The commissioner’s office didn’t announce the specific violation by Ramirez, but in a statement Thursday provided by Major League Baseball, Ramirez attributed the violation to medication he had been prescribed by a doctor.

“Recently I saw a physician for a personal health issue. He gave me a medication, not a steroid, which he thought was OK to give me,” Ramirez said. “Unfortunately, the medication was banned under our drug policy. Under the policy that mistake is now my responsibility. I have been advised not to say anything more for now.

Statement from Manny
“Recently I saw a physician for a personal health issue. He gave me a medication, not a steroid, which he thought was OK to give me. Unfortunately, the medication was banned under our drug policy. Under the policy that mistake is now my responsibility. I have been advised not to say anything more for now. I do want to say one other thing; I’ve taken and passed about 15 drug tests over the past five seasons. I want to apologize to Mr. McCourt, Mrs. McCourt, Mr. Torre, my teammates, the Dodger organization, and to the Dodger fans. LA is a special place to me and I know everybody is disappointed. So am I. I’m sorry about this whole situation.”

“I do want to say one other thing; I’ve taken and passed about 15 drug tests over the past five seasons. I want to apologize to [Dodgers owner Frank] McCourt, Mrs. McCourt, [manager Joe] Torre, my teammates, the Dodger organization, and to the Dodger fans. LA is a special place to me and I know everybody is disappointed. So am I. I’m sorry about this whole situation.”

After consultation with the Players’ Association and his personal representatives, Ramirez waived his right to challenge the suspension. He will lose nearly $8 million of his $25 million salary.

Ramirez’s test result was first reported by the Los Angeles Times.

Triple-A outfielder Xavier Paul has been told by the Dodgers that he will be promoted later today, according to The Times. Ramirez would be eligible to return to the Dodgers’ lineup for their July 3 game against San Diego.

In his first full season as a Dodger, Ramirez is batting .348 with six home runs and 20 RBIs. Los Angeles has bolted to a 21-8 record — best in the majors — and a 13-0 record at home that set the modern major league record for home winning streak to start a season. They lead the NL West by 6½ games.

This is the second major drug revelation to hit baseball in the last few months. In February, Alex Rodriguez admitted taking steroids while playing for Texas from 2001 to 2003. But that was before the start of testing with penalties under a program agreed to by players and management. The New York Yankees star doesn’t appear likely to be suspended.

Ramirez is the third player suspended this year under the major league program, following Philadelphia reliever J.C. Romero and Yankees pitcher Sergio Mitre.

Just two relatively low-profile players were suspended under the major league program last year, San Francisco catcher Elizier Alfonzo and Colorado catcher Humberto Coto.

In the past, the best-known player penalized was Baltimore’s Rafael Palmeiro, who received a 10-day suspension in 2005, the first year of penalties for first infractions. Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.

Burress’ four-year tenure with the Giants was highlighted by a game-winning touchdown catch in the Super Bowl against the previously undefeated New England Patriots in February 2008, but it was also dogged by fines and suspensions.

Burress’ status has been uncertain since he shot himself in the thigh on Nov. 29 with an unlicensed gun he’d stuffed into his waistband. He faces a felony weapons charge that could put him in prison for at least 3½ years if convicted.

Burress’ case was adjourned on Tuesday while his attorneys and prosecutors worked on a possible plea agreement. He is due back in court on June 15.

The 31-year-old, who was suspended by the Giants for the final four weeks of the season for conduct detrimental to the team and fined after the shooting, also faces possible NFL sanctions for violating its personal conduct policy.

A senior Giants official told ESPN’s Sal Paolantonio it had become clear in January that Burress didn’t want to be in New York when agent Drew Rosenhaus sent an e-mail to the rest of the league saying Burress could be available in a trade.

Burress’ case was adjourned on Tuesday while his attorneys and prosecutors worked on a possible plea agreement. He is due back in court on June 15.

The 31-year-old, who was suspended by the Giants for the final four weeks of the season for conduct detrimental to the team and fined after the shooting, also faces possible NFL sanctions for violating its personal conduct policy.

A senior Giants official told ESPN’s Sal Paolantonio it had become clear in January that Burress didn’t want to be in New York when agent Drew Rosenhaus sent an e-mail to the rest of the league saying Burress could be available in a trade.

“It wasn’t to be, so now we have to move on. Like everybody else here, we want nothing but the best for Plaxico, and we are appreciative of the contributions he made to this franchise.”

