Manny Ramirez has been suspended 50 games for a positive test for performance-enhancing drugs, the Los Angeles Times reported on its Web site Thursday morning.

 

Ramirez is expected to attribute the positive test results to medication he received from a doctor for a personal medical issue, the Times reported, citing a source familiar with the matter.

 

The Dodgers informed AAA outfielder Xavier Paul Thursday morning that he was being promoted to the big-league club, according to the report.

 

MORE TO COME

More to come indeed

UPDATE

According to Scott Boras Manny has not been suspended for steroids, rather a substance prescribed by a doctor that was on the no fly list. I have no idea how the drug rules work but you think he'd get an appeal or something if this is the case.

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DETROIT - The Detroit Tigers have released nine-time All-Star Gary Sheffield, who is one home run away from 500 for his career.

Detroit parted ways with the designated hitter Tuesday after a disappointing stay with the Tigers. The team was hopeful Sheffield would be a powerful presence at the plate in the final season of the $28 million, two-year contract extension it gave him after acquiring him from the Yankees for prospect

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It couldn't happen to a better guy, frankly.

BRADENTON, Fla. (AP) - Pittsburgh Pirates prospect Jose Tabata said Friday his much-older wife lied to him about being pregnant with his child before she was accused of abducting a 2-month-old baby girl, who has since been returned to her parents.

According to Pirates general manager Neal Huntington, Tabata's wife showed off pictures of an infant and told the player that the baby was his, only to have Tabata learn hours after seeing the baby that the girl had been taken from her parents in Plant City, about 60 miles from Bradenton, where the Pirates train.

Pereira, arrested after the baby was handed over to authorities in a Bradenton shopping center parking lot on Tuesday, was taken Wednesday to the Hillsborough County Jail and is lodged on $750,000 bond on an abduction charge.

"She completely falsified her pregnancy and the eventual birth of a baby girl, which would have made me a father for the first time," said Tabata, who read a prepared statement in Spanish but did not answer questions from the media before an afternoon workout. "Imagine how that made me feel."

what

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KISSIMMEE, Fla. (AP) — The Houston Astros and catcher Ivan Rodriguez are closing in on a $1.5 million, one-year contract, a person familiar with the talks told The Associated Press. The deal would contain $1.5 million in performance bonuses based on games and plate appearances, the person said, speaking on condition of anonymity because the agreement had not yet been announced by the team.

This is a great move for Pudge. If I were an aging right handed hitter and wanted to keep my career afloat, the first place I would want to play is Enron. The downside is that the Astros are not good.

All can be seen on mlbtv! How quickly can LL kill the Dutch Oven'd meme? Tune in and find out!

5:30 PM	Netherlands @ Puerto Rico	MP4	600K
6:30 PM	Venezuela @ United States	MP4	600K
10:00 PM	Mexico @ Australia	MP4	600K

Call me crazy, but i think the DR could have escaped defeat had they asked Pujols to play for them. That guy might be and up and comer, but he is a good ballplayer.

Games for Thrusday:

Edit: Hey that's neat, how'd I do that?

Bets maybe worth taking;

Atlanta- 84.5 (under)
Boston- 94.5 (slight under)
Chicago C- 94.5 (under)
Cleveland- 83 (big over)
LA Angels- 87.5 (under)
LA Dodgers- 84.5 (under)
Milwaukee- 85.5 (under)
Minnesota- 79.5 (over)
NY Yankees- 96 (under)
Pittsburgh- 66.5 (over)
San Diego- 67.5 (over)
Seattle- 72.5 (over)
Tampa Bay- 89.5 (slight over)
Texas- 81.5 (under)
Toronto- 81.5 (over)
Washington- 68.5 (over)

Sadly, there are only a couple lines  that are nutty.

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VIERA, Fla. (AP) - The Washington Nationals released disgruntled pitcher Odalis Perez on Monday, a day after he failed to show up at spring training by the mandatory reporting deadline.

The 31-year-old Perez hadn't taken phone calls from general manager Jim Bowden or manager Manny Acta in recent days. Perez let the 7 p.m. Sunday deadline pass without reporting.

"We left messages yesterday for his agent, we left messages for him, I left messages again this morning, and they made their point really clear," Bowden said. "We've got a lot of pitchers here in camp who are committed to helping us win, and we want players here who want to be here."

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I honestly have no idea why he signed that contract in the first place. There still are some teams out there that could use another starting pitcher.

Rosenthal:

The Braves, shut out in their quest for Ken Griffey Jr., are close to signing free-agent outfielder Garret Anderson to a one-year contract, according to a major-league source.

Anderson, 36, will move to the National League after spending 15 seasons with the Angels. He will fill the same role that the Braves intended for Griffey, platooning with Matt Diaz in the left field.

The Mariners also had been interested in Anderson before signing Griffey. The Angels replaced Anderson by signing free-agent outfielder Bobby Abreu for $5 million.