Author: Anthony Stalter (Page 124 of 1503)

      Manny Ramirez tests positive for PEDs again, abruptly retires

      April 8, 2011 /
      Tampa Bay Rays designated hitter Manny Ramirez watches a MLB spring training game against the Baltimore Orioles from the dugout at Ed Smith Stadium in Sarasota, Florida, March 1, 2011. REUTERS/Steve Nesius (UNITED STATES – Tags: SPORT BASEBALL)

      In a rather shocking development, Major League Baseball announced on Friday that Rays’ outfielder Manny Ramirez has decided to retire.

      As has always been the case with Manny, there’s more to the story. Michael Schmidt of the New York Times reports that Ramirez tested positive for a performance-enhancing drug in spring training and he would have faced a 100-game suspension had he not retired. After he served a 50 game suspension in 2009, it would have been Manny’s second suspension for PEDs in the last three years.

      “Rather than continue with the process under the program, Ramirez has informed MLB that he is retiring as an active player,” a statement from MLB said. “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.”

      Wow. Manny finishes with a .312 career batting average, 555 home runs and 1,831 runs batted in. As previously mentioned, he was a 12-time All-Star, a nine-time Silver Slugger Award winner, a two-time World Series champion and he also led the AL in RBI (1999), batting average (2002) and home runs (2004).

      But even given his outstanding numbers, his career has definitely been marred by these two positive PED tests. Manny has always kind of been given a free pass because he’s goofy and entertaining. But Roger Clemens is vilified for his (supposed) use of PEDs. Barry Bonds is a monster. Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa are cheaters. What about Manny? This is a guy that was suspended for 50 games in 2009 for a positive PED test and then two years later he tests positive again? Did he think he wasn’t going to get caught the second time? Did he think baseball would leave him alone after the first positive test?

      “Should we test Manny again?”

      “Nah, dude isn’t stupid enough to try it again. Let’s just go on the honesty policy…”

      And now Ramirez just ups and retires instead of serving the 100 games. What a slap in the face to the Rays. They made a financial commitment to him, he made a commit to them that he would play and then he turns around and retires a week into the season after an 0-6 start and a positive PED test. What a joke.

      But hey, that’s just Manny, I guess. The term “Manny being Manny” has always allowed him to come and go as he pleases. He’s going to leave the game just as strangely as he came into it.

      External Sports, MLB

      Johnny Damon calls for players-only meeting in Tampa after horrendous start

      April 8, 2011 /
      Tampa Bay Rays’ Johnny Damon (L-R), Manny Ramirez and Evan Longoria walk to the dugout after taking batting practice before a MLB spring training game with the Baltimore Orioles at Ed Smith Stadium in Sarasota, Florida, March 1, 2011. REUTERS/Steve Nesius (UNITED STATES – Tags: SPORT BASEBALL)

      The 2011 MLB season isn’t even two weeks old and already we’ve had our first players-only meeting called.

      According to Tampa Bay.com, Rays’ outfielder Johnny Damon, being the veteran he is, decided to call a brief players-only meeting after the club extended its season-opening losing streak to 0-6.

      “We just talked amongst ourselves to make sure we stay together,” Damon said. “This is not what we envisioned where we were going to be at this point. We can either sulk about it or embrace it and say, we have to get better. We have to forget about all this that happened. 0-6, it stinks, we hate to be in this position, but it’s not the end of the world. We know we have to go out and start winning games and we feel like once we do and once we get that and try not to put so much pressure on ourselves we can start to roll. And we keep saying hopefully sooner than later. …

      “We’re in this together. There’s not going to be any separation of why aren’t the hitters hitting. No, we’re together in this. We’re 0-6 together. And now it’s time for us to win some games together.”

      Damon is a good pro and he’s been around the game a long time. But there’s no magic recipe to keeping guys happy and united as a team: You have to freaking win. Damon is barely hitting the weight of a newborn baby (1-for-19, .053) and his defensive play has been comical at times. I respect what he’s trying to do but the bottom line is that the Rays just need to play better on a whole. They need to pick up that first win, and then get the second, and then the third, etc. Winning cures all.

      That said, I think the bigger problem here is that the Rays just aren’t that good. They lost Carl Crawford, Rafael Soriano, Carlos Pena, Matt Garza, Joaquin Benoit, Grant Balfour and Dioner Navarro and replaced them with Johnny Damon, Manny Ramirez, Kyle Farnsworth and Felipe Lopez. I’m sorry, but the way they’ve started off the year isn’t surprising. I didn’t expect them to go a combined 0-6 in their first two series, but there are many people who believe that this club will struggle all year and I’m among them.

      External Sports, MLB

      Rob Dibble: Starsburg’s dad got me booted from broadcast booth

      April 8, 2011 /
      Washington Nationals’ pitcher Stephen Strasburg pitches against the Arizona Diamondbacks during the first inning at Nationals Park on August 15, 2010. UPI/Kevin Dietsch

      A year after he told Stephen Strasburg to “suck it up” after the Nationals’ starter injured his elbow (which resulted in him having Tommy John surgery), Rob Dibble is opening his mouth again.

      According to Dan Steinberg of the Washington Post, Dibble claims that he was let go at MASN because of an e-mail that Strasburg’s father wrote to the Nationals’ owner Ted Lerner.

      “Listen, it’s their team, they acted in their own interests,” he told FoxSports.com columnist Mark Kriegel. “And I’m gonna tell you something that I’ve never told anybody before. It was basically Strasburg’s father [who] e-mailed the owner and basically was offended by what I said.

