Manny Ramirez is Suspended 50 Games After Testing Positive for hCG? Really?
Manny Ramirez allegedly failed a spring training drug test and must serve a 50 game 
suspension. The drug apparently is used to restart testosterone in the body after coming off a steroid cycle. The Dodgers have the best record in baseball and will have to scramble to replace the Hall of Fame bound (before the suspension) slugger’s production…if they can. I have so many thoughts on this entire era but I think baseball has been complicit. Embarrassing for the sport, but it’s time to man up Bud. All of this in my opinion validates Bonds. Try as some could to paint Barry as Public Enemy #1, but the truth is slowly but surely coming out.
“Unfortunately, the medication was banned under our drug policy,” Ramirez said. “Under the policy that mistake is now my responsibility. I have been advised not to say anything more for now. I do want to say one other thing: I’ve taken and passed about 15 drug tests over the past five seasons.”
Baseball has a serious problem if they can’t keep their stars on the field. I do think it’s the player’s right to be able to take care of their bodies (as far as the wear and tear 162 games puts on their bodies) but we don’t have enough information in that regard. Apparently, Manny got caught and now has to pay the price…he stands to lose 7 million…but will still walk away with around 38 million.
Remember, he hasn’t had his day in court.
My only thought is this: We should be thankful that he knocked Favre of the centerpiece of every sports page and sports web site … Favre doesn’t know what to do with himself now that he’s not the spotlight.
Totally agree with Damon.
I agree as well. Thank God for that! Dude makes me sick!
Unfortunately this gives Selena Roberts a cover as she slinks away quietly, all embarrassed at the total B-U-S-T that is her book! LOL
You’re right, it’s all a sham. And as a Dodger fan it validates my belief that we bid ourselves into this corner. There were no offers for Manny. There was no market for him. We bid ourselves up from the limited amount we offered. Manny made himself unpopular in Boston and he was given money…..the Dodgers could have gotten a fair player (not Manny) in Bobby Abreu who would have stayed out of the public eye and had a lot more money. Stupid Dodgers….but yeah, on the larger point of Bonds, it’s impossible to believe there wasn’t at least one team interested in the greatest hitter of the last 40 years….just not possible. Bud does need to man up, as you say.
TC:
You’re right about the money in principal, but frankly, whatever money the Dodgers paid to Manny Ramirez was small change for his potential.
Before Manny “made himself unpopular in Boston” he:
- brought two World Series titles to a “cursed” franchise.
- created David Ortiz (who remembers Ortiz as a Twin??)
- removed all media pressure from every single player in Boston (Schilling was tremendous here as well)
Manny Ramirez may be unpopular now, but he is the SINGLE MOST IMPORTANT BOSTON RED SOX PLAYER SINCE BABE RUTH. He is more important that Ted Williams; more than Carl Yaztremski or Jim Rice or Fred Lynn or even Bill Buckner. He is the guy.
So, as a Dodger fan — a fan of a team that is light years away from its last Glory Days (Lopes, Garvey, Cey, Yeager, Baker, Smith, etc.), Manny is exactly what you need. He’s not a flash in the pan like Kirk Gibson. He’s not lightning in a bottle like Orel Hershiser. He offered the Dodger’s a long-term solution to their inability to win big games in big moments. He’s a better offensive player than Mike Piazza — especially in big moments. He’s better than “comparable players” who were available on the market.
The Red Sox talk this “money ball” shit so much, they’ve actually begun to believe it. They believe that Bill James’ formula was more instrumental in their championships than the FEAR FACTOR introduced by Manny Ramirez. They’re delusional. You’re lucky that Joe Torre and the Dodgers know better. If the Dodgers win a World Series for the first time in almost 2 decades and return to relevance, his itty bitty salary will be as easily forgotten in Tinsel Town as it was in Bean Town.
I just hope that the folks in LA show more gratitude and don’t adopt some bullshit formula for winning that deludes the media and their fan base. Who you gonna believe? Bill James’ pages and pages of number or your lying eyes.
Manny is that dude. You’re lucky to have him.
Temple – what I meant in my comments was more a critique, I guess, of the Dodgers’ inept management rather than Manny. I know he’s a great player and I recognize that. It’s the principle of negotiating against oneself and bidding against oneself. I love Manny – he doesn’t get enough love as a player. I can’t think of a better right-handed hitter over the last 40 years. I guess my beef is the effect that his signing was going to have on ticket prices and the expectations thrust on him. It’s been ridiculous how Dodger fans have put expectations on Manny which are too high. It’s exactly why I like sports – we win as a team, we lose as a team, and LA has started to think that Manny can absolutely carry the team to WS glory – or shoulder the burden of the team if the team stumbles. Obviously he can shoulder a lot of the burden, as good as he is, my concern is just that there’s too much emphasis on the individual player.
Additionally, just wanted to say that Colletti doesn’t have the slightest idea what he’s doing. The Dodgers had the second best farm system in the bigs five years ago and now, well, it’s still solid, but so many talented youngsters have been given away for a penny and a prayer. One prominent example of a great Dodger youngster wasted is Joel Guzman – a 6’5, raw, power-hitting shortstop who was traded for Julio Lugo and Greg Maddux before the ’06 trade deadline. The Dodgers didn’t need to make that trade but yet Colletti seems to love making deals just to convey the impression of doing something. We let guys like Joel Hanrahan, a very highly-touted draft pick, go, after he’d been tearing up the minors for about five years and was just about to really make a name for himself in the bigs. We weren’t patient with Edwin Jackson who was also very highly touted. Willy Aybar, Andy LaRoche, Ned Colletti has just not been patient or had a vision of how to use his young talent.
I’m not criticizing Manny specifically, just idiot GMs who don’t have a vision for their teams. Colletti is throwing stuff at the wall to see what sticks. Yeah, we might get to the World Series, and that’d be great, but do you know how much Dodger tickets have gone up in price over the last five years? Again, Colletti has thrown stupid money at free agents and perhaps it’ll pan out, but perhaps not. It’s a pretty big gamble and it shows a lack of vision from the Dodgers’ front office. A guy like Paul DePodesta had that but under pressure from McCourt to win now and play into the notion of a big city needing big names (and how well has that worked out for the Yankees the last five years? And more importantly, how much has it cost NY taxpayers and the increased cost for folks going to the game?) he was 86ed. I just think this pressure to win now and win big is destroying the creativity and vision of GMs who know that if you want long-term success (Boston with a couple of WS, as you mentioned) GMs need to be in sync with their owners. Yeah, Manny was obviously key in those Boston teams, but the role players had a key part to play also. Bringing Manny in, to me shows that Colletti is mortgaging the costs of running the team and, well, look at how we’re going to be missing Manny for 1/3 of the season now. If we had taken a solid hitter like Bobby Abreu, obviously he doesn’t have the fear-inducing impact of a Manny, but he also flies below the radar and we would have had more money for pitching and investing in the farm system. Anyway….
Sorry, should clarify, yeah, I am criticizing Manny a bit, but there’s plenty of blame to go round and my biggest criticism -by far – in this situation is just short-sighted Ned Colletti.
The season tix that the dodgers sold are already sold. I think that Manny and LA will be fine when this is all over. If proven that it was in fact steroid related, Dodger fans will not care as long as manny hits.
AROD benefits the most from this story
No Barry Bonds does.
Miz, in the long-term… you might be right…
Wake me when they legalize PED’s and stop playing.