CPBL Foreign Players Updates Volume #378
CTBC Brothers News: Daniel Mengden
Just weeks into 2025 spring training, the CTBC Brothers have already lost one of their aces. On March 5, Liberty Sports reported that the team terminated Daniel Mengden’s contract after he failed an internal drug test.
With the release of Daniel Mengden, the CTBC Brothers now have Kirk McCarty, José De Paula, Humberto Castellanos and Mario Sanchez as their foreign players.
“In accordance with the highest standards of conduct and our internal regulations, we have terminated Daniel Mengden’s contract today due to his failed drug test. We sincerely appreciate his contributions to the team last season and wish him all the best in his future career,” the CTBC Brothers posted on social media.
While the team’s statement did not specify the substance involved, multiple media outlets reported that Daniel Mengden tested positive for marijuana.
Although there have been growing calls in Taiwan for the decriminalisation of marijuana, it remains classified as a Category 2 narcotic under current law.
At the time of writing, the CPBL has yet to make any official comments on the matter. This is where things get interesting. Depending on how the league interprets its own regulations, Daniel Mengden could either face a lifetime ban or completely avoid punishment due to a loophole.
Below are the possible outcomes, along with some of my own speculations.
Why He Might Get Banned
According to Section 8, Subsection 3 of the Prohibited Substance Testing Procedures and Penalty chapter in the CPBL regulations:
“Anyone who tests positive for drugs in routine drug tests conducted by the league or relevant domestic and international organisations, as well as those found positive by domestic or international judicial authorities, will be permanently ineligible for employment. The list of prohibited substances will be based on government announcements.”
The key phrase here is “relevant domestic organisation.”
Daniel Mengden tested positive for a Category 2 narcotic in a drug test conducted by the CTBC Brothers. The question is: Would the CTBC Brothers or the facility they used for testing be considered a “relevant domestic organisation”?
If the league determines that they are, then the rule is clear: Daniel Mengden would likely receive a lifetime ban from the CPBL due to a drug violation.
Why He Might Not Get Banned
But! There’s always a but. There’s a potential loophole that could allow Daniel Mengden to pull an O.J. Simpson and escape a lifetime ban.
The key technicality is that Daniel Mengden was signed but was never officially registered on the CTBC Brothers’ roster.
Since he was technically not yet a CPBL player, the league never had the chance to conduct its own drug test. As a result, the CPBL might not have the authority to enforce a lifetime ban on him, even though he failed an internal drug test with the CTBC Brothers.
How can a league ban someone who is not even in a league?
If Not Banned, Can He Return to the CPBL in the Future?
Assuming Daniel Mengden avoids a ban on a technicality, could he return to the CPBL in the future? The answer is yes, provided he passes the league’s official drug test in the future.
However, the real question is: Would any CPBL team actually sign him now the news he tested positive for marijuana has been made public?
In the CPBL, each team’s parent company typically views its baseball team as a form of corporate social responsibility and brand advertising. With marijuana still classified as a Category 2 narcotic in Taiwan, it would be very interesting to see if any team would want to risk damaging its corporate image by signing a player associated with drug use.
And if the image of drug use wasn’t a big deal for the team’s parent company, then why did the CTBC Brothers terminate Daniel Mengden’s contract in the first place? What they should have done was simply not register him, wait until he passed the internal drug test, and then add him to the roster.
In short, even if Daniel Mengden avoids an official ban, his CPBL career is most likely over.
Further Readings
Foreign players come and go. Therefore, we have compiled a foreign player tracker, and I’ll be updating that list regularly to keep pace with the ever-changing roster shuffle throughout the 2025 CPBL season.
Really a blown opportunity for Mengden. CPBL was his best option by a wide margin due to his age.
Imagine throwing your CPBL career away over that. He could have easily do another 3-5 years in Taiwan. It is such a shame, because I really like him as a player.