Holy cow.

Wow.

"medication" "received from a doctor" "personal medical issue". Um, yeah. sure. Long time major leaguer who's been through the steroid era suddenly gets tripped up because his allergy medicine isn't 100% kosher? More like he and Dr. Nick Riviera went down to the DR to try and extend Manny's career.

Jose Canseco is NEVER wrong.

[4]

Now I know Western Civilization is doomed ...

Well, if Will Carroll is right, and it isn't steroids, it gets more interesting in some ways. We'll know more in a bit, but I wonder ... not steroids, not a drug of abuse, not a stimulant ... um, Red Bull Plus with Added Calcium?

Via the LATimes article, this is a phrase that just should never be uttered:

"Juan Pierre, the likely replacement for Ramirez in left field,"

[4] Clear the way for the Prophets of Rage! >;)

[6] Not something to be alarmed about, but automatically suspendable... what, did he make a pass at Madonna?

Baseball's steroid policy run amok...this really sounds like a case of semantics (i.e., taking a banned substance that is banned just because baseball says it is).

Selena Roberts (and her publicist) must be royally pissed at being upstaged right now! :-)

This is the tip of the iceberg on Manny.

[11] Why's that?

[4] You're obviously not a subscriber to his estate planning services.

It almost has to be HGH. What else is left? HGH fits all the criteria.
Of course, the other possibility is that some of the 'criteria' are not true -- maybe it is indeed an anabolic steroid and Carroll's source is wrong, for instance.

Eh, I call bullshit on this. I'm not saying he didn't take a banned substance, but it just doesn't seem like Manny to be purposefully cheating.

Not surprised in the least. How many elite hitters of the past 10+ years have been found to be juicing? I am willing to give everything prior to about 2003 a pass, because there was no testing or policy in place, but to get caught now is just dumb.

I don’t care whether he tested positive for an anabolic steroid or some other banned substance- when you make $25M a year, you should be smart enough to either a) not get caught, or b) hire someone to make damned cure you’re not partaking of anything that’s on the wrong side of the fence. To have such a cavalier attitude towards the current policy seems to suggest this is not new behavior.

[10] Thought about that, too, Diane! Depending what this turns out to be, it deflects a lot of the RodRage away. Without being on our boy's bandwagon as a fine upstanding citizen, he remains (with whatever not-full-disclosure Selena alleges, without sourcing) the only currently playing player who has outright admitted use, and apologized for it. Does that not strike people other than me as ... noteworthy?

Of course, if you watched the Hate Parade (he's phony!) that followed, and you're a player who used PEDs, and have any fame or importance, you lie low, and hope you took allergy pills.

[16] But isn't Ramirez "a cavalier attitude" incarnate? If there's one superstar that I can easily believe would be that careless, it's Manny.

Wow Bill Plaschke on ESPN ... What a nut.

2 free tickets to tonight's game, must pick up in Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn

email vockins at yahoo

[14]

One big problem with that .... there is no definitive test out there to detect HGH.

I think Manny is a lot craftier than people give him credit for. He has (for the most part) successfully played the role of the stooge his entire career, to the point where sh1t just rolls off his back. The post-homerun grandstanding, the taking games off, etc. would never be tolerated if he didn’t act like a space cadet, and I think he knows playing to that character gets him a little bit more space.

I’ve always maintained that he’s a piece of sh1t, which is why this doesn’t surprise me at all. He’ll probably play the idiot card again and largely get a free pass. Would that we could all be so smart to play dumb…

[12] Look at how his body type has changed over the last 15 years.

[23] Details? My body type has changed over the last 15 years. What's the point?

[21] Is that recognized in the MLB testing rules, though? I'm not sure.
What else could it be? There aren't any other banned substances, are there?

Am I correct in that this is the first Red Sox-associated player to be fingered by MLB? This is a big deal, if only to me, since the Mitchell Report was put out by an co-owner of the Sox and as a Yankee fan it is hard to believe that so many Yankees are dirty and the Sox players are squeeky clean on this front.

[22] The idea that he's going to get "a free pass" is pretty weird. He's suspended for 50 games.

[26] Well, Gagne. Depends on what counts as "associated" and what counts as "fingered", I guess. You'd have to count Clemens as Red Sox associated, wouldn't you?

28. Clemens! which makes me an idiot. My bad.

[24] He was a fairly thin guy. Like so many of his peers, he has become bulky I don't think that is merely the result of improved training methods and nutrition.

When you watch film of MLB from the '70s and early '80s, doesn't it strike you that even Reggie looks lean?

