The New York Times reports that Manny Ramirez and David Ortiz were on that infamous 2003 doping list:
Manny Ramirez and David Ortiz, the sluggers who propelled the Boston Red Sox to end an 86-year World Series championship drought and to capture another title three years later, were among the roughly 100 Major League Baseball players to test positive for performance-enhancing drugs in 2003, according to lawyers with knowledge of the results.
Of course, the names of those who tested positive were supposed to remain anonymous, but Alex Rodriguez, Barry Bonds, Sammy Sosa, Jason Grimsley and David Segui have managed to slip through.
Ortiz was asked about the story before Thursday's game, saying:
"I'm not talking about that anymore. I have no comment."
It looks like Papi's lowly .224/.311/.409 line and general deterioration now has an obvious, and rather sad explanation.
_
Leave a Comment:
Saving...
That explains a lot about Papi's year. A disappointment to say the least.
Can't wait for David Eckstein's name to be released.
if you really want to get them to stop taking the stuff, then you need to strip the players of the money they made that year, any awards they won (including post-season jewelry), and if there are enough significant people on the world series winning team from that year, strip the team of their title.
I think they need stricter penalties if they want to do away with it 100%.
1st offense: 1 year suspension without pay
2nd Offense: Ban
I'm sure something like that would cut down on the number of users...
At this point MLB should be looking to prevent future use, not punish past use.
There should be a test for HGH. I understand that you can only test for HGH via a blood test but that the players union won't allow blood tests, only urine tests. Is that right? You know they are all taking that right now.
WAIT! I wanna hear th Sox fans defend this one. Y'know, the ones who ragged the Yankees and said the team of the 90's is tainted.
Going by the same logic, then the 2004 and 2007 teams were tainted too.
Not the same logic. There was testing in '04 & '07. There were no reports of Ramirez and Ortiz failing steroid tests in those years. If they passed the tests, how can they be tainted?
If i recall correctly it was NOT against the rules at that time. I don't understand what the fuss is about if the rules at that time were not being broken. Back in the 70'swhen the national speed limit was changed from 70 to 55 did the police go back and give citations to everyone because they were doing 70 before the law changed. We should be blaming Selig for allowing this to happen but only persecuting those who broke the rules AFTER it became a rule, not before.
Now i might be mistaken here but i didn't think it was illegal at that time. I believe a player should be punished for breaking a rule but how do you punish someone for breaking a future rule. It would be the same as if a cop pulled you over today going 65mph and gives you a ticket for speeding and telling you the the speed limit is going to change in the future. I think the person who should be hung out to dry is Selig. He's the one who allowed it to happen for so long. If someone breaks the rules after the rule is implemented fine, but not before.