A Tribute to Manny

Yes, baseball is all about pitching and defense, but you wouldn't know it from the action on deadline day. Hitters carried the day. In three pretty huge surprises, Manny Ramirez went NOT to Florida at all, but wound up with the Dodgers, and gets to be Joe Torre's player, no longer his nemesis. Ken Griffey Jr. leaves the Reds after all those years. And Pudge of course will wear a Yankees uniform.

Only the Pudge trade could even be remotely related to pitching, as the catcher, of course, is one half of every pitching matchup. And Pudge will have to represent the defense as well, for Manny surely won't be a Gold Glover, and Griffey, though he'll play centerfield in his new role with the White Sox, is kind of long in the tooth to be able to make an impact that way anymore.

Yankees fans are thrilled. Not only did they pick up one of the very best catchers in the game, but they won't have to face Manny anymore. Mets fans are happy too, for, although the Mets made absolutely no deals, they won't have to face a Marlins team with Manny on it.

All those pitchers who could have gone elsewhere, Washburn, the guys in Toronto (pick a guy), and just about every pitcher not playing for a contender, was fodder for the rumor mill. But the GM's went for hitting on the last day. And WHAT hitters!

Manny Ramirez is a career .312 hitter and he's hit 510 homers. Ken Griffey Jr. is a career .288 with 608 home runs. Pudge isn't really in the same class but he does hold some records for 4-hit games. And his .302 career batting average over so many years stamps him as an All-Star candidate as well, though he's hit "only" 293 dingers.

Dodgers fans should be especially happy. Over a 2-day period, they picked up Casey Blake from the Indians, another power hitter, and now they get Ramirez. The Dodgers weren't scoring enough runs, something Mr. Torre, after all those Yankees sluggers, can't really deal with. And now he won't have to.

Torre’s outfield juggling may not cease altogether, but he’s certainly holding some more powerful cards. The Dodgers hit only 74 home runs this year, next to last in home runs and fifth from the bottom in RBI’s in both leagues. Casey Blake has 11 homers and 58 rbi’s while Ramirez currently has 20 dingers and 68 ribbies. Dodger fortunes look much brighter as their pitching has been good, currently holding the league’s third best earned run average.

I know some of the Boston faithful think this was a good move, as they did get Jason Bay, a productive and powerful presence himself, in return for Ramirez. And, of course, he won’t be nearly the same pain in the butt.

How much of a true “distraction” he ever was for the Red Sox seems a bit unclear. For a guy who’s been a distraction, he sure gets more than his share of accolades from his team mates, former and present. Former Sox now with the Dodgers, Derek Lowe and Nomar Garciaparra had only good things to say yesterday. Big Papi was pictured hugging Manny the other day, no doubt his realizing their days as the top third and fourth hitters in the league would soon be at an end.

I think Manny’s problems were with management alone. All the players seem to acknowledge his hard work and appreciate that he is a family man, a guy who does his job and then goes home to his family.

Of course, the players didn’t have to worry about the gamesmanship Manny used in his all-out effort to maximize his income over his last playing years. And they weren’t on the hook for his salary. So, in the end, the Red Sox got off the 40 million dollar hook for just the 7 million they sent the Dodgers to pay Manny’s salary for the rest of this year.

Boston’s management may be happy for now, but I have a feeling they’ll be despondent in October. Jason Bay is just not Manny Ramirez, not only with the bat, but I have a feeling they’ll miss the way Manny’d play all those balls off the Fenway wall.

But, most of all, they’ll miss his sense of fun, his enthusiasm for the game and especially his pure hitting ability. Jason Bay can’t be Manny. He’s a one of a kind.

Boston’s management says they’re tired of Manny’s antics but those antics won them a World Series in 2004 and 2007. Jason Bay hits a hundred points less than Manny with runners in scoring position.

How many times have we seen Boston opponents intentionally walk Big Papi only to have to face Manny? And how many times had Manny stuck their strategy right in the eye? Manny has to be the best hitter in the league following an intentional walk. I don’t have any stats on which to base this claim, just an observation. If I had to guess, I’d say it was about .660.

Ortiz and Ramirez, Ortiz and Ramirez, Ortiz followed by Ramirez, how many times have those words struck fear in all but the Boston faithful? No more. For an avowed Yankee-hater (in general), these last days before the deadline have been an ominous sign of things to come, a portent of doom for the un-striped.

So, for an old baseball fan, I guess it’s interesting that Griffey goes to those other Sox in Chicago. And it’s kind of interesting that the Yanks got Pudge too. And, yeah, it’s the first time ever that three future Hall-of-Famers have been traded in the space of 24 hours. Cool.

For all that, the real story yesterday was Manny Ramirez going to the Dodgers. Churchill said it best, “never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few.”

