Thursday, May 7, 2009

Manny B. Manny Taking a 50 Game Vacation

I was prepared to write a post today about Mets manager Jerry Manuel and his foolish managing, but I got a text message from my friend Jennifer at 9:00 this morning:

"Manny suspended 50 games for steroids! Ha ha"

I go to espn.com and see the headling: Manny Tests Positive.

What? My favorite player. How could this be?

After reading the article with the misleading headline, I see that it doesn't exactly list steroids or performance enhancing drugs. Manny B. says, "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."

Seems reasonable and considering there is no mention of steroid or performance enhancing drugs, I have no reason to suspect otherwise until more information is uncovered.

Now onto the reader comments:

dthom516 says:

"Another tarnished legacy. Once considered possibly the best hitter of his era, he will now join Bonds, A-Rod, Clemens and the rest of the PEDs users who got caught and saw their reputations slip away so fast...what a shame..."

What? Where's the mention of PEDs in the article? Look it's completely possible that he was taking a drug to mask steroids, but as of now, we have minimal information.

NYCTERPS says:

"Not surprised at all.......they all do roids these days, now maybe Arod wont be so dumped on. Sox fans have to be soooo disappointed."

Where was the mention that he did anything with the Sox? Possible but no information linking that. Now I'm thinking that some reporter will go Seleena Roberts on Manny and try to find out as much information as possible. This kind of story just leads itself to that sort of thing. How many books about Bonds, A-rod and Clemens have come out since there names have been linked with steroids?

True, I am slightly biased because he's my favorite player, but I'm also realist. At this point there is no mention of steroids. Also, I know it is extremely possible that he juices now and juiced back then. But until we know more, how can I make that giant leap?

Now of course there's the whole 50-game suspension. No matter how you break it down, the Dodgers are replacing Manny B. Manny with this guy. Fortunately, they still have Russell Martin, James Loney, Andre Ethier, Matt Kamp and Orlando Hudson. Also, they have Chad Billingsley and Clayton Kershaw pitching. Yes, losing Manny for 50 games and replacing him with a guy who has OPS+ 73, 75 and 82 the last three seasons is not a good thing, but the Dodgers have plenty of talent and play in a so-so division. This does give hope to the Diamondbacks and Giants though.

Also, it's funny that I wrote a lengthy post about the Dodgers mustached GM and all of his bad signings. All signings I thought were garbage from the start. And the one move I praised for being high-dollar but short-term might join that list of bad signings. Essentially the Dodgers are paying $25 million (with 50 games prorated) for 100 games. But hey, at least this time it was hindsight

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