Pirates right-hander Edgar Santana has been suspended for 80 games for violating the Joint Drug Prevention and Treatment Program, as per a league press release. Santana tested positive for the performance-enhancing substance Boldenone, and will now miss the entire 2020 season as well as the first 20 games of the 2021 campaign.
Santana posted a 3.31 ERA, 3.08 K/BB rate, and 7.9 K/9 over 84 1/3 innings for Pittsburgh in 2017-18, all as a relief pitcher. This promising beginning to his big league career was cut short by Tommy John surgery in September 2018, which sidelined him for the entire 2019 campaign.
During Spring Training, Santana appeared to be in good form returning from that long layoff, tossing five scoreless innings in Grapefruit League action prior to the league shutdown. There was plenty of opportunity for a healthy Santana to re-establish himself in the Pirates’ bullpen and set himself up for his first arbitration-eligible year in 2021, though he’ll now his service clock stalled while also forfeiting his salary for the 2020 season.