This Week's Scandals

Manny Ramirez Suspended.

As I'm sure you've seen somewhere on the web, Manny Ramirez has been suspended for 50 games for testing positive for performance enhancing drugs. Hugo and I talked about the possibility that Jays might go after him this past off-season. I'm so glad they didn't.

Manny, to me, doesn't look the type that would be using. He doesn't look like a body builder, at least as far as I can tell, but that shows what I know.  This really hurts the Dodgers as he is the power bat in the order but they are 5 games up in first place in the NL West and none of the other NL West teams look good enough to make a run.

I guess we should have a poll on what his excuse will be for the positive result. 

The other fun little scandal is from the new book on Alex Rodriguez by Selena Roberts 'A-Rod: The Many Lives of Alex Rodriguez' that suggests that ARod tipped pitches to opposing players so that those players would tip pitches back for him. 

Now if this is true, what a scum this man is. I mean, yeah it was supposed to be happening in blow out games and all, but you are screwing with your pitchers stats. Baseball salaries are huge and are performance driven. If a borderline pitcher is throwing in a blow out for your team and you tip pitches and his ERA jumps, he may get sent down to the minors. This effects his ability to make a living.

Guys that are pitching in blow outs are trying to impress their manger so that the manager might later have faith in him to pitch in higher leverage spots. Pitching more, with a lower ERA, is how a player makes the big bucks. Or how a player stays in the game long enough to get to a major league pension.

If ARod is doing this, does he also have deals with players on other teams not to field balls so the player gets a single instead of an out? This would explain a lot about the ERAs of some of the Yankee relief pitchers. Yeah it was fun in Bull Durham when Kevin Costner told the batter a fastball was coming, but doing it in real life is far less funny. Guys are trying to give their families security and their teammate, making a quarter of a billion dollars, is trying to pad his stats. That is a teammate you would like to have. 

Yankee fans may owe Kyle Farnsworth an apology.