Manny Ramirez has filed for reinstatement from Major League Baseball’s retired list and hired new agents, sources said Sunday.  Ramirez faces a 50-game suspension when he returns, rather than 100 games, sources said. Ramirez already served a 50-game suspension in 2009, and he had been notified that he was facing another offense last April when he agreed to step away from baseball.  Read more after the jump.
Second-time offenders get double the 50-game penalty, but the view of baseball officials is that if Ramirez had simply stayed in baseball last April and served his 100-game suspension, then he would’ve already done his time. In the end — after Ramirez serves a 50-game suspension, in the event he signs with another team — he will have wound up serving far more than the 100 games he would’ve faced.
Teams have been notified of the 50-game ban, sources said. Ramirez’s 50-game suspension clock doesn’t start ticking until he actually signs with a team.
Ramirez could conceivably sign with a team, work out through spring training, and then serve his 50-game suspension. It’s an open question as to whether any team would take a shot at Ramirez, who has been working out in South Florida and preparing for his comeback.
Ramirez told ESPNdeportes.com’s Enrique Rojas in September that he would formally request reinstatement, after he learned he will not be able to play winter ball in the Dominican Republic.
“If any team wants to sign me, I would play,” Ramirez said in September. “If no one does, I would look to play in Japan or any other place. I was not prepared for retirement.”
Ramirez, a former client of Scott Boras, is now being represented by Barry Praver and Scott Shapiro.
Ramirez, a 12-time All-Star, previously served a 50-game ban in 2009 while with the Los Angeles Dodgers.
He also is facing criminal prosecution in Florida on charges that he slapped his wife during a recent argument. He told investigators only that he grabbed his wife by the shoulders during an argument and “shrugged” her, causing her to hit her head on the headboard of their bed.
