Manny Ramirez is in the midst of a 50-game suspension for violating the league’s drug policy. He can return to the Dodgers on July 3rd when his suspension is done. In the meantime, Manny has been working out and keeping in shape for his return. However, he is now planning on going to Los Angeles’s Triple-A club Albuquerque to play some ball there before returning to the Dodgers’ lineup. How is this fair??

Ramirez is suspended from Major League Baseball. but he can go play in the minors? This makes no sense to me. Manny is suspended from the majors. He shouldn’t be allowed to play. Period. There isn’t any wiggle room there yet mysteriously, he can go play at Triple-A all he wants. That’s not a suspension from baseball. It’s a suspension from MLB. Why didn’t he just spend the whole 50 games down there, playing regular baseball and keeping himself in peak condition? He could have broken every Triple-A record, come back to Dodgers fresh, and have missed nothing. He’d be completely in rhythm.

This rule needs to be fixed immediately. A suspended player is suspended from professional baseball. He can’t go rehab and get himself ready to play. It doesn’t work like that. Manny should have had to work his way back AFTER the suspension ended. It’s common sense yet MLB managed to screw it up. Well done, Bud Selig.

Manny went 0-for-2 in his first game and dodged steroid questions both before and after the game. I’m still waiting for a viable explanation from Ramirez, but it’s not coming. Meanwhile, he goes back to his dreamland, goes through spring training again basically at Albuquerque, and will return to Los Angeles and kill opponent pitchers again. It’s a lot easier to dodge questions on the smaller Triple-A stadium with fewer media members there. He should be answering questions when he comes back to the Dodgers. The entire situation is absurd and disgusting, and is just another stain on MLB’s drug testing program.