A source confirms to Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic that Mariners second baseman Robinson Cano is facing an 80-game suspension for violating baseball’s joint drug agreement.
Stunning news and a huge blow to the Mariners and fantasy owners alike. Héctor Gómez of ZDeportes passed along the initial report, which was confirmed by Rosenthal. Cano was already facing a lengthy absence due to a fractured fifth metacarpal on his right hand which was suffered when he was hit by a pitch on Sunday. Now he has the PED suspension on top of that. It's a complicated confluence of events, so it's unclear what the timetable for his return might be just yet. Cano, 35, was batting .287/.385/.441 with four homers and 23 RBI over 39 games this season. He's in the fifth year of his 10-year, $240 million mega deal with Seattle. With Cano gone for the foreseeable future, it will be interesting to see if Dee Gordon moves back to second base.