Ramirez tests positive, suspended 50 games by MLB

[darthsiddus2]

<p><strong>Los Angeles Dodgers slugger Manny Ramirez tested positive for a banned performance-enhancing substance, incurring an immediate 50-game suspension and serving as the highest-profile reminder yet that the use of such drugs in the testing era may have been reduced, but not eradicated.</strong></p><p><strong> </strong></p><p><strong>

Major League Baseball plans to announce the suspension later today. Ramirez, a baseball source told SI.com, explained to baseball officials he was uncertain he was taking a banned substance and may have had a medical reason for using the substance. After consultation with the Major League Baseball Players Association and his representatives, Ramirez has decided not to challenge the suspension, according to an MLBPA statement.</strong></p><p><strong> </strong></p><p><strong>

The source said the substance was not classified as a steroid but was clearly defined as a banned performance enhancer according to the drug agreement between baseball and its players association. Banned substances can only be taken with prior knowledge and medical clearance from baseball's drug-program administrators. Such exceptions are known as Therapeutic Use Exemptions, or TUEs. The suspension is an indication Ramirez did not have a TUE for the substance.</strong></p><p><strong> </strong></p><p><strong>

Ramirez said in a statement released by the MLBPA: "Recently I saw a physician for a personal health issue. He gave me a medication, not a steroid, which he thought was OK to give me. Unfortunately, the medication was banned under our drug policy. 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."</strong></p><p><strong> </strong></p><p><strong>

Ramirez is the first major star to be suspended under baseball's stricter drug-testing rules that went into effect in 2003. Until now, baseball and the players union have portrayed drug use as having been nearly eradicated in the past few years, pointing out that the major drug-related stories -- involving Roger Clemens, Alex Rodriguez and the revelations in the Mitchell Report -- involved drug use prior to the 2003 tightening of the program.</strong></p><p><strong> </strong></p><p><strong>

Ramirez ranks 17th on the all-time home-run list with 533. Eight of those top 17 home run hitters played in what is commonly referred to as the Steroid Era. And six of those eight modern-day sluggers have been associated with performance-enhancing drugs: Barry Bonds, Sammy Sosa, Mark McGwire, Rafael Palmeiro, Rodriguez and Ramirez. The only modern sluggers to have escaped such a connection are Ken Griffey Jr., Frank Thomas and Jim Thome.</strong></p><p><strong> </strong></p><p><strong> </strong></p><p><strong>

</strong></p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>

I don't know if that was the right thing for major league baseball to do. yes they wanted to set an example but for Manny to NOT appeal his suspension for a substance his DOCTOR subscribed to him thinking it was OK is NOT OK with me. personally if he appealed his suspension I think he'd win. it was a mistake by his DOCTOR NOT THE PLAYER!</p>

[Eisen-verse]

<blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-username="darthsiddus2" data-cite="darthsiddus2" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="22761" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div><p> </p><p> </p><p> I don't know if that was the right thing for major league baseball to do. yes they wanted to set an example but for Manny to NOT appeal his suspension for a substance his DOCTOR subscribed to him thinking it was OK is NOT OK with me. personally if he appealed his suspension I think he'd win. it was a mistake by his DOCTOR NOT THE PLAYER!</p></div></blockquote><p> </p><p> First we have to wait and see what the substance really was. Manny says it was issued to him by his doctor, however, there really isn't any proof of that just yet. With Steroids running rampade around sports these days... He may be covering his butt right now with a statement like that. If it comes back that it wasn't as simple as something that was issued to him by his doc then he'll be double-y frowned upon... As both a steroid user and a lier. </p><p> </p><p> He never tested positive before, so say the reports, so i could be just a small problem that wasn't as dubious as it originally sounds. However, i guess, I'm waiting out to here more details.</p>

[jesterx7769]

<p>It's still Manny's fault not the doctors. he saw a personal physician not a team doctor, if you are making $25 million a year you should have that list crammed in your pocket and check before you take any medications.</p><p> </p><p>

The part about not testing positive on anything else is interesting because what about the list that A-Rod is on, perhaps Manny is one of the 103 players not to be name ;-)</p>

[CQI13]

<blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="22761" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div><p> I don't know if that was the right thing for major league baseball to do. yes they wanted to set an example but for Manny to NOT appeal his suspension for a substance his DOCTOR subscribed to him thinking it was OK is NOT OK with me. personally if he appealed his suspension I think he'd win. it was a mistake by his DOCTOR NOT THE PLAYER!</p></div></blockquote><p> </p><p> No, they are not making an example of him. He used something he shouldn't have, by the rules, and got caught. Now he has to deal with it.</p><p> </p><p> Manny has access to a banned substance list, I'm sure (if he doesn't, he's not too smart). With everything that's been going on in sports, for someone to use steroids (or any other PED for that matter) is beyond dumb. Baseball needs to be cleaned up (from the commissioner & owners who knew about this during McGwire/Sosa -- and we know they knew -- to the players). And while attendance in LA may dip, this will mean very little to baseball as a whole. Just another day, really.</p>

[GatorBait19]

<p>This is two big faces this year.</p><p> </p><p>

Couple of questions do come up though, is this the only time, if not how many times and how long.</p><p> </p><p>

Baseball is doing a good job with trying to get this sport clean. Sure people are using but when they're telling people their big name guys are using and are being susp. then they are atleast trying</p>

[The Final Countdown]

<p>darth, even if what Manny is saying is 100% true, he still wouldn't win an appeal. It's his responsibility, in the end.</p><p> </p><p>

I'm more likely to believe Manny than I have been for most other cases--though I am a Dodger fan, so I could very well be biased. But I think what we've heard of his explanation so far is more plausible than Barry Bonds' "I thought it was flaxseed oil", or Sammy Sosa's "Me no habla engles".</p>

[eayragt]

<blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-username="darthsiddus2" data-cite="darthsiddus2" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="22761" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div>it was a mistake by his DOCTOR NOT THE PLAYER!</div></blockquote><p> </p><p> Nuh-huh. As a Sportsman you're responsible for what any personal doctors put in you. Otherwise everyone would just feign ignorance and blame the doc (while making sure they "overpaid" him for his goods), which is unacceptable. It's your responsibiity to make sure the doctor knows the rules (as a general rule doctors don't know all the drug laws in any sport - why should they?), ignorance is not an excuse.</p><p> </p><p> When you get to Team doctors the line gets a little more blurred, official doctors it's easier - there were a number of tennis players banned after an ATP tour official gave then banned drugs (accidentally), and those were rightly overturned.</p><p> </p><p> But here <em>if</em> the story is as reported, it's an open / shut case.</p>

[darthsiddus2]

after thinking about it more I guess I posted that out of pure shock of the moment but you guys are right.

[CQI13]

In a way, I applaud Manny for taking the suspension like a man.

[justtxyank]

He tested positive for HCG, a woman's fertility drug used by men on steroids to replace testosterone production in the testes and prevent shrinkage of the gonads.

[Tripps04]

It's also used for restarting a cycle for steroid use.

[Chuck]

Actually its used mainly for ending a steroid cycle so that your test levels aren't at all-time lows whenever you quit artificially injecting test into yourself.

[AfRoMaN36]

He tested positive for HCG, a woman's fertility drug used by men on steroids to replace testosterone production in the testes and prevent shrinkage of the gonads.

 

Hmm.... funny that someone who apparently never took roids would need that.

 

Well, tbh as much as I hate Manny (Yankees fan who was glad he left Boston) my views are definitely biased, and yes, he might have gotten that from his doc, but why would he need it in the first place? This to me outta silence any Fenway chants towards A-Rod of "Steroids" when he returns....

 

then again, maybe not.

[Trell]

Hmm.... funny that someone who apparently never took roids would need that.

 

Well, tbh as much as I hate Manny (Yankees fan who was glad he left Boston) my views are definitely biased, and yes, he might have gotten that from his doc, but why would he need it in the first place? This to me outta silence any Fenway chants towards A-Rod of "Steroids" when he returns....

 

then again, maybe not.

 

 

as a redsox fan, I'm sitting back laughing at him. I'm not a huge manny fan, I mean dont get me wrong he is one of the best hitters in baseball, but now that makes me question if he is even that anymore.

 

as far as the Steriod chants for A-rod, I think he still will get them, If the redsox still had manny then I think you wouldnt hear them, I know I wont be chanting it when I go, cause I like a-rod even though he is a yankee.

