Citing the enigmatic left-fielder’s inavailablity in 22 of Boston’s last 30 games, the Boston Globe’s Gordon Edes opines that it’s time to “let Manny be Manny somewhere else.”
Do you suppose that 20 years from now, RamÃrez will feel even the slightest bit of remorse for the way he quit on his Red Sox teammates in 2006, refusing to honor the code that is an article of faith for Jason Varitek and Mike Lowell, Curt Schilling and Coco Crisp, Trot Nixon and Alex Gonzalez, and Mark Loretta — even the now-departed fat man, David Wells — that you do all within your power to play hurt.
Barring a midlife conversion experience, I doubt it.
While the Red Sox crumbled when RamÃrez went on hiatus — last night was the 22d game out of 30 RamÃrez has missed since taking himself out of the last game of the Yankee massacre Aug. 21, during which he has been paid $1.918 million (calculated on his base salary of $15 million this season) — he had the audacity this week, through agent Greg Genske, to reiterate to the Red Sox his desire to be traded this winter.
The eight games he did play in, RamÃrez had two hits in 22 at-bats, an .091 average. You could cut off one of David Ortiz’s legs and he’d do better than that, or keep coming back until he did. The difference, of course, is that Ortiz cares. RamÃrez, by any barometer, does not.
So why hasn’t anyone called out RamÃrez? Sox management, bedazzled by his performance when he does play and afraid they’ll lose him forever if they do raise objections to his behavior (see Tampa Bay last July), instead cover for him, and in so doing diminish Francona every time he does so, compromising principles that have guided him through a lifetime in baseball.
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