I don't usually cite Ham for anything but breaking news, but he makes a good point:

UPDATE, 12:55 p.m.: Oh, and if Sully, Little Sully and the rest of the Red Sox fans try to chant “steroids” at A-Rod in June, it would be the height of hypocrisy. If Manny was using in 2009 when baseball was testing, what do you figure he was doing when baseball wasn’t testing?

Meanwhile, David Ortiz last hit a home run on Sept. 22.
You’re fooling yourself to think any team was clean and be very, very careful of believing your favorite player was. If hugely talented guys like A-Rod and Manny were/are using, then how were the mere mortals keeping up?

While this whole mess, all you can do is hope the testing program works, that better tests are developed and that the players comin

[26] Paxton Crawford:

On June 21, 2006, in an ESPN The Magazine article by Amy Nelson, Crawford, who is now out of baseball, admitted to using the steroids Deca-Durabolin and Winstrol, human growth hormone and amphetamines from 1999-2001. In the article, Paxton claims that other Red Sox players used and "openly encouraged him to use" drugs and even laughed "when he spilled needles in front of his locker".[3][4] Current members of the Red Sox who played with Crawford and many former Red Sox players have criticized Crawford and denied that there was an open drug culture in the locker room.[5] However, during the 2000 season, police investigated Red Sox infielder Manny Alexander after they discovered steroids and syringes during a search of his car during a traffic stop.

nyah nyah.

[30] Players didn't lift weight in the 1970s and 1980s. When I look at pictures of anyone from the 1970s and 1980s, they don't look as big as people today. It's all circumstantial evidence, and not very good at that.

Re: the new reductions in ticket prices:
http://www.theonion.com/content/news/slashed_ticket_prices_allow_lesser?utm_source=a-section

[33] I have read that Rickey Henderson was unique among his peers because he was one of the few players that didn't lift weights yet had an amazing musculature. Reggie lifted. Others, like Brian Downing, did steroids in the '80s, but he stands out because so few other players did.

[35] Right, so if so few players were working out in the 1970s, then naturally they would appear smaller.

[26] What's funny is that they only get tainted after they've left Boston. Play for the RS and everything is hush hush, but the minute you turn your back, they stick a knife in you.

I think the physique thing is a bad argument only because its so outdated. PED's are so sophisticated nowadays, being a user can't be easily discerend by whether or not the person in question is huge.

Tim Montgomery is a perfect example, albeit in a different sport. He was almost entirely a creation of doping, but it isn't like he looked like Canseco out on the track or anything.

[38] That being said, there is a limit. Look at a picture of Bonds in 1990 and one from 2002, its obvious something is up. There reaches a point where it becomes comical.

[39] Then every supremely fit athlete is taking steroids because Bonds does not stand out on those terms.

Today would be a great day to bring Arod back. Not only would he fly a bit under the radar, but it would provide a reason to look forward to watching this lifeless, ruderless team.

[40] Come on now: http://r_harrison.tripod.com/Agonist/BarryBonds.jpg

I'm all for getting in shape as you mature, but that's jarring.

[40] I felt the same way about Alex coming back today at first, but I'm one to believe the major media would spin it as some sort of "Attack Of The Two-Headed Thing". Never turn your back on a guy/gal with an axe, I say...

[41] Again, do you think every well built man is on steroids? That's where your logic is leading. Forget football, look at the NBA. These guys become huge...their bodies rippling with muscles. Are they all on steroids. The fact of the matter is people are not born big, but can achieve size by many means that do not include PEDs.

[42] I am more concerned with what I see as a sinking team being desperate. I know there are still some unconcerned by the level of play, but I think this season is close to a tipping point.

That being said, there is a limit. Look at a picture of Bonds in 1990 and one from 2002, its obvious something is up. There reaches a point where it becomes comical.

My logic is that being well built is perfectly legitimate, but within reason. There is a difference between filling out as your career progresses (Bernie Williams for example) and your hat size increasing at the age of 39.

[45] I disagree...Bonds is not outrageously big. I can easily see how a man dedicated to training as Bonds has been could get to his current size over 20 years. Unless there is a scientific study demonstrating the limits of muscle growth by training, what's obvious to you is still pure speculation.

[47] Oh sure its speculation, I don't have access to anyone's medical records. 90% of all the conversations on this board are speculative, thats ok. But I do think that if anyone qualifies as outrageously big it's Barry Bonds from about 1999 onward.

And to just show that I don't think its all about physique: Frank Thomas. Frank Thomas is a freak of nature as far as size, and I really do not think (again, just pure speculation) that it was gained artifically. I just think that's him.