      “Now remember, I said that on my own radio show on another network, and his father e-mailed the owner and the owner wanted me out of there. so that’s the bottom line. So that should end it. I want Stephen to go on, never have my name brought up and have a great career. I had a great career, I had fun, had a great seven years, and it’s sad for me that people still associate me with him. There should be no association with him.”

      As Steinberg points out, if Dibble doesn’t want his name to be associated with Strasburg then he shouldn’t be telling a national audience that the young pitcher’s father is the reason he no longer works for MASN. That’s just dumb.

      That said, if Dibble is telling the truth then this entire situation is ridiculous. A father of one of the younger players got his feelings hurt so he wrote an e-mail to the team’s owner to get him kicked off air? Oh, brother. Is Strasburg’s father going to write an angry letter to every person who criticizes his son over his career? Because if he writes in to TSR, I’ll delete. I swear to God I’ll delete it.

      Dibble is a loudmouth with little or no tact, but he shouldn’t have been let go for speaking his mind (regardless of whether you think he was wrong to tell Strasburg to “suck it up” or not). I mean, that’s what MASN paid him for, right? You don’t hire Rob freaking Dibble to sit there like Monte from the “Major League” movies and you certainly don’t fire him for being brash. Again: He’s Rob Dibble.

      This isn’t high school athletics and millionaire players (or their fathers for that matter) shouldn’t be protected from the stinging words of the big bad media.

      External Sports, MLB

      NFL, NFLPA will discuss the possibility of mediation on Friday

      April 8, 2011 /
      Jerry Jones, owner of the Dallas Cowboys, arrives to continue negotiations between the National Football League (NFL) and the National Football League Players’ Association (NFLPA) in Washington March 11, 2011. The parties were still negotiating a range of sticking points, including how to divide more than $9 billion in annual revenues, but the players’ union insist one issue, the NFL’s proposal to add two more games to the regular season, was off the table. REUTERS/Joshua Roberts (UNITED STATES – Tags: SPORT FOOTBALL EMPLOYMENT BUSINESS)

      The NFL and NFLPA are scheduled to speak at 10:00AM Friday with Judge Susan Nelson to discuss the possibility of mediation. Rotoworld.com has the details.

      We’re not holding out much hope for immediate progress, but Judge Nelson is at least known for “settling standoffs,” per Judy Battista of the New York Times. The NFLPA stance is that the owners’ offer to resume mediation under George Cohen “makes no sense” as collective bargaining between the two sides is “over.” The players do hold the leverage right now, but they’re also missing out on a chance to hammer out a favorable deal through collective bargaining in lieu of litigation.

      Any progress is good progress at this point. Maybe Judge Nelson can convince both sides that it’s best to go through mediation rather than allow the court process to play out. If not, we’re right back where we were when the players decertified and we could be looking at a lengthy lockout.

      If the lockout does last another couple of months, I wonder if the owners will eventually crack. The players have been preparing for this moment for the past two years and even put a “lockout fund” together just in case. The owners have dug in their heels and have flexed their muscles a couple of times throughout the last couple of months (or tried to in the case of Jerry Jones), but they were also hoping to fund their lockout using TV contracts. Judge David Doty squashed that plan, so I wonder if the owners will eventually crack the longer the lockout resumes. (Or obviously if Judge Nelson rules in favor of the players and ends the lockout in a couple of weeks.)

      We’ll see. (I feel like I’ve said that a lot as it pertains to this CBA mess.)

      External Sports, NFL

      Red Sox, Rays each drop to 0-6 – time to panic?

      April 7, 2011 /

      Raise your hand if you had the Red Sox and Rays going 0-12 to start the year…

      …oh, stop it. You don’t count, Yankee Fans.

      The Red Sox, a preseason favorite of many pundits, have started off the year losers of six in a row. Their team ERA is 7.13, Kevin Youkilis, Jacoby Ellsbury, Marco Scutaro, Jarrod Saltalamacchia and big money free agent Carl Crawford are all hitting below .200, and Indians starter Mitch Talbot just struck out 13 Boston batters on Wednesday night. (That’s 13, and that’s Mitch Talbot.)

      The Rays have also started off 0-6, but they haven’t even held a lead this year. They’ve scored one run in five of their first six games and fans are already booing Manny Ramirez. Ironically, White Sox starter Edwin Jackson also struck out 13 Tampa Bay batters in a 5-1 win on Thursday.

      What does this all mean? Maybe something, maybe nothing. Pundits figured that the Rays could struggle with the amount of talent they lost in the offseason, but nobody saw an 0-6 start for Boston. Not after they shelled out big money for Crawford and traded for slugger Adrian Gonzalez. But the reality is that they’ve done nothing right so far.

      Of course, we haven’t even reached the middle of April yet. If Boston sweeps two three-game series, they’ll be back to .500 (I took math in college) and this 0-6 start will fade a bit from memory. Besides, you can’t look too deep into what a team does in April – nevertheless the first week in April. Does anyone think the Pirates will continue to play well? No, they’ll eventually fall off. They’re playing well now because everyone expects them to finish dead last in the NL Central and therefore, the pressure is off.

      That said, teams like the Red Sox that are expected to make a World Series run have a tendency to press when things aren’t going their way. Boston shouldn’t worry too much about being 0-6 but they obviously can’t wait too long to start winning either.

      External Sports, MLB

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