Ex-Yankee Mark Teixeira: ‘Not surprised’ at Robinson Cano’s PED use

Retired Yankees first baseman Mark Teixeira explains why he’s not surprised Robinson Cano was outed as a performance-enhancing drug user.

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While most of baseball was stunned at former Yankees star Robinson Cano‘s performance-enhancing drug suspension, one of his former teammates hardly batted an eye.

Retired Yankees first baseman Mark Teixeira said the news that Cano tested positive for a banned substance didn’t shock him in the least.

“Not surprised,” Teixeira said while on The Michael Kay Show on ESPN New York radio Thursday afternoon.

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Teixeira said that Cano’s association with exposed juicers and Alex Rodriguez and Melky Cabrera — two of Cano’s best friends and fellow Yankees teammates — and Cano’s link to the 2013 Biogenesis scandal made him shrug at the 34-year-old second baseman’s 80-game ban.

“Robbie Cano’s assistant was on the list for Biogenesis,” Teixeira said. “Of course he had his assistant buy stuff for him. Alex Rodriguez got popped by Biogenesis and Melky got popped. They’re his best friends. When someone gets lumped into that group, it’s because there’s evidence, there’s a paper trail, there’s a smoke trail.”

He also said, “I really don’t want to get into too much detail. I love Robbie. But, yeah, I’m just not surprised. I don’t really want to go too much further. But I think a lot of people are kind of saying the same thing.”

Cano said he tested positive for Furosemide, a diuretic that Major League Baseball considers a masking agent. In a statement, he said he never used PEDs and that the substance was inside a medication given to him by a doctor to treat a medical condition.

Cano and Teixeira played together from 2009 until 2013. They helped the Yankees win a World Series in 2009 — with the help of Rodriguez and Cabrera. 

Teixeira said he’s never used a PED.

“I can look everybody in the eye and say I never did anything and I probably have a few teammates that I played with that I was really close with that they never did anything,” he said. “But like everyone’s been saying, you just don’t really know.”

The 14-year big leaguer, who retired after the 2016 season, said baseball needs to “look at longer bans” for players caught violating the league’s joint drug agreement with the MLB Players Association.

“We need to look at, OK, if you get popped, your contract can be voided. I think we should absolutely look at those things. You look at other walks of life. If you get caught insider trading or if you get caught cheating on your taxes, you go to prison, you’re banned for life from trading. These are the types of things happening to those quote-unquote cheats. In baseball? Eh, half a season. In football? Four games, whatever it may be. … We need to look at harsher penalties.”

Cano left the Yankees after the 2013 season. He was a shoo-in for the Hall of Fame until the suspension.

Brendan Kuty may be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @BrendanKutyNJ. Find NJ.com Yankees on Facebook.