It looks like, in the end, the Red Sox and Manny Ramirez actually agreed on one thing—when it came to his tenure on that ball club, enough was enough.
In a move that shocked a lot of sports fans but probably shouldn't have, New England's favorite slugging savant was traded from the Sox to the Los Angeles Dodgers in a three-team deal which sent outfielder Jason Bay from Pittsburgh to Boston. In addition, the Sox agreed to pay the remaining $7 million on Ramirez' contract, and part with outfielder Brandon Moss and relief pitcher Craig Hansen.
If one were to view this particular deal in the context of a street crime, the Red Sox management would most likely be classified as a victim of aggravated rape. Boston got hosed in this deal something fierce, but, for some reason, I don't hear anyone in the Red Sox doing a whole lot of complaining—which should tell you all you need to know about what kind of a cancer Ramirez had become in that locker room.
How badly did Manny's teammates want this farce to end? Consider the comments from the team's leader (and Manny's biggest supporter) David Ortiz when he was asked how much he was going to miss Ramirez.
"I'll let you know after the season," Ortiz snapped.
Other teammates have offered similar curt responses to multiple questions from the Boston media, which seemed to greet this story with an interesting mix of revulsion and glee. And it's ironic when you consider that the media trumpeting and amplifying this guy's antics only served to cause him to act more and more bizarre every time he got into a spat with the front office.
What was different this time, however, was that Theo Epstein and the boys weren't buying what Ramirez was selling, and, as a consequence, he didn't receive the free pass he usually got from the fans and the media honks whenever he threw a tantrum.
The dust-up that eventually blew Manny out of town centered on the team's $20 million dollar contract option over the next two seasons. His original deal allowed the Sox the option of signing Ramirez for $20 million for next year and the year after, or releasing him to free agency.
The club decided to take its time in announcing its plans, and Manny apparently didn't like that. So he resorted to the ultimate attention-getting and clubhouse-dividing ploy—allegedly faking a knee injury to get out of two recent starts, including one where the Yankees beat the Sox 1-0, wasting an excellent outing by Josh Beckett.
No one from the club accused Ramirez of faking it, but they did order MRIs on both knees to determine the extent of the "damage," which was a tacit admission that they didn't believe their slugger was as debilitated as he said he was. That led Ramirez to play the "trade me" card; the Red Sox subsequently did just that.
So while Manny enjoys the sand and surf out west, the question for Boston fans is whether the team can win a World Series without him. It remains to be seen, but at the very least, they seem to have picked up a good guy in Bay.
I, for one, am less interested in what the former Pirate will do than what he will not do.
For example, the chances are very good that he won't throw a 64-year-old clubhouse guy to the floor for not getting him enough free tickets.
Bay probably won't be taking a leak inside the Green Monster in between innings. And he's not likely to grouse about having to play for a measly $20 million after making $160 million the previous eight.
He'll probably run out every ground ball, and won't stand there admiring his home run swing as if he had just split the atom.
He'll most likely be willing to go visit wounded soldiers at Walter Reed Hospital if the Red Sox win another World Series.
But most of all, I think we can expect Bay to be a much better teammate than his predecessor, although with Ramirez, the bar isn't set exactly all that high.
Judging by his most recent comments, Manny wants to end his career in Los Angeles. He's apparently thrilled to be there, almost as thrilled as a lot of people in Red Sox Nation were to see him go.
I can't help but wonder how those same people will feel if the path to the world championship ends up running through the City of Angels this October.
