Indians: Manny Ramirez comeback may have ended for good

The Australian baseball team, the Sydney Blue Sox, have announced that they’ve let Manny Ramirez go, ending that current comeback attempt.

Former Indians outfield Manny Ramirez was attempting a comeback with the Australian baseball team, the Sydney Blue Sox. Ramirez had joined the club at the end of August 2020, and was supposed to debut for the team when the league returned to competition in 2021. Yet, it was announced on Sunday that Ramirez had been officially released from his one-year contract, ending another comeback attempt from the former Indians slugger.

The official Blue Sox account states that Ramirez is dealing with a medical issue at the moment, which is keeping him from playing and training with the Blue Sox. The issue appears to be an oblique injury, though rumors started to circulate that Ramirez may have tested positive for steroids again, Ramirez himself has denied that claim. There’s also no one else in the know is hinting at that being the case.

The Blue Sox have begun their season though they’ve faced many postponements and rescheduling due to COVID-19 restrictions being enacted on the country-continent. The Blue Sox are currently 1-1 on their young season and were hoping to expose the Australian Baseball League to the world through the signing of Ramirez, as well as the partnership with the American Association of Professional Baseball.

The release doesn’t just hurt the Blue Sox and their standing in the greater world of baseball, as Ramirez was going to be a huge part of their marketing, but it almost informally ends any comeback attempt by Ramirez. There are not many other major league promotions out there for Ramirez and the hope was that by going to the ABL and playing well, maybe someone would come calling, not too dissimilar than when Julio Franco kept getting the call to come back.