Pretty bad look for Major League Baseball here, if we're being honest.
Some might go ahead and trash Steven Wright for violating the league's PED policy, as reported on Wednesday afternoon, but that's not the whole story here. Yes, the knuckleballer took something called "Growth Hormone Releasing Peptide 2" (peptides have something to do with protein, if I recall freshman biology class). Yes he received an 80-game suspension for it. No, it doesn't have much impact on the Red Sox pitching staff. But yes, it's not a good look for Major League Baseball.
You see, this is not Wright's first time being suspended by MLB. Last year, a domestic violence charge landed him a 15-game suspension. In other words, the suspension for this "offense" is 65 games longer than what he did last year. That kind of shows where MLB's priorities are at.
It's been a weird past few seasons for the knuckleballer. He will miss at least half of this season. He only pitched in five games in 2017. And last year, he was kind of relegated to long relief.
Wright was projected to start this season on the Disabled List, or the Injured List, as the kids call it these days. The team was preparing to start the season without him, so they could take or leave him. Sure, he provided the team with depth among starting pitchers, but so do Brian Johnson and Hector Velazquez, both of whom are MLB caliber relievers as well.
Not to mention, there's some guys in Triple-A who might be able to help the cause at some point--including Tampa Bay Rays legend Erasmo Ramirez, assuming he can find his form again.
The one bright side of this is that we won't have to watch the knuckleball for awhile because let's be honest, it's pretty painful to watch. Maybe some people like it--and that's OK too, but yeah. Way too many fly balls...