Michael Schmidt at the NY Times has the story. Apparently, both David Ortiz and Manny Ramirez were on the same list that A-Rod was on in 2003.
The information about Ramirez and Ortiz emerged through interviews with multiple lawyers and others connected to the pending litigation. The lawyers spoke anonymously because the testing information is under seal by a court order. The lawyers did not identify which drugs were detected.
Unlike Ramirez, who recently served a 50-game suspension for violating baseball’s drug policy, Ortiz had not previously been linked to performance-enhancing substances.
Scott Boras, the agent for Ramirez, did not respond to telephone and e-mail messages seeking comment.
Asked about the 2003 drug test on Thursday in Boston, Ortiz shrugged. “I’m not talking about that anymore,” he said. “I have no comment.”
Now, let’s all wait calmly while heads explode in Boston…
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20 Responses to Ortiz and Manny tested positive for PED's in 2003
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TIQ IQ
i feel bad for gammons.
I like Gammons and I hate him. It’s weird. Poor guy.
I doubt that they’ll be treated all that badly-Manny’s been treated as the conquering hero come to save the Dodger’s day since he returned. In MLB, what’s good for the goose isn’t always what’s good for the gander.
I’ll never forget back when Giambi got sick and “admitted it” or whatever, and Papi’s response to a steroid question was something to the effect of, “They should explain the rules better to players from the Dominican.”
LOL. Maybe Ortiz will say he had one of those DR protein shakes in 2003?
I can’t say I’m particularly surprised, as Ortiz fits the user profile to a T. Large increase in size? Check. Big jump in power? Check. Early physical breakdown? Check. Honestly, people who claim that this was a surprise were burying their head in the sand. In this era, it’s hard to believe anybody when they say they were not a steroid user, regardless of their repeated denials.
While it is kind of satisfying to see the hypocrisy of Ortiz and Red Sox Nation revealed, I would hope that Yankee fans could resist rubbing in Boston fans’ faces. I don’t really consider the ’04 and ’07 series victories to be tainted, because we are seeing that steroid use was widespread around baseball. To me, it’s kind of sad that another great slugger and fan favorite in Ortiz was proven to be a user.
I should be happy, but this is just bad for baseball. The “everybody was doing it” claim is gaining steam.
I don’t think its a claim. It was more than half. And people need to stop acting like people on the list are the only people who were juicing.
It’s definitely sad for baseball, and for Ortiz, who always seemed like a nice enough guy.
I can’t stand Gammons though. He’s on ESPN right now saying, “I think he’d like us to know that he got caught in 2003 and never did it again, but there’s no way to prove it, which is sad.”
Of course. He’s the propaganda minister for the Red Sox. I’d expect as much from him.
It’s time for the rest of the 2003 list to come out. It’s clear that the names are being leaked, and there are at least 90 or so people who have been able to avoid being held accountable for their drug use. A-Rod and Bonds have taken the brunt of the media and fan abuse for their PED use, and the other positive tests should not be able to hide. We need to see how widespread the steroid use was, and how many significant players were users. It may be painful to reveal, but like removing a band-aid, it is best to do it all at once.
The list is nonsense. People are acting as if the only people cheating were the guys on the list and that couldn’t be further from the truth.
Wasn’t that test entirely up to the players involved, too? I’m sure there are smarter guys out there who didn’t take part in the survey program.
I don’t think it was up to the players involved. Their was a random survey of players. However, players were told in advance when the testing would take place. Basically, only the stupid got caught.
The worst part about this is A-Rod came out when he was caught and said exactly what he did. He said where he got the PEDs from and the exact times he took them. He stood up in front of the media and answered the questions like a man. And now Ortiz will get a pass by taking the McGwire option and will probably never be half as vilified in the media as A-Rod would despite being a coward about it.
ALL THE DR players took them and have taken them for years.Pedro took them too.That’s how he went from skinny mini with the Dodgers throwing 92 to a guy with twice the size head and face throwing 96-97.Then he stopped and he was done at age 34-35.
It’s a big joke on the island.
Remember all of a sudden the Dominican players were better than everybody else and not only in developing SS’s but all of a sudden every position.
They went from wiry types to super muscular types better than everyone else.
If Jeter were from the DOminican Republic during that era, he’d have been hitting 30 HR’s every season.
LeftyLarry that is some racist stuff! First of all Pedro never got any bigger and historically skinny power pitchers like Martinez, Moose and Cone all fall off around the age of 34 because there bodies can’t hold up. I really don’t want to get into race with you but you are just unbelievable and your opinions have been completely ruined by your statements here.
I can’t believe that ESPNB et al are now saying things like ‘this list is ruining reputations’, Papi being on the list doesn’t mean he used PEDs-it could be something else’, and of course ‘this was supposed to be a secret-none of the names were supposed to be revealed! Why are they leaking these names now?’
When Arod’s name was leaked, none of those things mattered-it was just more proof that he doesn’t deserve to play in MLB.
Enough with this already. Stop feeding the trolls.
Check out the front page of nomaas.org. You won’t regret it.