Here we go again, folks.

According to a report in the New York Times, Manny Ramirez(notes) and David Ortiz(notes) are on the list of players who tested positive for PEDs in 2003.

The former Red Sox teammates join Alex Rodriguez(notes) and Sammy Sosa(notes) as players identified by anonymous sources as being among the guilty during MLB's initial steroid survey (for which there was no punishment for testing positive). 

From the NYT:

"The information about Ramirez and Ortiz emerged through interviews with multiple lawyers and others connected to the pending litigation. The lawyers spoke anonymously because the testing information is under seal by a court order. The lawyers did not identify which drugs were detected."

At this point, the news isn't very shocking or surprising, but that doesn't mean there aren't at least two big issues to be discussed here.

For one, Ortiz had been on record saying that he couldn't say for certain that he did not do steroids. That sounds like a half-lie at best, though I'm assuming he said it while believing the names on the 2003 list would ever come to light. More recently, he's said that every positive case should receive a a year-long ban instead of the current 50-game penalty. 

"I think you clean up the game by the testing," Ortiz said back in February. "I know that if I test positive by using any kind of substance, I know that I'm going to disrespect my family, the game, the fans and everybody, and I don't want to be facing that situation. 

The other big thing, of course, is how this news affects the Red Sox two-title "dynasty." Two months ago, ESPN's Bill Simmons wrote a column about eventually confronting the fact that the titles in 2004 and 2007 might have been aided with a needle. With this breaking news, SportsGuy comes off like a Beantown prophet.

What do you think? Does this report change anything for you?