April 8, 2011

Manny Ramirez Abruptly Retires From Tampa Bay Rays

Apparently, the honeymoon Manny Ramirez and the Tampa Bay Rays is said and done with. On Friday afternoon, Ramirez was made aware of a drug related issue by Major League Baseball, though it was not indicated whether Ramirez had been caught violating the Substance Abuse Policy, which he had already been suspended for 50 games for during his tenure with the Los Angeles Dodgers.

The decision came just before the Rays took to the field on Friday against the Chicago White Sox at US Cellular Field. Ramirez was held out of the lineup on Thursday tending to what Manager Joe Maddon called a “personal issue.”

Ramirez only batted 1-for-17 in his career with the Rays with just one RBI, and the team went 0-5 when he was in the lineup. The Rays are 0-6 now on the campaign coming into play on Friday night, and they are in desperate need of some victories already early in the season, as they are already five games out in the chase in the AL East to the Baltimore Orioles, and are four back of the New York Yankees coming into Friday’s affairs. The announcement of Ramirez’s retirement was done quickly, and it is expected that this means more playing time in the lineup on a regular basis for players like Sam Fuld and Elliott Johnson.

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Adam Markowitz

is a staff writer living in the Orlando area. He has covered NFL, MLB, college football, CFL, AFL, NBA, college basketball, NASCAR, golf, tennis, and the NHL for a number of various outlets in his career, and he has been published by a number of different media outlets, including the Orlando Sentinel and the Wall Street Journal.