NO, JENRRY! BANNED

Mets closer hit 80 games for PEDs, ripped by teammates

ATLANTA — Jenrry Mejia was hit hard by the league and even harder by his teammates, who ripped the reliever for failing a PED test.

The Mets closer was suspended 80 games without pay by MLB on Saturday after testing positive for Stanozolol in violation of Major League Baseball’s Joint Drug Prevention and Treatment Program, the league announced.

“It’s obviously disappointing. Not only do you cost yourself 80 games, and don’t get paid, but you’re hurting everybody in here,” David Wright said after Saturday’s 5-3 loss to the Braves. “You’re letting down your teammates, and I think that probably means just as much, if not more, than hurting yourself.”

Mejia, who was placed on the 15-day disabled list on Tuesday with elbow inflammation, has not pitched this season. The suspension will cost him more than $1.1 million in salary. He also will not be allowed to pitch in the playoffs, if the Mets make it that far.

The 25-year-old issued a statement through the MLB Players Association denying he knowingly used the anabolic steroid, which is sold under the name Winstrol.

“I know the rules are the rules and I will accept my punishment, but I can honestly say I have no idea how a banned substance ended up in my system,” Mejia said. “I have been through a lot in my young career and missed time due to injury. I have worked way too hard to come back and get to where I am, so I would never knowingly put anything in my body that I thought could hold me out further. I am sorry to the Mets organization, my teammates and the fans, as well as my family.”

Mejia is the fourth MLB player — all pitchers — this year to test positive for Stanozolol, made famous in the 1988 Olympics when sprinter Ben Johnson tested positive for it. Minnesota’s Ervin Santana, Seattle’s David Rollins and Atlanta’s Arodys Vizcaino also tested positive.

Speaking on Opening Day before the Mets’ game against the Nationals, new MLB commissioner Rob Manfred said he was surprised by the resurgence of the old anabolic steroid, because Winstrol “is not particularly hard to catch,” Manfred said.

Wright, who has been a strong voice in baseball’s attempt to clean up the game, said Mejia needs to suffer the consequences.

“Everyone in baseball has tried to clean up the game. We love Jenrry as a teammate, but when you make a mistake, you’re going to be punished,” the Mets captain said. “Once Jenrry serves his suspension and comes back, we’ll welcome him and do whatever we can to make him feel like he’s part of this team. But for right now, he messed up, and he needs to be punished.”

But as Wright said, it is not just Mejia who is taking a hit on this. He had 28 saves last year and was expected to be a big part of the late innings along with relievers Jeurys Familia and eventually Vic Black and Bobby Parnell.

“We came into this whole thing in spring training with huge expectations with the back end of our bullpen being very strong,” Terry Collins said. “So we’re all shocked

and disappointed, but we stand by the rules and what Major League Baseball has put down. “We’ll have to regroup and get through the next 80 games with somebody else,” the Mets manager added.

A Mets source told The News that the team was not going to look to sign free agent reliever Rafael Soriano. When Mejia was placed on the DL, Familia was told he would get the chance to earn the closer job. Now it seems like his job to lose.

Black, who began the season on the DL with shoulder tendinitis, is expected to be back later this month. Parnell, who is rehabbing after having Tommy John surgery, is expected to return in May.

The Mets had planned to mix-and-match their way through Mejia’s DL stint. Now they have to make longer-term plans. “That is the way we went into it, saying ‘Hey, we can get through the next couple of weeks with what we’ve got.’ All of a sudden you are looking at the next three months,” Collins said. “I certainly think we are going to have to rely on some different guys for that role. Hopefully it will be soon that Vic is better and not far behind that it will be Bobby.

“Now the guys who are here are going to have to pick it up and get the job done.”