MLB suspended former All-Star pitcher Carlos Martínez for 80 games, due to PED use. At age 30, his career is probably over after he struggled with injuries the past two seasons with the St. Louis Cardinals. Clearly, this looks like he was trying to PEDs in his recovery—a common issue MLB likes to ignore—and because he was still not effective, both the San Francisco and Boston organizations cut him in 2022.

Yes, you read that correctly. After the Cardinals paid him $500,000 as a buyout of his contract, which paid him almost $47M between 2018-2021, the Giants took a low-risk flier on him before the 2022 season, signing him on March 19. Clearly, they didn’t like what they saw, and the S.F. club cut him before the start of the season. Then the Red Sox stepped in and gave him a try, too.

But Boston released him on May 17 after he posted a 20.77 ERA in two Triple-A starts for the organization, and now MLB has announced this suspension. After posting a 3.22 ERA over 110 starts for St. Louis from 2015-2018, the Cards used him as a closer in 2019, when he saved 24 games and posted a 3.17 ERA. When they tried to make him a starter again in 2020, that’s when the wheels came off.

Martínez was never the same pitcher, compiling a 6.95 ERA in 2020-2021 as he fought injuries over 21 starts in the two seasons combined. Clearly desperate, he may chosen to use PEDs before signing with the Giants—or after. We will never know, but it’s interesting he would choose that organization to sign with, isn’t it? Word gets around among players, of course, as we have discussed before.

Then, when it didn’t work with with the S.F. organization, here comes another PED-friendly team to give him a shot (no pun intended). Between The House That Steroids Built and the Fenway Frauds, Martínez gave himself the best chance to rescue his MLB career and make more money. It just didn’t work out, which goes to prove that even PEDs can’t save you when your time is up.

This may be coincidence, of course, but you know our logical thought processes: There’s too much proof and damning evidence to blindly assume this was a coincidence. Poor Martínez just got caught in the perfect storm: the Giants, the Red Sox, and the end of his MLB line.