Free Agent Pitcher Carlos Martinez Dealt 80-Game Suspension for PEDs

The 30-year-old Martinez was recently released from his minor-league deal with the Red Sox.

Free-agent pitcher Carlos Martinez has received an 80-game suspension without pay after testing positive for Ibutamoren, a performance-enhancing substance, Major League Baseball announced on Friday.

The announcement of Martinez’s suspension comes on the heels of his release from the Red Sox, where he made two appearances for Triple-A Worcester and gave up 10 earned runs in 4 1/3 innings pitched.

The suspension is the latest setback in a troubling last few seasons for Martinez. Injuries caught up to the former Cardinals star, who was bumped to a bullpen role in 2019, and missed a good bit of the 2020 campaign due to COVID-19 and an oblique strain.

Martinez returned to the St. Louis rotation last season, but held a paltry 6.23 ERA across 16 starts before tearing a ligament in his pitching hand that ended his season.

From 2013–19, Martinez was one of the stalwarts in the St. Louis rotation. Across his first seven seasons in the big leagues, Martinez logged a 3.36 ERA over 864 2/3 innings.

Now a free agent, the 30-year-old Martinez will be sidelined for most of the summer due to the suspension, putting a damper on his efforts to once again return to prior form.

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