Article: Ervin Santana Suspended 80 Games For Steroids

[jokin]

 

 

No provision in his contract that allows Twins to nullify the deal? Seems like Twins could and should find a way out of this deal.

 

In the real world, this seems like a pretty straighforward case of fraud, but since A-Rod is still getting paid after a career filled with perpetrating one fraud after another, MLB obviously isn't... the real world.

[LaBombo]

 

If I may Nick, can I expand on your cogent comments...?

 

 

In the business world they also call it failure to perform due diligence

 

In the underground gambling world, they also call it crapping out.... and man, did Terry ever throw a deuce on this one!

 

Threw a deuce, dropped a deuce, tomayto, tomahto.   The important thing is that Pelfrey can reclaim the rotation spot he's due by the divine right of his half dozen nice spring training innings.

[twinsfaninsaudi]

I'm crying over losing Santana. I'm not crying over the choice of Pelfrey and the crying that is going on over it is way out of proportion. It does not take much to call someone up from AAA it could be done after two starts. Letting May and Meyer start in AAAA where they can get comfortable with their pitches before being called up is not a bad strategy and it is fortunate the Twins hqv enough depth to use that strategy. You all are whining about Terry Ryan's choice to not call up May and Meyer - They would not even be in the organization if it were not for choices Ryan made.

[Kwak]

 

I'm crying over losing Santana. I'm not crying over the choice of Pelfrey and the crying that is going on over it is way out of proportion. It does not take much to call someone up from AAA it could be done after two starts. Letting May and Meyer start in AAAA where they can get comfortable with their pitches before being called up is not a bad strategy and it is fortunate the Twins hqv enough depth to use that strategy. You all are whining about Terry Ryan's choice to not call up May and Meyer - They would not even be in the organization if it were not for choices Ryan made.

Yes! Oh, the many posts I couldn't have read about CFers and starting pitchers! TD would have been so short on subjects to post about that threads on departed Twins (like Joe Benson) would have cluttered the Forums. 

[troyhobbs]

Never doubt Vegas

[Danchat]

My initial reaction:

"DANG IT, SANTANA!"

 

*Notices that Pelfrey is going to start now*

 

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!"

 

 

I don't even know what to say about this. The Twins are very unforunate, as I suspect they had no idea this was going to happen. Now 2015 is extra-screwed.

 

Maybe Pelfrey is just going to start a handful of games and return to the bullpen, where he might actually pitch well. Maybe Thompson is just a placeholder, and maybe he'll actually pitch well. Maybe Trevor May just isn't ready to pitch in the majors. 

But enough "maybes". I have a feeling that Pelfrey is penciled in to be a starter for all of 2015. 

 

I don't know if I even want to watch the Twins play these first few months. I mean, it's interesting to watch a train-wreck, but it's getting so repetitive now...

[jorgenswest]

ZIPs projected Santana at 9-11 with a 4.64 ERA and 0.7 WAR. Steamer was more favorable at 11-13 and 4.36 for 1.5 WAR. Cut either in half. How will the Twins fans accept him at half that performance?

 

Decline it over three more years. They will be lucky to get 3-4 WAR out of him over the course of the contract.

 

Santana doesn't lose much here. He still gets almost 50 million. The Twins lose what would very likely be his best season as a Twin and pay big for the decline. I don't think the Twins make the playoffs until he is gone.

Edited April 4, 2015 by jorgenswest

[tobi0040]

Two years in a row. Right before the season my optimism gets a nice kick in the junk (Sano last year).

[jimbo92107]

Maybe the Twins should pay Santana with performance-enhanced money. Great big Monopoly bills.

 

Sorry Ervin, but I don't buy the "I don't know what I was taking" excuse. This is 2015, not the 1990's. Players have to know, it's their job to know what's in the pills they're taking. If you bought dubious pills from a dubious source, it's your fault if they're full of yummy steroids.

 

Meanwhile, the Twins should have called up May, not promoted Pelfry from the pen. May has already pitched in the bigs, so he's no longer a bundle of nerves. He should be able to settle down and be a horse. They should let May prove himself.

[Hrbowski]

I wonder what it smelled like.

[Platoon]

I don't think Ryan is running the Twins any differently than he ever did! Bring in aging fill in vets to plug a few holes for a team with a few studs that plays in a weak division. And don't forget to allow for the Dome and small revenue model. Fast forward 5 years! No true studs, a total complete pitching collapse, some bad luck, a tired manager, and tons of high draft choices. The problem is your business model has never been about developing a team with talented youth. It has been about being baseballs version of "The Little Engine That Could"

[jorgenswest]

Pelfrey has worked hard to come back through two difficult injuries. He has done so without the apparent help of PEDs. I look forward to seeing him pitch and hope he has a career year.

