Braves reliever Andrew McKirahan suspended 80 games for PED use

The Atlanta Braves’ bullpen took another hit Monday, though this time it’s not due to injury or trade. Left-hander Andrew McKirahan was suspended 80 games after testing positive for PEDs. The news comes via Ken Rosenthal of Fox Sports and was confirmed by the Braves.

McKirahan, 25, was picked up by Atlanta off waivers from Miami near the end of spring training. He’s the third major leaguer to receive a PED suspension so far this season. Twins starting pitcher Ervin Santana and Mets closer Jenrry Mejia are the other two. Braves minor league arm Arodys Vizcaino is also serving an 80-game ban for a positive test. Santana, Mejia, and Vizcaino were all said to have used the steroid Stanozolol.

According to MLB, McKirahan’s suspension has was for using Ipamorelin, a steroid that produced growth hormone in the body.

A source said McKirahan apologized to his teammates yesterday and informed them he had used a cream during Spring Training. #Braves

— Mark Bowman (@mlbbowman) April 20, 2015

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Having already had their relief options weakened, most notably by trading All-Star closer Craig Kimbrel to San Diego, this is a blow that Braves president John Hart was not expecting.

From the Atlanta Journal-Constitution:

“From a club perspective we’re obviously disappointed in this one,” Hart said of McKirahan’s suspension. “From a depth standpoint, we lost Shae Simmons to Tommy John (elbow surgery in January), and Vizcaino was suspended. And Feigl, it looks like potentially he may need Tommy John. This (McKirahan suspension) is sort of a double whammy in that we lost a guy we were looking at in the bullpen and we’ve lost some other weapons.”

For now Atlanta will have to go forward with what they have in the bullpen. If they stay competitive – they’re 8-4 through two weeks of baseball – they’ll definitely check in on the trade market later in the year to look for potential reinforcements.

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Israel Fehr is a writer for Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter. Follow @israelfehr