Manny Reactions

So the Manny news broke yesterday just as I was on my way back from Purdue. Then we got a flat tire so I was not able to post my reactions yesterday. Initially, I got the text from Dave and I was just surprised. As I was in the process of loading up the car, it just kind of went in ear and out the other. Then, after sitting down and listening to ESPN Radio on the way home, I started to just feel angry. I'm sick and tired of the cheating in baseball. There's no way of knowing who was legit in the past and who was not. As a numbers man, I like to look at numbers and be able to use them as a gauge of skill. However, it just is not possible in this new Steroid Era.

With all of the discussion of whether or not a player's numbers are legit and whether or not they deserve to make the Hall of Fame, one thing is sometimes forgotten: the impact a player has on a team. Manny has been one of the best (though not the best, as I wrote in this post) postseason players of all time. I know we're supposed to be unbiased, but as a Cubs fan I look straight at the 2008 NLDS. Now, anyone who watched any part of that series knows the Cubs played bad enough that they would have been beaten whether or not the Dodgers had Manny, who hit .500/.643/1.100 in the series with 2 HR. Still, the fact remains that the Dodgers were playing with at least one cheater on their team. I'd be naive to think that there is zero chance that there is a cheater on the Cubs, but even in this era of distrust, no Cubs players really fit the profile of a steroid user and there is little suspicion surrounding the team. I'm just upset because the Dodgers would not have been the team that they were with Manny, and that casts a black cloud over their entire season and postseason. Not only does it do so for last year, but for the unforgettable World Series wins for the Red Sox in 2004 and 2007. Bill Simmons wrote a great piece about the cloud that is cast over those victories and you can read that here.

Essentially, I just don't know what to believe anymore. It'll be hard to watch games for a while without thinking "So who in this game is cheating?" I'm with Dave and Buster Olney, there needs to be a zero-tolerance policy. One strike, you're out. Really, I'd just be happy to never again hear the words "steroids" and "baseball" in the same sentence. I just hope this all goes away fast. On the bright side, when I go to Wrigley Field on May 28 to watch the Cubs-Dodgers game, I won't have to see Manny and be reminded about everything that is wrong about baseball.

Interesting Baseball Fact of the Day: Manny hit .299 with the Red Sox and .396 with the Dodgers in 2008. While there were other factors such as Manny not wanting to play in Boston, that is an EXTREMELY statistically significant difference. Let's just say you don't improve your average 97 points overnight just by trying harder...

Manny is Trying to Ruin Baseball for Me

I never wanted it to come to this, I’m as big of a baseball fan as anyone, but Manny Ramirez’ suspension has forced me to make this conclusion: I cannot trust another player in MLB. Manny was a player who I thought was 100% clean, I wanted to believe that he was naturally one of the greatest raw hitters this wonderful game has ever seen. But after this suspension I no longer appreciate the home run or absurd power numbers some players put up without some sort of skepticism. I just can’t because I don’t want to believe in something that is fake. Now I know that he didn’t test positive for steroids but he tested positive for a drug that restarts a person’s normal testosterone production, which to me means he at one point took steroids. So when players go on camera and say they don’t take steroids; that doesn’t mean they haven’t taken steroids at one point or aren’t taking a supplement now that is enhancing their production.

I feel betrayed, tricked and fooled after this news, almost to the point where I don’t know if I want to watch baseball for a while. Manny was a character to me, a guy who genuinely enjoys playing the game, he seemed like a fan who had his greatest wish come true where he got to play the game he loves and get paid for it. Manny was one of my favorite players not on the White Sox, but now I don’t think I can forgive him for this ever.

He seemed like a normal guy like so many other baseball players, which makes it a sport I really enjoy to watch because it gives me the idea that I could go out there tomorrow and do what they do, only to know that I most likely would not hit a 92 mph fastball. But to learn that he cheated, why should I believe that any other player hasn’t used a drug to improve their performance. I want to believe guys like Jim Thome and Ken Griffey Jr, and retired players like Frank Thomas but Manny has me now at a point where I have to be skeptical when I watch the performances of any player from this era. Because of Ramirez, I will not be surprised when the next big name player is suspended; he has proven to me that this steroid epidemic was and is wide spread and there are people trying to ruin the game that I love so much.

Buster Olney of ESPN is going with the suggestion for revamping the penalty for drug use to use a zero tolerance policy and I agree with him. Players are flat out cheating when they resort to PEDs and they shouldn’t get to continue to earn a living from playing a game if they are caught cheating. Will this happen? I don’t think it will for a long time because the players union will not be for it but if a player is truly clean, they should stand up and demand this policy be put into place because they are the ones getting cheated the most. They are losing not only playing time to the guys passing them by cheating but they are also losing millions of dollars from being out performed by the cheaters. Something needs to be done and unfortunately I don’t think anything will get done for a long time. This is a sad day for me as a baseball fan and I’m sure I’m not alone when I say I feel betrayed.