If the 2020 season is less than 162 games due to the delay necessitated by the COVID-19 epidemic, the recent agreement between MLB and the MLB Players Association on a reduced season is believed to mean that Pineda will still need to serve the remaining 39 games of his drug suspension, Skor North 1500 KSTP-AM Minneapolis reports.

EDGE Analysis

Pineda's fantasy value would decline as a result as he would have missed only 39 of 162 games and returned in mid-May under a full-season schedule. With a shortened season, however, he could now miss from one-third to one-half of the campaign. Pineda was suspended 80 games in early September for taking a banned diuretic. The suspension was later reduced to 60 games after he argued it was not being used as a masking agent for a performance-enhancing drug, and he served the first 21 games of the penalty last season.