July 30, 2005

Picking up the Pieces

After what might have been the single weirdest day I can remember as a Red Sox fan, a few things are now being made abundantly clear to me:

  • Manny's not going anywhere.
  • The reports about his unhappiness and - god how I loathe this word and it's now-ubiquitous usage - 'petulance' are VASTLY overrated.
  • 75% of this controversy can be placed at the feet of Larry Lucchino and the media, eager to lap up any massive story that came their way (which I suppose I can't blame them for).  The 'Trade Manny' fan contingent merely fanned the already raging flames.
  • The deals Theo was linked to were quite possibly 100% externally generated, and Theo strung them out to see if he could make someone make a mistake.  He was not at any point overwhelmed by an offer.
  • And, in case anyone missed it, the Sox won a nice little game tonight, 6-2, to give us a 4 game win streak.

I have a long narrative in my head that would explain how all of this went down, and perhaps I'll share it at some point in the next couple weeks, once more information leaks out.

Until then though, and with Mannygate 2005 hopefully drawing to a merciful and uneventful conclusion, please stop in tomorrow for Sunday Game Blogging, which will feature an exciting debut as Jon Papelbon has been promoted to Boston and will square off against Brad Radke tomorrow at 2:05.  Manny Ramirez will play left field.  Probably.

Posted by 12eight at 22:48:29 | Permanent Link | Comments (10) |
Comments
1 - How can anyone who earns $20million per year possibly be unhappy anywhere? Oh, that's right, it's not about the money.

-Humphdert (Comment this)

Written by: Humphdert P Wordsmith at 2005/07/31 - 02:56:36
2 - I think Theo realizes that getting rid of Manny would require a major rebuilding of the offensive lineup. There simply isn't anyone else out there intimidating enough to hit after Ortiz, and the result will be what we saw in tonight's game: Ortiz getting intentionally walked. With Manny gone, there's little doubt in my mind that kind of thing would happen more and more often, and it could potentionally kill the offense as a whole. (At least Olerud made the Twins pay for that walk tonight. Tomorrow, who knows?)

From a practical standpoint, it doesn't make sense to trade Manny in the middle of a pennant race. Maybe in the off season, but not now. However fans may feel about the guy personally, they should recognize what getting rid of him will do to the team's offense. And I strangely don't see many fans mentioning this fact.

Terry said Manny won't start again until Tuesday against the Royals, if memory serves. Hopefully by then, all of this will have blown over. And I heard the team just traded some minor prospects to the Giants for Jose Cruz, Jr. Guess that solves the outfield issues. (Comment this)

Written by: mouse at 2005/07/31 - 04:14:10
3 - Wait, Cruz is from teh Diamondbacks. My bad. (Comment this)

Written by: mouse at 2005/07/31 - 04:19:21
4 - Humphdert - I have no idea what that comment means, but that is one hell of a name, so I'll let it pass.

mouse - thanks for the tip, I hadn't heard that Tito was holding Manny out until Tuesday. That seems a bit rash, but he's the boss.

As for Cruz, I like the deal. Perez was an eminently losable prospect, and Kyle Bono... a good talent, but was not at all progressing well. Cruz is an underrated guy and should fill in nicely. He's also far far superior to Larry Bigbie. (Comment this)

Written by: Andrew at 2005/07/31 - 05:31:44
5 - Manny will be MANNY again starting Tuesday, with a little help from a couple new friends. Now is the time to concentrate on winning. The Angels let the Yanks off the hook yesterday, and it made for terrible TV viewing. (Comment this)

Written by: peter n at 2005/07/31 - 11:23:21
6 - McAdam writes this morning that Manny showed up late and told Tito he wouldn't play yesterday. Tito made out a new lineup card. 20 minutes later, Manny came back in and said he wanted to play. Tito told him to shove it, and while he was at it, he could sit out Sunday too.

Hope that's not true. (Comment this)

Written by: Andrews dad at 2005/07/31 - 11:56:30
7 - I'm inclined to not believe Sean McAdam about things of late. Who the hell knows. That makes sense, as a thing what could happen, but Terry's deal seemed plausible enough as well. Basically, here's the test: If Manny is traded fr nothing today, McAdam was right. Otherwise... well, we won't know. (Comment this)

Written by: Andrew at 2005/07/31 - 15:20:30
8 - Good point Andrew. Let's hope this Manny to Mets thing is dead and gone. Go JP today on the mound. Let's not overlook that story. He is not facing an intimidating lineup in the Twins and if he is steller, there's your lead story tomorrow. GO SOX. (Comment this)

Written by: peter n at 2005/07/31 - 15:32:17
9 - that makes sense with theo, Andrew. Funny how the media made theo seem "over a barrel", when he was actually controlling the situation. He would be willing to do it for the right price, I'm sure.

I'm excited to see this Papelbon kid today. I'm so sick of the manny drama. (Comment this)

Written by: rebecca at 2005/07/31 - 17:16:52
10 - So, did anyone see the pregame interview wth Tito on NESN? Apparently Millar and Manny wandered in and Manny basically said "I'm happy here and I wanna stay" and a bunch of teammates were there and they were all happy. Ad I want to know exactly wat happened, because this is all so COMPLETEY FUCKING BIZARRE. So please tell me. (Comment this)

Written by: Andrew at 2005/07/31 - 17:35:13
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