Manny Being Manny … Again
By Chad Hollingsworth
Love of Sports Correspondent
I know it’s been referenced over a billion times, but when my best friend sent me a text message the other day reading that Manny Ramirez was out of the Red Sox’s lineup with a “sore knee,” I couldn’t help but think of Rodney Dangerfield’s character (Al Czervik) “hurting” his arm during a golf match.
Is Manny injured? Maybe he is. There’s no way I’m going to question whether a guy who works as hard as Manny does in a 162-game season is actually injured or not. However, it couldn’t come at worse time for either the Red Sox or Manny Ramirez.
Now there’s the impending news he would welcome a trade out of town if the Sox could swing a deal. He was heard saying this on a local radio show before Sunday night’s game with the Yankees. Oh boy, here we go again.
In the case of the Red Sox, they’re fighting tooth and nail for the division lead with the Tampa Bay Rays. As much as prognosticators and fans think the Rays are going to fade away, they’re not going anywhere. They went into the All-Star break on a seven-game losing streak and still remain atop the AL East with the Red Sox and Yankees in close pursuit. The Rays have players in their system to bring up and contribute and players to trade off to upgrade areas of need. They’re in this race until the end.
At the moment, the Red Sox, are coming off a sweep of Seattle (and at this point, the Bad News Bears could sweep Seattle and I wouldn’t even flinch), then lost two of three to the Yanks and have just welcomed David Ortiz back in the third spot in their vaunted lineup.
The only problem is, Mike Lowell might be batting cleanup instead of Manny at any point these days. Nothing against Lowell, but even he would admit that Manny would benefit the most from having Ortiz hit in front of him. In terms of two teammates having high offensive production, Ortiz and Manny have been at forefront of the discussion the past few years.
Add the fact the Yankees had won eight straight games and the Red Sox will need every weapon they have down the stretch run battling a team playing its best baseball of the season (and is arguably the hottest team in baseball not in Milwaukee at the moment).
And how does this come at a bad time for Manny Ramirez? First off, that little 15-inning All-Star Game he participated in recently marked the halfway point of the season. There’s little time left to prove to the Red Sox (and the rest of baseball) his antics don’t interfere with his offensive production. The next thing you know, he’ll claim his knee was hurt when he was flopping around in left field after badly misplaying a ball against the Angels last week and again against the Yankees on Saturday.
Basically, for a guy looking to pick up another $20 million next season, he really seems to be going about it the wrong way. True, he does have Scott Boras for an agent, but I don’t even think Boras could get another team to give Manny a long term deal that’ll give him that type of money each year.
All of this leads Red Sox fans to wonder what the future will hold next year, and possibly this season as well.
I don’t think Manny will be traded this year. He’s a 10-and-5 guy, can veto any deal and wouldn’t go anywhere unless at least one of his options was guaranteed. However, GM Theo Epstein can get creative, and if Manny is truly unhappy in Boston, Epstein might just find the right trading partners to make his exit from Boston become a reality sooner than later. The only obstacle would be whether or not that balky knee could pass a physical.
So, Manny returned, of course. Because even Manny knows that if Manny isn’t in that spotlight, it will be noticed by everyone. It won’t only hurt the Red Sox, but it will hurt Manny’s prospects for the future. That’s just Manny Being Manny.
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