Owner says Dodgers will thrive despite Manny Ramirez scandal

Four days into Manny Ramirez’s 50-game suspension for violating baseball’s drug policy, Dodgers owner Frank McCourt broke his silence.

McCourt acknowledged during the Dodgers’ 7-5, 13-inning loss to the San Francisco Giants on Sunday that he spoke to Ramirez on the phone the previous day, and also met with the troubled All-Star outfielder. McCourt wouldn’t disclose the location of their meeting, but a source familiar with the situation said that it took place at Ramirez’s Pasadena apartment.

“I felt it was important that the conversation be eyeball to eyeball and not on the phone,” McCourt said. “I found him to be very sorrowful. He was really apologetic. He’s very sorry. He knows he’s disappointed not only me but everybody in the front office, [Manager] Joe [Torre] and everybody in uniform down there, all of his teammates and the fans and the community. He’s hurt. But he also knows he dropped the hurt on himself.”

McCourt had demanded that Ramirez reach out to him, according to sources. Torre and General Manager Ned Colletti said they also spoke to Ramirez on Saturday.

McCourt said he’d wanted to meet with Ramirez in part to see whether he was genuinely remorseful, and the owner said he came away convinced that he was. Then again, McCourt also met with Ramirez on the morning they agreed to terms on a two-year, $45-million contract and said at the time that he believed the reputed troublemaker wouldn’t cause any problems.

McCourt said he didn’t ask Ramirez whether he took a banned substance to enhance his performance or for a “personal health issue,” as Ramirez claimed in a statement issued by the players’ union Thursday. Ramirez was found to have used human chorionic gonadotropin, or HCG, which is often used to replenish testosterone levels at the end of steroid treatment cycles.

In saying he didn’t care to find out why or how Ramirez failed a drug test administered during spring training, McCourt borrowed a line from suspected steroid user Mark McGwire, who said at a congressional hearing on performance-enhancing drugs in 2005 that he wasn’t there to “talk about the past.”

“We can sit and dwell on the past, but I’m not going to do that,” said McCourt, who said repeatedly that Ramirez and the Dodgers had to move forward. “We all do things from time to time that disappoint people, don’t we? So it’s how you deal with that that really matters.”

While saying that Ramirez had to take “responsibility publicly” and speak to teammates and fans “directly” and “from his heart,” McCourt said he didn’t think it was necessary for Ramirez to detail the circumstances of his drug use.

“I personally don’t think him getting into all kinds of details is what’s important here,” he said. “I think what’s important is an acknowledgment of the mistake.”

McCourt said he had no opinion on Ramirez’s motives for using a banned substance.

“I’m not a doctor,” he said. “What I know is the test results. I know that there have been many tests, I know he passed many of them, I know he failed one. That’s all I know.”

McCourt said he wasn’t looking to void or alter Ramirez’s contract, and claimed that he wouldn’t want to even if he could. Ramirez has a $20-million player option for next season.

“I think we’ve all agreed that this is the most stringent testing policy in all sports and that there are very, very significant penalties that go with a positive test and this is just an example of that,” he said. “A 50-game suspension without pay, that’s a steep price to pay.”

McCourt said he learned of Ramirez’s suspension after the Dodgers’ win over the Washington Nationals on Wednesday night.

“I’d be lying to say I wasn’t a little angry at first,” McCourt said. “But it’s nothing a good night’s sleep doesn’t solve. Anger gets you nowhere. It doesn’t solve any problems.”

McCourt said that anger turned into disappointment.

“I think what was most disappointing was that we put a lot of confidence in Manny and built a relationship there and whenever a relationship is violated like that, there’s a sense of disappointment. But we all make mistakes, so I think what we really need to focus in on is the pathway forward.”

That includes addressing his teammates, something that, according to sources, could happen on the six-game trip that starts Tuesday. The second half of that trip will take the Dodgers to Miami, where Ramirez lives in the off-season.

Asked how damaging this scandal could be for the Dodgers, McCourt replied, “Way too early to tell. I think that if Manny takes the steps that I’m hopeful that he will, I think this will be something that won’t damage the franchise at all.

“That said, the Dodgers are much bigger than Manny Ramirez or any player. . . . The Dodgers are much bigger than anybody, including me, including the owners.”

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dylan.hernandez@latimes.com