PHOENIX -- It was the Venezuelan winter season of 2009-10, and Junior Guerra was thinking about giving up baseball.
Guerra was 24 and coming off a lost season in the Mets' Minor League system. Guerra had been suspended in January 2009 for 50 games after testing positive for a metabolite of the anabolic steroid Nandrolone, and he was released when the suspension expired. Guerra returned to his winter team, La Guaira, but the Sharks were struggling and Guerra was pitching sporadically before a demotion to the parallel league, Venezuela's version of the Minors.
"It was that time in my life when I didn't know if it was worth it anymore," Guerra said.