Baseball Musings: Manny Being Investigated

August 08, 2008

Manny Being Investigated

The Commissioner's office started an investigation into the Manny Ramirez trade:

Here's why Selig's office is looking into the matter:
The Red Sox had an option to retain Ramírez in 2009 for $20 million. They had the same option for 2010. Ramírez, who will turn 37 next season, wanted to be a free agent at the end of this season. His agent wanted the same thing. Boras inherited Ramírez's old contract and stood to earn nothing until Manny signed a new one. It was in the interest of the player and the agent to have the options dropped.

Manny's only leverage was withholding services and playing at half speed. So that's what he did.

So Manny acted like a jerk in order to get traded. That's a tried and true way to force clubs into action. I remember Billy Sample talking about this in 1991 during his time on Baseball Tonight. You mouth off a lot, become a bad person in the clubhouse. He didn't talk about not playing hard, but how can you measure that? Manny gone half speed plenty of times in the past. What makes this different?

Posted by David Pinto at 08:54 AM | Trades | TrackBack (0)

Comments

Wasn't he in a fight with a teammate in the dugout a little while back? Didn't he take himself out of an important game recently? You know, there's a tipping point. If I were the Red Sox, I'd have fined him $20,000,000 and suspended him a few games just for the fight incident. That's where the line should've been drawn. They let Manny get away with stuff too long. Enough is enough. I'm really glad the Commish is investigating. Although, they'll probably come up with either no wrongdoing or some small penalty's that make it all worth it in Manny & Boras's eyes. Which means someone else will probably do it again sometime without thinking twice.

Posted by: Devon Young at August 8, 2008 09:14 AM

This is just more sound and fury signifying nothing from the Commish. What exactly is he going to do if they do find out that Manny "withheld services" or "played at half speed"?

Posted by: Ben in Boston at August 8, 2008 09:15 AM

Games played while in Boston: 100 of 109

Line while in Boston: .299/.398/.529

Post-All-Star Break Line While in Boston: .351/.467/.622

The numbers are better than what Manny did last year.

Posted by: Taylor at August 8, 2008 10:15 AM

Reminds me of Gary Sheffield admitting he would deliberately throw the ball over the first baseman's head into the stands so he could get out of Milwaukee.

Posted by: Steve at August 8, 2008 10:41 AM

And the Sheffield claim was debunked.

Posted by: Adam B. at August 8, 2008 11:12 AM

I said this weeks ago.
Manny should be suspended a year, without pay!
These tactics can ruin baseball.

Posted by: tom s at August 8, 2008 12:06 PM

And who will investigate teams who in the past have openly traded players and thrown in the towel in July on their season with 60 games left? The White Sox were 3 1/2 out one year and said "no mas".

Yes, the GM's are supposedly are rebuilding for the future, but what about fans who bought tickets for the here and now?

Posted by: Bob Tufts at August 8, 2008 02:43 PM

Bob,
The white sox got Howry and Foulke in that trade, who helped them get to the playoffs later. That was during the height of the Indians mid-90's team. The white sox weren't going anywhere.
I still can't believe the Red Sox fan fascination with slamming Manny. How do his tactics ruin baseball exactly? If he is ruining baseball, it doesn't deserve to be saved. I personally would rather be a teammate of Manny than Schilling or Youkolis (or trot nixon)

Posted by: Evan at August 8, 2008 03:21 PM

Schilling? What did he ever do? Some fans don't like him because he talks a lot and votes Republican. I don't think most of his teammates care.

Posted by: Hei Lun Chan at August 8, 2008 06:33 PM