Manny Just Being a Cheater?

[R_of_G]

Shock and surprise abounds as yet another superstar baseball player tests positive for performance enhancing drugs. This time it is Manny Ramirez.

I have never been among Manny's supporters, particularly after he physically assaulted Red Sox traveling secretary Jack McCormick. Still, I did always give him credit where it was due as he is more than just a home run hitter, having the fourth highest batting average in history among guys that have hit 500+ home runs (behind only Ted Williams, Babe Ruth and Jimmy Foxx).

Now I am not sure how much credit he should get for his "accomplishments." I guess we can file this under Manny Just Being a ****ing Cheater.

http://www.latimes.com/sports/la-sp-...,6324894.story

Manny Ramirez will be suspended 50 games for positive drug test

By Bill Shaikin and Dylan Hernandez Times Staff Writers
8:35 AM PDT, May 7, 2009

Manny Ramirez has tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs and will be suspended 50 games starting today, The Times has learned.

The test result and suspension is expected to be announced later today. The Dodgers informed triple-A outfielder Xavier Paul this morning that he was being promoted to Los Angeles.

Ramirez is expected to attribute the test results to medication received from a doctor for a personal medical issue, according to a source familiar with matter but not authorized to speak publicly.

With the suspension taking effect with tonight's game at Dodger Stadium, Ramirez will not be eligible to return to the team until July 3.

Ramirez would become the biggest star suspended under an oft-criticized major league testing program that started in 2003. He had been a model citizen since arriving in Los Angeles last August, following a stormy tenure with the Boston Red Sox.

This is the second drug scandal to rock baseball within four months. In a year in which baseball officials hoped their greatest concern would be the slumping economy, the two highest-paid players in the game have been revealed to have failed a drug test.

Alex Rodriguez, the game's highest-paid player, acknowledged during a February news conference that he used steroids from 2001 to 2003. The admission followed a Sports Illustrated report that he failed a drug test in 2003, when players were not subject to suspension.

Ramirez did not appear in the clubhouse after the Dodgers' 10-3 victory over the Washington Nationals Wednesday night. After the game, Dodgers General Manager Ned Colletti and Manager Joe Torre said they were unaware of any failed test or pending suspension.

As unconfirmed reports circulated around Dodger Stadium on Wednesday night, Scott Boras, the agent for Ramirez, declined to comment.

Major League Baseball spokesman Pat Courtney said he could not comment, citing the limitations stipulated in baseball's drug policy.

Rob Manfred, baseball's top labor lawyer, and Michael Weiner, general counsel for the players' union, did not return multiple messages.

The loss of Ramirez would leave a gaping hole in the Dodgers' lineup. Juan Pierre, the likely replacement for Ramirez in left field, has batted ninth in two of his five starts this season.

Ramirez doubled and drove in two runs on Wednesday, as the Dodgers set a major league record with their 13th consecutive home victory at the start of the season. The Dodgers have the best record in the major leagues, at 21-8, and the biggest division lead in the majors, at 6 1/2 games in the National League West.

Ramirez leads the Dodgers in batting average [.348], on-base percentage [.492] and slugging percentage [.641], and he is tied for the team lead in home runs with six.

He signed a two-year, $45-million contract with the Dodgers in March, with the first year guaranteed at $25 million and the second year at his option at $20 million.

In an appearance at USC last month, Jose Canseco said Ramirez's name "is most likely, 90%" on a list of 104 players that failed a drug test in 2003. The players were promised anonymity for taking tests in 2003; Rodriguez is the only player that has been identified among that group.

Ramirez laughed when Times columnist Kurt Streeter relayed Canseco's allegation to him.

"I got no comment, nothing to say about that," Ramirez told Streeter. "What can I say? I don't even know the guy."

[mechanic]

Somehow I'm not all that surprised.

[piebaldpython***]

I'm a bit surprised as unlike the other "cheaters" he didn't appear to be chiseled out of stone. This is not to say that he isn't strong; just that he doesn't seems like he spends HOURS in the weight room.

[Robert****]

Manny? I thought you were talking about the "clan" in Calla Bryn Sturgis... Henchick and his men.

[Kazz]

baseball has been going down hill ever since Pete got caught betting.

[R_of_G]

I'm a bit surprised as unlike the other "cheaters" he didn't appear to be chiseled out of stone. This is not to say that he isn't strong; just that he doesn't seems like he spends HOURS in the weight room.

It's hard to tell since Manny wears his pants and his jersey about three sizes too large. I thought he was just into baggy clothes but now I suspect he was just covering up for bulking up a la Barry Bonds.

Manny? I thought you were talking about the "clan" in Calla Bryn Sturgis... Henchick and his men.

:

[wingsdad]

...I have never been among Manny's supporters, particularly after he physically assaulted Red Sox traveling secretary Jack McCormick. ...

...Still, I did always give him credit where it was due as he is more than just a home run hitter, having the fourth highest batting average in history among guys that have hit 500+ home runs (behind only Ted Williams, Babe Ruth and Jimmy Foxx).

What can you say about a guy named Manny with not 1, but 2 sons from the same marriage named Manny, Jr.?:

As a Red Sox fan, it was a great day when we signed him, a pure hitter and max RBI-guy. At his best, Manny was loveable and laughable (Manny being Manny) at the heart of the offense that finally gave us the World Series title I thought I'd never live to see, and then another.

But last season's extreme weirdness, the last-minute no-shows and backing out of the lineup for vague ailments, playing half-heartedly (at best), and ultimately, that incident with McCormick -- led I, and most of 'The Nation' to despise him for torturing us. Now, he was killing the team. The McCormick thing, and other skirmishes with teammates could very well have been fits of 'Roid Rage.

Perhaps it was not strange at all that Theo Epstein's last step in his decision to pull the trigger on the deal that got rid of him was to call a post-game meeting with team leaders --V'tek, Youk, Ortiz (we silently wonder about his dropoff, now)-- for their input. And they told Theo to cut him loose. He was gone the next day. D'Ya think they knew something then that we only now know?

[R_of_G]

Perhaps it was not strange at all that Theo Epstein's last step in his decision to pull the trigger on the deal that got rid of him was to call a post-game meeting with team leaders --V'tek, Youk, Ortiz (we silently wonder about his dropoff, now)-- for their input. And they told Theo to cut him loose. He was gone the next day. D'Ya think they knew something then that we only now know?

I remember at the time thinking that he must really be an even bigger jerk than he appeared to be on tv if his own teammates were pleading with management to get rid of him. Now I wonder too what else they might have known that they wanted him gone.