Manny Ramirez is a Disgrace

I love Manny Ramirez. His comical nature, his nonchalant approach to the game, even his goofy fielding errors make him more endearing to me. When this thing first started spiraling out of control I pulled the cape out of my closet and rushed to his defense. How couldn’t I? This was the same Manny Ramirez that I declared one of the five greatest right handed hitters of all time, any organization that couldn’t see the value in him was a disgrace to the game itself.

Maybe I was just being naïve, or maybe I just didn’t know the whole story, but it’s become clear to me that the prodigal son no longer deserves a spot in my heart. How can I call a guy that comes up with a lame injury every time he is slated to face a dominate pitcher one of the premier hitters of all time? Willie Mays and Hank Aaron never came up with a phantom injury when they were facing Bob Gibson. Back in that era they dodged the draft, not hurlers.

I didn’t think much of it the first time Ramirez sat himself out against Joba Chamberlain, but when he dodged him a second time Sunday night enough was enough. It was clear something funny was going on but I didn’t realize it went even deeper than that.

According to Peter Gammons, Manny has removed himself from the lineup two times when he was scheduled to dig in against Felix Hernandez, and once each when Boston faced Edinson Volquez and Justin Verlander. Maybe the first few times he really did have legitimate knee and hamstring ailments, but if you’ve been paying any attention to the story unfolding in Boston it isn’t hard to figure out what the motivating factor is: his contract.

It’s one thing to hold out of training camp or spring training.  As fans we may not necessarily agree with a player when he’s holding out over money, but at the end of the day it’s excusable as long as they show up ready to play on opening day. Manny has basically decided to take the team, and it’s playoff hopes, hostage by holding out midseason.  This is completely inexcusable. It’s all cute and fun when he disappears into the Monster, or when he high-five’s a fan in the stands mid-play, but leaving your teammates high and dry while they are in pursuit of a pennant is where I draw the line, especially when its a game against the Yankees.

A lot of people have been quick to defend Ramirez for all that he’s meant to this club over the last eight years, me being one of them.  He helped them end 86 years of insufferable disappointment by leading the Red Sox to a World Series victory in 2004, and then allowed them to bury their sordid past by taking them to the promised land again.  It doesn’t hurt that he did all this while putting up hall-of-fame numbers, emerging as the face of the franchise.

His stats are legendary but Ramirez is failing to realize is that the scope of greatness is far greater than what can be found on the back of a baseball card. Character, desire, being a team player: these characteristics matter just as much as raw production. If they were secondary traits then Barry Bonds would be suiting up as a side show freak for some small market team right now, and Pete Rose would be in the Hall-of-Fame.

Despite their successes over the last few years, Boston owes nothing to this man. They’ve paid him $168 million dollars for his services, and for the most part they got their money’s worth. Maybe if he would have kept his mouth shut they would have exercised his $20 million option for next year.  Surely if he displayed a little loyalty the front office would return it, but with everything that has transpired, it’s highly doubtful Ramirez will end his career with Boston.

Instead he’s trying to assure that Boston won’t exercise his option for next year, and he is now trying to force a trade.  If Ramirez doesn’t realize that this is the worst possible thing to do prior to a free-agent year, then his agent, Scott Boras, should. No matter how good he is, what team is going to want to take him on and have him sit out in the moments when they need him the most?  If he gets out of Boston, and knows that his option won’t be exercised, does that mean that he will finally turn it on and start auditioning for the next contract?

Don’t these guys realize that if he stays in Boston he’ll be in a better position to put up big numbers with the defending World Champions protecting him.  Boston is currently first in OBP, and second in average and slugging, and that’s without David Ortiz for much of the first half of the season.  You do the math, where else is he going to have it better?

If he doesn’t understand that he’s under a microscope, one that is even more magnified now that he is about to hit the open market, that’s fine, but Boras should. Then again, what should we expect from an agent that tried to upstage the World Series last year? I expect this stuff from Boras, but I thought better of Manny.