Manny's long gone out of town, living it up way on the other side of the country... and CHB is feeling the pangs of loneliness. Who will he write his inflammatory columns about? Who will he vilify? This is all a very confusing time for him.
So it's no surprise that this little hidden explosive gem showed up in his column today:
A few things strike me: (1) since when did CHB's conjecture about Manny's behavior go from opinion to accepted fact? and (2) if CHB was so confident that his source was rock-solid, why did he bury this allegation halfway down his column, and fall back on the old "the Globe has learned" schtick (rather than claiming ownership of his source)?The commissioner's office is investigating the circumstances of Manny's final hours with the Red Sox. The Globe has learned (from a source with direct knowledge of the inquiry) that Bud Selig directed Major League Baseball executive vice president Rob Manfred to contact all parties for an explanation of how things unfolded around last week's trading deadline. According to the source, Manfred has yet to report back to the commissioner.Here's why Selig's office is looking into the matter:
The Red Sox had an option to retain Ramirez in 2009 for $20 million. They had the same option for 2010. Ramirez, 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 Ramirez'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. Sitting out games against Seattle and the Yankees, jogging down the first base line (and maybe even looking at those three strikes against Mariano Rivera), he sent the message that he wanted out. He made sure the Sox knew he could not be trusted to play hard if they kept him until the end of the season with the options intact.
In the Manny Being Manny circus, nothing is too crazy or too far-fetched for me to believe. I wouldn't bat an eye if it was revealed that Manny went into Theo's office and demanded that Jed Lowrie act as his personal manservant, and follow him around at all times with a selection of sparkling waters and snacks. I'm also not a naive wide-eyed innocent who thinks every player who dons the Boston home whites is automatically a saint who can do no wrong. So while the sour turn of the Manny story in Boston is entirely plausible, I still object to the sordid need of certain people to continually shit-stir. (Or the equivalently reprehensible method of sitting on a story until the player in question is shipped out of town and therefore can't confront you -- so you can keep getting soundbites from him.)
And this sight? Yeah, still weird.
on August 8, 2008 9:40 AM
I haven't been, nor will I become, one of those fans that forgets all Manny did in Boston. There are too many great memories. The one thing that stinks in all this is Boras. I would not put it past that snake at all. And unfortunately, Manny strikes me as less leader & more relatively easily influenced by those who craftily manipulate. I worry that Boras was whispering in his ear & Manny just reacted like he has been known to do when he's "feeling emotional". I really wish *Boras* would get banned.