Manny Ramirez Killed my Father and Raped my Mother

Look, I'm sorry to give more blog space to the Ramirez thing, particulary after Ben sneakily stole my Heyman idea (just kidding, he had no idea and it says how bad Heyman is on a consistant basis that we both went straight for it), I know I'm becoming part of the problem with this post but it's a bit like the Scoop thing. It's so incredibly defamatory I had to comment. Put it this way, I have never seen a more vicious attack in print as I saw here, and I'd almost be surprised if Ramirez did not pursue legal action. In my opinion, he should.

Take it away, Joel Sherman;

MONEY IN THE TANK

THE TRADE deadline came and went, and the inevitable naming of winners and losers followed. And here is who should be the biggest loser: Manny Ramirez.

strange proposal, seeing as Manny himself seems quite happy, but go on.

He won't be, however. Those who should punish him won't.

Ramirez already has selfishly received what he wanted, which was to force his way out of Boston.

selfishly received. Ramirez selfishly accepted a trade to another team. Selfishly changed his lifestyle, selfishly picked himself up and moved thousands of miles instantly to comply with MLB rules. "What I said was, if the Red Sox think they can find a trade that's going to make their team better and both sides are going to be happy, I'm going to agree. But they cannot find a trade. It's something simple. It's no big deal.", Manny said here. He literally said "whatever suits everyone else, I will do", Dr Phil would rip into him for not being assertive. He couldn't have said anything less selfish.

That led to a deal to the Dodgers in which his two remaining option years were voided, allowing him to become a free agent after this season. Ramirez wanted to chase another $100 million-plus deal this offseason. That spurred the bad behavior that motivated the Red Sox to evict their cleanup hitter.

if I ask my employer for elements of my contract to be waived because I wish to take a job elsewhere for more money, am I being selfish? I guess, but what should I be? Fucking stupid apparently.

Manny is the best right-handed hitter I have seen, and in previous years I viewed the Manny being Manny stuff as mostly zany and benign. This year, though, he moved into a calculating, malicious area. As one person who watched up close said, "It wasn't weird anymore, it was strategic and mean spirited."

woah! That's reason to pause. For a while I was dismissing this as mere "Joel Sherman-being-a-dickism" but now it's more of a movement, an ideology. It's Joel and "one person". Wow, you think you know something and then a bombshell like this falls in your lap.

There should be a price paid for that. But only if certain institutions stand up to him, such as:

THE COMMISSIONER'S OFFICE

If protecting the integrity of the game really is Bud Selig's most important role, then how has he not hauled Ramirez to New York for, at least, a discussion?

Bud Selig: hang on a minute Bob, yes, I know steroids are a big problem in the game...what? Rick Ankiel too? Shit, he was a huge story! He really got everyone rooting for him. Fuck. Brett Myers beat up his wife in a street? Alright I'll get on it.
Bud Selig's assistant: Mr Selig, a Mr Ramirez is here to see you, he says you asked for him.
Bud Selig *hand over phone*: Oh yes, yes! Send him in. *hand off phone* Why am I going to YouTube again? Delmon Yo-HOLY SHIT HE JUST THREW A BAT AT THAT UMPIRE! *waving hand at Manny to come closer* Oh please Bob don't start with the Elijah Dukes shopping list, I just can't take it today, look I have to go - I know, I know, the Orioles and Marlins have owners that are turning their fans away in droves and baseball in Florida is a joke - look, he's here...ok? OK, speak to you soon.
Manny Ramirez: Mr Selig?
Bud Selig: Now about this baserunning of yours...

Multiple officials spoken to used the term "gray area" to describe why Selig could not suspend Ramirez for jeopardizing the competitive integrity of the game.

several more have cited "what the fuck do you mean "jeapordizing the competitive integrity of hte game".

But Selig should at least compel Ramirez to explain his behavior this season with the Red Sox; clarify what was going on in the gray area of his mind.

Boston officials came to believe Ramirez was protecting his stats by faking injury to avoid certain tough righties. For example, he begged out of two starts each against Joba Chamberlain and Seattle's Felix Hernandez.

are you fucking high? Manny Ramirez isn't scared by anybody, and relishes the challenge of the big hit, the big challenge, the best pitchers. He has nearly nine thousand plate appearances, do you really think this is the kind of bullshit he pulls? This is downright insulting. He's played 100 games for the Red Sox this year, do you think they were all against Carlos Silva? Moron.

After not starting against Chamberlain on July 6, Ramirez was asked to pinch-hit with the winning run.

which he did - albeit selfishly. He conceitedly got out of the dugout, contemptuously picked up his bat and inconsiderately walked to the batters box. He then egotistically kicked the barrel with both his feet and thoughtlessly stared down the best closer in history.

In what was viewed by the Red Sox as protest, Ramirez never took the bat off his shoulder as Mariano Rivera whizzed three strikes by him.

a strikeout by Mariano Rivera you say? That does sound fishy. It reminds me of that Simpsons episode where they ask that guy in the car where he's from and he says New York and they claim they can close all the unsolved cases in New York City. By the way, who are you quoting from the Red Sox to suggest they viewed it as a protest? Pure speculation, and defamatory speculation at that.

If you are a cleanup hitter who does not play when healthy or does not play hard when you do play, don't you seriously tank your team's chance of winning? Wasn't this kind of the reason the baseball commissioner's job was created in the first place?

if you are a journalist in a widely read newspaper who produces low quality stories, and also defamatory, baseless rubbish don't you seriously discredit the reputation of the print media in general? Wasn't this the kind of reason editors and media ombudsmen were created in the first place?

