Weasel of the Week: Manny Ramirez

The 2011 baseball season is a week old, and already, one of its more controversial figures has decided to hang 'em up rather than risk being forced to the bench by Major League Baseball.

Manny Ramirez wore out his welcome in Boston & Los Angeles in the last three years with his antics. His rep as one of the game's most feared sluggers was now being offset by a glaring knack for less-than-stellar play in the field. He served a 50 game suspension while with the Dodgers for using performance enhancing drugs in 2009, and the Dodgers traded him to the White Sox last summer. Ramirez signed with Tampa Bay in the offseason as a free agent, and was reunited with former Boston teammate Johnny Damon. However, that reunion lasted just 5 games, as Ramirez left the Rays following Wednesday's game. Word got out that Ramirez failed another test, and was going to be hit with a 100 game suspension, which would've put him on the shelf until August. That prompted Ramirez to decide that, at 38, it was time to walk away.

For all of that talent, which made Ramirez a legend in NYC as a youth, why take the shortcut and use PEDs in the first place? Why does anyone do that anymore anyway? MLB is still cracking down on the offenders. Did Manny think they wouldn't get him a 2nd time? One wonders if the PEDs aren't the only drugs he'd been taking, if you catch my drift. The drama that drove Ramirez out of Cleveland, Boston, Los Angeles, Chicago, and now, out of MLB altogether, is likely to keep him out of Cooperstown, too. If guys like Mark McGwire, Roger Clemens, & Barry Bonds aren't going to be voted in, Manny won't, either.

The Rays said Ramirez left "for personal reasons". Would that we could believe it, but with Ramirez's history, there had to be more to the story, and sure enough, that other shoe dropped earlier today. We have a parting gift for Manny. A pair of weasel ears, for wasting all that God-given talent and making bad career decisions, like taking PEDs.