The Triumphant Red Sox Blog

So you've just emerged from a cave after winter hibernation and haven't yet heard the news from a few hours ago: Manny Ramirez has been suspended for 50 games after testing positive for performance-enhancing drugs.

Manny is claiming it was an innocent mistake:

Recently I saw a physician for a personal health issue. He gave me a medication, not a steroid, which he thought was okay to give me. Unfortunately, the medication was banned under our drug policy.

Well, cry me a river. First of all, presuming that whatever drug he took really wasn't a steroid, MLB also bans a lengthy list of stimulants, illegal drugs, and several substances that fall under MLB's definition of "steroids" but are actually hormones. (See Section 2 "Drugs of Abuse, Performance Enhancing Substances, and Stimulants" in Major League Baseball's Joint Drug Prevention and Treatment Program for the entire list of prohibited substances.)

Second, just because something was prescribed by a doctor doesn't make it medically legitimate. Not all doctors are ethical. This isn't a knock on Manny's doctor, about whom I know nothing. It's simply the way things are.

Third, the policy explicitly provides for valid exceptions under which players may use banned substances if medically necessary. (See Section 3 "Testing," subsection G "Therapeutic Use Exemption" of the Program.)

1. A Player authorized to ingest a Prohibited Substance through a valid, medically appropriate prescription provided by a duly licensed physician shall receive a Therapeutic Use Exemption ("TUE"). To be "medically appropriate," the Player must have a documented medical need under the standards accepted in the United States or Canada for the prescription in the prescribed dosage.... 2. A Player seeking a TUE must notify, or cause the issuing physician to notify, the IPA of the existence of the prescription.... 3. A TUE shall be effective from the date the Player notified, or caused the issuing physician to notify, the IPA of the existence of the prescription involved, and shall not be effective for any use or possession of a Prohibited Substance prior to that date....

What that all means is that, presuming that the substance in question was medically necessary, Manny and his doctor could have followed the clearly defined process for seeking an exemption. Absent that, it would still be possible for Manny to defend himself, in the public sphere if not within the realm of baseball's drug policy, by simply authorizing the Commissioner's Office to release the test results and authorizing his doctor to release medical records pertinent to the prohibited substance. To my knowledge, he has done neither and apparently has no plan to.

That leaves us with but one conclusion: Manny Ramirez is a cheat. Just like the other players who have tested positive, not to mention guys like Alex Rodriguez, Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, Rafael Palmeiro, Mark McGwire, Sammy Sosa, Ken Caminiti, et al.

And that leaves me, personally, with the need to pick a new player to consider the greatest hitter I ever had the privilege to watch play. How very sad.

Labels: banned substances, ex-Sox