Manny Ramirez who is a very good player on the Dodgers got suspended for 50 games today for using a banned substance. The substance he used was a gonadotropin which is used to raise the testosterone level. It is also used to improve a person’s sex drive. It is also used to replenish a person’s testosterone level after using steriods. That 3rd category is what has everyone up in arms.
Manny did use a banned substance but he did not test positive for steroids. The substance he did use is not a performance enhancer as far as muscle tone is concerned. It does make you a better lover but I think we all can agree that’s not what anyone is doing on the baseball diamond.
Lots of people are screaming that the Dodgers should be stripped of all the runs and RBIs that Manny was responsible for and have their won/loss record adjusted. I understand that sentiment so I decided to find out what would happen if you remove all of his runs and RBIs. Here’s the results of that exercise. The one thing that we have to decide is in the case of ties who gets the win? I don’t think it would be fair to suggest that the Dodgers lose all games that come out as ties but I have that as an option. In that case the Dodgers would be 3 games down from San Francisco now and 1 game behind San Diego and Colorado. They would still be 3 games ahead of Arizona. In fact in every scenario the Dodgers stay ahead of Arizona. The only scenario that has them not in the lead is the aforementioned “lose all ties” case. So here’s how it would look if they took all of Manny’s runs and RBIs.
Don, while you are right that Manny did not test positive for steroids, he did take a banned substance that does indeed have performance enhancing effects. Gonadotropins consist of Lutenizing Hormone (LH) and Follicle Stimulating Hormone (FSH). LH stimulates the testes to produce testosterone. Testosterone has multiple effects including mental and physical energy, maintaining muscle growth, and regulating the fight-or-flight response. This includes dilation of the pupils, diverting of blood to the muscles, acceleration of reflexes and increased aggression. To me, all of these effects are pretty much performance enhancing!
I agree that adjusting the outcomes of games is ridiculous. If you did that you would have to wipe out the last 7 seasons of Barry Bonds’ career with the Giants!
Unless Major League Baseball gets serious and releases every positive test, they might as well admit that they can’t stop performance enhancing drug use from happening and accept it. That is not even talking about HGH, which can’t be tested for!!
Comment by Mark — Thursday May 7, 2009 @ 8:49 pm
I’m not trying to suggest what Manny did was ok or even marginal. If you make millions of dollars a year and one of the stipulations is don’t take these substances then you are pretty dumb if you end up doing it. I’m sure there is some affect from the substance or as you point out, they probably wouldn’t ban it. I just doubt that it made enough difference to make much of a difference in the outcome of these games.
My main reason for going through the exercise I did was to show that one guy rarely carries a team in MLB. Who’s to say if Manny wasn’t hitting then whoever was might have done close to the same? You can’t, and that’s why it’s silly for anyone to suggest taking games away from a team. I’m sure the Dodgers don’t condone doing what he did and are not culpable.
I also wanted to show they would still be leading the Diamondbacks either way. 😛
Comment by Don — Thursday May 7, 2009 @ 8:57 pm