Today, a troublemaker who is currently being suspended from high school is enjoying private tutoring from his teachers in a simulated classroom environment filled with students, and where's the learning in that?
This is not the first time this has happened this season, as the Philadelphia Phillies' J.C. Romero quietly made five appearances in the minor leagues before completing his 50-game substance suspension.
Did it help? Well, Romero began his season with six consecutive scoreless games, and has given up one run in nine innings so, yeah.
Romero is a fairly anonymous middle reliever and didn't grab the national attention of Ramirez, but it was wrong then, and it is wrong now. Baseball needs to fix it before it happens again, and baseball knows it.
"This has never been a point of contention before," said Pat O'Conner, Minor League Baseball president. "But it's a whole new era."
Currently, O'Conner's teams don't have a choice but to accept players such as Ramirez. Major League Baseball is in the middle of a 10-year agreement with Minor League Baseball that includes what is known as the "Rule 9(i) rehab."
The rule allows suspended or injured major league players to spend 10 days (hitters) or 16 days (pitchers) in the minor leagues before returning to the active list.
"We can't pick and choose who we'll accept," O'Conner said. "Suspended players, injured players, it's apples and apples."
He paused, and acknowledged that the Ramirez case is unique.
"This is a different kind of apple," he said. "This is one for the ages."
Talking with O'Conner and major league officials Tuesday, it became apparent that the Ramirez case has caused both parties to reconsider Rule 9(i), and it will be revisited this winter.
"It's a new era, and would something like this be deserving of at least a conversation?" O'Conner said. "Maybe so."
In the meantime, Ramirez's suspension continues to look increasingly like a nice vacation for him and a financial windfall for the Dodgers.
Think about it. During the suspension, Ramirez had reaped all the rewards of being a Dodger without any of the responsibilities.
He has been allowed clubhouse and training room and field access without ever explaining how and why and when he violated baseball's drug policy. The Dodgers have taken care of his every need -- from cough syrup to batting-practice baseballs -- without once asking him to be accountable to the community that they once considered a priority.
