From his latest blog on espn.com: "Everyone in the clubhouse knows the names. Joba Chamberlain (twice), Felix Hernandez (twice), Edinson Volquez, Justin Verlander -- pitchers that Manny Ramirez didn't feel quite right to face, be it a knee, a hamstring, his contract or the pitcher's velocity, and those he left for someone else in the Red Sox "family" to face." "Manny being Manny means Manny wanting money. He doesn't want to wait for the Red Sox to exercise the right he gave them for the first $168M, the right to decide at the end of the season whether to pick up his option for 2009 at $20M. The Red Sox fulfilled their end of the contract; now he doesn't want to fulfill his obligation, the same way he watched his teammates fade in 2006." Thoughts? Evryone knows Gammons is a Sox homer so for him to rip in to manny like this he must know something. I do know John henry is, like the sox or not, one of the best owners and nicest owners in pro sports based on what i have read and for manny to blast henry the way he has recently, well I think there's some real tension in Boston here, no?
I cant see them dumping him this season. I could see them not exercising his option at the end of the year. However, as an Angel fan I hope they do get rid of him, that team becomes a lot less scary with him out of the lineup.
manny is definitely lazy and King Felix is definitely nasty (as are most of those other pitchers) but thats an awful lot of good players to wimp out against. Someones just trying to get back over that 1.000 career OPS mark.
I would say Manny is far from lazy, though he periodically displayes really stupid behavior, unprofessionalism, and a lack of concentration. Despite his lackadaisical behavior, he is a guy that stays in great shape always, shows up at the ballpark early and stays late, and spends extra time in the cages working on his hitting. I could call Manny dumb, but not really that lazy.
The Redsoxs always want to trade him every year around this time of year.Why would you want to trade Manny
Manny's a chump. Who cares what happens? He'll just go to the Yankees or Mets. That's how it always works, right?
I don't see Manny being traded now. Most likely the Sox won't pick up his options and just let him walk away. I do think that this was the final straw and he won't be back. Can't say I blame the FO as I have been a big Manny defender but I'm tired of doing it, he's a great hitter but acts like a 6th grader who just got picked last in kick ball. I do think that a lot of non-Sox fans don't really know just how hard of a worker Manny is and how much the guys in the clubhouse like him. But he is clearly immature and is just wrong in this situation. Bottom line is losing Manny would hurt in the short term but everyone is replaceble just ask Nomar and Pedro.
Letting Manny walk would just be silly. The guy is productive and the DO and MR is to good to pass up. Not to mention we can't replace him. There are no FA outfielders worth a damn. Hell, the entire FA market sucks *** (with the small exception of C.C. and Sheets and even Sheets is unimpressive, esspecially in the A.L.) Josh Beckett is 9-7 with a 3.xx ERA for gods sake. Let's not shoot ourselves in the foot further. Agreed. But I want to win. This sox team can't afford to lose him. This team is getting worse, not better. To be fair Nomar sucked when we dumped him. And we replaced him with OC who was nasty in the field and playoffs. It's like saying Lugo is replaceable... The difference is Nomar was good once and got bad. Losing Pedro did hurt short term, but he was rapidly declining with a fastball from 97 to 88 and a rising ERA. Giving him another deal was the wrong move. Apples and Oranges. Picking up a one year option does not hurt us.
Dan Lebatard (790 The Ticket) proclaimed he heard a rumor (he wouldnt name who it came from) that Terry Francona was telling people he "hated Manny Ramirez". I think a bit is lost in translation when Manny speaks. Sometimes I think he doesnt fully understand the brevity of his own words. Im surprised he came back to the Sox after winning a WS last year.
Manny is def causing drama. They're starting to look like the Red Sox of 2 years ago that folded like a lawn chair on a rainy day when the Yanks made a push in the second half. Personally, I think TB is better than both teams. They've been relatively healthy and more consistent with their starting rotation. That may be a bit exaggerated Should be a fun race to watch though as all 3 teams still have a legit shot.
I don't think it will be silly, the guy will be 37 next year, and let's face it, he's a pain in the butt. Yeah no one can replace his production but who's to say that the Sox won't be a better team without him? You never know. And yes I agree there are no good FA OFs worth a damn but Quintin and Luke Scott were available last year and got traded and now they have put up pretty big numbers, who's to say Theo and Co can't find the next Quintin? Yeah the team is getting worse, but they started to get worse once all of this Manny drama started, maybe it's not related but then again maybe it is. Nomar and Pedro were both on the decline when the Sox dumped then, but who's to say Manny won't start that decline too next year? Again he's going to be 37 and keeping an unhappy Manny you run the risk of having him quit on the team like he did in '06.
I highly doubt that rumor. Francona is a good guy and smart, I don't think he'd say anything like that about anyone just because it isn't good business. I agree and disagree. I do get a '06 feeling with this Sox team because they are very good and talented but just can't pull out games and seem to let them slip away. However the main difference between this year's team and in '06 is right now the team is at full strength where as in '06 Ortiz, Schilling, Manny, Wells, Varitek, Papelbon, Lester, Wakefield, Foulke, Nixon and Youkilis were all hurt and a lot of those guys missed most of the year with injuries. Again I'm not saying the Sox would have made the playoffs that year or wouldn't have sucked in August/Sept because injuries are part of the game. I disagree with Tampa being better than both the Sox and Yankees, I personally think both the Sox and Yanks are more talented, I do think the Rays have a good team but I just don't think they can keep it up especially with the schedule they have coming up and all of those games on the road. Of course who knows that's why they play the games on the field.
