Under the new policy that took effect last month, steroids and other performance-enchancing substances are the only drugs to draw a 10-day suspension. Baseball officials and the players' union agreed they would not disclose the exact substance for which a player tests positive.

Sanchez said he was surprised by the suspension, adding that he uses milkshakes and multivitamins to build his energy -- and blaming the positive test on something he bought over the counter.

\"I'm going to fight it, because I've never taken steroids or anything like that,\" said Sanchez, who was released by Detroit in mid-March and signed by the Devil Rays.

Sanchez, 28, who hit .322 with 19 stolen bases in 79 games for the Tigers last season, said he was drug tested while he was with Detroit. He was to be the Devil Rays' centre fielder on opening day.

Seattle's Damian Moss and Ryan Christianson were among 38 players suspended Monday for violating baseball's minor league steroids policy, a group that included eight players from the Mariners' organization.

Oakland's David Castillo was suspended for 60 games, the penalty for a third violation. All the others were suspended for 15 games, the ban given to first offenders.

Seven of the 38 positives came from the Chicago Cubs organization, five each from the Los Angeles Angels, Oakland and Texas, and four from San Diego. There were two from Colorado, and one each from St. Louis and the Chicago White Sox.

Three Yankees were among the top five in salary: Alex Rodriguez, at $25.7 million, was No. 1 for the fifth straight year, Derek Jeter was fourth at $19.6 million and Mike Mussina was fifth at $19 million.

San Francisco's Barry Bonds, who started the season on the disabled list following knee surgery, was second at $22 million, followed by Boston's Manny Ramirez at $19.8 million.

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New York is spending more than the $187 million total of Tampa Bay ($29.9 million), Kansas City ($36.9 million), Pittsburgh ($38.1 million), Milwaukee ($40.2 million) and Cleveland ($41.8 million).

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The World Series champion Boston Red Sox were second to the Yankees, with their players adding to $121.3 million. The New York Mets were next at $104.8 million, followed by Philadelphia ($95.3 million) and the Los Angeles Angels ($95 million).

Initial projections by the commissioner's office based on Opening-Day rosters have the Yankees owing $30,637,531, according to information obtained this week by The Associated Press.

The only other team projected to owe a tax is the World Series champion Boston Red Sox, who would pay $969,177.

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For the luxury tax, payrolls are based on the average annual values of contracts for all players on the 40-man roster and include benefits. Under that formula, the Yankees opened with a payroll of $204.6 million, followed by Boston ($131.2 million), the New York Mets ($116.4 million), the Los Angeles Angels ($111.2 million) and Seattle ($109.3 million).

Teams with payrolls above $128 million owe tax this year.

Garciaparra was carried off the field with an injured left groin that likely will land him on the 15-day disabled list for an extended period...

\"I've strained my groin before but I've never felt anything like this before,\" Garciaparra said. \"It's kind of a freak thing.\"

Garciaparra was to undergo an MRI exam on Thursday. The Cubs feared the worst, a torn groin, for the star shortstop they acquired at the trade deadline last July.

\"It's not good, it's a bad groin,\" manager Dusty Baker said.

canmark:
Nomar got a bad groin.

George_Twinsfan:
Since the Padres don't have a 2005 thread and I am not a fan enough to start one I'll post this here.

Did anyone see the camoflague uniform shirts the Padres wore last night? Others at the bar thought they were awful, but I thought they looked kind of cool. I wish I had seen them before I ordered our softball uniforms this year!

Former New York Mets pitcher Grant Roberts was among nine players suspended for 15 games Friday for violating baseball's minor league steroids policy, raising the total this year to 47.
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Major League Baseball said the latest suspensions resulted from 251 tests taken at Florida spring training camps. Of the prior suspensions, 37 came as a result of 925 tests at Arizona camps and one from offseason testing.

All but one of the previous suspensions were for first offenses, with Oakland's David Castillo drawing a 60-game ban, the penalty for a third offense.

Look, I'm hardly the first person to raise the question. When he was with the Red Sox, who was bold enough to link our fair shortstop, a noted workout guy, with the dreaded S-word? But he did go from, like, standard athlete issue normal to ultra-buffed in one winter, and he has been -- there is no other way to say it -- systematically breaking down for the past six years, so you can't help wondering just what he's been putting into his body other than Wheaties and sirloin steaks. If we're going to assume that Mark McGwire's physical breakdown was because of a reliance on steroids, then it would be quite logical to adopt the same line of thinking about Nomar. It's a legitimate question.

In 1996, Cammy became the only Padre in the team's first 36 seasons to win an NL MVP award. That he admitted later he used steroids during that stellar season doesn't really taint the accomplishment -- not for me, at least.

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\"He was always playing with intense pain,\" said John Moores, the team's majority owner, who added that he loved Caminiti like a son. \"My understanding is that you can take steroids to help recover from injuries quicker. I'm sure that's why Cammy must have been using them -- at least I hope it was.\"

Lenny Dykstra had a dream season in 1993.

He led the National League in hits, walks and runs, nearly doubled his previous high in home runs, finished second to Barry Bonds for most valuable player and led the Philadelphia Phillies to the World Series. After the season, the center fielder signed a multiyear contract worth almost $25 million, making him baseball's highest-paid leadoff batter ever.

Now, in court documents and interviews, former associates allege that during that magical season, \"Nails\" — as he was known because of his intense style of play — indulged in two of baseball's biggest sins: steroid use and illegal gambling.

A longtime friend and business partner is suing Dykstra in Ventura County, seeking to regain an interest in their lucrative Southern California car wash business. In the suit, Lindsay Jones, 42, of Irvine, alleges that Dykstra advised him to bet thousands of dollars with a bookmaker on selected Phillie games in 1993.

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ESPN reporter Jayson Stark told the Chicago Tribune last month about a 1993 clubhouse meeting with a shirtless Dykstra.

\"I said, 'Look at you. What did you do?' \" Stark recalled. \"[Dykstra] said, 'I took some real good vitamins.' \" wink

In an interview with the Daily News in August 2002, Dykstra flatly denied that he had ever used steroids.

Two points remain somewhat murky. While many remember Dykstra coming to spring training with added bulk in 1993, the first time his weight gain was commented on was in 1990, the beginning of his first full year with the Phillies.

Also, while the story alleges that Dykstra stepped up his use of steroids going into 1993 because it was the final year of a contract, the Phillies actually held a $2.6 million option for 1994.

Florida infielder Wilson Delgado and Kansas City utilityman Luis Ugueto were among four players given 15-game suspensions Friday for violating baseball's minor league steroids policy.

Pitcher Jeremy Cummings of St. Louis and first baseman Joshua Pressley of Kansas City were also suspended.