Tag Archives: manny ramirez

My Reaction to Ortiz PED Allegations

papiDavid Ortiz is the latest in a fearsome lineup of would-be hall of famers to be dragged under the worn tarmac of performance-enhancing drug speculation. If proven guilty, I would advocate for the lifetime ban of this once-proud slugger as I would for any player caught cheating the game. One day, when the smoke finally clears, Major League Baseball could be faced with a cold reality: maybe 90% of ballplayers juiced. Maybe Cal Ripken, Ken Griffey Jr., Albert Pujols, Greg Maddux, Rickey Henderson-maybe they all were cheaters.

If Bud Selig had the testicular fortitude to draw a line in the sand, he would have done so by now. Pete Rose is banished from the game for betting on his team to win games. And yet we slap blatant, omnipresent cheaters with 50 game suspensions? Manny Ramirez returns to Mannywood and is marketed just as feverishly as before his suspension?

While it pains me to have to call into question the first Red Sox championship in 86 years, I think we have to do so now, regardless of the fact that probably every other team was cheating in some capacity as well. This defense (the “he stole, so why shouldn’t I?” line of reasoning) is as immature as it is short-sighted.

If tomorrow we exposed each and every current ballplayer that at one point had used steroids and we expelled all these players from the game, MLB would be faced with a serious predicament. My guess is we’d lose half our beloved hometown heroes. Selig would have to dip beyond the farm system, probably into D3 community college baseball, maybe Babe Ruth, who knows? The caliber of play might go down the tubes but just imagine the joy and innocence derived from watching an honest game of baseball.

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Baseball, the Media and PEDs

Call me soft but I am really getting tired of the all-forgiving, Mannywood-worshiping, “baseball realists” infecting the airwaves and newspapers of late. Earlier today, Jon Heyman of si.com published an article measuring the merits, Hall of Fame credentials and perspective eligibility of such noted sleazebags as ARoid, Manny, Barry and (God-help-us-all) Roger Clemens. He created his own convenient and self-righteous gauge, judging players on the extent and longevity of actualized or alleged sleaziness. Luckily, I wasn’t the only reader with a “what the deuce!?” reaction. Mole57 from New Jersey:

Steroid use should be looked at on the same level as cheating. It doesn’t matter if they didn’t need to cheat to be great — they still chose to cheat and ultimately they have disgraced the game and made a mockery of many hallowed records for purely selfish reasons. If Joe Jackson and Pete Rose aren’t allowed in, these guys shouldn’t be allowed in either.

Hear hear! Heyman represents a frighteningly simple-minded contingency of Hall of Fame voters. Erroneous postulations and beliefs that Bonds “was a Hall of Famer long before he took his first steroid,” should hold no water in this argument. These players knowingly cheated to satisfy their egos and wallets and each and every one unlucky enough to get caught, regardless of the extent or period of use, needs to be banished permanently. This isn’t to suggest that blame should not be spread to the commissioner, the owners and the fans but, really, let’s start with the guys who were sticking the needles in their asses. And anyone who suggests, due to the pervading culture of sleaziness and corruption at the time, that we should disregard a steadily expanding and overwhelming string of asterisks should go about recalibrating his or her moral compass.

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Manny Trade Restores Team Concept

Manny RamirezI write for a website called the “Boston Red Sox Fan Site” and so it is with a considerable degree of shame and embarrassment that I sit here and confess that, for the past few years, I haven’t been much of a Sox fan. I’ve retained my Sox memorabilia and paraphernalia, I’ve watched the games here and there, I’ve carried the company card (not literally, of course–anyone who purchases a “Red Sox Nation” card to validate his or her fandom should be bashed over the head with a wiffle bat). But my heart and my soul, the heart and soul I used to pour into every pitch of every inning, were off taking an extended, seventh-inning stretch.

What a difference a trade makes.

I was more into last night’s 2-1 victory over the Oakland A’s than I was into any of the Sox’ World Series games this past October. All of a sudden the Sox spunk was back. The hustle, the grit, the team dynamic; the intangibles that, I always used to fancy, separated us from the heart-less Yankees; all this came as the result of exchanging Manny Ramirez for Jason Bay.

The Sox are no longer a collection of talented ballplayers held hostage under the prima-donna swagger of a millionaire gun-for-hire. By replacing Manny with his natural antithesis, (Bay, an unassuming, team-first ballplayer), the Sox restored their dignity and dropped the traveling circus routine. They became a team again. And a baseball team is what I’ve been waiting and hoping to root for.

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Deadline Deal Ratings

mark-teixeiraLast week I droned on about the mind-numbing dullness of baseball’s mid-season. This week I’m eating my words.

Lets break down the two biggest trade deadline deals.

  • Teixeira to the Halos: Braves trade Teixeira, who will become a free agent after this season, for Casey Kotchman (he of the .280 batting average, 12 dingers and 55 RBI). How did the Braves get fleeced here? They get a legitimate, starting first baseman who is excited about playing in Atlanta and who should hang round for a while. In return, they surrender a three-month rental player. Immediate advantage: Halos. Long-term advantage: Braves.
  • Manny to Dodgers: This is ludicrous, the biggest coup of Theo’s tenure. The Sox are instantly improved by obliterating the biggest team distraction this side of the Marlins’ Manatees.  As a bonus, they get Bay, a consummate professional who will bolster team chemistry and bring similar numbers to the table. Harp all you want about the “presence” Manny brought to the lineup. Presence shmesence. Manny’s numbers dont elevate him above the field anymore. Sure, he has superior career numbers, but he isn’t the fearsome hitter he once was. I’ll take Bay with his hustle, superior range in leftfield, and similar if not better offensive numbers. Winners: Sox.  Loser: Joe Torre.
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Manny Shenanigans No Longer Cheeky

bdd_mr_lost_7-9-08_bgjdManny Ramirez’s shenanigans, I have recently determined, have lost their cheekiness. They have, to quote Super Troopers, become “cruel and tragic”, which, to continue quoting, “makes them not shenanigans at all, really.”

