This off-season the Minnesota Twins made their biggest free agent signing in team history, giving pitcher Ervin Santana a four-year, $55 million contract in December. There are incentives in place that could add a fifth year to that. Santana was slated to be the team’s number two starter.
Major League Baseball released the following statement, earlier today:
Minnesota’s Ervin Santana suspended
The Office of the Commissioner of Baseball announced today that Minnesota Twins right-handed pitcher Ervin Santana has received an 80-game suspension without pay after testing positive for Stanozolol, a performance-enhancing substance, in violation of Major League Baseball’s Joint Drug Prevention and Treatment Program.
The suspension of Santana will be effective for the first 80 games of the 2015 regular season.
In 2014 Santana was 14-10 with a 3.95 ERA and K/BB ratio of 179/63 in 196 innings for the Atlanta Braves. Now he’s out for half the season.
Santana has released a statement. Upshot: taking the PEDs was inadvertent:
“Ever since I was a child I always had to work harder than everyone. Not too many people believed I could become a major leaguer. I worked hard to achieve everything I accomplished and I take pride in proving that through hard work dreams can come true.”
“I serve as a role model for many kids in my home country who dream of playing at the highest level. I would never put baseball, my family, or my country in a position where its integrity is jeopardized. I preach hard work, and don’t believe in short cuts. I am very disappointed that I tested positive for a performance enhancing drug. I am frustrated that I can’t pinpoint how the substance in question entered my body. I would never knowingly take anything illegal to enhance my performance. What I can guarantee is I never knowingly took anything illegal to enhance my performance. That’s just not me, never has ben and never will.”
“Moving forward, I need to be more careful on what I consume in my home country, I will be more vigilant of medications I take so that I don’t commit another mistake. Having said that, I believe it is best to move forward and accept the punishment that has been negotiated by MLB and MLBPA for my positive PED test. This is unexpected news for me and my family. I am issuing this statement so the public knows where I stand. My deepest apologies to my family, fans, colleagues, teammates and my current employer the Minnesota Twins. All I can do now is continue to work hard, and when the suspension is up, come back to doing what I love.”
