Manny Ramirez arrived at the Athletics training facility in Phoenix yesterday to begin his return to baseball and said he was intent on demonstrating “I can still play.”

The 12-time All-Star signed a minor league deal with the A’s on Monday that’s worth $500,000 if he’s added to the big league roster. He will be allowed to participate in spring training games and exhibition games scheduled in Japan, but must serve a 50-game suspension for his second positive drug test before he can play in the regular season for Oakland.

The A’s are hoping he can return to the level that made him one of the most feared hitters in baseball. Ramirez got off to a good start.

After taking batting practice, in which he hit seven home runs off Oakland coach Mike Gallego, Ramirez addressed the media accompanied by his wife, Juliana, and two sons, Manny Jr. and Lucas.

“I was kind of nervous coming to the stadium,” Ramirez said. “I’m here because God brought me here. I know a lot of people are, ‘Oh, he’s not going to play anymore,’ but you know something? When God says that they’re going to open the door for you, no matter what anyone says, the door is going to open. That’s why I’m here.”

INDIANS: Oft-injured, hard-luck outfielder Grady Sizemore is hurt again. Sizemore likely will miss opening day with a strained lower back, an injury the former All-Star sustained while fielding ground balls as he prepared for what he hoped would be a healthy season.

The Indians revealed Sizemore’s injury yesterday, one day before they hold their first full-squad workout.

DODGERS: Center fielder Matt Kemp, who said he should have been last year’s National League MVP instead of the Brewers’ Ryan Braun, applauded the decision that overturned Braun’s 50-game suspension for a positive drug test.

“I was happy that he was found not guilty,” Kemp said at the Dodgers’ spring training facility in Glendale, Ariz. “I know he’s been going through a lot. Now, he and the Brewers can concentrate on just playing baseball, going about their business.”

A bankruptcy judge in Delaware yesterday refused to postpone a hearing on a request by the Dodgers to disallow a claim filed on behalf of a Giants fan who was nearly beaten to death outside Dodger Stadium on opening day last year. The hearing is scheduled for March 21, but attorneys for the fan, Bryan Stow, argued they need more time to prepare their opposition.

CARDINALS: Right-hander Adam Wainwright threw batting practice during the first full-squad workout yesterday, just a few days past the one-year anniversary of the elbow injury that sidelined him all of 2011.