Manny paved his way out of Boston
Posted: Sunday, August 03, 2008 8:52 AM
After seven and a half years of nonsense from Manny Ramirez, the Red Sox finally had enough. Now that the shock of the trade has passed, here are some reflections on Boston management's making the move now, and why:
MANNY LOST HIS OWN CLUBHOUSE: There was a despicable incident a month ago in which Ramirez attacked the team’s traveling secretary over a last-minute ticket request. On most teams, the traveling secretary is the player’s best friend, attending to their every need as a “valet.” When a traveling secretary says no to a request from a player, there is usually a valid reason. The Red Sox players apparently hold their traveling secretary in high regard, thus Ramirez’s actions lost him respect with his peers.
WORK STOPPAGE/SLOWDOWN: Ramirez bailed on two games, one against the Yankees, with a bad knee. The Red Sox called his bluff, very publicly, and Ramirez had to get back in the lineup. The stoppage became a slowdown when he blatantly failed to run out a ground ball against the Angels. Boston reports indicate that Red Sox general manager Theo Epstein was told by veteran players that Rodriguez’s Ramirez's time in Boston was up.
THE RED SOX BADLY WANTED TO MAKE THIS DEAL: They traded their cleanup hitter, a future Hall of Famer, and two young prospects for a good player, Jason Bay, who never has tasted a pennant race. And the Red Sox are paying the rest of Ramirez’s salary.
THERE’S ALWAYS SCOTT BORAS: Boras now represents Ramirez, and the agent negotiated away his client’s 10-5 rights to block a trade. Club options at the end of the deal were removed, and Ramirez will be a free agent in November. Of course, Boras reaps the immediate windfall from any deal he cuts this winter. It will be interesting to see if Manny gets a $20 million per year deal on the open market.
YET ANOTHER AGENT ENTERS THE PICTURE: The man who negotiated Ramirez’s Red Sox deal, Jeff Moorad, now runs the Diamondbacks, the team Ramirez will try to beat head-to-head in a pennant race.
HOW DO THE DODGERS DO THIS? They have acquired two players, Manny and Casey Blake, without playing one cent of salary. Yes, the Dodgers gave up prospects, but none that hurt their immediate chances. Andy LaRoche was showcased over the last two weeks as the Dodgers searched for help. The early-season play of Blake DeWitt allowed the Dodgers to feel LaRoche was expendable.
Now Joe Torre’s challenge is fitting five outfielders into three spots (Ramirez, Juan Pierre, Matt Kemp, Andre Ethier and Andruw Jones) – or more accurately four into two as Ramirez must play. Torre must sit Jones, although the Dodgers are on the hook with him for $18 million next season.
PIRATES MAKE PROGRESS: They have made progress on the big-league level, although it might be hard to sustain in the final months without Bay and Xavier Nady. New general manager Neal Huntington has proven willing to deal. Now the question ,is how good are his team’s evaluations of the young prospects it acquired from the Yankees, Red Sox and Dodgers.
RED SOX DECIDED THEY HAD ENOUGH: They could no longer endure the daily melodrama of Ramirez and the players as verbalized by Curt Schilling. They could no longer play with someone who didn’t want to be there. It all reeks of the Nomar Garciaparra affair in 2004, and after parting ways with Garciaparra, the Red Sox won the World Series.
FIVE MORE SWINGS:
1. DEADLINE DEALS AREN’T WHAT THEY USED TO BE. More general managers are waiting to the winter to expand the pool of teams with whom they can trade. It was the approach taken by Minnesota in the Johan Santana derby and might explain why so few deals happened at the deadline. A surprise was that no deals for relievers -- smaller though they may be -- were struck.
2. TEAMS THAT SURPRISED WITH INACTION: How do the Cardinals expect to keep pace with the Cubs and Brewers without importing help? Or has St. Louis targeted the wild card as its best chance? And the Twins had their season ripped apart last July when veterans complained about adding no one at the deadline. The team chemistry -- always a strength in Minnesota -- suffered. No move again this season, despite the need at third base and an injury to second baseman Alexi Casilla, and no moves even though Francisco Liriano is on his way back to the Twins’ rotation.
3. KUDOS TO THE YANKEES: It was a great week in the Bronx. The Yankees added Xavier Nady, Damaso Marte and Ivan Rodriguez to help, then watched Ramirez leave the Red Sox. And let’s remember the Yankees are a threat even with their getting nothing from Jorge Posada this year, Chien-Ming Wang being injured since May and Hideki Matsui hobbled in the last month.
4. WHY DIDN’T THEY DUMP? Washington is a disaster. At the big-league level the Nationals are a mess while they rebuild a farm system decimated by the franchise having been owned for four years by Major League Baseball. Other than Jon Rauch, the Nationals had to move bodies and bring in any available prospects.
Seattle is a surprise -- as bad as its season has been, a moving van to Safeco Field would have been expected. Instead, the Mariners stare at the truth that they are a distant fourth in the AL West, given the young talent imported by Texas and Oakland in the last year.
5. I’M WONDERING ABOUT THE FALLOUT IN FLORIDA over the failed attempt to trade for Manny Ramirez. The Marlins were so close to a deal but reports are they held out for too much (in surrendering prospects) and the Red Sox pulled out. Was this a play to cement a new stadium? Florida’s ownership never has shown any inclination to spend that kind of money. Was this a cruel tease to the fans? Wait, there aren’t many of those. Sentiments that I read indicate many believe the Fish were sincere in their efforts to land Ramirez. Meanwhile, on the field, Anibal Sanchez pitched for the first time in 15 months and the Marlins started August in a three-way tie with the Mets and Phillies.
