Carlos Manuel Almanzar Girón (born November 6, 1973 in Santiago, Dominican Republic) is a Major League Baseball pitcher. He has pitched for the Toronto Blue Jays, San Diego Padres, New York Yankees, Cincinnati Reds, and Texas Rangers. He has also pitched in the minor leagues for the Atlanta Braves and Boston Red Sox.

Almanzar was involved in an infamous incident involving some Rangers teammates and Oakland Athletics fans on September 13, 2004, that ultimately resulted in teammate Frank Francisco throwing a chair into the stands and hitting a fan, causing her to suffer a cut. He was suspended briefly for the incident.^[1][2]

On October 4, 2005, Almanzar, who had missed most of the 2005 season due to a torn elbow ligament that required Tommy John surgery to repair, was suspended for 10 days by MLB authorities for failing a steroids test.^[3] He indicated that he would appeal the suspension.

In 2008, Almanzar did not play for any team during the regular season, but did play for Leones del Escogido in the Dominican Winter League where he was 2-0 with a 1.80 ERA after 6 appearances.

Almanzar's 17-year-old son, Michael Almanzar, recently signed a deal with the Boston Red Sox as an international free agent. He was awarded with a signing bonus of $1.5 million, the largest signing bonus that the Red Sox have given to an international free agent ever. He plays third base and began the 2008 season playing for the Gulf Coast League Red Sox before receiving a promotion to the Single-A Greenville Drive.

[edit] See also

• List of sportspeople sanctioned for doping offences

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Career statistics and player information from Baseball-Reference, or Fangraphs, or The Baseball Cube

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