McCarver: Manny's Lack of Commitment in Boston was "Despicable"

You are conviently missing the part where Beckett got lit by Toronto and was supposed to face Toronto the next go around but missed that and then still was unable to go in New York a 1/2 turn later. And the Red Sox had to eventual disable him for a couple of extra days.

Why should they have to pull him aside and say will you be nice if we agree to drop part of the agreement HE signed?

 

As if the Red Sox didn't try to get out of the contract THEY signed when they put Manny on waivers a few years ago and made it clear that if anybody claimed him they'd let him go because they didn't want to pay him!

But then they won another World Series and THEY exercised the first $20 million option for this year, willing to accept Manny being Manny?

Fuck the Red Sox. I hope they play the Dodgers in the Series and Manny hits 10 home runs in 6 games, including three in the clincher at Fenway.

 

Wrong, this is the last of the guaranteed eight years, there are options for '09 and '10.
This ownership never signed him, they assumed the deal when they bought the club.

To suggest using waivers is the same as refusing to play is laughable. It's not like they withheld a paycheck from him.

 

KP, as one of the few reasonable Red Sox fans on here, you really don't think the Red Sox are responsible for any of the Manny being Manny crap?

 

Having Dr. Charles as PR guy didn't help because he ate the Manny being Manny and then the Idiots of '04 up like a buffet which gave the appearance that the team as a whole endorsed the shit.

The baseball people couldn't stand it. And there was really no recourse that they could take short of giving him away after the not being well enough to play, but well enough to hold court in the hotel bar with Enrique Wilson over the summer of '03 and refusing to PH in Philly a couple months later and small issues from the first three years. Once nobody took him over the winter they had to hope that Millar, Ortiz and eventually Tavarez could just keep him content.

 

First, spnited covered a lot of ground with his post about waivers.

Second, because it would help soothe that relationship. All the time, you see contracts that are close to expiring ripped up when teams and the player hammer out extensions. Back in training camp, Manny said that's what he wanted, that he wanted to retire in Boston. Guy is only the best right-handed hitter of maybe the past 40 years, and he did win two rings with the team. Why not at least sit down and talk extension?

I understand the Red Sox not wanting to give up a position of power, especially when dealing with an agent like Boras. But after nearly eight years, if the Red Sox were not willing to at least negotiate with a player who helped end an 86-year drought with two World Series trophies, they were more than willing to deal with a conflict down the line.

 

You do know Papi and A-Rod dined together during that late July series in Boston ... should they trade Ortiz, too? Treason!

 

McCarver was the best in the biz for 15 years.

 

Exactly - It works both ways. The Red Sox cranked up their PR machine to paint Manny as the bad guy.

 

Excellent post and Boom is correct with his observation about the Red Sox use of smearing tactics, which were designed specifically to soften fan backlash when they sent Manny packing. It was just a nasty game of hardball at the end.

Someone probably mentioned this already but Manny batted .347 with a 1.060 OPS in July when he was dogging it to force a trade.

 

Not as nasty as it was after Nomar left. This ownership group isn't afraid to toss daggers at guys who are leaving the building, unfortunately.

 

That issue had more to do with the fact that Manny had missed some of the games with the Yankees due to the flu, but then was seen out with Wilson. The missing the games was the issue, not being with the player.

Also the issue was not his production, it was if he would play. He was fine when he played "bad Knee" and all, the question was, would he play.