Kuzul

Manny Ramirez has descended baseball's ranks.Since his release from the Red Sox in 2008, Ramirez has gone from feared slugger to a selfish waste of roster space.The 12-time All Star was once one of baseball's most intimidating presences at the dish. He had a flawless swing, ineffable approach and incredible raw ability.There wasn't a pitch Ramirez didn't like, and there wasn't an offering he couldn't punish.Now, Ramirez is worse than a washed-up veteran. On top of that, he is selfish, greedy and his usual lazy self. I'll preface this by saying I am a long-time Ramirez supporter. I forgave him for his unforgivable baserunning errors on the 1997 Cleveland Indians, and I overlooked his unforgettable cut-off of Johnny Damon's relay throw from left-center field of Fenway Park. Ramirez's talent allowed for such oversights. Now, the nine-time Silver Slugger winner's talent pales in comparison to his off-field atrocities. Any team thinking about approaching Ramirez ...

Manny will soon be Manny again.Any day now. Maybe. Possibly.OK fine, nobody except Oakland A's general manager Billy Beane has any real clue when Manny Ramirez might be ready to join the big club, thus ending a lengthy absence from Major League Baseball made up of a sudden retirement in 2011 and a 50-game PED suspension this season. Beane will know when Manny is ready when his scouts say Manny is ready.Nobody should hold their breath. Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle reported this on Monday:The A's do have one of the greatest right-handed hitters of all time at Triple-A Sacramento, but scouts and baseball executives who have seen Ramirez recently agree with Oakland's assessment that he is not ready for the majors. In addition, Ramirez has been bothered by left hamstring tightness that limited him to one at-bat in the past four games, but Ramirez is hanging in there, ...

Everybody has been waiting four months for this day to arrive: The date that Manny Ramirez is eligible to rejoin a major league ballclub.Last December, Ramirez hinted that he was interested in un-retiring from baseball, following a seven-month absence in light of his positive drug test result during May of 2011, while he was playing for the Tampa Bay Rays.This past February, Ramirez agreed to a minor league deal with the Oakland Athletics, allowing the beleaguered slugger to attempt to add to his 555 career home runs, pending his service of a 50-game suspension to start the 2012 season. Fifty games later, and here we are, about to embark on Manny Being Manny: The Summer in Oakland.Ramirez becomes eligible to play in the big leagues on Wednesday, May 30th—which happens to be his 40th birthday. But as CSNBayArea.com reports, Ramirez will not be activated for the Athletics’ game that day ...

I might as well be up front about this before I go into much detail. Signing Manny Ramirez is not a good idea.Manny just isn't the answer for any team.Period.If I were Baltimore Orioles general manager Dan Duquette, I would be going nowhere near Manny Ramirez at this point in time. Or ever, for that matter.Despite being in the cellar of the American League East, the Orioles are a team with potential. Top prospect Manny Machado is not far from being a part of the Orioles' lineup, and the rotation is chock full of a bunch of young hurlers that could put it together at any moment.The O's won't be competing this year—and probably not next year either—but why throw the walking distraction, Manny Ramirez, into a group of unseasoned, young talent?Manny won't have any positive influence in the clubhouse and, more importantly, probably won't even produce enough to be ...

The Oakland Athletics would be smart to sign Manny Ramirez to a one-year contract if and when the former major leaguer makes a return to the big leagues. It's a no-brainer. Oakland, reported to be heavily interested in signing Ramirez, is known for acquiring former sluggers like Frank Thomas, Mike Piazza and Hideki Matsui in their autumn playing days.The thing is, Ramirez has only produced positive results for performance-enhancing drugs twice. He retired days after the test results were made public. What’s the big deal if the Ramirez project fails? He goes away. Oakland has players that can fill the designated-hitter slot, but Ramirez has produced power numbers that no one else on the roster has come near. Do A’s fans want more utility players platooning at designated hitter, or would they rather watch someone who’s known for having potential pop in their bat?Which has more appeal? That shouldn't even be a question. ...

Manny Ramirez is plotting a comeback and while he will undoubtedly find a team to take the bait, no team in the bigs should be drinking the Manny Ramirez Kool-Aid.The guy has way too much baggage.We're talking about a guy who has been busted for using PEDs, sat out the 2011 season and presents a huge distraction to any team that signs him.While, for a time, his dominant play grossly outweighed the repercussions and backlash of "Manny being Manny," it doesn't anymore.According to NBC's D.J. Short, Ramirez has been reinstated from the retirement list.There are teams that are going to be interested in working out the 39-year-old slugger, but he's the sort of high-risk, low-reward addition that can cripple a baseball team.He's a media circus and he's coming off a mini-sabbatical from the sport. There was a time when bringing in Ramirez would have given a team a .300 hitter ...

In the middle game of a three game set between the Boston Red Sox and the Baltimore Orioles at Oriole Park at Camden Yards earlier this week, a rubber match was taking place between Boston's Josh Beckett and Baltimore's Jeremy Guthrie.That is, until O's outfielder Luke Scott smashed a 425-foot two-run homer onto Eutaw Street in the bottom of the fourth to break the scoreless tie.Understandably, Scott admired his ball as it carried off into the night. Who wouldn't? If you hit a ball that far, you're going to want to see it go.Unless your name is Josh Beckett.The Red Sox' pitcher didn't appreciate Scott watching his hit fly, and appeared to be yelling at Scott as he stared him down multiple times as he rounded the bases, and even after he reached the inside of the dugout. The game's plate umpire, Fieldin Culbreth, had to calm Beckett down.In Scott's ...

This is NOT a list of the two greatest hitters for each team. This is a list of the greatest individual seasons for two hitters on each team. Steroids are ignored. Barry Bonds is on this list. So is Alex Rodriguez (twice, actually, and not with the Yankees). Rafael Palmeiro, Manny Ramirez, and other known or assumed users are here. Listed by division, not ranked by greatness. Begin Slideshow

Barry Bonds is the all-time home run leader in major league baseball with 762. He also holds the record for most home runs in a single season with 73 in the 2001 season. Overall, Bonds ended up with a career .298 batting average, 2,935 hits, 1,996 RBI, 2,558 walks (MLB record), 688 intentional walks (MLB record), and 514 stolen bases. Barry was a 14 time all-star, 8 time gold glove winner, 12 time silver slugger award winner, 7 time NL MVP and 3 time Hank Aaron award winner.  Let that sink in for just a minute, all of these statistics, awards and accolades for one man. Yet, he is still probably most widely remembered for his association with the BALCO scandal ahead of all of these other things. This week we were reminded, once again, that the greatest player of his generation had to cheat to achieve that status. The government has ...

Being a Red Sox fan in New York was much different back in 2000.   My family did not own a high-quality computer—the Macintosh we used allowed little more than writing papers and playing Oregon Trail—and even if we did, the Internet had not become the 24-7 news source that it is today.  Following baseball’s hot stove was much more difficult.  There was SportsCenter before school and WFAN 20/20 news flashes throughout the day after.  Anything else was gravy. Back in those days, I slept with my radio tuned in to WFAN.  I would fall in and out of sleep most nights listening to bits and pieces of Joe Benigno’s (and originally Steve Somers’) overnight show.  If I woke up and heard Imus, I turned the radio off. One night in December, I quickly awoke in disarray, not to Imus or Benigno, but to an update guy reporting that the Red ...