The Manny Ramirez story is sodden with viewpoints, perspective and rampant speculation. Here is what we know.

Manny used HCG, human chorionic gonadotropin. The drug boosts testosterone production. It’s a common female fertility drug.

This drug can be used on its own for performance enhancement. Anabolic steroid users have used HCG to restart testosterone production after finishing a cycle.

That is all.

What can we speculate?

My Dad is a physician. Though this is not his area of expertise, I asked him if this was commonly prescribed for male sexual dysfunction. He unequivocally told me “no.€ Ramirez did not apply for baseball’s therapeutic use exemption. If that was the case, why, with his legacy at stake, would he not have volunteered it?

The body defense can be thrown out. Not, as Michael Kay argues, because we don’t know what a steroid body looks like. Manny has the body of a possible steroid user. Under the baggy uniform, he is ripped. Like Roger Clemens before him, he is known for his workout regime.

That said, we have no knowledge what Manny Ramirez did in the past, when he may have done it, or how it affected his play.

He’s not entirely a creation of PED. He was a beast in high school, a beast in the minors and a beast since he came up with Cleveland. There is no discernable leap in his performance at any point.

A clue may be his decline, or lack of one. Most power hitters generally fall off in their early 30’s. Jimmie Foxx fell off at 32. Ted Williams hit 30 home runs just once after 32. Mays lost his power at 35. Mantle at 32.

Ramirez fell off partially in 2007 at age 35, hitting 20 home runs in 483 AB. He hit 20 home runs in 425 AB for Boston in 2008. He then moved to LA and exploded for 23 HR in a 279 AB.  Does this mean anything, decisively? No.