The decision to release Burress might lead the Giants to look for a deep threat receiver in the draft later this month. The only player currently on the roster who might fill that role is Mario Manningham, a second-year player out of Michigan who did little in an injury-plagued rookie season. Steve Smith and Domenik Hixon have shown the ability to be a deep threat on occasion, but neither is as consistent as Burress at stretching a defense.

Burress caught 344 passes with the Giants, which places him 12th on the franchise’s career list, one catch ahead of Earnest Gray and three behind Aaron Thomas. Burress had 3,681 receiving yards and caught 33 touchdown passes for the Giants.

Burress’ Giants teammates had been supportive about his possible return. The Giants lost four of their final five games after Burress was suspended and placed on the non-football injury list, meaning he also could not appear in the playoffs.

The Giants finished 12-5, losing at home in the playoffs to the Philadelphia Eagles. New York lost four of its final five games without Burress, who provided the Giants with their lone deep threat.

“Plaxico’s contribution to our championship season in 2007 can never be underestimated or undervalued,” coach Tom Coughlin said. “He displayed tremendous determination throughout that season. Having said that, I have always been as concerned about Plaxico as a man as I have been about him as a player, and my hope is that everything that has happened over the past several months represents a turning point.

“He is a young man with a family who has a whole lifetime ahead of him, and I personally wish him and his family well.”

The Giants signed Burress to a five-year, $35 million contract extension in September. The team failed to play a $1 million signing after the shooting and the NFL Players Association filed a grievance on the player’s behalf.

The grievance, which contests whether teams can withhold guaranteed salaries and bonus money from players because of off-the-field conduct, was heard earlier this week by an arbitrator, Stephen Burbank at the University of Pennsylvania law school. His ruling is expected within a week.

Negotiations between the Giants and Burress on the bonus apparently had been going well, but Burress refused to compromise on the amount he would get back.

He wanted all of it returned while Rosenhaus, his agent, wanted to compromise. That forced the hearing, another reason the Giants concluded that they were getting nowhere with Burress.

“It was another indication to us that the player did not want to be here, did not want to be with the Giants” the team source told Paolantonio.

Asked about Tuesday’s events, when Burress’ preliminary hearing on gun charges was put off another 60 days, the source said nothing specific about how the adjournment impacted their decision but said it was another indication “Plaxico was not dealing in the real world and doesn’t want to go halfway on anything.”

The Giants just decided to move on, the source said.

Burress had caught a pass in 115 consecutive games, including 56 with the Giants, until he was shut out at Arizona on Nov. 23, his last game before the shooting incident. Burress started but left that game after one series with a hamstring injury and did not return.

Burress’ 23 postseason catches with the Giants leave him fifth on the team’s career list and his 310 postseason yards place him third. He had 35 passes for 454 yards and four touchdowns in 10 games last season.

His last Giants’ reception was an 11-yarder late in the second quarter in a victory over Baltimore on Nov. 16.

Burress joined the Giants as an unrestricted free agent March 2005.

Information from The Associated Press and ESPN’s Sal Paolantonio was used in this report.

In papers he submitted to a bankruptcy court, Vick indicated that he plans on making $10 million per season, which I’m pretty sure would be a record for an ex-con who had a career quarterback rating of 75.7 when he went away. From the Atlanta Journal Constitution:

The embattled Atlanta Falcons quarterback is hoping to earn as much as $10 million a year or more, according to court filings in his bankruptcy case. Under the plan he submitted to the court, Vick would keep the first $750,000 of his annual income over the next five years. After that, a percentage would go to his creditors based on a sliding scale. [...]

In a March 4 court filing, Vick’s attorneys say he “has every reason to believe upon his release, he will be reinstated into the NFL, resume his career and be able to earn a substantial living.”

“He is hopeful to play quarterback,” Daniel Meachum, an attorney and business manager for Vick, said in an interview. “There is no person with his talent in that position in all the league.”

That may have been true at one time, but there are also no quarterbacks in the league who have spent the last nine months sitting in a jail cell and eating prison food. I’m not a nutritionist or anything, but I’m pretty sure that’s not what NFL team doctors would recommend for keeping a guy in optimum game shape.

The fact of the matter is that no one knows how Vick will perform when he gets out of the joint, though it seems extraordinarily unlikely that he’ll look exactly the same as he did when he went in. Factor in the amount of teams scared off by the P.R. nightmare, and I think we’re looking at a salary closer to $605,000, which was last year’s veteran minimum for a seventh-year player. Gracias, FanHouse