Some things to keep in mind:

- Before Manny Ramirez came to the Red Sox, we had essentially no power hitting at all.  All we had was Nomar, who isn't really a classic power hitter.  And that's how it had been since Mo Vaughn left.

http://www.baseball-reference.com/r/ramirma02.shtml

And yes, those numbers mean something.  They measure his contribution to the team over a long period of time.  They are more valuable than anecdotes, which seem to be the favored mode of argumentation for the anti-Manny crowd.  But there are plenty of anecdotes, too.  

Rember the 5-game sweep to the Yankees that killed the season?  Manny showed up then.
Game 1: 1/2 1 HR 1 R 1 RBI 2 walks
Game 2: 4/6 1 R 2 RBI (double header)
Game 3: 1/1 1 HR 1 R 3 RBI 3 walks (double header)
Game 4: 2/2 1 RBI 3 walks
Game 5: 0/0 with 2 walks before being lifted

So here's the deal.  You talk about getting rid of Manny, you do so, but convince me that the player you're bringing in will be able to go 8/11 with 2 HRs and 10 walks in a 5-game series against the Yankees.  And, BTW, all those walks to Manny?  If Manny's gone, they're all going Ortiz's way.  

So, please, spare all the "Manny cannot play through pain" stuff.  As has been pointed out many times, Manny has played more games for the Red Sox in the past five years than anybody else.  Unless you are either Manny Ramirez or his doctor, you don't know whether he's in pain or not.  Shaughnessy in particular made an ass of himself by declaring Manny a faker before the extent of the injury was known.  But now it's no longer that he's faking - Shaughnessy and Edes have been forced to concede the point that the injury is real.  So they are backing off to "he won't play in pain".  

Guys, Manny was there for the games that counted.  See above.  And he was the best player for the Red Sox while the pitching staff was being tattooed by the Yankees.  

What's really going on here is that Manny Ramirez doesn't get along with the press.  That's hardly unprecedented in Boston.  Manny is simply walking down the path taken by Jim Rice and Ted Williams before him.  (And, curiously enough, and with all due respect to Yaz, they are the best three hitters the Red Sox have ever had.)

The Boston media think it's all about them.  So when a player shuts them out, the way Manny did, the Shaughnessys and Edes of the world silently seethe and wait to see if they can get revenge somehow.  So, when Manny gets a serious injury for the first time in five years, and only the second in his career, we are alternatively told that he's faking or that he should be playing through pain like a tough guy.  But what's really going on is something personal.    

What the Red Sox really need to do is build a team, not to further the process of taking apart the 2004 champions.  

Final thought: do you want to see Manny Ramirez on the Yankees?  I don't.