Um, not quite, Plaschke

While I do agree with Bill Plaschke's contempt of the Dodgers' ownership's apparently tacit approval of all things Manny, I am not sure I can agree with this one:

If you vote for Manny Ramirez, you are endorsing his cheating. And if Ramirez does somehow become one of the top three vote-getters, then Selig needs to use his "best interest" clause and revoke his candidacy.

Not, quite, Bill. A vote for Manny doesn't mean you are endorsing his cheating. If you followed my twisted logic, a vote for Manny is precisely what we need to ensure that those who test positive cannot appear in their next eligible All Star Game. It's been collectively bargained that anyone testing positive can still appear, if selected, to the All Star Game. This needs to change, obviously. I don't think Bud will invoke the "best interests" clause; it's not his style. Bud can, after the season, sit with the MLBPA and hope both sides agree to a "Shawne Merriman" rule. It's be a solid good-faith gesture by MLBPA, though I'm not sure what they'd ask for in exchange.

In case you haven't totally understood me, I am in favor of fan voting and mandatory representation from every team IF the game is an exhibition, as it used to be. {Who cares if it ends in a tie if it's an exhibition anyways?} Or, come up with a new hybrid selection process (equal weighting the vote of the fans/players/managers) and selecte the best 32 players and play to win the game at all costs. And if you were wondering what Bud's stance is on fan voting (which I completely support in the selection of a roster for an exhibition game only):

"The fans vote on the team, it's not my place to take the game away from them"

Simply, find a better way to determine who gets HFA in the World Series, other than the ASG. Such as team with the best record with the tiebreaker being something like interleague record. Bud would probably like that since interleague is another of his babies. That would have its own issues with some teams getting a much more favorable interleague schedule, but I'm not worried about the particulars right now.

I just want the "Merriman" rule in place and the "this time it counts" idea revoked.