Item: Tim McCarver calls Manny Ramirez's actions in Boston "despicable."
His point?
Item: McCarver says "despicable" twice (to the Philadelphia Inquirer).
It's about time someone called it like it is and stopped making excuses for the guy. Manny got his way out of Boston by faking injuries and being a less than stellar teammate. All this stuff about Manny just being a kid in adult's clothing and "Manny being Manny" is enabling. Manny deserves to be held accountable for what he did in Boston. Even if it means he gets $38 fewer dollars in his next contract!
Item: McCarver also said this: "It's extraordinary – the dichotomy between what he was in Boston and what he is in Los Angeles. I mean, talk about wearing out your welcome in a town, and it was a long welcome with the Red Sox. But some of the things he did were simply despicable, despicable – like not playing, refusing to play. Forgetting what knee to limp on. And now it's washed, it's gone."
Tim McCarver has always been an honest guy. Straightforward and not afraid to call out a superstar, which he once did with Deion Sanders, which resulted in Sanders dumping a beer or something on McCarver's head. Regarding Manny, McCarver (in the Philadelphia Inquirer) merely spoke truth to power.
Item: Travis Hafner will need surgery on his shoulder.
Next thing you know this economic mess will affect the stock market.
Item: Mark Shapiro promises that the Indians will be aggressive and not be complacent in the offseason.
Shapiro is an honest guy, though not as blunt as McCarver. But after this disappointment of an Indians season, one would hope that the least the Indians would be in the offseason is aggressive.
Item: PacMan Jones is in trouble again.
Huh. Who'd have figured?
Item: The Baltimore Ravens say Joe Flacco will start for the rest of the season.
This pretty much ensures that Flacco will be injured in the first quarter of the next game. But Flacco is one of the most impressive rookie quarterbacks I've seen in a long, long time. At least since Spergon Wynn and Luke McCown.
Item: Shapiro said another starting pitcher, a guy who would pitch in the first three games of a playoff series, would be an offseason priority.
This was the first time this was mentioned, and it was good to hear. The Indians can't count on Cliff Lee repeating his season, but they can count on a better Fausto Carmona. After that the starters are a crapshoot. And counting on Jake Westbrook to come back as good as he was is also risky. One more arm might make for a lot of arms, but in baseball there can never be enough. Witness the Indians of 2008, who started the season laden with pitchers and ended scrambling to put a staff together.
{ 12 comments… read them below or add one }
Manny is a jerk of the highest order. Anyone who makes excuses for this truly despicable human being needs to take a close look in the mirror. If Manny's sudden turnaround from sullen, limping moron….to happy-go-lucky free-agent-to-be doesn't make you cringe, then nothing will.
Also, it certainly seems the Indians have much more pressing needs on the OFFENSIVE side, rather than yet another starting pitcher. Just how long does Shapiro expect to suppress the talented arms he has acquired and/or developed? Starting pitching is hardly our problem.
That Nate sure writes a helluva lot like that "Rick" character. I mean, on the posts when he's not doing that coming from nowhere out of the woodwork for some juvenile troll bashing of me. Hmmmm …
Just for the hell of it, I went back to Pat's original Manny posts when Ramirez first pulled his "I'm hurt" act and got himself traded. You said the same things, "Nate." You also said he'll be pounding the pavement looking for a job after the season. And the few reasonable and realistic amongst us said so what, and no. He'll be beating the hell out of the ball in L.A. Seems to me that's exactly what happened, and seems to me you're going to be dead wrong about him pounding the pavement. The only thing that guy pounds is the ball.
Who gives a crap what kind of a character Ramirez is. The smart folks who put together sports franchise rosters certainly don't. Nor should they. You don't seem to get that. This isn't a church choir, it's a business. The same way that Wall Street isn't a church choir, it's a business. It sucks, but who gives a damn. Show my your portfolio. Betcha you own stock of companies who aren't exactly top-to-bottom sweet Mother Teresa. But that sure hasn't stopped you from trying to make a buck from investing in them.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but the last time I looked, the Browns had a felon at running back. Why? Were all the good misdemeanor guys unavailable? My God, since the days of that sleazeball Jim Valvano, ESPN's basketball and football analysts have been featuring one greasy crook after another, dirtbags putting big results and big money entirely ahead of education. But if you have a big personality and some talent, you've got yourself a job in front of their camera. I could go on and on and on and on, but why bother?
