappointed. But rules are rules, and he broke the rules. Hopefully he'll get an opportunity to come back and show people he can play without that stuff."

Under a new, stricter drug policy that baseball enacted last year, players are suspended 50 games for a first positive test and 100 games for a second positive urine test and face a lifetime ban for a third offense.

"Basically when you hear about somebody getting caught, you kind of wonder what they were thinking about," Bundy said. "Guys know they're going to get tested, and they know they're cracking down on this stuff. It's a big-time mistake."

Garcia, 27, played shortstop, second base, third base and in the outfield for the 51s this season and was one of the Pacific Coast League's top hitters before an eye infection sidelined him for two weeks. He was batting .330 on June 4, but his average dipped 38 points since he returned to action June 19.

Garcia, who signed with the Los Angeles Dodgers as a non-drafted free agent out of Arizona State in June 2002, hit .292 with eight home runs and 33 RBIs in 66 games for the 51s this year after batting .328 with eight homers and 37 RBIs in 71 games for Las Vegas last season.

In his sixth year in the minors, Garcia is a .263 career hitter with 28 home runs and 188 RBIs in 522 games.

"He definitely had the ability to be a major league utility player," Bundy said. "But for me, with this being my first year in the organization being around the young man, as far as evaluating him now, I don't know who I'm evaluating. Who is the real Sergio Garcia?

"I know what I've seen here the last three months and I thought he had a shot, but can he duplicate that while he's clean? That remains to be seen."

Bundy said he doesn't know what drives a player to use steroids.

"Everyone wants to play in the big leagues, and there are sacrifices you have to make," he said, "but this obviously isn't a sacrifice. It's a shortcut, an illegal shortcut by our rules."

Garcia said in a June 29 interview that he has to do more to succeed than players such as 51s outfielder Delwyn Young, Las Vegas' lone representative at Wednesday's Triple-A All-Star Game in Albuquerque, N.M.

"Those guys are just natural hitters, but guys like me have got to work for it," he said.

Garcia couldn't be reached for comment Wednesday.