Category Archives: Manny Ramirez

Just Get It Over With Already (Updated) (He’s Gone)

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We all know what the question is going to be in the aftermath of today’s game: did Manny Ramirez purposefully argue with the home plate umpire with the bases loaded, knowing that such a move would get him immediately ejected, in order to make a statement to the Dodgers to move him? My initial judgment of the strike one call was “outside, but probably not egregiously so”, and Vin Scully noted that he can’t remember Manny ever speaking to an umpire when he disagrees with a call, though that of course can’t be verified.

That’s what everyone is going to want to know, and the answer is: it does not matter.

Look, who knows why Manny did what he did. Maybe he really is trying to get the team to trade him (though please, no comparisons to “doing the same thing” for the Red Sox in July 2008; he had a 1.060 OPS that month). Maybe he doesn’t want to be traded, but he’s just upset at Joe Torre that he’s been benched so many times in a row. Maybe he just really did think the call was a poor one. Maybe Gary Cederstrom, who’s been an umpire since 1989, called Manny out on a questionable call in 1997 and Manny wanted vengeance. Maybe Cederstrom’s in his fantasy football league, and he stole the quarterback Manny wanted. Maybe the little green alien that only Manny can see and hear told him to do it. Who knows? It could be any number of things, and no matter what you read – and good lord, this kind of scenario is just made for a Bill Plaschke puff piece – it makes no difference.

Why? Because Manny was already as good as gone, or at least he should be. I’ve been saying for weeks that the season is over and that they should be selling anyone they can sell; it was a week ago that I argued Manny should be moved. Today’s petulant outburst  – if indeed that’s what it was, though it will probably be viewed that way no matter what – doesn’t really change that fact.

People can complain all they like that Manny’s act may have cost the Dodgers some runs today, and perhaps that’s true (though no one can say for sure). But today’s loss is on Ted Lilly, Ronald Belisario, and Octavio Dotel being unable to keep the Rockies off the board (and don’t even get me started on the inevitability of Lilly regressing as a Dodger). It’s on Torre (or those above him) refusing to put their best team on the field. It’s on Andre Ethier for striking out four times, and for he and James Loney combining to leave about thirty men on base.

Really, this team is exactly where we’d thought they’d be about a week ago. The short winning streak was nice, but don’t forget that three of those wins came against the hapless Brewers. They needed to turn that momentum into a sweep in Colorado to even have a prayer of contention, but instead the superior Rockies won the series, putting more distance between themselves and the Dodgers in the process.

It’s time to admit the obvious, stop messing around, and start making moves. They’re 5th in the Wild Card race, 6.5 games out, with Roy Halladay, Roy Oswalt, and Matt Cain staring at them this week. They’re 13-18 in the 31 games since the 100-game mark. Don’t let the 3% chance you still have in 2010 cost you in the years to come; it’s over. Today should be Manny’s last at-bat as a Dodger, regardless of the way he acted. It should be Lilly’s last game as a Dodger. It really ought to be the last we see of guys like Octavio Dotel & Hiroki Kuroda as well, but I’ll keep my dreams reasonable.

Sell, Ned. Sell.

Update! Dylan Hernandez reports that the Dodgers will allow Manny to be claimed by the White Sox tomorrow. He claims that no players will be involved, just Chicago taking on Manny’s salary. I’ll believe it when I see it.

Update #2! USA Today‘s Bob Nightengale is reporting that the Dodgers are choosing between dumping all of Manny’s salary on the White Sox by allowing the waiver claim, or accepting minor-league 3B Jon Gilmore while making the White Sox pick up only part of the money.

Gilmore, 22, was the #33 pick in the 2007 draft by Atlanta, and was traded to Chicago after 2008 as part of the Javier Vazquez deal. He’s hitting .318/.354/.400 for high-A Winston-Salem in the Carolina League, but has just 14 homers in four seasons and has committed 78 errors in just the last two. I think I’d rather just take the money.

Fun fact, though: Gilmore’s sister is married to Ben Zobrist of the Rays. So there’s that.

Update #3! It seems to be official, he’s gone. I’ve got 2200 words ready on the Manny era, so be sure to check back tomorrow for that.

There’s A Lot More Going On Here

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When Manny Ramirez sat on Thursday after getting on base four times on Wednesday, it was to be expected – he never plays day games after night games.

When he sat on Friday, it was annoying, but somewhat plausible as he had just one hit in fifteen career at-bats against Ubaldo Jimenez.

When he sat on Saturday, the situation got increasingly ridiculous. Joe Torre said he “liked the energy” that Scott Podsednik brings and was worried about Manny’s defense in the large Coors Field outfield, ignoring that Podsednik isn’t much of an outfielder either and brings about 1/100th of what Manny does to the plate.

Today? Manny is out of the lineup again for the fourth straight day, and what this screams to me is that Joe Torre’s been lying to us, to his credit.