If you want to call somebody a "jerk" and "despicable," then reserve your bile for the suits who put them on their payroll. For example, why isn't Ned Colletti considered a "jerk" and "despicable?" It takes two to tango, and Theo Epstein didn't trade Ramirez to himself.
Oh, one point about the Indians' North Dakota designated hitter/loyal customer of Dr. Feelgood sports medicine. I could have sworn the party line on our resident Barry Bonds-like Cro-Magnon was always "there is absolutely no structural damage in his shoulder." Apparently, that's like a Browns locker room attendant saying, "There is absolutely no staph infection on our toilet seats."
Too bad Shapiro bowed to the media and fan pressure and put his pen to paper prior to fallout from Canseco's book, Rafael Palmeiro and the Mitchell Report. Otherwise, he would have had enough sense to pass on Travis Hughes. Uh, I mean Larry Hafner. It really wouldn't have mattered if they had a budget like the Yankees or Red Sox, but obviously, they don't.
With any luck at all, the surgery will go like a "Seinfeld" episode. Kramer will drop a Junior Mint into the hole, Hafner will lapse into a five-year coma, and Eric Snow's insurance will pick up the tab for the remainder of the contract.
Looks like the "jerk" and "despicable" comments hit a little too close to home Comaguy. Have to protect your own kind when they behave that way huh?
So you went into a coma way back when dude? Did they live? Or did they go down below? You never finished the whole "story" as far as I recall. But then again, your hostility and rudeness to all the blog writers on this site as well as all Cleveland franchises generally overrides any other crap you tend to write about.
Have a good day Comaguy….don't go pissing off the wrong person now. You never know when your coma will come.
Boy, that was fast. I just posted, and it's first thing in the morning, Nate. Uh, I mean Rick. What, do you have a BlueBerry, or whatever they call those things, attached to your Beacon Journal blogs? Handy.
Gee… thanks for the mindless dribble that did absolutely nothing to add to the commentary of the article posted. That is five minutes of my life I will never be able to get back.
I don't know … that Nate/Rick guy is pretty mindless, but I don't think my stuff was too mindless. Shouldn't the front office guys that willingly acquire the Ramirez-type jokers have their feet held to the fire? Why kick the joker? It is what it is. It's always entertaining when an announcer or former ballplayer rips into these guys, but so what? Basically, McCarver said the same thing I wrote, which is hold Ned Colletti accountable. But McCarver didn't say that. It's easy to trash a player. "Ned Colletti" has only 11 letters. But McCarver couldn't find the gusto to say his name?
I mean, think about it. Ramirez obviously has periods of time where he's bad news. But are you telling me with a straight face that 99% of Indians fans wouldn't love to see Ramirez batting fourth and wearing an Indians uniform? Hypocrites of the highest order.
Pat, is there any way to block this "alan t." character from posting? He rambles on and on about nothing, refuses to accept or acknowledge that someone else might have a viewpoint that is–gasp!–not in line with his own demented view of the world, and, frankly, just takes up a lot of space. I quickly scroll past his lunatic ramblings.
And for the record, I applaud you immensely for calling Ramirez "despicable." That's actually TOO GOOD of a word for the jerk.
Which one of the old posters is this "James" character? By the way, you contradicted yourself, "James." How would you know about a guy who "rambles on and on about nothing" if you "quickly scroll past his lunatic postings?" Guys like you almost make me yearn for that Billy guy.
Oh, one other thing, James. Or maybe it's just Nate/Rick doing another of his Rich Little online impressions. Who knows. Who cares. The point is that "despicable" word for Ramirez wasn't Pat's word. It was Tim McCarver's. So perhaps you scroll past far more postings than you're aware of, because you obviously scrolled right through Pat's.
Manny's always played on winners and he's always produced. I haven't heard any of his teammates call him 'despicable,' either.
It's a silly word used by someone who either takes himself much too seriously and/or thinks a little controversy will pump up ratings.
I see that Ramirez's former teammates voted Ramirez a 2/3 playoff share, not a zero playoff share. Gee, that's 'despicable.'