For Boston, the few have lost a key man.

Manny Happy Returns

Well, Thursday's the trading deadline in MLB and it's at this time of year that General Managers earn their money, or not. If a team moves early, as the Yankees did last week in acquiring Xavier Nady and Damaso Marte, it gets the pick of the litter. The longer a team waits to make a move, though, the more sure it can be of what it's competition will look like after the deadline.

The Yankee moves addressed specific weaknesses, really, and make them a believable contending team. Even with their fairly good record and their recent run of wins, they were weak in the outfield and needed middle relief, and specifically a lefty, so that's what they got. I'd give them an edge to take their division now.

For the World Champion Red Sox, at least as this is written, have even bigger problems. Problemo Numero Uno starts with Manny, of course, the curiously injured Manny Ramirez, who is doing his darnedest to manipulate a trade from Boston, so he can clean up in free agency, and happily eschew Boston's first of two 20 million-dollar option years

They say in agent-land that Manny can do better, and word has it that he's looking for another four years at about 25 million per year. And, while he may not wind up getting that much, if he becomes available at all, he probably could get more than 20 million and more than just two more years.

So, from a purely business standpoint, I can't blame Manny for his latest shenanigans, except for a natural curiosity as to why he took the contract in the first place. Manny will be 38 two years from now, and it'll be a lot easier to negotiate his final contract now at a spritely 36.

Of course, the court of public opinion in Red Sox Nation seemed firmly anti-Manny as last night's game with the Yankees began, and Manny seemed to have orchestrated the whole affair, what with his comments on playing in Iraq. But by the end of the evening, after Manny's 3 for 5, two-double and two-rbi night, his hugs with Big Papi, and a huge win over the Yankees, public opinion seemed to have swung a bit in his favor.

It's ironic though that Manny'd be better off with public opinion against him. Unless Boston were willing to renegotiate his contract right now to his satisfaction, a highly unlikely scenario indeed, Manny'd be better off somewhere else. Surely, there'll be a team willing to accede to his demands. He has been and arguably is the best pure hitter in the league.

Unfortunately for Mr. Ramirez, Boston has the option, two successive options, in fact. And, unless they can secure some benefit from a trade, either now or later, they'd be foolish to just let him go.

What they have to weigh for themselves is just how much of a pain in the neck Manny can really be. I mean....he wasn't even trying before. But he can’t just tank the rest of the season, no potential suitor in its right mind could ignore that.

Boston hasn't gotten where it is by being stupid. Under the shrewd tutelage of young Theo Epstein, the Sox have shaped and re-shaped their team from their curse-breaking World Series win in 2004, and repeated that feat just last year.

And, as it’s another contract year for their popular All-Star catcher, Jason Varitek, I think Boston will trade Manny and keep Varitek, regardless of whatever outcry there may be in Beantown, assuming they can get some significant value in return. Of course, they have to make that decision before they exercise their first option.

It’s difficult to say who might want Manny. After all, he’s not a youngster anymore. But he has been very consistently great in that batter’s box. I’d think an American League team would be more interested, for the DH possibilities alone. After all, Manny has never been a Gold-Glove in the outfield, but he sure can play balls off that Fenway wall.

Manny could be a significant draw too. There’s nobody who can command more attention than Manny, at least not for any fun-loving sports fan. Look for an American League team from a major city outside the AL East to make a play before the deadline… Detroit, Chicago, some place like that.

Of course, the Red Sox would need to get an outfielder, or even two, in return, as their young Jacoby Ellsbury hasn’t been knockin’ em dead this year. And the suitor would no doubt have to get some indication from Manny as to whether a long-term contract was in the cards at all. Otherwise, why give up anything valuable?

So the Red Sox could look significantly different by Friday. Will the Yankees take the chance that their chief rivals won’t look quite different by then? I don’t think so. Look for the Yankees to pick up still another pitcher for their pennant run. After all, if it isn’t Boston, it’ll be the Angels who’ll be in their way. And the Mets or Cubs in the National League.

The best player who may be available is the Rockies Matt Holliday. The Rockies won’t be able to afford him next year. But I don’t think the Rockies would drop dead for Manny Ramirez. I think the Rockies will be looking for some nice young pitchers.

The Mets of course need an outfielder. And New York would be a great place for Ramirez. I had even heard on the radio a proposal of offering Beltran for Ramirez and Ellsbury. Although I wouldn’t like to see it myself, who knows? Stranger things have happened. But can you just see Manny playing left field at Shea when he’s 40? I can’t.

Seattle presents an interesting possibility for Boston. They could really use an ace like Jarod Washburn. And, if Seattle had once warmed up to Alex Rodriguez, they could certainly get very used to Manny Ramirez. We’ll soon find out.