February 22nd update

Wednesday Spotlight: Manny Ramirez

• Major League Outfielder Manny Ramirez signed a small, one year contract with the Oakland Athletics to make his return to baseball after retiring soon after the beginning of last season. Ramirez, who retired at least partially due to a positive drug test, will have to serve a 50-game suspension before he is allowed to play.
• Ramirez made his Major League debut for the Cleveland Indians in 1993. In 2001 he signed as a free agent with the Boston Red Sox for one of the biggest contracts in baseball history at the time. In his 8 years in Boston, Ramirez helped the Red Sox win 2 World Series Championships and made the All-Star team all 8 years (8 of his 12 appearances). Ramirez was known for being extremely talented but a bit aloof and he has done some pretty bizarre stuff (including leaving the field to go to the bathroom in the middle of the game and high-fiving a fan while making a catch) that led to the saying “Manny Being Manny.”
• Ramirez was traded to the LA Dodgers in 2008. After a solid 2008 campaign, Manny was discovered to have taken Performance Enhancing Drugs (PEDs) and was suspended 50 games in 2009. In 2011, Manny, after 5 games, was again found to be using PEDs. Instead of serving another suspension, Ramirez retired.
• Ramirez will be remembered for his aloof attitude, his prodigious skills at the plate (winning 9 Silver Slugger Awards) and the 2004 World Series MVP award. His achievements will also be potentially tainted by his drug use. However this season with the Athletics ends Ramirez will go down as one of the most memorable players in the history of the league.


Kemp doesn't want MVP by default

• In 2011, Matt Kemp was arguably the best player in the National League. In an otherwise forgettable season for the L.A. Dodgers (remember this and this?), their center fielder hit .324 with 39 Home Runs and 40 stolen bases, which are phenomenal numbers.
• Most years, that would be good enough to win the MVP, but in 2011, voters awarded the honor to Ryan Braun who had slightly better totals. The issue is, Braun has been notified that he failed a drug test and unless he wins an appeal, he will have to serve a long suspension and suffer the indignity of being the latest star to test positive for steroids.
• Interestingly enough though, Kemp says that he does not want the MVP award even if Braun has to give it back, saying that he wishes the voters had awarded it to him in the first place, but that he does not want to win it by default. This situation is not without precedent and Mike Greenwell, who finished second to one of baseball's most unabashed steroid users, Jose Canseco, has said that he would like his MVP from the year that Canseco beat him out (1988).
• Regardless of what ends up happening, I'm sure many voters wish they had simply voted for Kemp in the first place and he continues to be a bright spot in an otherwise dismal L.A. baseball scene.