[47] The entire NFL and half the NBA is "bigger" than Bonds. Do you think they are on steroids too? I am not being condescending; just curious to your frame of mind.

[48] Are you kidding? Take a look at the link below and then try to tell me Frank Thomas did not take something to transform himself into his current state. It's mind blowing!

http://tinyurl.com/dk6q2s

[50] That's very funny. And on the adjacent table in the lightning bolt powered lab was ... Michael Jackson?

[49] I think when someone's body type changes dramatically, and the change in Bonds' physique after his age 33 season is quite dramatic, at an advanced (sports) age...it's fair to ask "is something up?" To me it's not that Bonds is big that raises my eyebrows, its that he only started getting that big at the age of 34.

LeBron James was 6'8"/240 as an 18 year old, to me thats someone who was just born big and is only going to get bigger. Doesn't mean he never did PED's, I can't say that for sure, I'm just saying that his size doesn't give me pause. That's more or less been his size since puberty.

As far as the NFL, I'm not even going to open that can of worms. I think the PED issue in football makes baseball look like a tea party, so I'm not touching that one.

What about McGuire? His body type changed cartoonishly too. There is a pattern, it seems.

From Yahoo:

A source close to Manny Ramirez(notes) said Thursday that the illegal substance for which the Los Angeles Dodgers slugger tested positive was not “an agent customarily used for performance enhancing.”

At least not on the baseball diamond. The source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the substance is supposed to boost sex drive. It is not Viagra, but a substance that treats the cause rather providing a temporary boost in sexual performance, the source said.

So, just what kind of performance was Manny trying to enhance? For a sport dominated by ED drug ads (YES actually has a "scoreboard" sponsored by Viagra), it will be interesting to see how they handle this if it turns out Manny was taking one.

And then this from ESPN:

However, two sources told ESPN's T.J. Quinn and Mark Fainaru-Wada that the drug used by Ramirez is hCG -- human chorionic gonadotropin. HCG is a women's fertility drug typically used by steroid users to restart their body's natural testosterone production as they come off a steroid cycle. It is similar to Clomid, the drug Bonds, Giambi and others used as clients of BALCO.

so really, who the hell knows?

long term steroid use incredibly likely, plausible denaibility rapidly approaching zero.

but at least the truth is out before you guys reach a million comments.

[56] What we need is Selena Roberts' unnamed sources to weigh in! It's amazing how far journalism has fallen. Nowadays every story seems to have dueling unnamed sources. Eventually, one of them has to be right.

My unnamed sources tell me the Yankees have been taking sleeping pills before each game.

[55] OMG, I didn't notice that - a Viagra scoreboard!!! Some marketing wizard must have gotten a free beer for that one!

[58] The sleeping pills theory though, is much more obvious than any player taking steroids. Gawd this team is frustrating. Maybe someone's been spiking their coffee with saltpeter.

hire someone to make damned cure you’re not partaking of anything that’s on the wrong side of the fence.

The supplement that got JC Romero suspended was an OTC one cleared by MLB & the MLBPA, IIRC.

[31] Interesting thing about that Manny Alexander incident with steroids and needles found in the car...the car belonged to Manny...Ramirez. At the time, Alexander explained that away by saying he often "borrowed" Ramirez's car.

[61] The Romero case is absurd. JC is suing the company because they did not include the banned substance on the label, but that wont restore his reputation.

[61], [63] If I were JC, I'd also MLB & MLBPA. If they told me the substance was legit, then they should have no reason to suspend me.

It certainly serves Roberts right with her and her publicist's games of when to come out with the book! Even A-Rod's return tomorrow (or whenever), takes a back seat to Manny failing a test and getting 50 games without pay! And the book is resigned to obscurity, where it belongs...

See what happens when greed is the priority instead of truth?

LOL

[65] The book currently sits at Amazon.com Sales Rank: #137. While not bad, I am sure it's far below what Roberts and her publisher had expected after only 4 days.

diane, the yahoo sports analysis is comically uninformed and missing the mark by a mile. i don't think it's worthy of being in your main post.

within the steroid community, even w/ a dedicated wikipedia page, this is known as a steroid user's substance.

This has been a rough few weeks for Phils fans. First, Harry Kalas. Now, Danny Ozark.

http://tinyurl.com/dek6oz

I would also put forth the possibility that any prescribed drug that contains testosterone can still be used for the bump in the hormone levels for additional productivity, whether training, performing, or the more legitimate use for erectile trouble.

