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MLB's Downfall Continues

As if Major League Baseball needed another hit to the integrity and question marks facing the league in regards to its ties with performance enhancing drugs. Well they surely got one and it came in the form of a 500-foot home run, as Manny Ramirez was suspended for 50 games for his violation of MLB’s drug policy.

 

            Yet another superstar guilty of tarnishing the game and cheating his way to the top of the Major League ranks, Manny Ramirez was counted on, like many still are to be the “completely natural talent”, that dominants the sport. But this thought has been tossed out the window just like Major League Baseball’s honor and legitimacy.

 

            Manny’s bogus excuse, trying to pin the blame on a prescription from a doctor for medical reasons was quickly rebuffed when the drug HCG was revealed to be what sparked the red flags in Ramirez’s documents. HCG is a female fertility drug that helps restart the body’s testosterone, which is commonly used after a steroid cycle. Basically all the proof needed here, as Manny was caught red handed.

 

            Bottom Line is Major League Baseball is in a laughable position of power right now. They are barely in control of their own league and they turn their heads to almost every severe performance enhancing offense until they feel the time is right to release such information. The Players Union has way too much power and MLB seems content to leave it that way as long as they money keeps coming there way.

 

            It’s commonly stated by MLB officials and some former players that at least 70% of the players in the sport are on Human Growth Hormone, which just so happens to not be tested in MLB’s tough drug policy. Yes, there might not be a perfect test out there to detect HGH, but there is way to try to detect this drug with proper blood testing. This of course is not allowed according to the Unions policy, but it has come to a time where the Union’s agreement needs to be shredded and the league as a whole needs to be halted in order to get “America’s Pastime” back on the right path.

 

            What’s even sadder about the league is that the most credible individual attached to MLB is someone who has been blackballed from it, and that’s Jose Canseco. All his opinions and statements have ended up being basic truths we have yet to be informed of. What’s that say about major League Baseball? A rat, who was a big part to the start of this huge performance enhancing issue in the sport is now, the biggest hope for all of us baseball fans who understand, respect and appreciate the morals, ethics, and history of the game.

 

            And for all the so called fans out there who can honestly keep a straight face in saying that the MLB has a policy in place that is as stringent as it should be and is doing all they can to put an immediate stop to this enormous issue is blinded by the league’s corruption and control of the media. Amazing how allegedly 70% of the league is on PEDs, but only two players worthy of naming have been suspended in the past year.

 

            It is beyond belief in my eyes how people could really stand and applaud when Alex Rodriguez was able to launch the first pitch he saw for a home run after the whole steroid controversy he had gone through over the past off season. And doesn’t seem just a bit fishy how the Manny suspension came just before Aroid was able to make his season debut? You may think I’m reaching there, but don’t underestimate the sneakiness of Major League Baseball. Don’t forget they have a list of over 100 steroid offenders that they still don’t feel necessary for the public to know about.

 

            So until MLB makes a drastic change and stand against this era of cheaters I have officially boycotted the sport. Yes I have said this before, but my recent purchase of Phillies-Dodgers tickets, in which I planned to sit front row behind Manny Ramirez himself, has been scratched from my schedule. I got rid of those tickets as soon as I got the line crossing news. And this time I have promised myself not to let my passion for sports drag me back into this corrupt league until the league is legitimately back on the right track. Only if every fan out there was as livid as me because then maybe MLB and the Players Union’s hand could be forced, but that doesn’t look likely to ever happen.

 

            So I hope everyone enjoys the front row seats to the end of baseball because it is only a matter of time till the sport loses all of its credibility even with the oblivious American public. If only there was another sport to watch in the summer, I could basically guarantee to prevent any of my attention towards baseball.

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While I don’t know if I can ever be driven to give up on this sport and this league, I think you make a valid point. I think to the casual average baseball fan they feel that MLB is not doing enough.

I have a friend, an uncle, and a college professor who have all lost interest in the sport sometime over the last 15 years. My uncle was just starting to get back into it until this latest Manny fiasco. Who knows how long it will be before my uncle starts to trust the MLB again.

by Jesse S. on May 12, 2009 2:02 PM PDT reply actions  

I took a long break after the strike in '94.

And by the time Mark McGwire hit 70 I had just started to embrace it. These “steroid scandals” aren’t doing anything to tarnish the game or keep me away.

by Seanny Rotten on May 12, 2009 4:04 PM PDT up reply actions  

The Fans---Morally Bankrupt

What bother me most about this is that many fans who have written in to the LA Times Dodgers reporters have said that it doesn’t matter, that they will welcome Manny back with open arms, etc. Does the end always justify the means? Have we been hit on the head so many times that our moral sense has gone to sleep? It seems to me that in many cases, perhaps because of the celebrity culture we live in, it has—-we doze off and glaze over when yet another idol reveals the worst about himself. So What? Who Cares?. We know that everybody cheats, that everybody goes to rehab, that people clear themselves of heroin addiction by gettting their blood replaced (as happened in the case of one of the Rolling Stones). Don’t want to be too gloomy and doomy about this, but the fans’ reaction is awful and scary.

"It's a cookbook!"---The Twilight Zone

by Buck18 on May 13, 2009 9:24 AM PDT reply actions  

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2012 Dodgers Payroll

Italics denote estimates
Pos No Player 2012 Salary
C 17 Ellis $500,000 team control
1B 7 Loney $6,375,000
2B 14 Ellis $2,500,000
3B 5 Uribe $8,000,000
SS 9 Gordon $485,000 team control
LF 21 Rivera $4,000,000
CF 27 Kemp $10,000,000
RF 16 Ethier $10,950,000

IF/OF 6 Hairston $2,250,000
OF 10 Gwynn $850,000
2B/3B 3 Kennedy $800,000
C 18 Treanor $850,000
IF 12 Sellers $485,000 team control

SP 22 Kershaw $6,000,000
SP 58 Billingsley $9,000,000
SP 29 Lilly $12,000,000
SP 37 Capuano $3,000,000
SP 44
Harang $3,000,000

CL 54 Guerra $485,000 team control
RHP 74
Jansen $500,000 team control
RHP 55 Guerrier $4,750,000
RHP Coffey $1,000,000
RHP 66 MacDougal $650,000
LHP 57 Elbert $485,000 team control
RHP 36
Hawksworth $500,000 team control

TJ 41 De La Rosa $485,000 team control



Manny $8,087,432 deferred


Andruw $3,375,000 deferred


Pierre $3,050,000 deferred
Furcal $3,000,000 deferred
Kuroda $2,000,000 deferred
Garland $1,500,000 option buyout
Blake $1,250,000 option buyout

Totals
$112,162,432

For more detailed information, click here.

Players on 40-man roster used as roster
fillers until moves are made.

Current 40-man roster count: 40
(not including Belisario)

2012 Non-Roster Invitees

No Player Age*
63 Jose Ascanio rhp
27
61 Alberto Castillo lhp
36
60 Matt Chico lhp
29
35 John Grabow lhp
33
59 Angel Guzman rhp
30
47 Wil Ledezma lhp
31
72 Shane Lindsay rhp
27
62 Fernando Nieve rhp 29
73 Scott Rice lhp 30
70 Will Savage rhp
27
71 Ryan Tucker rhp
25

30 Josh Bard c 34
82 Griff Erickson c 24
81 Matt Wallachc 26
67 Jeff Baisley 3b/1b 29
62 Luis Cruz ss/2b 28
33 Josh Fields 3b 29
64 Lance Zawadzki if 27
56 Cory Sullivan of 32

*Age on June 30, 2012

NRI count: 19

For more info, click here.


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