Kevin Pillar rushes to teammate Chris Colabello's defense after 80-game PED ban
The news of Chris Colabello's 80-game suspension following a positive PED test shocked the baseball world Friday and shook the Toronto Blue Jays' clubhouse.
But one of Colabello's teammates is coming to his defense. Blue Jays center fielder Kevin Pillar spoke with Sportsnet Magazine's Arden Zwelling and explained why he believes Colabello's stance that he didn't knowingly take any banned substance.
Among the highlights from this first tweet is Pillar saying Colabello is "not a person that deserves any of the labels as a cheater or as a guy trying to manipulate the system. This is a guy that got caught up in a flawed system. ... He fell victim to a technicality in the system." However, Pillar doesn't go into any detail about the technicality.
Blue Jays CF Kevin Pillar on Chris Colabello, the strongest comments I've heard thus far in Colabello's defence: pic.twitter.com/Y0wQIeE94m
— Arden Zwelling (@ArdenZwelling) April 22, 2016
The next tweet details Colabello's long journey to the majors and Pillar's claim that Colabello "would never jeopardize that by doing anything."
More of Kevin Pillar's hard defence of his friend and teammate Chris Colabello: pic.twitter.com/02F4WJuohX
— Arden Zwelling (@ArdenZwelling) April 22, 2016
Finally, Pillar questions MLB's appeals process, saying "it doesn't seem like it's a system that's pro-player."
One more quote from Pillar on Colabello — can't understate how staunch he was in defending his teammate: pic.twitter.com/2au7f2Nr4D
— Arden Zwelling (@ArdenZwelling) April 22, 2016
Bottom line: Colabello is out until late July.
