Manny Ramirez
As I wear my old number 24 shirt, I report that Manny "Greedy" Boras has finally signed with the Dodgers. The original 2 years $45 million offered in the fall, to which Boras said "We will start fielding real offers..." apparently did it. Obviously Frank McCourt's "start from scratch" ploy scarred the crap out of Boras. I've got to say, I think Scott Boras really dropped the ball on this one. This entire dance that he had Manny orchestrate to get out of Boston, to the "promised land" in LA and onward to his mega deal got Manny $5 million more than he would have in Boston. In baseball money, that's pretty pathetic. And it's so funny how Manny still keeps up the act, with the "This isn't Boston" comments. Theo Epstein must be sitting real pretty right now. Obviously he made out in the long run. Because while many, myself included, LOVED Manny Ramirez in a Boston uniform, Epstein, Henry, and Co. were the more mature of the two parties in this situation. And while Manny tries to paint the problem on the Red Sox, it's pretty clear that Manny had some clubhouse issues (Youk fight, Jack McAllister, Schilling, and players like Pedroia even denouncing him). And as a long time Manny fan, this is hard to say. But I give credit to Theo for getting out a clubhouse problem and he got Jason Bay for 1.5 years for a lot less money, while only giving up a bit of Manny's last year. So finally this saga comes to an end....
13 comments
|
0 recs |
Do you like this story?
Comments
Finally
I have like Manny his whole career. I am glad to see that this saga between Boras and the Dodgers is over. Will he be able to comtinue his monstrous pace he was on last season when he went to LA.
Good.
I still harbored the irrational fear that the Yanks would swoop in and sign him for a gazillion dollars. I feel much better now.
Manny ain't the only bad man.
Do not underestimate Hank's will to screw us over.
He could break into the clubhouse and replace the physical results.
Except...
Manny’s two options might not have been picked up. Theo and co once placed Manny on irrevocable waivers – they would have given him away for nothing but salary relief. And what makes you think it wasn’t Manny who wanted to leave Boston, as opposed to Boras? Manny’s been unhappy for a long time. For example, in 06 he called Sox ownership a bunch of [expletive] “white devils” (source).
"It's just a tiny little nick, but it hurts when I get champagne in there."
- Jason Bay, on getting spiked scoring the winning run in ALDS Game Four.
Well, I know Manny’s hard to predict, but it seemed last spring that Manny was really dedicated to making a good final year, and to having his options picked up. If you’ll recall, he said something like, “They’re not idiots, they’ll pick them up”. Only Boras could have put a snag in that, as it wasn’t his contract. After all, all Manny wants is the money, and either way he got about the same amount.
"We're not going to give up," It doesn't happen, so who cares? There's always next year. It's not like it's the end of the world."
Finally this is over.
We all knew it was going to end like this eventually. I too was a Manny fan, but it was time to part ways. One correction, we also traded away Craig Hanson and David Murphy in that three-way deal, which was a little much in my opinion but whatever. Let’s extend Bay through 2012.
Not quite
Murphy was traded to Texas as part of the Gag Me deal. The Sox traded Brandon Moss with Hansen to the Pirates.
Los Angelinos
People in LA are so giddy about Manny they believe they are winning the NL West, Winning the NLCS and winning the WS by the end of March.
I hate to admit it but LA + Manny are made for each other. Some guy from the Dodgers front office was on local radio telling everyone that season tickets are selling out bc of the signing. A week ago they couldn’t give tickets away.
Well I do hope it works out for both the Dodgers and Manny, well until we face them in the WS and beat them down.
I think the Dodgers were negotiating against themselves
In the end, I think that paid Manny what he’ll minimally be happy with, but I think they could have signed him unhappily for at least $5 M less per annum.
"You know you're having a bad day when the fifth inning rolls around and they drag the warning track." - Mike Flanagan, Baltimore Orioles pitcher, 1992.

by 