At this pernt, I wouldn't put it past players to attempt that method of increasing those levels using the prescription as justification and “clearance.” I mean, I certainly do not trust Manny Ramirez, nor am I inclined in the least to give him the benefit of the doubt. Rather, I think this type of use is more prevalent than we could ever know.

[69] he's using this drug AFTER the steroid cycles. this is a "return to normal" drug.

he's using it the same way giambi and barry used clomid. this is not the performance enhancer per se, but rather the "after dinner mint" of the PEDs.

the steroids pump up testosterone levels, so much that the body's own production of testosterone shuts down. so when you complete the steroid cycle, this drug is used to restart your body's testosterone engine more quickly than if you waited for own system to naturally detect the need.

[69] i see you are talking about a hypothetical situation and not necessarily saying manny used this as the PED itself.

sorry.

i am pleased (b/c that's how i roll) to say that jonnystrongleg is entirely correct in his comments re: the use of the substance in question. it is WIDELY known within such circles exactly as jonnystrongleg describes...

and think about this: the timing of the test/use - spring training - would coincide perfectly with manny coming off a steroid use cycle in the offseason.

speculation? sure. but to lean "innocent" in this case is foolish IMHO.

[17] I'm always worried when the attention is deflected away from Alex Rodriguez. Because he tends to fix that in short order

[74] Ain't that the truth. LOL!

Whoa, check out Murray Chass on the topic, ROBERTS WHIFFS ON A-ROD AND ‘ROIDS.

Now that we know the drug Manny took, it's obvious that he is a long time 'roider and a cheater.

Btw, Roberts was on the Leonard Lopate show this morning, for anyone interested:

http://www.wnyc.org/shows/lopate/episodes/2009/05/07

[74] Niiiiice.

... It's funny because it's true. Amazingly.

A women's fertility drug?

Uh, boy. If that's true, I guess he was juicing. I can't imagine any other reason a man would want to take that stuff.

Sounds now like he was juicing. I'm disappointed.

Just as with A-Rod before him, I could give a crap what Manny took, what he didn't, and whether it makes any difference in his #s.

I do care that he was stupid enough to get caught doing it and cost his team 50 games. That's just dumb.

But otherwise, wake me up when somebody HASN'T done roids...

[82] Canseco says Jeter never did roids.

As long as players have admitted that they have used (i.e., cheated), I can accept their transgressions as a fan. A-Rod (and Giambi) have; Manny, Bonds, Clemens, Sheffield and others haven't. IMO, that's a test of character that most have failed, with Manny being the latest example.

Now we know why Ortiz was so upset with the idea that Manny would be leaving Boston. His juicin' buddy/contact would leave him high and dry. That would be the same David Ortiz who was a marginal player when released by the Twins after the 2002 season, exploded after joining the Red Sox during the no testing years, and now with testing and microscopic scrutiny of baseball, has shriveled to a shell of his former self with greatly reduced bat speed and power at the still relatively young age of 33.

The ways this looks, they had him for both the elevated testosterone (steroid) and the hCG which is intended to kickstart normal body levels of testosterone production - johnny strongleg sounds like he has it exactly right. (hCG is what Canseco was convicted of importing, by the way). According to our beloved espn, MLB only did the hCG contravention because there was a 'chance' Manny might get around the testosterone allegation somehow, and the result either way is 50 games.

Chass goes after Selena with fire and brimstone doesn't he?

And I'm with Rich here in [84] ... there IS some value we have to attach to Rodriguez being the only one to outright admit, especially when we see the starting up of yet another 'the druggist did it!' claim here.

But Rich, Giambi fudged it very carefully. Not nearly as direct as Alex Rodriguez was.

Poor old Joe Torre. He probably thought he was leavin' all that distracting, pain in the ass, sick of answering questions about it, steroid controversy behind when he left NY.

I must say, with the shadow now being cast on Boston and Joe Torre takin' a ped punch to the gut it's been a pretty good day. Now if the Yanks could somehow figure out how to win a ballgame.

[76] Thanks for the link RI YANK. Nice to see Murray step up with some great insight on Robert's anonymous hatchet job. Damn, Bartlett HR and Crawford single to start game. Christ! Crawford will be in scoring position in no time.

So it was 2-0 when I checked out, spent time with a friend who'd stopped by. Of course, I tune back in and it's 5-4 then within ten minutes, 6-4.

Of course, right? I mean, what was I expecting, to tune in to find ourselves in possession of a commanding lead? Or any kind of a lead, for that matter.

Wow.