I'm not one to get carried away with facts and figures. But believe it or not, Manny arrived at camp on time (fact) and he showed up looking to be in great shape (figure). I love Manny Ramirez for many reasons, aside from that dreadlock tangled mane thing that he somehow stuffs under his hat. But other than that, there's nothing else about Manny Ramirez that bothers me or ever has.
Well...check that. Endless people saying "Manny being Manny" when he says or does something out of the ordinary, bothers me. It's not his fault; it's just a stupid saying that boring people like to say over and over because they can't come up with anything on their own. I, on the other hand, happen to see eye to eye...with Mr. RBI.
I just realized that my main Manny and I have something in common, we both go way back. He hits tape measure bombs and I sit in the back of the bleachers. Amazingly, our striking similarities have kept us from hanging out, but I have been lucky enough to watch him for a long time and have very fond memories of his early days as an Indian. I remember one time seeing him take of couple of rounds of BP in the tee pee, and then coming out to join the rest of the tribe for the day’s battle against the Braves.
No, really, I loved his game and dreaded whenever he came to the plate as a Cleveland Indian. He wore out any Red Sox team we put together, and I was a big Manny fan. He was an offensive package like no other: Raw power, amazing hand eye coordination, ability to spray the ball all over the field, and drive in runs in his sleep. And you know what's pretty cool? He's still doing it 15 years later.
I remember back in the off-season of 2000-2001 when GM, Dan Duquette, had the money to shop for the big prize. It was pretty much between Baltimore's Mike Mussina and Cleveland's Manny Ramirez. As much as I loved Manny, I thought we did need a top of the rotation pitcher to complement the Great Pedro Martinez. But honestly, I wanted both. Well, we got Manny and his $160 million dollar contract.
It was the best money ever spent by the Sox. Nobody can tell me that he hasn't been worth every penny of it. He's put up monster numbers, been more or less healthy, and has guided the Red Sox to two World Series titles.
Mike Mussina on the other hand, has been okay and won a good amount of games, but has no World Series rings and plays for the Yankees. That a boy Manny!
Check out these numbers from a three straight year sample of Manny Ram's power and average with Cleveland before joining the Sox.
Cleveland Indians
1998: 150 Games 45 HR 145 RBI .294 Avg
1999: 147 Games 44 HR 165 RBI .333 Avg
2000: 118 Games 38 HR 122 RBI .351 Avg
His numbers are eye-popping and when he arrived in Boston in 2001, he kept on tearing it up. But after three productive years with the Sox (2001-2003), somehow "Mannyantics” took over, his contract seemed larger than Clemens' ego, and the Sox trust was losing faith in Mr. Ramirez, the greatest right handed hitter of his time. I certainly wasn't, the guy was a hitting machine that we needed, and ironically, couldn't afford to let go.
Obviously Theo and the Threeo have done an outstanding job here. But I'll never forget when they put Manny and his $160 million dollar contract on irrevocable waivers, in October of 03. They had had enough of "Manny being Manny" (I didn't say it, they did), and his big contract. So they stuck him in a shopping cart and pushed him out into the lot, hoping someone would take him home.
The contract was really just 5 years at $104 million. Since Manny had already served 3 years time in the Fenway Park Prison for smashing balls over the Monster and breaking car windows at the rooftop parking lot across the street. But the Sox wanted no part of it. Young Theo Epstein could have been as popular as Juan Epstein had Manny got away.
Whatever the reasons were, the Red Sox brass must have had their heads up their ass. Was it because Manny was late to a game, or because one of his 4 grandmothers was sick? Or was it because he didn't pinch-hit in a game against Philadelphia because he said he was too weak. These so called off field shenanigans were reportedly disrupting the Red Sox clubhouse. How sad is that? If anything, I always thought Manny's behavior added a little interest to the clubhouse. Manny has a good personality and always keeps you guessing, unlike some of the many boring guys before him. I'd much rather talk about Manny Ramirez than some of these guys.
Here are some members who made the all-boring team for the 2000 Red Sox. This is the clubhouse that existed the year before Manny rescued the Sox in 2001. Talk about a bunch of milk duds.
John Wasdin (giving up homers made him fun), Brian Rose (probably works in a flower shop now), Rheal Cormier (gives Canadian's something to talk about), Tomo Ohka (at least his name isn't Tom Ohka), Pete Schourek (luckily for him it's pronounce Sure-Eck, which will work, we love "The Eck"), Jesus Pena (might have been a Hispanic God), Paxton Crawford (confederate General who skipped out for baseball), Jeff Frye (his name and height are similar, short), Jose Offerman (the man was never offered a sense of humor), Mike Lansing (should have tried a sword, the bat wasn't working), Manny Alexander (took steroids just so people knew who he was) and finally, the Manager, Jimy Williams (he was so boring he only had one "M" in his first name).
There you have it, all the exciting guys you could have on a team who won't cause any problems. But more importantly, won't cause any problems for the opposing teams either, like one Manny Ramirez does all by himself. Thank goodness that 2000 team had Pedro Martinez. The greatest pitcher of his time and had the personality to match!
Back to Manny. Check out these three years after the Sox were so brave in keeping Manny on board because no one bit on his contract. The 2003 season was before he was placed on waivers, but you know they were thinking about it in 2002.
Boston Red Sox
2003: 154 Games 37 HR 104 RBI .325 Avg
2004: 152 Games 43 HR 130 RBI .308 Avg
2005: 152 Games 45 HR 144 RBI .292 Avg
Need I say anymore? Many of the years I left out were ones that weren't far behind these types of gaudy stats that Manny has put up over his illustrious career. Any one of the years shown above or from Cleveland would be real fantasy baseball stats for just about any major leaguer out there. Manny just shows up, parks his 1960 Impala, stuffs his do under a rag, and starts raking. And the best part about it, he did it the old fashion way. Hard work, dedication, and no steroids. Please Theo, let's not let him almost slip away again.
I hate to even think about it but this could be the last year we see the Hit Manny. He's in the last year of his contract. He does have options for the 2009-2010 seasons. I don't care what he makes or asks for in the short future; you gotta lock him up with Ortiz for at least the two option years. There are so many guys in baseball who make $10 million dollar salaries who couldn't even hold Manny's dreadlock strap. He's always been worth it, will continue to be worth it, and should retire as a Boston Red Sox. The Red Sox pretty much have Manny Stock Options. Invest in him and he will pay you back in World Series fashion at least two times over.
Trim Manny looks great this year and aside from all of the hard work he puts in that's often over-looked when judging him, Manny was born to hit and loves it. There's no reason to think he won't carve up the Major League pitchers again this season. In last year's playoffs Manny regained his power stroke and hit some balls further then Corey Pavin could hit a golf ball. He's back, it's his contract year and he will make a run at MVP. Even if this cleat in first ballot Hall of Famer doesn't get the MVP this year, he'll always be an MVP. Manny's Very Precious!
Keywords: Baseball, Boston Red Sox, Cleveland Indians, Homeruns, Manny Ramirez, Statistics, Theo Epstein
