Not enough muscle?

The Manny Ramírez suspension has a few owners scratching their heads on why there's a three-strike policy as opposed to a two-strike policy. Most reasonable people are willing to give players a second chance if they've messed up with steroids. But three chances?

If you've been foolish enough to take steroids and test positive once, shouldn't one more chance be enough?

Another issue is that owners can't recoup or void a contract of a steroid offender. That will become an issue as well in the next negotiations.

While Dodgers owner Frank McCourt will get about $7.7 million in salary relief for the 50-game suspension, he gave Ramírez a $25 million salary based on an extraordinary performance over the final 53 games of last season, and then the playoffs, not knowing whether Ramírez was juiced up on steroids at the time.

The Dodgers will probably have him next season, as well. The $20 million option will likely be exercised by Ramírez, whose suspension has likely hurt his chance to earn more than that in free agency. That means if Ramírez returns and isn't the player the Dodgers thought he was, they'll have to pay him another $20 million anyway. Of course, he could always return and continue to hit on a torrid pace.

There seems to be a flaw in the system in that Ramírez knew about his positive test in April, but the team didn't for more than a month. While the policy is designed to protect the players' privacy, Ramírez was still paid for several weeks after he knew of a positive test.

Ramírez has a lot of repairing to do. He began the process Friday in Miami, where he apologized to his teammates. He went around and shook their hands, vowing to return as a good teammate. He has met with McCourt, general manager Ned Colletti, and manager Joe Torre individually.

But this is just the beginning. The Dodgers want full accountability, so they expect Ramírez to go face-to-face with the media and the fans. They're also expecting that he will rejoin the team at home in Los Angeles early this week and participate in workouts with the team.

Good things brewing for Macha in Milwaukee

You must feel you hit the lotto having Trevor Hoffman pitch as well as he has since his return.

KM: "He's pretty much been perfect [8 for 8 in save chances] and really given our entire team and bullpen quite a boost. When you can rely on your closer like that, it just makes everything else fall into place. We're able to put guys in roles they feel comfortable in ahead of Trevor."

Are you at all surprised?

KM: "I'm really not, in that back at the winter meetings, I remember having a conversation with Terry Francona and [Padres manager] Bud Black and I asked Bud about Trevor. He made it very clear that he had the utmost confidence in bringing him into a game to close it. It didn't matter how old he was. That's proven to be true. I've got to be careful in how I manage him to make sure I'm not overusing him. That's going to be my responsibility because we need this guy for the long haul."

It seems that your hitters have begun to take off and change their approach at the plate.

KM: "We've been a lot more patient at the plate. This is something I've really tried to stress with our hitters and something I always believed in when I was in Oakland. We're keeping things simple: just get a good ball to hit and swing. Prince [Fielder] is really starting to drive the ball. [J.J.] Hardy is coming around. [Rickie] Weeks has been terrific."

It seems right now you've gotten better work from your starting rotation than you expected.

KM: "I think we lead the league in quality starts, which is another thing I had hoped for when the season started. We wanted to see how our staff would come together, and they're doing a good job. [Yovani] Gallardo has been terrific and giving us a chance to win every time he's out there."

You brought up third baseman Mat Gamel from Nashville, where he hit .336 with 8 homers and 31 RBIs. I know he's one of your top prospects, so what are you expecting?

KM: "We're going to give him a shot. He's one of our best prospects, 23 years old, so he's not going to sit on the bench. We're going to use him as a pinch hitter, at third, at DH when we start playing interleague. He's a lefthanded bat, so that's a nice thing for us because we're so righthanded. We're excited about this kid, but we want to make sure we do things the right way with him."

You also signed Frank Catalanotto, a good veteran lefthanded bat.

KM: "Frank has always been an excellent hitter from the left side and he's someone we hope can help us at some point. He's going to be down in Arizona just trying to get himself back in playing shape and then we'll move him up to Double A or Triple A, have him play a while, and assess that."

You seem to be having fun.

KM: "This has been a great experience for me."

Etc.

2. Bill Morgan, former Red Sox physician - Dr. Morgan said that while he would occasionally bring in doctors to speak to the players on health issues, he does not recall anyone who would have instructed them on how to use steroids the right way, as Lou Merloni contended last week. "I would never condone the use of steroids," said Morgan. "There's no acceptable way to use steroids. I don't recall that incident that Lou was referring to. Lou is a solid guy and I'm sure some things that were said were misconstrued."

3. Jim Rice, Red Sox Hall of Famer - Rice said he is not likely to consider another job as a hitting coach in the majors but wouldn't be against coaching kids at low levels of the minors near his South Carolina home. Rice's dearest friend is Astros manager Cecil Cooper. Houston hitting coach Sean Berry recently had a cancerous tumor in his kidney removed, but he will return to the team. Opportunities may arise for Rice, but so far he's saying he wouldn't be interested.

4. Frank Thomas, DH, free agent - Thomas is back in the Chicago area watching his son play high school ball, but those who have seen him say he's in phenomenal shape and is ready for another chance.

5. Stan Kasten, CEO, Nationals - Kasten has been telling people he'll pay a fair-market rate for San Diego State phenom pitcher Stephen Strasburg but not major league money. If that's the case, the Nationals probably shouldn't bother drafting him. There are plenty of other organizations that say they wouldn't give Strasburg a major league contract, either, but then again there are plenty who feel Strasburg should go right to the big leagues.

6. Clay Buchholz, RHP, Pawtucket - A lot of clamoring to get Buchholz up to the big leagues, but what's the hurry? One of the problems with young pitchers these days is that they haven't had enough seasoning. There was a time when teams felt a kid had to pitch at least 500 minor league innings. Buchholz has pitched 379 1/3 in the minors and 98 2/3 innings in the majors, so he's just about there. He's dominated the minors - 26-12 with a 2.30 ERA - but is 5-10 with a 5.56 ERA in 20 major league games. It won't hurt Buchholz to stay down a tad longer.

7. Joe Mauer, C, Twins - David Ortiz, please see Mauer's swing. Mauer is "shorter to the ball" than he's ever been, according to Twins hitting coach Joe Vavra. He now has five homers in 58 plate appearances; last year, he didn't hit his first homer until June 12 and got his fifth in his 353d plate appearance, on July 12. Add that power to the two-time batting champ's arsenal and you have one phenomenal player. While he missed time with a back issue, the better Mauer does, the higher his price goes in free agency, which is around the corner.

8. Bryan Price, former pitching coach, Diamondbacks - Price was always one of the best pitching coaches in the game, and it was rather surprising when he resigned once Bob Melvin was fired as manager. Price has hooked on already as a special assistant to Phillies general manager Ruben Amaro to evaluate pitching in the organization. This is quite a catch for the Phillies.

9. Clint Hurdle, manager, Rockies - He could be the next manager fired. Hurdle made it to the World Series in 2007, but now, like Melvin, a former Manager of the Year, he may not survive May.

Nick Cafardo can be reached at cafardo@globe.com.