Despite my better judgment I am hopping on to Twitter. You can find me here www.twitter.com/dodgersrumors see you there…
May 132009
May 132009
The shock factor has seemed to die down finally after news of Manny Ramirez’s and his 50 game suspension. I have taken the last few days to decide what may be next for Manny Ramirez and his never ending quest of Manny being Manny.
My hope is that Manny will take the opportunity to get healthy, let his ailing hamstring finally get some adequate time to get rested. Priority one should be get healthy and clean from any and all substances he may have been using that are prohibited in the MLB. Priority two is to get in the best baseball shape of his life. He has had some minor injury issues popping up, and those issues need to be dealt with. Manny has a proven history of not using illegal substances. Man-Ram is a genetic freak and there is not a soul on the planet that can prove otherwise, despite the recent developments. Manny needs to get in better shape, work on his conditioning and hit the gym hard and get ready to do what he did last summer, the 2008 summer that Dodger fans will never forget.
If Manny can maintain his focus and work ethic, when he shows up on July 3rd he will be ready to get the team in playoff mode. Manny has changed the Dodgers forever, and he does not want to go down like Bonds did in San Francisco. I just don’t see this situation going any further than it has already, despite what the media may try and do. Look for Manny to rebound quickly, he will likely meet up with the team in Florida on the next road trip and smooth things over. Then get down to business and prepare for his return to Chavez Ravine. The Dodgers will miss Manny’s presence over the next 6 weeks but will be able to hold down the fort till Man-Ram returns.
May 122009
Mark Fainaru-Wada and T.J. Quinn from ESPN.com have shed some light on the complete story regarding Manny and his suspension last week. The story highlights the details of exactly how things went down and what led up to the suspension. The story shows Manny wasn’t entirely truthful and may not be as innocent in this as he would like us to believe. I will let you read the story and come to your own conclusion.
May 072009
Fantasy Baseball players if you own Manny Ramirez check out the latest on my fantasy recommendations. You can check it out at my latest project Rotowire Daily where Manny Ramirez becomes the first in the What To Do With Series.
May 072009
The dust has settled a bit on the Manny suspension news that broke earlier today. Something about this is just not sitting right and I am going to take a moment to look at the facts and reflect. I am sure more news will break as the reporters try to dig deeper on the situation. I will post any news as I get it on this situation.
I find this all very unfortunate for Manny, the thought of him “cheating” is just ridiculous to me. There is no way that a guy that has been tested 15 times is all the sudden going to start using PEDS. I think Manny has a legitimate personal health issue and received a prescription from his doctor without fulling knowing what he was taking. I am a true Dodger fan and yes I am always thinking and bleeding blue, so I am not saying this just because I am a Dodger fan. Manny is a freak of nature and 1 + 1 just don’t equal 2 here.
I think this is more than “Manny being Manny” and I truly hope some facts can come out and support the true story here. The fact remains that Manny is owning up to his mistake which is not knowing what you are putting into your own body. Doctors are doctors and are just as human as you and I. I fully expect Manny’s character and reputation as one of the most dominant creatures to ever step into a batters box to remain intact at full capacity.
Now let’s take a look how this impacts Manny and the Dodgers directly impacts the current number one overall team in baseball.
- Ramirez loses between $7-8MM in salary this year.
- There is not a GM under any circumstance that is going to match the money that Ramirez stands to make in the second year of his deal” ($20MM next season). So Manny will not opt out of his deal if he is smart and doesn’t listen to Boras’s garbage.
- The Dodgers, have gotten the short end of the stick once again. Kevin Brown, Darren Dreifort, Jason Schmidt, Andruw Jones…you get the point. This is what happens when you sign a prominent player to high dollars. This is the risk you take and the Dodgers organization knew full well what they were doing.
- He’ll miss 50 games and is eligible to return July 3. That is a lot of production to replace so it is time for the youth movement to step it up. Martin and Furcal need to get out of their early season slumps immediatley.
Juan Pierre will take over as starter for Manny immediatley, and Xavier Paul will get called up from AAA Albuquerque today. Pierre should get get the bulk of playing time handed out. However Xavier should get a chance to finally prove himself in the majors. Now for some other interesting break downs.
There is nothing wrong with Juan Pierre see my thoughts on him here. He should start every day with Xavier Paul getting his fair share of time and Pierre will likely bat 8th. He could move up to the top of the order to switch things up a bit and maybe give Furcal his spark back.
Could the $7MM be used on a free agent pitcher like Sheets or Pedro. We can only hope the Dodgers don’t throw money down the toilet. I would love to see us take the opportunity to use the money to add a premier player via trade. We got all the tools and pieces to pull off any trade. Otherwise pocket the money and see what happens in July.