Maybin also missed the first 25 games of the season with a ruptured biceps tendon suffered during spring training. (Jake Roth-USA TODAY Sports)
LOS ANGELES — Outfielder Cameron Maybin was reinstated to the Padres’ active roster Wednesday after serving a 25-game suspension for violating MLB’s Joint Drug Prevention and Treatment Program. He has a very simple goal now.
“I just want to play baseball,” said Maybin, who was activated but wasn’t in the starting lineup for Wednesday’s 4-1 victory over the Dodgers.
“I’m eager to get out there and feel healthy. The situation was a real bummer. I’ve missed games with injuries. Missing games like this was a real bummer.”
Maybin also missed the first 25 games of the season with a ruptured biceps tendon suffered during spring training. He hit .247 in 62 games before serving the suspension — which he still maintains was the result of poor knowledge of MLB’s rules, not an attempt to cheat the system.
“I wasn’t trying to gain an edge,” Maybin told reporters Wednesday. “I’ve been taking this medicine for the past three or four years.”
Maybin claims he had a therapeutic exemption that allowed him to take medicine for attention deficit disorder. His prescription was changed in February, he said, and that change required he file new paperwork with MLB.
“It was my mistake not knowing that,” Maybin said.
Manager Bud Black acknowledged that Maybin “went through a lot of anguish over this.”
Maybin’s return gives the Padres a crowded group in the outfield with Abraham Almonte, Jake Goebbert, Rymer Liriano, Seth Smith, Will Venable and now Maybin all jockeying for playing time.
The Padres went 15-10 during Maybin’s suspension. Smith, Almonte and Liriano have been the primary starters recently.
“We have some flexibility with those guys,” Black said. “We’ll work through it.”
