Manny Suspended 50 Games for Testing Positive

It is being reported by LADodgerTalk.com and various sources including the LA Times that Manny Ramirez has tested positive for performance enhancing drugs and will be suspended for 50 games!

There are no comments from the Dodgers, Boras, the player's union, or Major League Baseball yet. It is indicated by an anonymous source that Manny will attribute the positive result to medication received by his doctor for a "personal ailment." Major league baseball does not allow players in violation of their drug policy to be paid during suspensions. This will result in a 31 percent pay cut for Manny, equating to roughly $7.7 million of his $25 million salary.

The dodgers have made the call to the farm for Xavier Paul for tonight's game against the the Nationals. All of this means that Manny will be out until July 3, and that Pierre is expected to get the lion's share of playing time in the outfield.

I expect Pierre to bat ninth because his speed is best utilized in that spot with our lineup. But who knows what Torre will do with the lineup now? If he was still trying to figure out who to put where then he has even more thinking to do!

If anything, it will be interesting to see what Paul can do. I got some good looks at him in Spring Training and he looked ready. But we will not know until he gets a run out there. There is a rather large mental part of this game, just ask James McDonald.

We can all go round and round about how terrible this is and speculate about this and that. We can wallow in self pity for losing one of THE best hitters in all of baseball for 50 games. But none of that will matter, or change anything.

So now let's hear your thoughts on what the lineup should look like without Manny.