Yesterday, Torre claimed (backed up by Ned Colletti) that he had not been ordered to sit Manny. But for all the frustration we’ve directed at Torre in his three years here, I refuse to believe that’s true. Torre’s not a great manager, but he’s not an idiot either. There is no rational baseball reason – not one – for benching one of the ten best right-handed hitters of all time in the most important games of the season, even if Manny is only 80% of what he once was.

More evidence comes in the fact that Matt Kemp is still playing. We all know that Torre loves his “gritty” “hustle” guys like Podsednik and Juan Pierre, so even if Torre really does believe his platitudes about Podsednik’s “energy” and insisted on having him on the lineup every day, the obvious move there – and one he’s done before – would be to move Podsednik to center and bench Kemp for a day.

That hasn’t happened, and no reasonable manager would choose to sit Manny four days in a row for baseball reasons (and that’s without even considering what Manny’s disposition is like after being benched.) So the only rational explanation here is that Torre’s being less than truthful – which I don’t blame him for, because you don’t want to go public about such things until the ink is dry – and that word from above has come to not play Manny for fear of injury sinking a deal. (Personally, I’d rather see a larger deal with Chicago; having put both J.J. Putz & Matt Thornton on the DL, their bullpen is in shambles, so how about trying to send them Octavio Dotel & George Sherrill too?)

And if not? If everything Torre is saying is true? Then all we can do is pray that the last out of game 162 comes as soon as possible.

Pick a Course and Go With It

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Quick update: SI’s Jon Heyman reports that the waiver period on Manny Ramirez expires today at 1:30pm EST, or about 2.5 hours from now. That doesn’t mean that we’ll know for sure if he’s on another team by then, it just means that we’ll know whether he’s been claimed by another team or if he’s made it through, allowing the Dodgers to explore trades with any club.

Now, with the Dodgers having swept the Brewers and climbing to within five games of the wild card, there’s calls from some corners that say the Dodgers are still close enough to contending that they shouldn’t be selling. You know that I don’t really agree with that – there’s still four teams ahead of the Dodgers, and sweeping the 59-68 Brewers isn’t exactly a monumental achievement – but I understand how the case can be made.

So here’s all I ask of the team: whichever path you choose, don’t half-ass it. If you think you really have a shot, then don’t trade Manny. There’s no question that his presence fundamentally changes the lineup, and you can’t really be saying you’re trying to win if you’re playing Scott Podsednik (one of the three worst .300 hitters this year, according to baseball-reference) in left field instead of Manny, because that’s a huge dropoff in production. There’s no way you can let Manny go, and act as though you’re still a contender.

But that goes the other way as well. If you decide that it’s time to pack it up, and to move Manny, it shouldn’t stop there. Ted Lilly should go. Hiroki Kuroda. Octavio Dotel. Casey Blake, if you can get anyone to pick up his contract for next year. Really, anyone who’s not signed for 2011 or doesn’t have a good chance of returning should be moved. I’m probably not speaking for the majority here, but if the team doesn’t make the playoffs then it makes no difference at all to me whether they finish 4 games out or 10.

We’ll know a lot more in just over two hours. Here’s what I would do, though: I expect that Manny does make it through waivers, despite claims that the White Sox would grab him. If that’s the case, then you do nothing for the next three days, as you see how the series in Colorado shakes out. The Rockies are ahead of the Dodgers in the standings, and they’ve been red-hot lately. If you can win 2 of 3, hope that somehow the Giants drop a few to the Diamondbacks, and you end up within 3 games by the end of the weekend, then fine: make a run. If, as I suspect, the streaking Rockies win the series and the last-place Dbacks give the Giants little trouble, then you spend all of Monday and Tuesday burning up the phones to get whatever you can for whatever people want.

Whichever way things turn out, it has to be all or nothing. You can’t trade Manny and then keep Kuroda and/or Lilly. You just can’t.

Joe Torre Finally Presses the Right Buttons

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As Jonathan Broxton closed out a scoreless 8th inning, I looked ahead to the 9th and wondered what the plan would be:

Pick from 3 terrible options: Broxton trying for a 2-inning save, Kuo on back-to-back nights, or Dotel in the 9th.

As it turns out, it wasn’t quite any of those. With Ryan Braun, Prince Fielder, and Casey McGehee entering, Torre decided to go with a three-headed closer monster. Ronald Belisario, despite getting five out last night and supposedly being unavailable today, came in to retire Braun. George Sherrill (don’t complain about seeing him in the 9th, I’ve pointed out how tough he is on lefties dozens of times) took Fielder to a full count, but set him down. Finally, Octavio Dotel – who’s basically the reverse Sherrill – got McGehee to fly out to center to end the game.

Taking three flawed players, and maximizing the opportunity to play to their strengths? Boy, it’s almost like that’s how it’s supposed to work.

******

Manny Ramirez got on base all four times, including two doubles. Gee, you think calling him dead after just two games, coming off a two-month hiatus, was a bit premature? If anything, it was about time someone supported Hiroki Kuroda, who has suffered through some criminally unfair losses this year.