The Minnesota Twins can now rejoice as the team’s biggest acquisition can now rejoin the team. Pitcher Ervin Santana has served his debt to society and will make his season debut.
Santana is coming off an 80-game suspension for testing positive for Stanozolol , a performance enhancing drug, in April right after the Twins signed him to a four year deal worth $55 million. This came as a huge blow to the Minnesota team that has been hungry to get back into the hunt for a division title and for a pitching staff that needed an extra boost before the season began.
Before the suspension, Santana was spearheading a revamped pitching staff that would translate into success for the Twins. His experience in the American League Central as a member of the Kansas City Royals in 2013 would prove useful and his time with the Atlanta Braves showed that he could win when called upon, going 14-10 with a 3.95 ERA.
Even without Santana’s help, the Twins have stayed in the chase for the division with a 43-38 record, only three and a half games behind the Royals. They have generally flown under the baseball media radar for most of the season and this may be the extra push that Minnesota to take the lead.
So far, Santana’s stint in Triple A has looked impressive. The veteran has gone 3-0 with a 1.74 ERA with the Rochester Red Wings where he struck out 27 in only 20 innings of work. Now comes the time to see if those numbers will translate into the big leagues as he takes the mound today against his former team.
During his time in Kansas City, Ervin was 9-10 with a 3.24 ERA and was second on the team in strikeouts with 161 in 32 games. Santana will take the mound opposite Danny Duffy in the series finally this afternoon.
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