Dodgers face marketing crisis?

The Dodgers are certainly pissed off about the Manny Ramirez steroids situation. Not only is he suspended for 50 games (at least they'll save $7.7 million during that time), but the team now faces a marketing crisis.

Photo Caption: "Hey Manny, did you ever take steroids?!"

Since acquiring the mercurial slugger last season, the Dodgers had built their marketing campaign around him. They got into this Mannywood stuff and then the big, long wigs. You don't need to know anything about baseball to know that Manny is the difference between the Dodgers dominating the NL West and the Dodgers merely competing in the NL West.

“It was just starting to gain momentum,” the team president, Dennis Mannion, said of Mannywood.

So what now?

Well as pissed off as they might be, they aren't distancing themselves from him (probably because they know he has them bent over a barrel).

“You’re thrilled to have a Manny Ramirez,” said Charles Steinberg, the team’s executive vice president who oversees a wide range of the marketing. “And we’re still thrilled to have a Manny Ramirez.”

According to one fan, it really doesn't matter all that much.

“He’s brought enthusiasm to the stadium that I haven’t seen in 15, 20 years,” one fan, Louis Craner, said before offering a popular prediction among those in the crowd. “The day he comes back, it will be a sold-out stadium and he’ll get a standing ovation.”

I guess hitting is more important than morals. Maybe the Dodgers aren't in that big of a marketing pickle after all.