Breaking: Free Agent Slugger Hit With 80-Game PED Suspension

Not exactly what you want to see during your free agency. 11-year veteran outfielder Max Kepler has been hit by MLB with an 80-game suspension for testing positive for a synthetic anabolic steroid.

Max Kepler, the former Phillies/Twins outfielder, has been suspended for 80 games, for testing positive for the synthetic anabolic steroid, Epitrenbolone. pic.twitter.com/4JeXLovVQi
— Jayson Stark (@jaysonst) January 9, 2026

If Kepler was on the stuff last season, it didn't work so well. In his first year with the Philadelphia Phillies, he hit .216 with 18 homers and a .691 OPS. He spent the first 10 seasons of his major league career with the Minnesota Twins, where he recorded 161 homers, including a 36-HR campaign in 2019, when he even received some down-ballot MVP votes.

Kepler, 33 next month, had signed a one-year, $10 million contract with the Phillies for 2025, but the team hasn't seemed keen to bring him back.

More to come...