Any day now, the Red Sox will grant Manny Ramirez his wish and trade away the future Hall of Famer, and millions of distraught Sox fans will moan and wail and wonder why it had to come to this.Yep. "Lyrical" is the adjective that always springs to my mind when I think of the Boston sports media experience from an athlete's point of view.
Why couldn't Manny just stay here and play here and be happy? Why was he so determined to flee our lyrical little baseball town and play somewhere else?
Well, if you really want to know why, I'll tell you:
Because he hates you, that's why.
He doesn't hate the ballpark ... [or] his teammates or his manager or the owners or the clubhouse attendants or the guy inside The Wall ... [or] the weather or the racial climate or the politics [or] the media ...
He just hates you, the paying customer and unwavering supporter of the Sox. He hates that you're always there, always yelling and cheering and fawning all over him. He hates your very nature - your devotion, your intensity, your insatiable appetite for all things Red Sox. Hell, you could say he hates you for loving him so much.
And you know what's really kind of pathetic? You just keep loving him anyway.
Callahan closes:
They won't get a player with Manny's talent in return, but look at the bright side: They will get someone with more heart and more character, guaranteed.That's the bright side?? ... I have yet to see a metric that translates "heart" and "character" into wins. Callahan must have some secret equation, though he's never seemed like a stathead to me. ... And I thought Manny was a character.
Here's what is pathetic. The fact that Callahan and his cohorts write this shit without presenting any actual evidence.
During the last two seasons, I have corresponded via email with two writers who cover the Red Sox on a daily basis. They have been more a bit more forthcoming in those emails about Manny's transgressions that they have been in their newspaper stories. So I don't doubt that Manny is not an ideal employee -- the talk is clearly not all fiction -- but I imagine every player presents some type of headache to management, whether in temperment, his media relationship or actual on-field performance.
Today's typical example of how Manny is described comes from Michael Silverman, fellow Herald scribe, who mentions Ramirez's "sometimes whimsical and ambivalent approach to playing the game".
This constant insinuation -- and nothing more -- is no longer good enough. You guys have to start presenting us with chapter and verse of all the evil things that Ramirez has done in his years in Boston. (Though if you poke around online, you'll find long-standing rumours that the Manny Out Of Boston thing has very little to do with baseball.)
If Manny is dealt, I do expect to read some stuff, since it will need to be pushed to placate angry fans. See how bad he was, be glad he's gone.
But for now, if you can't do anything more than present to us what are nothing more unsubstaniated claims, please do us all a favour and STFU.
Why would you play in a town where they write garbage like this?
ReplyDeleteI have absolutely no idea. Being one of the guys who won the WS would be one reason, but that has already happened. I guess you have to hope you're already tagged a "good guy" before you arrive.
To be accurate, Everett made his CHB comment to Edes, not Ryan. I think I have an mp3 of it somewhere. I should try to find it.
Yep, "Manny hates me" and 2 Sunday nights ago on 'Red Sox This Week' Sean McAdam intoned that "Manny is running himself out of town." Tito is quoted now on Boston.com as saying "I can't see it happening" and "But he still shows up to play."
ReplyDeleteSay what? Manny didn't quit on the team last September? Or the manager is just as disingenuous as the media? Whatever.
Theo, for chrissake, just leave Manny alone, sign Drew, then get a shortstop and a closer. And no, I won't even mention that allegedly the Sox two biggest rivals for Lugo want him to play second or centerfield. But since there is little credibility coming from anywhere in baseball land, I'll just wait to be pleasantly surprised by all developments. Or not.
That's just Gerry being Gerry.
ReplyDeleteCallahan should sit in section 33 for a game, and watch as Manny interacts with the fans literally all game long, and then try and tell us that Manny hates us.
ReplyDeleteGarbage ........remember when these guys were paid to report the news and not fabricate it.....The one thing we have come to know is that Manny rarely changes he has the same pattern every year.......
ReplyDeleteWell, let us see, on a yearly basis the man demands a trade, skips a game here or there because well, he can. Some one gets hurt and the team could use him on his promised day off. Not a chance, and remember these are only the things that get out.
ReplyDeleteThe man does not talk to the press but as a person the press likes him. As for him being WS MVP, Manny hit .412 with 4 RBI's. Mueller hit .429 with 2 RBI's and Ortiz who batted 4th had 4 RBI's. They could have given the MVP to Bellhorn who had 4 rbi's and hit a big home run off the pole. They picked Manny because he was the star of the team.
And don't forget, in the Yankee series. NO RBI's.
The man is a great hitter, but after 5 years of this crap, enough is enough. Trade his butt.
I think Theo doesn't care about any of these "not giving his all" stories--or he wouldn't have signed JD Drew. Theo knows what Manny does for the team, and knows not to trade him unless we get something seriously awesome in return.
ReplyDeleteAlso, we've had Manny for six years. And, while you're verifying that, check out the numbers and see if you really want to call it crap.
And who cares if he wasn't truly the most valuable player of that World Series? Do you think we'd have won it without him? (meaning all season, not just in the WS.)
With all that 'baggage" I am glad he is still our problem.....
ReplyDeleteBy the way,......God Bless Jon Lester...cancer free
ReplyDeleteLugo scores significantly better than Gonzalez in this analysis:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.baseballmusings.com/archives/018509.php
And, he's definitely a better hitter.
Might be a bit pricey, but not much question he's an improvement.
FOAD, Wifebeating Lugo.
ReplyDeleteCan someone explain this for me?
Can someone explain this for me?
ReplyDeleteWife says she exaggerated account of alleged assault
HOUSTON -- A jury found former Houston Astros shortstop Julio Lugo innocent Wednesday of banging his wife's head against their vehicle after she testified in his misdemeanor assault trial that she exaggerated the story and he didn't mean to hurt her.
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As for Callahan - he's an asshat. And if he wanted to write an accurate article he would have written about how he hates the fans. After all we keep booing Damon and cheering Pedro instead of the other way around like he tells us too.
Blackjack, thanks.
ReplyDeleteHow many victims of domestic violence later recant their stories regardless of what happened?
ReplyDeleteTons of them do.
Next time she'll have walked into the door. Again.
It's got nothing to do with how rich her husband is. Women married to poor slobs do it all the time, too. It's a very tough situation, but sadly, recanting the story is part of the dance.