He was in Boston for eight years and helped bring the city two World Series trophies, but his career has been dogged by drug tests.  

According to New York Times articles on the slugger, in April of last year he retired from baseball rather than face a 100-game suspension for testing positive for performance-enhancing drugs, and he was also suspended for 50 days in 2009 for a positive performance-enhancing drug test, and was on a list of about 100 major-leaguers who tested positive for these drugs in 2003.  

Now Manny's back.  As it says in an article in the Huffington Post, he just signed a $500,000 contract with the Oakland Athletics.  He'll have to serve a 50-game suspension, rather than a 100-game suspension because, according to the article, "he sat out nearly all of last season."  

Oakland A's owner Lew Wolff is "very pleased Billy was able to add Manny to our team," but we're wondering what you think.  Should Ramirez be barred from baseball, or is doping just part of the game now?  Vote in our poll and leave your thoughts in the comments.

Editorial note: this poll and the comments section is shared between the Beacon Hill and Charlestown Patch.com sites.