MLB

‘Pays to cheat’: Players critical of Peralta’s post-PED riches

Jhonny Peralta, who was caught in the Biogenesis dragnet and suspended in August for 50 games for performance-enhancing drugs, agreed on a four-year, $53 million contract with the St. Louis Cardinals this weekend. The average salary of $13.25 million is more than double what he made last season with the Tigers ($6 million).

While the Cardinals are certainly happy to have his services — general manager John Mozeliak said at Monday’s introductory press conference the club would not appoint itself baseball’s “morale police” — let’s just say Peralta’s newfound wealth didn’t go over well with some of his fellow players.

Late Saturday night, free-agent Mets pitcher David Aardsma took to Twitter to voice his concerns about the contract.

“I had 2 major surgeries in 5 months and made it back clean, nothing pisses me off more than guys that cheat and get raises for doing so,” he continued.

Arizona Diamondbacks reliever Brad Ziegler backed up Aardsma in a series of tweets on Sunday afternoon, first re-tweeting news of the deal with the comment: “It pays to cheat…Thanks, owners, for encouraging PED use.”

Ziegler concluded: “People think if they curse at me, call me names, & say my opin doesn’t matter that it will affect me. I’ve pitched in SF, NY, etc #tuneitout.”