Craig, do you have any idea why Manny Ramirez is allowed to play in the minors before he’s eligible to come off his suspension? That makes no sense at all to me. I would think he would be eligible to play ANYWHERE on July 3, and not before—-otherwise, why wasn’t he in the minors keeping in shape the whole time? So a drug-banned minor league player can’t play in the minors during his 50 games, but a drug-banned majorleague player can?
So Manny will be playing A ball without being paid?
Wha? Or did I miss the fine print, as usual…

I’m sure that’s correct, Craig, but why should a suspension include a way to make it easier for the team or the player? So Manny is eligible to play on July 3, and just as with an injury coming off the DL, the team has to decide whether to rehab him or activate him…on July 3. To me, this is just one more example of how the union and MLB send mixed messages about drug use: “Poor baby; you got caught! Well, we have to suspend you, but don’t worry, we’ll set it up so you will come back just as good as new!” A lawyer suspended from his corporate practice for six months isn’t allowed to do traffic court cases for his last couple weeks. A student suspended from school can’t audit class the last couple weeks so he’s not so far behind. If Manny’s playing pro-ball anywhere after 40 days, then it wasn’t really a 50 game suspension.