NEW YORK -- Free-agent catcher Cody Stanley has been suspended for 162 games by Major League Baseball for testing positive for the same performance-enhancing substance that generated a previous positive test and suspension last year.
The league announced the punishment Friday.
According to the commissioner's office, Stanley tested positive for dehydrochlormethyltestosterone, an anabolic steroid used to increase speed and strength. Stanley, 27, made his major league debut with the St. Louis Cardinals last year but was suspended for 80 games in September after he tested positive for the same steroid.
Stanley said in a statement released by the players' union that he "will never apologize for something I didn't do." He also said: "We will not stop searching for why all of this has happened."
Cardinals general manager John Mozeliak also addressed the matter, saying: "[Stanley is] no longer under the Cardinals' umbrella, but you would like to think a player who ends up testing positive for something would do everything possible not to let it happen again, so that's telling."
ESPN's Mark Saxon and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
