Red Sox slugger David Ortiz talked to WEEI's morning show Wednesday, saying he attempted to get Manny Ramirez to resolve his issues, but that even he knew Man-Ram wanted to leave. You can listen to the entire interview here, but I wanted to pull out some highlights:
"Everything started one day that I told Manny, 'Hey, look, look at the numbers that you have put up your whole career, and you have never been able to win an MVP, there's a reason why,'" Ortiz said. "And the media is our family."
He urged Ramirez to "pull yourself together and start getting connected with the media because that's how you express your feelings and people get to know more and Manny's good things, that people don't know about Manny. And he agreed with me."
But it was this comment that really threw me. When asked whether the Sox would have beaten the Rays and won the World Series if they had Ramirez:
"Probably," Ortiz said. "I'm not going to lie to you—probably."
Not exactly a glowing endorsement for the current state of the club. Perhaps if Mike Lowell wasn't injured, that might have made a difference. Jason Bay had an awesome postseason, but Lowell's absence, Jacoby Ellsbury's horrendous ALCS and the black hole of the 7-8-9 slots in the lineup were what killed the team in the postseason. Saying all this, they still made it to Game Seven of the ALCS and could have won that final game...not too shabby.
Ramirez is a great hitter, but because of his issues (and Scott Boras' desire to get to the free agent market), there was no way it was going to work. In the end, a guy that brought a lot of greatness and fun to Fenway Park for almost eight seasons is now seen as a pariah. Good work, Scott and Manny. Good work.
Gary Payton is a bitter jerk. You remember Payton, the future Hall-of-Fame point guard that had one run with the Boston Celtics and was rumored to join the team this past season as a veteran backup to Rajon Rondo. The C's instead went with Sam Cassell and the team won their 17th world championship. Payton must be upset about that decision as he decided to publicly diss Rondo on NBA TV this past week:
For the record, Rondo averaged 10.6 points and 5.1 assists per game last season at just 22 years of age and put up 21/8/7 in the Finals-clinching win over the Lakers. Seriously "Glove," show some class in your old age, OK?
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about 1 month ago
Years back working a hotel in Boston, I saw Payton blow off a young fan like he wasn't even there. The man is dirt.
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