Manny Ramirez is back. But Manny will have to be Manny in Sacramento first. Fresh out of retirement, Manny Ramirez is back on the baseball diamond to begin his push to return to the major leagues.
Ramirez signed a one-year minor league contract with the Oakland Athletics worth $500,000. This follows Ramirez's retirement from baseball in April of 2011 after he tested positive for performance enhancing drugs for the second time. He was facing a 100 game ban. Ramirez previously tested positive for performance enhancing drugs while playing for the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2009. He served a 50 game suspension.
The road back to the big leagues will start with a 10-game stint with the Triple-A Sacramento Wildcats. Manny's first game will be on Saturday in Albuquerque, N.M.
In December of 2011, Ramirez filed reinstatement papers with the league. At the same time, it was announced that an agreement had been reached between the league and the Players Association that Ramirez would only need to serve a 50 game suspension resulting from his second positive test. The penalty was cut because he sat out most of last season.
Barring any setbacks, Manny is eligible to return to the Athletics on May 30, which happens to be his 40th birthday.
The Sacramento Wildcats are already planning for the star's arrival. They are offering a ticket package dubbed the "Manny Pack" which includes 20 to 40 ticket vouchers to any game this season along with a Ramirez T-shirt.
Ramirez was sent to Sacramento instead of nearby Stockton, where the A's have a Single-A team, because they want him to face the toughest competition available before he returns to the majors.
If Manny is activated by the A's it will be his 20th season in the major leagues. In his prime, he was one of the most feared hitters in the league and helped the Red Sox win the World Series in 2004 when he was named series MVP. He is a 12-time All-Star who has a career .312 batting average and 1,831 RBIs. Most notably, he has hit 555 home runs, ranking him 14th all-time.
The last few years of his career however, saw Manny's production fall. In 2010 he played in just 90 games, batted .298 and had only 42 RBIs and nine home runs. In five games with the Tampa Bay Rays in 2011 he had one RBI and a .059 average.
The A's are currently in second place in the A.L. West with a 19-18 record.
