Hector

Santiago

Santiago tested positive for exogenous Testosterone. He released a statement saying he will not appeal the suspension. The left-hander will miss the rest of the season. It’s worth pointing out that Santiago also had a 10-game suspension for foreign-substance use on his glove -- the first to receive the suspension after MLB’s crackdown on using substances. He’ll not only be out throughout the rest of 2021, and miss part of 2022 as well.

Santiago just finished up a 10-game suspension for foreign-substance use. Amazingly, the Mariners went 7-3 while playing a man short in his absence.

It was always a longshot that Santiago, the first pitcher to be suspended for using foreign substances, would win his appeal. He’ll officially begin serving the 10-game suspension on Friday and can’t return to the Mariners’ active roster until July 27. They’ll play a man short in the meantime. Santiago, 33, leaves behind a 3.33 ERA and 29/10 K/BB ratio in 24 1/3 innings (one start, 11 relief appearances) this season with Seattle.

The veteran southpaw walked one and struck out one. The only damage done against him came on a solo home run by David Fletcher in the third inning. The 33-year-old hurler is waiting to hear this week on the appeal of his automatic 10-game suspension from MLB’s expanded rules on cracking down on the use of illegal foreign substances -- a ruling that is supposed to come on Wednesday.

Santiago was the first player to be subjected to discipline under MLB’s expanded rules cracking down on the use of illegal foreign substances. Apparently his glove was inspected in Seattle earlier this week. The saga continues.

Santiago struck out the side in a scoreless eighth inning against the Rangers in his first outing since being leveled a 10-game suspension, the first-ever handed out under MLB’s newly expanded rules cracking down on the use of illegal foreign substances. The 33-year-old southpaw made a statement by moving the rosin bag far away from the mound and was absurdly inspected before and after the frame by the umpiring crew.

Santiago has appealed and will be able to play until the process plays out. The southpaw was found to have a foreign substance on his glove during Sunday’s game against the White Sox and was ejected by home plate umpire Phil Cuzzi. For his part, Santiago has denied any wrongdoing, saying that he only used rosin. Either way, the umpire’s judgment takes precedence in terms of a punishment even though the glove was sent back to New York, apparently for an inspection. Santiago is the first player to receive a punishment with MLB beginning to crack down on the use of sticky stuff by pitchers. Remember this one for trivia night.

Santiago was ejected from Sunday’s game and his glove was confiscated after an inspection by umpires. The glove was placed in a random garbage bag, so obviously this is serious business. Santiago said he wasn’t using anything besides rosin, so the question is whether the rosin was combined with something else -- sunscreen, for example -- which is no longer allowed. The Mariners are confident Santiago will be cleared, but we should know more soon.

So it begins. The umpires were seen confiscating Santiago’s glove and one can only assume that they found something they did not approve of. Stay tuned for more details.

You would be forgiven if you didn’t know that Santiago was in the Mariners’ organization. The southpaw last pitched in the majors in 2019 with a 6.68 ERA over 19 appearances with the White Sox and Mets, respectively. He’ll get a chance to show there’s something still in the tank for a Mariner bullpen that is basically just throwing stuff on walls and seeing what sticks.