With Manny Ramirez’s recent 50-game suspension, it appears that Major League Baseball and commissioner Bud Selig may have an opportunity for the first time to increase the punishment handed down to a player found guilty of using performance enhancement drugs.

Ramirez is the first true star player to earn a suspension–but even with him missing 50 games, he will be eligible return to the field around the begining of July–which means he will be active for before the All-Star break.

And since Manny is a fairly popular player (for some reason, people enjoy the aloofness and me first attitude he has displayed for most of his career), there stands a chance that despite missing nealry 2/3 of the first half of the season, Ramirez could be elected by fans to start the “Midsummer Classic.” (subscription required for full article text)

Even without going into how this could impact the argument that fans shouldn’t be allowed to vote in the starting lineups for a game that now actually has postseason ramifications (or how stupid it is that the game HAS postseason ramifications), hopefully if Ramirez IS voted in, the commissioner’s office will step in and nullify the voting, and ban Ramirez from the game.

It wouldn’t be the first time that Selig started making up rules on the fly.  And for once, it would probably be the right call.

In fact, I would take it one step further, and propose that Ramirez (and all players caught using performance enhancing drugs) be banned from All-Star games AND postseason awards, if not for the rest of his career, than at least for the next 3-5 years.  I’m not sure how much of an impact it would have on players using the drugs–although many players may have award bonuses in their contracts–but at least it would help with the “purity” of the game.

At the same time, this is Bud Selig we’re talking about–so if Manny does get voted in, odds are good that he will be in Phoenix.  Unless Ramirez has enough common sense to…never mind.