Former Red Sox Mates Manny Ramirez, David Ortiz Reportedly on '03 'List'

The biggest fear of major league players, and their union -- and, now, Red Sox fans -- has reawakened. "The list" -- the names of the approximately 100 players who tested positive for steroids in 2003 -- has again been compromised, this time with Manny Ramirez and David Ortiz outed as users.

According to the New York Times:

The information about Ramirez and Ortiz emerged through interviews with multiple lawyers and others connected to the pending litigation. The lawyers spoke anonymously because the testing information is under seal by a court order. The lawyers did not identify which drugs were detected.

Now people will ask if the 2004 and 2007 World Series titles are "tainted," which is ridiculous, because there's no proof either player used that year -- and no proof their opponents didn't.

But this means more star players have been outed as cheats.

In a statement, Ortiz confirmed he was on the 2003 list, but dubiously claimed that he was not aware until Thursday.

"Based on the way I have lived my life, I am surprised to learn I tested positive. Two, I will find out what I tested positive for. And, three, based on whatever I learn, I will share this information with my club and the public. You know me -- I will not hide and I will not make excuses," Ortiz said.

It would certainly be a breath of fresh air if Ortiz is serious about being open, however, it is highly unlikely he didn't know about the failed test because, according to the Mitchell Report, the union informed all of the players on the now infamous list that they had tested positive no later than September 2004.

Ramirez, now with the Dodgers, has already been tainted, of course, with this year's 50-game suspension for a violation of Major League Baseball's drug policy (he took a banned substance that masks performance-enhancing drugs). But Ortiz is another story.

Immensely popular in Boston for his clutch homers and large personality, Ortiz once said that those caught using PEDs should be suspended for a year.

Ortiz said that he believes players are clean because testing is quite invasive, and if they test positive now, they should be thrown out of the game for the rest of the year. He said that players and whole teams should be tested "three or four times a year, that's it" which he thinks would give a good reading on who is or who isn't on steroids.

"I think you clean up the game by the testing. I test you, you test positive, you're going to be out. Period," Ortiz said. "If I test positive using any kind of banned substance I'm going to disrespect the game, my family, my fans and everybody. And I don't want to face the situation so I won't use it. I'm sure everybody is on the same page."

Oops.

The lesson to learn, assuming the Times has good information, is that no matter how well you think you know a player, or no matter how loudly he protests, you can not tell whether he has the inner moral compass to avoid the temptation to cheat.

Update: Players' union executive director Don Fehr issued a statement Thursday afternoon in response to the Times report.

Today The New York Times, once again, reports what it asserts to be information contained in documents under court seal. And precisely for that reason, the Players Association will not, indeed cannot, comment on whether the information is accurate. But there should be no mistake. The leaking of information under a court seal is a crime. The active pursuit of information that may not lawfully be disclosed because it is under court seal is a crime. That its informants, according to the Times, are lawyers is both shocking and sad. That the Times is pursuing and publishing what it openly declares to be information which may not be legally disclosed is equally sad.

We intend to take the appropriate legal steps to see that the court orders are enforced.

Update: After homering in Boston's defeat of Oakland, Ortiz issued a statement:

Today I was informed by a reporter that I was on the 2003 list of MLB players to test positive for performance-enhancing substances. This happened right before our game, and the news blindsided me. I said I had no comment because I wanted to get to the bottom of this.

I want to talk about this situation and I will as soon as I have more answers. In the meantime I want to let you know how I am approaching this situation. One, I have already contacted the Players Association to confirm if this report is true. I have just been told that the report is true. Based on the way I have lived my life, I am surprised to learn I tested positive. Two, I will find out what I tested positive for. And, three, based on whatever I learn, I will share this information with my club and the public. You know me -- I will not hide and I will not make excuses.

I want to thank my family, the Red Sox, my teammates, and the fans for their patience and support.

Update: Boston manager Terry Francona unsurprisingly said the Red Sox will support their slugger.

"This blindsided everybody including David," Francona said. "I believe David is putting out a statement which ... I wanted to read it before I came up here. He's going to deal with this head on. I do think that today is probably going to be a difficult day to get answers you're looking for because there aren't any yet. He needs to find out, he's already made calls ... trying to find out some things today, and until he does, he won't have the answers to questions, but he will certainly deal with it as David always does, head on, and be open and be honest.

"David knows that ... I think David felt all day, a lot of caring from his teammates, and hopefully he knows we care about him. He has earned, as a person, that from us. And we will be very supportive as I hope we are with all our players and we'll get to the bottom of whatever needs to be get to the bottom of, and like I said, David will deal with this openly, but again, there's going to... it's not going to happen in the next 10 minutes.

"There's a lot of things that he's not aware of and like I said he will deal with it as he knows. But he needs to get some information, too.

"There needs to obviously be some pursuit of the truth... My concern today is David. Again, I understand the question, you're entitled to questions, I gave you the answers that I have today."