Kansas City Royals: Eric Skoglund very emotional over suspension
Pitchers and catchers are doing their thing, and Kansas City Royals pitcher Eric Skoglund addressed the media about his impending suspension.
The Kansas City Royals southpaw will be serving an 80 game suspension for PEDs. Eric Skoglund is unsure of what he ingested that caused the positive test for Ostarine and Ligandrol Either way, the suspension is in place. His emotions and his tears came when he spoke of Dayton Moore’s support and their conversations about the incident.
Skoglund would have been in contention, if not the favorite, for the fifth starter job out of camp. That will no longer be the case. It might be an uphill battle for the lefty to even crack the rotation following his suspension. There will be battle between guys like Homer Bailey, Jorge Lopez, and Heath Fillmyer to fill that spot.
If the team wants to cling to anything, there is a lot of remorse in Skoglund’s sentiments. The mystery is how this even happened. Not even the man who tested positive knows how it even happened.
One thing that seems to consistently be happening is that the Kansas City Royals stand by their guys through a lot. That is being seen through Skoglund, and it can be seen through the story of Kyle Zimmer.
It has been a long and injury filled career for Zimmer. In a final effort, the Royals sent him to Driveline baseball. But there was a time when the pitcher did not have to be a part of the Kansas City organization. He chose to re-sign with the team that drafted him, at least in part, because the organization stuck by him.
A positive PED test is much different from injuries. But if the conversations with Moore moved Skoglund to tears, that says a lot about how the organization handles situations with their players. And it isn’t saying anything negative.
So, Skoglund is out for 80 games. However, he is not being counted out by the organization. It will take some time for him to get to competition level when the suspension is over, but he will pitch for the Kansas City Royals organization again with no hard feelings on either side.