Wow! Breaking sports news from the LA Times... Manny Ramirez tests positive for performance enhancing drugs, to be suspended 50 games!

I started my "Manny being Manny" thread because Manny has always been a goofball and not always the best behaved team player.  I would never have thought he would have done something like this.  What he took was HCG, which a medication given to women to increase fertility.  It also has been often used by steroid users to help them stabilize their testerone levels after they have come off a cycle of steroid use.  Manny says he went to a doctor in Miami for a "personal health issue", was given the medication and believed the doctor who told him that it wouldn't cause a problem with drug testing. 

I have two feelings about this so far.  I'm sure I'll have more as we learn further details.  The first is that I have to echo Bob Ryan of the Boston Globe who stated that if there was any player in baseball who would go to a doctor, feel like the doctor was telling him the truth and just never questioned it - that player would be Manny.  He is not "out in left field" position just for his playing skills.  Secondly I feel that if indeed he used this after using steroids, I am profoundly disappointed.  Much as I think Manny is a horrible team player and I am really glad he is not playing in Boston anymore, I certainly did not think this issue would come up with him.

The fact that this is a current violation, not something that happened years ago, makes it even worse. Players are clearly told they have resources to help them be sure that whatever medicine, supplement, whatever they take, can be taken to MLB to test the substance and or to clear it with a team doctor, not just some guy in Miami, who, while he may be a wonderful physician, just does not have the experience in this case to make a correct judgement. 

I feel really badly for the Dodgers. They surely have not got the player they thought they were getting.