Clarence the Blue Puppet Posted April 8, 2011 Share Posted April 8, 2011 http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=6310125 Tampa Bay Rays slugger Manny Ramirez has notified Major League Baseball that he is retiring after being notified of an issue under MLB's drug policy. Ramirez Ramirez tested positive for a performance-enhancing drug during spring training and retired rather than face a 100-game suspension, The New York Times reported on its website. Major League Baseball announced the move in a statement on Friday but did not say whether Ramirez tested positive for a banned substance. He has previously served a 50-game suspension for violating the drug policy while he was with the Los Angeles Dodgers. "Major League Baseball recently notified Manny Ramirez of an issue under Major League Baseball's Joint Drug Prevention and Treatment Program," the statement said. "Rather than continue with the process under the Program, Ramirez has informed MLB that he is retiring as an active player. If Ramirez seeks reinstatement in the future, the process under the Drug Program will be completed. MLB will not have any further comment on this matter." The Rays purchased the contract of Casey Kotchman from Triple-A Durham to replace Ramirez on the roster. "The Tampa Bay Rays were informed today by the commissioner's office that Manny Ramirez has decided to retire after being informed of an issue under the drug program," the Rays said in a statement. "We are obviously surprised and disappointed by this news. We will have no further comment on this matter, and our fans and organization will carry on." Ramirez, 38, left the team earlier this week to attend to what the Rays called a family matter. Manager Joe Maddon said on Thursday that he expected Ramirez to be available for Friday night's game at Chicago. The 12-time All-Star agreed to a $2 million, one-year contract with the defending AL East champions in the offseason, hoping to re-establish himself as one of the game's feared hitters. Ramirez was entering his 18th season in the majors. He played with the Cleveland Indians, Boston Red Sox, Dodgers, Chicago White Sox and Rays. He has a .312 career batting average with 1,831 RBIs and 555 homers. Good Riddance!!!!!! :freaked: :freaked: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fringe Posted April 8, 2011 Share Posted April 8, 2011 can't believe he's still using but i can't blame him for hanging them up after that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clarence the Blue Puppet Posted April 8, 2011 Author Share Posted April 8, 2011 can't believe he's still using but i can't blame him for hanging them up after that. The fact he went back to juicing AFTER he already got busted once convinces me that he was juicing his entire career. Not that he was the only one... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fringe Posted April 8, 2011 Share Posted April 8, 2011 The fact he went back to juicing AFTER he already got busted once convinces me that he was juicing his entire career. Not that he was the only one... gee ya think? i don't know if you've been following the bonds trial but a procession of guys came through and admitted freely taking. both giambis, marvin bernard (who sucked anyway!), etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NYG Hampton 27 Posted April 8, 2011 Share Posted April 8, 2011 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=77fM_9w7mBU Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Herc Posted April 9, 2011 Share Posted April 9, 2011 pujols is the only dude with legendary numbers left who hasn't been caught he'd better hope it isnt before he gets paid Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fringe Posted April 9, 2011 Share Posted April 9, 2011 may be too late- he looks pretty bad at the plate so far. it's early though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Herc Posted April 9, 2011 Share Posted April 9, 2011 think it was gateb who said his sports reporter dad saw pujols in the locker room with acne all over his back Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Teufelhunde Posted April 9, 2011 Share Posted April 9, 2011 gee ya think? i don't know if you've been following the bonds trial but a procession of guys came through and admitted freely taking. both giambis, marvin bernard (who sucked anyway!), etc. I wish they all would. Tons of guys were juicing back then, many I'm sure still are today - I'd have a lot more respect for them if they'd just come clean instead of continually denying it. What people don't seem to understand is that you still have to work your ass off when you're taking steroids. They just give you the stamina and recovery time beyond that of normal humans so you can work out more and more and more. It's not just some magic pill you can pop and become superman. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fringe Posted April 9, 2011 Share Posted April 9, 2011 I wish they all would. Tons of guys were juicing back then, many I'm sure still are today - I'd have a lot more respect for them if they'd just come clean instead of continually denying it. What people don't seem to understand is that you still have to work your ass off when you're taking steroids. They just give you the stamina and recovery time beyond that of normal humans so you can work out more and more and more. It's not just some magic pill you can pop and become superman. see: marvin bernard, FP santangelo, etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NYG Hampton 27 Posted April 9, 2011 Share Posted April 9, 2011 pujols is the only dude with legendary numbers left who hasn't been caught he'd better hope it isnt before he gets paid Griffey? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Herc Posted April 10, 2011 Share Posted April 10, 2011 Griffey? good call not sure how i feel about him but it's my first inclination to chalk anyone with all-time numbers up as a user Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Virginia Giant Posted April 10, 2011 Share Posted April 10, 2011 good call not sure how i feel about him but it's my first inclination to chalk anyone with all-time numbers up as a user Has Frank Thomas been implicated? I can't remember. I don't think Griffey used, he seems to meet the criteria with the injuries and such, but I'd hate to see him get screwed. If that guy ain't a hall of famer, they may as well lock the doors and talk about how great the game used to be. