Dori and Dave Wyman talk Robinson Cano suspension

Like baseball fans around the Northwest, KIRO Radio’s Dori Monson and 710 ESPN’s Dave Wyman both reacted strongly to Tuesday’s news that Mariners second baseman Robinson Cano was suspended 80 games for violating Major League Baseball’s drug policy.

RELATED: Mariners Cano suspended 80 games

Cano was caught using Furosemide, a diuretic that can be used as a masking agent for steroids. Furosemide, commonly known under the brand name Lasix, is on MLB’s list of banned substances for this reason.

Cano said in a statement that he did not realize what he was taking, explaining that a doctor in the Dominican Republic had given him Lasix to treat a medical problem.

“I just find this infuriating,” Dori said. “I’m furious at him, I’m furious at the selfishness of … people who ingest this stuff.”

Dori said he did not for one moment believe Cano’s statement.

“If you’re making $24 million a year and you can throw away half your salary and half your season by not being careful, maybe you should be a little more careful about what you put in your body,” Dori had said earlier in the show during his Big Lead.

Dave, however, chose to take Cano’s words at face value.

“I always assume that the guy must have taken something by mistake,” Dave said. “Because why else would you do that? Why else would you jeopardize, for him, $11 million or $12 million?”

Besides the lost money from 80 games, Dave pointed out that in intentionally ingesting banned substances, Cano would have been throwing away his chances at making the National Baseball Hall of Fame. With over 2,400 hits and 300 home runs in his career, Dave did not think that Cano would willingly take such a risk.

Dori said that he is suspicious of players who choose to come play for the Mariners when the team is in such a long slump, believing they come here because they think they can get away with using steroids.

“They come here because the money’s good, because the pressure might not be that great, and in this case, ‘Maybe if I use illegal drugs I can boost my numbers and make even more money,'” he said. “And it just makes me wonder about the type of person who wants to play on a team that’s in the midst of a 17-year playoff drought.”

Dave, who played nine seasons in the National Football League, pointed to the number of substances on the MLB’s list, noting that it’s “hard to avoid” all of them.

“When I was playing … there was not all this other stuff on the list,” he said.

Regardless of whether they were intentional or not, Cano’s actions, in Dori’s view, harm the entire fan base — and not only because the Mariners have lost their best hitter for most of the season. In terms of the world of baseball, Dori said, steroids “have taken a tremendous toll” because they have falsified stats that were once based on talent alone.

“It punishes the fans who have been going out and supporting him,” Dori said.

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