The Red Sox certainly kept a file on Ramirez's bad acts going back to previous years when he dubiously sat out ends of seasons. This year, Boston sent him for an MRI exam that showed nothing wrong with the knees that Ramirez claimed were too achy to allow him to play.

MRI's are not infallible, by any stretch of the imagination.

Again, maybe there is too much "gray area" here for a penalty.

"maybe".

But doesn't Selig have to demand a face-to-face to discourage other players from thinking they could follow the same lay-down-on-the-job script to gain free agency? Isn't it dangerous to baseball to have a player involved in a pennant race not trying?

not trying! My God, he doesn't even attempt to insinuate it. Look, here is a very comprehensive list of Manny's antics, and they are eccentric and tiresome, no question. You tell me if it's remotely close to a player who doesn't try. This hitter is famed for his professionalism and approach to the art of hitting.

Look, Selig should already have summoned Ramirez after he boorishly pushed the Red Sox's long-time traveling secretary Jack McCormick to the ground on June 29 in Houston because the 64-year-old was unsure he could get Ramirez 16 free tickets for that day's game. McCormick is every bit the employee of Major League Baseball as a batter that would be protected by the Commissioner's Office if a pitcher threw a ball purposely at his head. Selig should have suspended Manny then. Indulging or ignoring this kind of act for years - by the Red Sox and the Commissioner's Office - is why Ramirez has been emboldened to keep behaving in a fashion detrimental to baseball.

if true, and I have no reason to believe Joel Sherman - muckraker - then this is not very impressive and action probably should have been taken, fine. Much, much, much better form than Brett Myers.

THIRTY MAJOR LEAGUE TEAMS

For the moment, Scott Boras is Manny's agent (Ramirez tends to change them like socks). Ramirez must imagine Boras doing his offseason voodoo toward a four-year, $100 million contract. But any team that signs Ramirez to a multi-year contract this offseason forfeits all rights to complain when Ramirez's bad acts begin for them.

honestly, I don't think any team, even the Yankees, will offer him 25mil a year for four years. And anyway, I don't think the Red Sox did complain much, why the fuck would they, he was a critical piece of two championship seasons? I think they are pretty tickled pink with their time with Manny.

An executive with long ties to Ramirez said, "No organization should be so arrogant to think they can fix him because you can't."

not that I think he needs to be "fixed" anyway, but I will just say the Pistons won a championship with Rasheed Wallace when people said identical things. I personally believe there's every reason we can say the same thing about Houston this time next year.

No team had a better infrastructure and greater leniency to handle Ramirez than the Red Sox

infrastructure? Wha?

But at least they got prime Manny, all the RBIs along with all the pathology. He will be 37 in May. Does a team really go long-term with an aging, malcontent DH? Through insubordination, Ramirez got himself out of Boston's $20 million options for 2009 and 2010. To reward him with more than that in free agency is baseball blasphemy for which any team should be ashamed.

for shame! Scarlet letter! Pathology! Blasphemy! If you want to sign Manny Ramirez (who is basically Ted Bundy..maybe worse), then that's fine, but don't expect to go to Heaven. No really, it's fine, if you want your soul to languish in the depths of hell, surrounded by death and suffering because you sold out. It won't bother me, seriously.

You sanctamonious blowhard Sherman, shut the hell up.

RED SOX NATION

Red Sox fans seem to have a blind spot for Ramirez because he was essential to ending The Curse and bringing Boston its most sustained baseball excellence in nearly nine decades. So Ramirez probably will be welcomed back into the city's bosom after his career, and tales about him will bring chuckles, not outrage.

yes it will, because he is awesome, and you are not. Deal.

But Ramirez should face a post-career penalty in the Nation. No city respects its sports heritage more than Boston. Recent titles by the Celtics, Red Sox and Patriots have shown what lifelong carte blanche the championship players have in town; you could feel the links from past to present and even crossing over from sport to sport.

BOSTON IS SPECIAL, YOUR CITY IS NOT, I AM UNORIGINAL AS WELL AS INFLAMMATORY AND POORLY INFORMED. LISTEN TO ME, I AM IMPORTANT, OVER HERE *waving hands*

Nevertheless, as Spygate accentuated, fans will rally around "their" guy as the New England area did around Bill Belichick. So I suspect the same for Manny. But it seems to me that by forcing his way out of town in such a selfish, shameless way, Ramirez should lose his rights to be honored on all of those future dates when Fenway will gather the champions of this era (think Varitek and Papi).

At least Belichick - despicable as he is - was cheating to try to win. Ramirez, especially in the end, was destroying a team. There should be a price paid for that.

at least Osama Bin Laden - dispicable as he is - didn't take his job lightly.

You suck Joel Sherman and I truly hope Ramirez comes down on you hard. He almost definately won't though, because of that sense of humour you seem to hate. Look, I'm not saying Ramirez was a saint, but I guarentee you he was good for the game, he was a fabulous hitter to watch, after Sheffield in his prime, he was a player I just loved watching their AB's. More people are fans of baseball because of Manny Ramirez and basically no one has left the game because of him. Was he difficult to deal with? Yes. Did he indirectly contribute to the childish journalism we have to toil through daily? Yes. Was he a criminal or dishonest or nasty or disloyal or lazy?

Get fucking real.