 

I really hope that whichever 5 starters the Twins have in the rotation when Santana is eligible return are doing a respectable enough job to keep him out of the rotation.

[shs_59]

 

Pelfrey has worked hard to come back through two difficult injuries. He has done so without the apparent help of PEDs. I look forward to seeing him pitch and hope he has a career year.

I really hope that whichever 5 starters the Twins have in the rotation when Santana is eligible return are doing a respectable enough job to keep him out of the rotation.

 

Is it entirely possible than Ervin will make 14 million dollars this season?

 

That is ridiculous.

 

Also the fact the Twins lose their 2nd round pick this year....

 

Is also ridiculous.

 

And the Fact the Braves pick up like the 33rd or 34th overall pick is even More Ridiculous yet.

[nicksaviking]

The Braves should not be benefitting from a draft pick when they were the team benefitting from Santana's cheating.

[Kwak]

In some organizations when executives foul-up massively--there is a "reorganization".

[nater79a]

Wow. We're on our 6th starter and the season hasn't even started yet. Buckle up, it's gonna be a long season.

[Mike Sixel]

Pelfrey?

 

Really? How is that the choice? So exciting.

[h2oface]

 

Well this certainly makes Ricky Nolasco's first year here look fantastic by comparison!

As Santana could return and have a great 82 games to finish the season....... I can't agree yet. Nolasco's first season was so horrible............ batting practice. He made every team a team of .320 hitters. Nothing can make Nolasco's season look even sort of acceptable, and especially not fantastic.

[h2oface]

 

I have bowed to Mr. Ryan's knowledge on a many topics, but each unexplainable decision has eroded my confidence to the point that I have to wonder if the game has passed him by.  He doesn't share more than he has to, nor does he have to, but this continuing series of low-upside older players is very hard to defend.

Welcome to the dark side. 

[h2oface]

 

Well you cheered on the right team during the steriod era. 

That is, if you disregard Juan Rin-coid......

[nater79a]

Now watch May or Meyer get called up by May 1st, rip off about 8-9 wins in a row, only to get sent back to AAA when Santana is reinstated in July.  The reason: need more seasoning.

[Richie the Rally Goat]

One would think there would be provisions in the contract for such things. Something to the effect of "if the player gets convicted of PED use by MLB the remainder of the contract is null and void" might have done the trick

[Seth Stohs]

I realize it's guilt by association but I'm not comfortable cheering for a team with a cheater on it.

 

So you think they should release Vargas too?

[Squirrel]

That is, if you disregard Juan Rin-coid......

There were others. But I don't recall who.

[JB_Iowa]

http://blogs.twincities.com/twins/2015/04/03/twinsights-all-15-twins-organization-ped-suspensions-since-2005/

 

Berardino provides a list.

Edited April 4, 2015 by JB_Iowa

[Squirrel]

http://blogs.twincities.com/twins/2015/04/03/twinsights-all-15-twins-organization-ped-suspensions-since-2005/

Berardino provides a list.

There was someone else ... earlier ... who admitted to using well after, and took a roster spot from someone else. I can't remember who it was but it was a pitcher. Maybe in the 90s or earlier in the 2000s? It was before testing in the 'turn a blind eye' era.

[Seth Stohs]

My thoughts, hours after the announcement...

 

Terry Ryan can't be blamed for this. It's silly to go there.

 

It's on Santana... that's it.

 

Santana has not been a #4 through most of his career. He's been a very solid, effective #3 most of the time.

 

I have no problem with starting out with Pelfrey. He was next-in-line and did well this spring (not that the numbers matter.). May needs to be stretched out anyway. Jeffrey is healthy. Here's his one last chance. Nothing wrong with that.

 

I prone Ted the Twins at 73 wins before... with a shot to flirt with .500. Now hoping for 70 wins.

[howeda7]

Hey, it's Spring the time for eternal optimism, a new manager, etc. But this certainly takes the wind out of the sails. I want to believe that Pelfrey will be not awful and the net effect of this is only a couple wins. But it still sucks. I was already having visions of the bullpen costing us about a win a week. It's pretty hard to be optimistic at this point.

[Hrbowski]

Maybe this will rest his arm and he won't get TJ.

[h2oface]

 

There were others. But I don't recall who.

Rin-coid was the only player since 2005 to be caught while on the Twins. The rest were minor leaguers, and I really don't count that. I guess you could include Vargas, because he actually made it to the show. But other than that, none of those on Bernadino's list were perpetrators while on the Twins except Ster-juan Rin-coid, as my boys and I used to call him.