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Before even pitching a regular season inning for the Minnesota Twins after signing a four-year, $55 million contract over the offseason, Ervin Santana has been suspended for 80 games after violating MLB‘s performance-enhancing drug policy stemming from a positive test for stanozolol, which is a synthetic anabolic steroid banned by the league.
ervin santana suspended 80 games for ped failure (stanozolol) #twins
— Jon Heyman (@JonHeymanCBS) April 3, 2015
This is simply a devastating blow for the Twins, as they had very little to be excited about heading into the 2015 campaign, and their fanbase has had about enough of this seemingly never-ending rebuild. Minnesota’s pitching staff had been getting pummeled in recent years, and now it’ll be without arguably its best starting piece.
Santana pitched well for the Atlanta Braves last season, going 14-10 with a 3.95 ERA. And there was reason to believe he could put forth a similar effort for years to come for the Twins as the AL Central is hardly a division that showcases overwhelming offensive talent.
Now, to the chagrin of Twins fans, it’s likely that Mike Pelfrey will take Santana’s place until he returns in late June. Pelfrey is not a good starting pitcher — the difference between him and Santana is literally night and day, and could lead to at least four more losses for Minnesota over Santana’s suspension. And that is not good for a team already struggling to keep its fanbase intrigued.
Perhaps OF mega-prospect Byron Buxton will be making an appearance earlier in 2015 than expected in order to calm some nerves?