[AfRoMaN36]

I thought morale wise Manny was a clubhouse cancer and when the Yankees were courting him, I was on the "Stay the hell away from him" wagon. Luckily the Yanks listened, because this would have been yet another black eye although you can't say the Sox get away from this unharmed. He was doing it at some point for him to even need that drug. Boston will be to LA in the Manny scandal as Texas is to New York in the A-Rod scandal.

 

Speaking of which, A-Rod finally returns to the line up tomorrow... THANK GOD!!

 

 

This team is a mess right now... and is clearly being managed by a chimp. The stadium aint helping either. Rivera doesn't just give up homeruns. But if A-Rod produces anywhere near his capacity.... then all is well.

[Prophet]

Joe Girardi is not a chimp! He's not a manager either, though. lol I think by this time next season, Yankee Stadium is gonna have a big blue monster out in right field, since it seems a six year old with a whiffle ball bat and a good pivot can crush one over that fence.

 

You know you're in trouble when you need to contact the weather channel.

[CQI13]

Like all the Yankees mentioned in the Mitchell report that played during their amazing run in 96-00?

 

Rivera is old too though. While the greatest closer of all time, is he really the greatest RIGHT NOW?

 

And Girardi got lucky with all the horses the Marlins had...still living off that.

[AfRoMaN36]

Like all the Yankees mentioned in the Mitchell report that played during their amazing run in 96-00?

 

Rivera is old too though. While the greatest closer of all time, is he really the greatest RIGHT NOW?

 

And Girardi got lucky with all the horses the Marlins had...still living off that.

 

Pettite? Well, I can buy his story that he used them two days to help recover from an injury then stopped. It's far more plausible than any excuse I've heard and is certainly cleaner than most of the guys in the Mitchell report on reputation alone.

 

Clemens? I'll give you that one. But I've totally disowned Clemens. He's a nobody to me. At least Andy came clean and didn't file any bogus slander charges to try and save face.

 

Who else beyond that? Conseco? He was a three month rental at most in the year 2000. The Sox may have come out with less names but wasn't Mo Vaughn the face of the Sox for most of the late 80s/ early 90's and his name turned up iirc.

 

And as far as Mo RIVERA goes, he's still Mo Rivera. And I'd pick him over anyone else on merits alone. He's a sure fire hall of famer and theirs no other closer I'd rather have come playoff time...

 

Except in 2004 of course. But I blame Torre more than Mo.

[Prophet]

We also had Knoblach and Velarde, even though Knoblach was more associated with the Twins, and Randy was pre-championships.

 

Will agree on Rivera, though. Maybe it's Yankee bias, maybe it's watching in awe as he's accumulated the single greatest closer career ever, or maybe it's simply because he's still the Hammer of God, and considering the circumstances (his shoulder surgery), it's only a matter of time before Mo strikes fears with that cutter again.

 

So long as it cuts again, unlike it did last night against Crawford.

[Candyman]

Here's the thing about steroids. There's a right way to use them and a wrong way to use them. When you use them the wrong way, you experience explosive muscle development that destroys your body long term along with numerous short term side effects such as acne, increased head size, man boobs, etc. This happens when you're using too many steroids, using them too often, not stopping long enough or not stopping at all.

 

But none of that happens when you use them the right way. That is, short cycles. That includes an "on" cycle of using a steroid or steroids for 6-8 weeks, and an "off" cycle of not using for 10-12 weeks. And toward the end of the 'on' cycle taking a testosterone boosting drug and, if the steroid has androgenic properties, taking an anti-estrogen drug. If you follow that 4-5 month pattern twice a year, you'll experience all the things people love about steroids with little to no side effects - short term or long term.

 

Manny Ramirez was taking hCG. That's one of those testosterone boosting drugs. The problem for him is, that's hCG's only purpose in men. Aside from if a couple is having trouble conceiving a baby, but if that were the case Manny would simply get a medical exemption from MLB.

 

Basically, not only was Manny Ramirez using steroids, he was a real steroid user. He knew exactly what he was doing, or somebody helping him did. That also explains why he doesn't have any of the common side effects we're used to seeing in McGwire, Bonds, etc.

[darthsiddus2]

the thing with me is that there's always going to be steroid use in sports weather or not each sport has a detection program.. there are always ways to avoid detection. sports will never be "clean"