for love of the game

can anyone explain to me why its a such a big deal that papelbon expressed his feelings about having manny leave the red sox organization? obviously, he isn’t going to have the nicest things to say — manny caused an incredible disturbance in the red sox club house and now that he is gone, it seems the disturbance has followed him. was calling ramirez cancer a little extreme? yes, probably, but does it make his point, most definitely.

I think one of the best points pap’s made was that it just seemed like such bull that manny was trying to pull. Take these comments from redsox.com: “Yeah, because you know how much he could help your team,” Papelbon said. “You know how much this guy could really help your team, and he’s not. He’s sitting out against No. 1 starters, doing this or that. You ask him what knee hurts and he goes, ‘Oh, I don’t know which one today’s going to hurt.’ Give me a break. And he thinks it’s a big joke. Well, we’re out here trying to win ballgames, not figure out which one of your knees hurt.”

I think with these comments just being published now, it makes it look like papelbon and the red sox are dwelling on the situation, but come on this was from an interview he did in december. back in december the wound was still raw from the let down they had experienced with manny. there is no doubt in anyone’s mind that manny was a key part of the red sox organization for his entire career there, but he was also a thorn in the side of the red sox throughout his career with boston. let’s take spring training for instance…i can remember ONE season where manny showed up on time and in good spirits. he looked healthy and he looked like he actually wanted to be in fort meyers. every year prior he claimed a death in the family, a health crisis, or some other natural disaster that would keep him from attending spring training until nearly part way through. and that pattern continues even now that he has “found happiness” in LA. In my opinion it was part of his plan all along to drag out his contract signing so that he could stay away from spring training for the beginning of the spring. and to top it all off, when he finally signed and managed to drag his ass to ST he was scratched from his first start because of a “tight hamstring”! OH PLEASE! maybe if you had gotten off your ass this winter and done what you are supposed to do to get ready for the season you wouldn’t have to worry about tight hamstrings. I don’t mean to pick on mr. ramirez, but you are getting paid $20 mil this year to play a GAME! get to work in february like everyone else and take it seriously man. but as you and i all know, that’s just manny being manny, man.

maybe papelbon was right, he is cancer to a clubhouse. a big malignant tumor that the doctor’s can’t ever fully remove. good luck LA…you’re going to need it.

for love of the game.