The Reds are sending Noelvi Marte to Louisville for rehabilitation

The Cincinnati Reds announced they have sent goaltender Noelvi Marte to Triple-A Louisillve for rehabilitation. Marte, who is still serving an 80-game suspension after testing positive for Boldenone during spring training, may undergo “rehabilitation” during the suspension.

Louisville is at home this week and playing against St. Paul Saints. So if you’re in the area, you can see him play. Marte can spend up to 20 days in rehab as a position player, but that won’t apply in this case. Marte could return on June 27, provided there are no postponements by then, which will also not be made up. The day his suspension ends, the team will have to activate him and make some decisions.

When it comes time to decide what to do with Marte, the Reds will have to choose from a number of options. First and foremost, the club must make changes to its 40-man squad if it is eligible. He is currently included in the club’s 40-man squad, but will do so when his suspension after 80 matches expires.

It was an easy decision for Marte – the team does not intend to fire him. But the flip side of this deal is the one they probably had some thoughts about but didn’t necessarily know the answer to yet. It’s possible that many things can happen before players have to make a move that ultimately makes the decision for them (injury, trade, etc.).

Perhaps the bigger decision, however, will be whether the team decides to move him to a major league club or move him to Triple-A when he becomes eligible. Some of this may depend on how well/badly he looks during rehab.

It is likely that he will be brought to the top league. The Reds don’t really have a sub at the moment and Elly De La Cruz has started in every game this year. Marte, while not the best defensive backup, can substitute often enough to give De La Cruz a day off. But other than that, Marte is likely an improvement to the lineup and could slot into a few spots.

Last season, after being called up to the top league, he played 35 matches. In his 123 plate appearances, he hit .316/.366/.456 with seven doubles, three home runs, six steals, eight walks and had 25 strikeouts. By the end of the season, he was on a 16-game winning streak (25 of 62 during that period).

On Monday afternoon, Marte met with the media in Cincinnati and Louisville. He said he wasn’t sure how Boldenone got into his system. While a quick Google search will tell you that Boldenone is an injectable steroid used for veterinary purposes – and that’s true – it can do more than just inject. USADA has a page dedicated to this drug and notes that it has been found in dietary supplements and nutritional supplements.

“When I go back to the Dominican Republic, I just make sure that I’m aware of what my whole diet looks like and that I have all the right people behind me and that I trust those people as much as possible. Just make sure I know everything that’s happening with my health and all the processes,” Marte said through translator Jorge Merlos.

“I just look at my diet, see how my health is doing. I live in a country that does not have the same health care system that you would normally find in the United States. I just need to make sure, review everything that’s going on to make sure my process is working well enough that these results won’t come back.”

In the US, it is rare for contaminated supplements to fail PED tests. But it’s not unheard of either. Former NFL player David Vobora won a $5.4 million lawsuit against the company over tainted supplements, which led to his suspension just over a decade ago. Five years ago, four UFC fighters tested positive for ostarine. After investigation, it was determined that they were all taking the same supplement, which was contaminated with a drug that was not listed as an ingredient. Perhaps the most famous recent memory is when future boxing star Canelo Alvarez tested positive for clenbuterol after eating contaminated meat.

It’s rare for someone to test positive and actually say “yes, I did it.” In most cases, athletes say they have no idea how the drug entered their body. And sometimes that may be true. In the US, products sold in stores are supposed to be labeled with all ingredients and be “clean”. Sometimes this is not the case. However, once you’re outside the United States, there aren’t always agencies responsible for keeping companies on track when it comes to the content of their supplements.

Ultimately, it still falls on the athletes. You need to know what you’re putting into your body. Noelvi Marte paid the price for failing the test. The suspension cost him hundreds of thousands of dollars. It also cost him 80 games of service, which could have ultimately delayed his payday.

Starting tonight, he can try to put it all behind him and return to the field with Louisville after spending time after the suspension was announced participating with rookie-level players in practices/unofficial games in Goodyear at the Reds complex and in the Dominican Republic at the Reds complex .