Steven Wright Suspended For 80 Games After Testing Positive For GHRP-2

Steven Wright tested positive in the off-season for Growth Hormone Releasing Peptide 2 (GHRP-2), a performance-enhancing substance, and has been suspended by MLB for 80 games.

Wright said he found out about the positive test sometime after Christmas and filed an appeal. He told the Red Sox a suspension might be coming. Wright was told late on Tuesday night that his appeal was denied. He will be eligible to pitch for Boston on June 24 (but is ineligible for the postseason).

Wright started the 2018 season with a 15-game suspension after MLB investigated a heated argument between Wright and his wife.

I feel all right because I know the truth. And that's the biggest thing. I went through it last year, and it was hard last year because I'm a private guy, and all of a sudden my life goes public. With this, I know the truth, and people close to me know I wouldn't intentionally do this to try to get an upper hand. ...

I turned over everything. It was a pretty rigorous investigation as far as figuring out where it came from. I don't think it's from any of the doctors. I know for a fact it wasn't from the doctors. It somehow got in there, but it's such low levels that it could have come from anything.

Sean McAdam (Boston Sports Journal) wrote that the news "won't do much" to alter the Red Sox's pitching plans.

Wright underwent an arthroscopic procedure last November ... [and] wasn't going to be ready to start the season with the team. ...

Over the winter, Wright's name was mentioned a number of times by president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski as a potential late-inning bullpen candidate, but that never seemed realistic, given Wright's chronic unavailability for the last few seasons. ...

There are plenty of candidates for the bullpen spot and with Brian Johnson and Hector Velazquez, the Sox have candidates to fill in as spot starters.

But the larger question might be Wright's future with the organization.