Manny Ramirez officially apologized to his Dodger teammates for the first time since being suspended 50 games for testing positive for a performance enhancing-drug.
“It was uncomfortable. He was a little anxious,” Torre said of Ramirez, who according to players and coaches went around the room greeting teammates with a handshake or a hug. “I sensed an uneasiness that I hadn’t seen before from Manny.”
Although Torre refused to discuss specifics of what took place behind closed doors in a fourth-floor conference room at the Trump International Beach Resort in Sunny Isles Beach, he said Ramirez — who has a house in South Florida — was contrite and apologetic about his suspension, which will keep him on the sidelines until at least July 3.
“He’s remorseful. And embarrassed,” Torre said. “He just wanted to let the team know how sorry he is for that and for the fact that he’s not there for them.”
And while his teammates accepted the apology, many said it wasn’t necessary.
“Nobody needed it or expected it,” said third baseman Casey Blake, who considered Ramirez’s apology “heartfelt.”
“He made a mistake and stood up to it and we all understand that. We just greeted him, shook his hand and said ‘what’s up?’ “
Although some of his teammates said the apology was unnecessary (and maybe it was), it probably didn’t hurt. Manny is human and he made a mistake. That doesn’t mean all should be forgiven, but I think it would have been worse had he crawled in a hole until the suspension was over and then acted as if nothing happened when he returned. I don’t see a downside to Manny doing this.
