Manny Ramirez has New Assignment and Potential Return Date

According to Los Angeles Dodgers manager Joe Torre, suspended outfielder Manny Ramirez has begun a rehab assignment in the minor leagues. He is set to return to the Dodgers lineup on July 3^rd after serving his 50 game suspension that started way back on May 7^th. The schedule is for Ramirez to play three or four games in Albuquerque, travel to California and then play four games in Class A ball for Inland Empire. Assuming that all of those games and the training goes well, Ramirez will be on schedule to begin playing for the Dodgers come July 3^rd.

While Ramirez is not known for being the type of player to really give it his all in minor league ball, or even show up unless he is forced to, there are many on the team including Torre that think the assignment will be good for him. The current drug policy allows for a 10 game assignment in the minors before returning from suspension, but it can only be done with the players consent. For now Ramirez has agreed to the schedule but we have all seen so many instances of Manny being Manny that no one knows if he will really complete his assignment or give it his all.

The team feels that Ramirez needs the assignment in order to ease himself back into the game even though he has been working out hard for the last month at the Dodger training facility. Is there a high chance that Ramirez could compete and do well without playing any minor league games? Absolutely. However, the management feels that this assignment will help him get his timing back and ensure that he can ease into the everyday rigor of the MLB. Another one of the reasons that the team wants to ease their star outfielder back into things is his damaged hamstrings. He has been working out for the past month but has had constant problems with his hamstrings over the past few years. When he signed late and rushed his way into Spring Training, he had to put on the DL for over a week during exhibition games and he is not getting any younger, as he just turned 37.

It will be quite interesting to see how Ramirez and the Dodgers will handle his eventual return. The team has been playing extremely well before the suspension and after it. A lot of the players have glued and the team chemistry even seems to have gotten better. There are quite a few people who are wondering whether the return of Ramirez will affect the team in a negative. Torre has disregarded those mumblings though and looks forward to being able to place Ramirez' powerful bat into the middle of the Dodger lineup again. If all goes well, the return will just improve an already powerful team and there may be no stopping the LA Dodgers from reaching the World Series this year.