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Baltimore Orioles and Manny Ramirez: Gambling on Greatness

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Baltimore Orioles and Manny Ramirez: Gambling on Greatness
As word spread throughout the baseball world that the Baltimore Orioles had some initial discussions with Manny Ramirez’s agent on the possibility of signing him to team for the upcoming 2012 Major League Baseball season, fans and critics started to take notice.
Manny Ramirez has recently been reinstated by MLB on the condition that if he signs, he will have a 50 game suspension before stepping on the field. Ramirez resigned last year as he tested positive to using Performance Enhancing Drugs (PED) and was facing a lengthy 100 game ban from the League. For Ramirez, his reputation and his tremendous record were put into doubt by many fans and critics alike.
For some it came as a subtle surprise that Ramirez was being reinstated by the League after all of the PED issues he had faced. The obvious question right now is why are the Orioles interested in signing a player that has a tainted history in baseball. The obvious answer is the fact that they believe that Ramirez is an extremely talented player and are willing to take a gamble on the fact that he might be looking to clean up his image and prove to the world that it was his talent and not the steroids that achieved all the great stats during his career. Also, the team is looking for a player like Ramirez who can possibly save them from another disastrous regular season.
During the 2011 MLB regular season, the Baltimore Orioles had a dismal performance as they only managed to win 69 games and ended up losing 93. The team sat at the bottom of the American League East Division. It is no wonder that the team are looking at all angels for some help on their offence. The Orioles have started to talk to Ramirez’s agent and it is now understood that the team will try to sign him before the start of the 2012 regular season.
The fact that the Orioles are willing to take a chance on Ramirez despite the fact that he had issues with steroids clearly show how desperate they are to improve their standing in the League. Also, if Ramirez does somehow manage to sign with the Orioles, he has to serve a 50 game ban as per MLB rules. That is almost one third of the regular season that the player will have to sit out.
However, for the Orioles, another gamble is the affect signing Ramirez will have on the team’s fans. If they accept his past faults the stadium gets full and if they don’t support the idea of having Manny on the team, the Orioles can possibly face some serious backlash over wasting large amounts of money on a player with a checkered history.
Regardless of the steroids issue, one thing for sure about Ramirez is that he is a tremendous baseball player. The fact that the Orioles are willing to take a gamble on a player like Manny shows that the team believes in his talents and is willing to put aside his past indiscretions so that he can have a fresh start. In essence it may be the Orioles that are looking to remove themselves from the past few poor performances and get a fresh start for the 2012 MLB regular season.  Whatever way you look at it, the combination of the Orioles with Manny Ramirez can be a tremendous gamble if it pays off for both involved.
The views expressed in this article are the writer's own and in no way represent Bettor.com's official editorial policy.
 

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