Breaking Non-News Item

New York Times claims David Ortiz and Manny Ramirez were on the list of 103 baseball players who tested positive for steroids in 2003. We have reached the point where no news regarding past steroid use is shocking.

Breaking News: Manny Ramirez Suspended 50 Games

Largely due to the performance of Manny Ramirez, the Los Angeles Dodgers have gotten off the a great start and lead the National League West Division by 6 games. Well, their great start took a huge hit today when it was announced that Ramirez has been suspended for 50 games for failing a drug test.

Like Alex Rodriguez before him, Manny Ramirez was largely considered to be a "clean" superstar. Ramirez was mocked for his antics leading to the "Manny being Manny" comments. However, he was considered a hard worker and assumed not to have used performance enhancing drugs. Time will tell what effect this will have on his reputation, but obviously some will never look at his success the same way they have in the past.

Daily Sports Blurb, Anecdote or Quote 29 July 2008

Daily Sports Blurb - Money Can't Buy Happiness Edition.

Outfielder Manny Ramirez of the Boston Red Sox is in the last guaranteed year of his 20 million dollars a year contract. The contract also has club options for the next two years at the same salary. For Boston management, Ramirez has been an emotional and less than 100% reliable employee. Additionally, he has a long history of taking too long to nurse real or imagined injuries. The team accepted and turned a blind eye towards his defensive lapses and occasional base running gaffe as long as he was hitting .330 with 40 homers and 140 RBI. However, as Ramirez had a season last year that showed he was moving past his prime, management has been more open in their unhappiness with the negative aspects of Manny being Manny. After this past week it is now obvious Boston is not going to exercise the option on his contract and will allow him to become a free agent. In fact, despite being in the pennant race, the Red Sox have stated they are willing to trade the superstar player just to be rid of the headaches he causes. It will be interesting to see how much money Ramirez cost himself with his latest stunts and comments. He was inline to get 40 million over the next two years. My guess is at 37 he will be lucky to find a team willing to risk 12 million a season going forward. Then again as history has shown us it just takes one idiot owner/GM to inflate salaries.