Antics now come off as forced, PR maneuvers, aimed at trying to rebuild his good standing with the Red Sox faithful. Climb into the monster between innings? Seen it. Muck around playfully with the third base umpire after a check-swing? Blah.

The truth of the matter is that Manny has permanently tarnished his image. Really, I don’t see how shoving a 60 year-old traveling secretary to the ground could not permanently scar a ballplayer’s reputation. The fact that Manny is now trying to cover up his recent indiscretions with a multitude of old Manny-isms just seems pitiful and, again, forced.

Its time for the Sox to take a stand and make a trade. Manny would be all right with it. God knows he’s asked (read: demanded) to be traded before. I’m just tired of the Sox bending to a superstar’s, melodramatic bull-crap (remember Mo Vaughn during the end of his tenure with the Sox?).

This is not the same man-being-Manny that we put up with and actually rooted for before. Manny has crossed the line, and while the Sox brass may lack the minerals to stand up to prima-donna bullies, I’ve seen enough.

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All Star Foppery

4l2qanixAll right then, it’s almost July, which means it’s almost time for yet another midsummer classic, which once again will pit the National League against their arch-rivals, those bums from the junior circuit.

All baloney aside, I’m actually a fan of baseball’s annual, glorified cash cow. When else, I ask, can a game be ruled a tie due to a shortage of pitchers? In what better venue can we watch Tommy Lasorda breakdance with an errant baseball bat down the third base line? On what more appropriate occasion can we cart out some of the greatest players, past and present, to have ever donned a pair of spikes?

Yes, I enjoy the spectacle, the pomp, the circumstance, and the ridiculous, unwarranted hype. I’ll tell you what I don’t enjoy though: allowing the fans to vote for the starters.

Compared to previous years, fans have performed relatively admirably this year. Kevin Youkilis holds a slim lead over Minnesota’s Justin Morneau, a worthy one-two punch by any pundit’s estimation. Josh Hamilton is securely entrenched as a starter in the uber-competetive American League outfield. Over in the National League, Lance Berkman, Chase Utley, Chipper Jones and Hanley Ramirez set the pace at their respective positions. On the surface, this would appear to be a banner year for the casual voting fan. But ein minuten bitte!  Miscasts still linger in this 2008 All-star pool. Allow me to dissect and explain three glaring cases:

Ichiro is having another solid year in centerfield. He has scored 57 runs, has swiped 33 bases, and carries an OBP of .356. He has a hose in centerfield and he still runs the bases as though his pants were on fire. But he’s playing for a horrendous, underachieving Mariners club and his .297 batting average is a full 34 points below his career mark.

What better chance for Milton Bradley, our tumultuous, bottle-chucking, hammy-pulling, broadcaster-chasing friend from Texas, to make his long-awaited All-Star game debut? While Bradley might not be the best choice from a PR standpoint, his numbers are superior to Ichiro’s in almost every category. Through 70 games, Bradley is batting .316 with 16 dongs and 49 RBI. He also boasts a .437 OBP and a career-high .603 slugging percentage. Lets not forget that he plays for a scrappy, overachieving Ranger’s club that left the Mariners in a cloud of dust months ago.

Continuing through the American League outfield we meet the curious case of Manny Ramirez. When not swatting teammates or traveling secretaries, Ramirez has put together another solid, Manny-being-Manny kind of season. He’s batting .286 with 16 homeruns and 52 RBI. But Manny’s seen his share of all-star games (he’s bootlegged his share as well, but that’s a story for another time). Why not give Manny’s teammate JD Drew his spot in the sun? Drew has been an offensive catalyst for the Sox this year, batting .303 with 16 homers and a .577 slugging percentage. Let Manny attend to his ailing grandmother and let Drew patrol the outer pastures at Yankee Stadium on July 15th.

Finally, I can excuse Ken Griffey Jr. from a sentimentalist’s perspective, but Kosuke Fukudome? This strikes me as a clear indication of ballot-box-stuffing on the part of our good friends in the Wrigley Field bleachers and from across the pond. Fukudome, (he of the 6 HR and 34 RBI) gives it his all and plays a decent right field; admirable qualities that endear him to the large swath of baseball aficionados. But fans, let us not confuse our all-hustle team with our all-star team. Would not this position have been better suited for Carlos Lee (.278, 18, 62)?

Which brings me to the crux of the problem: all too often, All-Star game starters are elected as popularity contest winners rather than as superior baseball players. Lets give the vote back to the managers and let them restore some credibility to the midsummer classic! Bob Feller once said that starting the All-Star game was as big a thrill as taking the mound in game one of the World Series. In reference to Rapid Robert and Pete Rose (perhaps still best-known for steamrolling Ray Fosse at home plate in the 1970 game), lets restore some substance to the glitz, eh? And no, Bud, this is not accomplished by giving home-field advantage in the World Series to the winning league (though I do love seeing that competitive fire in the Royals’ rep each year).

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