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Integrity of game threatened when Ramirez gets his way with Dodgers by quitting on Red Sox
By Patrick McManamon
Beacon Journal sports columnist
POSTED: 01:24 p.m. EDT, Aug 12, 2008
Manny Ramirez has become all the rage in Los Angeles.
He's the hero of the media, the star of the team and the object of many new marketing ploys.
Like selling Dodgers hats with Manny-type hair coming out of the back.
Put that one on the Christmas list.
Isn't anyone a little bothered how all this come to be?
If a commissioner's office ever existed for anything, shouldn't it be to protect the integrity of the game and not allow a guy to hurt one team and then help another because he didn't like a clause in his contract?
Isn't the idea each and every day that a guy tries to help his team win, and isn't it a problem — a rather large problem — if he intentionally does not?
Yes, Bud Selig's office asked the Boston Red Sox a few questions about the trade that sent Manny to Los Angeles. Maybe Selig, i.e. the Grand Inquisitor, should have asked more.
Before the trade, Ramirez let the Red Sox know he wanted two $20 million team options for 2009 and 2010 dropped from his contract. Seems he didn't like those clauses because he wanted to be a free agent and make more than $20 million per year.
Strange things started to happen when the Red Sox did not drop the options.
Ramirez took three strikes from New York Yankees closer Mariano Rivera without swinging, an at-bat that was, at best, lackadaisical.
He started saying he was hurt, with injuries that appeared out of nowhere.
He did not run to first.
He then started ripping the team to the media.
In major ways.
On an individual basis, the incidents were incidents. Put them together, though, and they add up to a calculated scheme to be traded to a team that would drop those contract options.
The at-bat might have been intentional; the injuries might have been concocted.
The Red Sox believe Manny quit on them, and the circumstantial evidence sure is strong
So they traded him.
And what was the first thing that happened when Manny got to the Dodgers? The options were dropped from his contract.
Some are wondering about the role Manny's agent, Scott Boras, played.
Manny hired Boras after this contract was signed. If the Red Sox merely had picked up those options — and why wouldn't they for perhaps the greatest right-handed hitter of this generation? — Boras would make nothing. If the options were dropped and Boras negotiated a new deal, he would get a hefty commission.
Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling pointed this out on Boston radio.
''Manny's not one years from retirement, he's maybe four, obviously, that's where he's at,'' Schilling told WEEI. ''So does Scott Boras want to get a two-year deal for Manny or a four-year deal for Manny?''
After the trade, the Boston Globe reported that Boras had called the Red Sox and said Manny would play hard and stop being a problem if the options were dropped.
Pretty clear implication is that Manny intentionally was not playing hard and was being a problem.
So now Manny is being feted as a hero in Los Angeles, even though the first thing he will do when the season ends is find the team that will pay him the most money.
Perhaps it's a tad high and mighty, but doesn't what Manny did get right to the heart of the integrity of the game?
If a guy intentionally refuses to try because he's unhappy with his contract, isn't that a problem?
What is the appropriate punishment for this kind of thing?
And if it's true, is it any worse than what Pete Rose did?
One problem is this would be difficult to prove.
Another is that Manny did this before in Boston. Folks there said he quit in 2006. What did the Red Sox do? They brought him back and let him help win a World Series for their nation in 2007.
It's called enabling.
Which is what the Dodgers are doing. Enabling a guy who, while an unbelievable talent, might have tried to help his previous team lose — or at least did not try to help it win.
Patrick McManamon can be reached at pmcmanamon@thebeaconjournal.com. Read his blog at http://www.ohiomm.com/blogs/mcmanamon/.
Manny Ramirez has become all the rage in Los Angeles.
He's the hero of the media, the star of the team and the object of many new marketing ploys.
Like selling Dodgers hats with Manny-type hair coming out of the back.
Put that one on the Christmas list.
Isn't anyone a little bothered how all this come to be?
If a commissioner's office ever existed for anything, shouldn't it be to protect the integrity of the game and not allow a guy to hurt one team and then help another because he didn't like a clause in his contract?
Isn't the idea each and every day that a guy tries to help his team win, and isn't it a problem — a rather large problem — if he intentionally does not?
Yes, Bud Selig's office asked the Boston Red Sox a few questions about the trade that sent Manny to Los Angeles. Maybe Selig, i.e. the Grand Inquisitor, should have asked more.
Before the trade, Ramirez let the Red Sox know he wanted two $20 million team options for 2009 and 2010 dropped from his contract. Seems he didn't like those clauses because he wanted to be a free agent and make more than $20 million per year.
Strange things started to happen when the Red Sox did not drop the options.
Ramirez took three strikes from New York Yankees closer Mariano Rivera without swinging, an at-bat that was, at best, lackadaisical.
He started saying he was hurt, with injuries that appeared out of nowhere.
He did not run to first.
He then started ripping the team to the media.
In major ways.
On an individual basis, the incidents were incidents. Put them together, though, and they add up to a calculated scheme to be traded to a team that would drop those contract options.
The at-bat might have been intentional; the injuries might have been concocted.
The Red Sox believe Manny quit on them, and the circumstantial evidence sure is strong
So they traded him.
And what was the first thing that happened when Manny got to the Dodgers? The options were dropped from his contract.
Some are wondering about the role Manny's agent, Scott Boras, played.
Manny hired Boras after this contract was signed. If the Red Sox merely had picked up those options — and why wouldn't they for perhaps the greatest right-handed hitter of this generation? — Boras would make nothing. If the options were dropped and Boras negotiated a new deal, he would get a hefty commission.
Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling pointed this out on Boston radio.
''Manny's not one years from retirement, he's maybe four, obviously, that's where he's at,'' Schilling told WEEI. ''So does Scott Boras want to get a two-year deal for Manny or a four-year deal for Manny?''
After the trade, the Boston Globe reported that Boras had called the Red Sox and said Manny would play hard and stop being a problem if the options were dropped.
Pretty clear implication is that Manny intentionally was not playing hard and was being a problem.
So now Manny is being feted as a hero in Los Angeles, even though the first thing he will do when the season ends is find the team that will pay him the most money.
Perhaps it's a tad high and mighty, but doesn't what Manny did get right to the heart of the integrity of the game?
If a guy intentionally refuses to try because he's unhappy with his contract, isn't that a problem?
What is the appropriate punishment for this kind of thing?
And if it's true, is it any worse than what Pete Rose did?
One problem is this would be difficult to prove.
Another is that Manny did this before in Boston. Folks there said he quit in 2006. What did the Red Sox do? They brought him back and let him help win a World Series for their nation in 2007.
It's called enabling.
Which is what the Dodgers are doing. Enabling a guy who, while an unbelievable talent, might have tried to help his previous team lose — or at least did not try to help it win.
Patrick McManamon can be reached at pmcmanamon@thebeaconjournal.com. Read his blog at http://www.ohiomm.com/blogs/mcmanamon/.
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