Taylor Teagarden Gets 80-Game Suspension

Free agent catcher Taylor Teagarden, who admitted on an Al Jazeera documentary to using performance-enhancing drugs, was suspended 80 games by Major League Baseball on Friday for a violation of MLB’s drug program.

No drug was specified in a release from MLB.

Teagarden, 32, played eight games for the Cubs last season and has played previously for the Mets, Orioles and Rangers and four times ranked among the Rangers’ Top 30 Prospects, rating as high as No. 4 entering the 2008 season.

Teagarden’s on-camera admission came in the documentary “The Dark Side,” better known for its claims against now-retired Denver Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning, as well as MLB players Ryan Zimmerman and Ryan Howard. Manning denied the claims. Howard and Zimmerman filed federal defamation lawsuits against Al Jazeera.

In the documentary, Teagarden admits to using Delta 2, a human growth hormone that is banned by MLB.

“I used (Delta 2) last year (2015). I was scared to be honest with you,” Teagarden said in the film. “I took it for like two weeks and I had a test four weeks after my last administration of it. Nothing happened.”