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NYG Hampton 27 Posted April 10, 2011 Share Posted April 10, 2011 good call not sure how i feel about him but it's my first inclination to chalk anyone with all-time numbers up as a user I understand your suspicions, but of all of them I'm most confident in saying Griffey was clean. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fringe Posted April 10, 2011 Share Posted April 10, 2011 i heard some guy on the radio say that he knows Thome is clean because he met his father and his father is big too. brilliant! griffey has stays out of the fray because he's a nice guy and his decline was commensurate with his age but i would not be surprised. plus all the pitchers that were taking as much as the hitters. look at all the closers who died out quickly after a couple of years of glory..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Herc Posted April 11, 2011 Share Posted April 11, 2011 yeah griffey is the one guy im not confident about either way pedro, schilling, randy johnson--all guilty imo. 300 k's is really tough to get and those guys all did multiple times. no one even sniffs 300 anymore, i think lincecum has topped out at 250-260ish the years he's led the league. back in the late 90's all the top pitchers had WHIPS under 1.00. meanwhile no pitcher has done it since pedro in 2005 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Allstarjim Posted April 12, 2011 Share Posted April 12, 2011 yeah griffey is the one guy im not confident about either way pedro, schilling, randy johnson--all guilty imo. 300 k's is really tough to get and those guys all did multiple times. no one even sniffs 300 anymore, i think lincecum has topped out at 250-260ish the years he's led the league. back in the late 90's all the top pitchers had WHIPS under 1.00. meanwhile no pitcher has done it since pedro in 2005 Really, I don't think any of those three pitchers juiced. In the case of Randy, he really was a power pitcher that wasn't effective early in his career until he learned to command that upper 90's fastball. Juicing doesn't help with pitch location. I think being as tall as Randy was, just being a big guy, allowed him to throw so hard. There was no indicators regarding his physique, he was always just tall with an average build. And Randy was a pretty durable guy over the years. Same for Schilling, he was a big dude and I just don't think he did. It may just be my gut which doesn't account for much but Schill pitched for 20 major league seasons. Pedro I have the least confidence about but I still don't think he did either. Back in his hey day he had just filthy offspeed stuff, that was made more filthy because he commanded a mid-90's fastball. For his frame, he threw pretty hard, plus he was injured a lot with the Mets, and that's why I think if one out of the three juiced, it would be him, but I always thought Pedro had too much pride to cheat. Pedro didn't get real big all of a sudden like Clemens did, though. Speaking of Clemens, I think he started using later in his career. I'd bet when he was younger it was all natural, and he started using to extend his greatness. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Allstarjim Posted April 12, 2011 Share Posted April 12, 2011 think it was gateb who said his sports reporter dad saw pujols in the locker room with acne all over his back I unfortunately get some pimples on my back from time to time and I've never touched any of that stuff. It's just a hereditary thing for me. I know a guy who is friends of Pujols and has been to his house and stuff. He told me Pujols is a really big Christian dude and was very mature, very down to earth. If all that is true then I don't think he did. If he is sincere in his faith then that alone would keep him from crossing that line. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fringe Posted April 12, 2011 Share Posted April 12, 2011 yeah griffey is the one guy im not confident about either way pedro, schilling, randy johnson--all guilty imo. 300 k's is really tough to get and those guys all did multiple times. no one even sniffs 300 anymore, i think lincecum has topped out at 250-260ish the years he's led the league. back in the late 90's all the top pitchers had WHIPS under 1.00. meanwhile no pitcher has done it since pedro in 2005 one reason the strikeout totals are down is because of pitch count. teams don't let their aces go too far and strikeout pitchers get into the 100's around the 7th inning. but yeah i would say those guys were dirty. i'll still go with canseco's # at around 50-55% Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MakeMeSomeFoodHo Posted April 12, 2011 Share Posted April 12, 2011 I dont care who did and who didnt..though youd be naive to think that at least 80% of players in that era didnt do them. Baseball was a lot of fun when everyone was jacking home runs and pitchers were throwing smoke with high K's. I wouldnt mind if they allowed steroids in baseball. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Virginia Giant Posted April 12, 2011 Share Posted April 12, 2011 I dont care who did and who didnt..though youd be naive to think that at least 80% of players in that era didnt do them. Baseball was a lot of fun when everyone was jacking home runs and pitchers were throwing smoke with high K's. I wouldnt mind if they allowed steroids in baseball. Amen Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Herc Posted April 13, 2011 Share Posted April 13, 2011 yeah watching barry bonds play is the coolest thing i've ever seen in sports and finding out that he juiced will never retroactively change that also i heard nolan ryan juiced Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Virginia Giant Posted April 13, 2011 Share Posted April 13, 2011 yeah watching barry bonds play is the coolest thing i've ever seen in sports and finding out that he juiced will never retroactively change that also i heard nolan ryan juiced I wouldn't be terribly surprised if he did. When I die, there are a few players/events I will remember. Cal breaking Gherig's record, the summer of 98, Ken Griffey jr just being awesome, Barry's 73 season and breaking Aarons record and Randy Johnson being better than Pedro Martinez. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chuck Wagon Posted April 28, 2011 Share Posted April 28, 2011 good call not sure how i feel about him but it's my first inclination to chalk anyone with all-time numbers up as a user On the Power side you also have Jim Thome...never suspected.... C. Wagon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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