Man oh man oh Manny Ramirez...

Yes, you best believe Charlie Steiner took the news extra hard this morning, even before his usual hair of the dog breakfast of champions. Manny Ramirez gets popped and will sit out the next 50 Dodger games. The fact that he was using is probably no great surprise—most of the great players from the past 15 years have had allegations dog them. But consider this: Jose Canseco was right. Again.
Say what you will about the bumbling slugger, who sits at 462 career home runs. But he has been the Nostradamus of the steroid era. He has been ahead of the curve with virtually every big name that has come out in the last five years—Rafael Palmeiro, Sammy Sosa, Jason Giambi, Alex Rodriguez, Roger Clemens, and yes, Manny Ramirez. Canseco called them all. As much as he lacks credibility as a true baseball player, as a source of information, he is a deep throat savant. I heard him compared to Woodward and Bernstein this morning—and you can’t argue.

But getting back to Manny (speaking of savants), the only thing lamer than getting caught when you know they are testing is the excuse he gave. My doctor gave me something for a personal medical condition, and I didn’t know. Ok, let’s take him at his word. Say it was a medical prescription for legitimate reasons. If this doctor didn’t know and tell Ramirez that the drug would result in a positive test, he should lose his medical license. Secondly, where were the team physicians on this? Isn’t that why teams have doctors, trainers, nutritionalists, et all? I’m not surprised that Manny had his own guys, but a team that doesn’t ask to be in the loop on medications their players are using is asking for trouble. Shouldn’t they be held accountable in some way too? Especially if the dubious, the-doctor-made-me-do-it excuse doesn’t hold water. You’d better believe that if teams were fined when a player on their active 25 man roster tests positive, those organizations would take a more active role in policing themselves.

It is a shame about Ramirez—he seemed to be one player that didn’t fit the steroid bill. He was everything Los Angeles needed him to be. He was charismatic, but not in a look at me kind of way. Loved by fans, media, and even his own teammates. Yes, bad things happened in Boston. But out in LaLa land, he got the clean slate that he wanted—and until Thursday, had earned. But we live in a forgiving culture—if you can produce, we will forgive. Yes, he is still a hall of famer, and yes, the Dodgers will still welcome him back with open arms. When you’re the mayor of Mannywood, life is good.