Oh, Thank God, It's Manny Ramierez
For those who don’t know, I am a Dodgers fan. Nothing unique or convoluted about how I became a Dodgers fan, really. When I was six-years-old and playing in Mel Ott Little League, they stuck a Dodgers hat on my head, and BAM! That was it. It probably didn’t hurt that the Dodgers played in three of the next five World Series immediately following that event, and losing two of them to the Yankees also solidified my hatred of the Bronx Bombers.
The highs of being a Dodger fan ended in 1988, and it’s been twenty years of lows ever since. I think what has been worse than watching the Dodgers struggle – both on the field and with their identity – has been the fact that they have slowly faded into irrelevance. Sure, they slip into the playoffs on occasion – how can they not with that payroll? But they haven’t won a playoff series in two decades, and have won but a handful of playoff games over that same span.
It was also hard watching my team sign players that are the antithesis of fan favorites. Kevin Brown, Gary Sheffield and Jeff Kent (really? Jeff Kent a Dodger? It still makes me sick to root for him to do well) have spent real time on the roster, while favorites such as Mike Piazza and Paul LoDuca were shown the door. On a side note, I see Paul LoDuca was placed on waivers yesterday. He may have been a fan-favorite, but it’s hard not to link his sudden downturn to changes in drug-testing.
So how should I react when my team adds Manny Ramierez? My AL team has always been the Tribe, so I well remember his antics when playing for the Indians. I know the garbage he can devolve into over time. But he’s not here for the long haul – just for a couple months in an effort to get the Dodgers back into the playoffs. So again, how should I react?
To me, it became pretty simple last night while watching Baseball Tonight. The Dodgers matter again. For one of the very few times in the past twenty years, the Dodgers matter again. They are relevant. It’s like if the Buffalo Bills traded for Brett Favre – you can name a whole bunch of reasons why it’s probably not the best idea, but all of a sudden the Bills would be on the national stage again. They would be relevant. They would matter. And that’s where the Dodgers now find themselves.
That’s right, the Dodgers have been so useless for so long that even a bad move (and I’m not saying it is a bad move) that places them on Baseball Tonight for prolonged periods makes me happy. With Manny, they automatically become one of the lead stories every morning on ESPNews, instead of having to watch the crawl for the previous night’s score. Could Andy LaRoche go on to become one of the greatest third baseman of all time? Actually, no. He can’t. But he could make an All-Star team or two, I suppose. Heck, let him get good on the Pirates time and then just buy him up as a free agent if they love him that much. In the end, the Dodgers added a dynamic player and a media presence. And I get to see their highlights a lot more. That’s a win to me.
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Kevin,
I too am a Dodger fan and want to thank you for showing me Dodger Thoughts …. a great baseball blog. Do you think the starting outfield is Manny, Kemp, and Ethier or do those slugs Jones and Pierre see any playing time ?
The Dodgers are the big winners in that deal because they get Ramirez for the stretch drive without having to pay him a dime. The Sox got a little younger, but Bay doesn’t scare me half as much as Manny. He’s a right-handed JD Drew. As for my NL team, the Pirates haven’t had a winning season since the early ’90s and won’t have one soon. Talk about your 20 years of lows!
The biggest winner in the Manny trade??? The Cubs!
The Dodgers aren’t good enough to beat the Cubs in the playoffs, even with Manny. But they may be good enough to win the division and keep Arizona out of the playoffs. Arizona is scary in a short series, the Dodgers — not so much.
The Red Sox just lost a scary bat. Not very effective lately, but still scary. Especially to a team trying to overcome 100 years of history. (This is not saying the Cubs will be in the World Series, but it helps them if they do).
The Pirates… well they have a nice stadium.
Manny is an affront to old school baseball fans who value the gritty guy who sprints up the line on a grounder and gives you 110% every minute of every game.
Manny is a clubhouse irritant and does things his own way, but when it matters, when it really really matters…Manny is the guy you want at the plate. He is a one man wrecking crew when he is locked in (see last postseason v. Cleveland) and is a difference maker in almost any game. As a Red Sox fan, life with Manny was up and down, but I always kept in mind that without him, the Red Sox were so much less dangerous.
The Sox got ripped off in that deal. Replacing one of this generations greatest and most feared hitters with a kid from Pittsburgh whose BA, OBP and OPS have declined year over year. He has played in a no pressure funhouse down in Pittsburgh for years and now hops into the most intense baseball market in America. Also, he’s replacing a legend. Can he hack it? On top of all of that, the Sox are paying Manny’s salary this year and gave up two quality prospects.
How the fuck did Theo not come away with Ethier or Kemp in that deal?
i preface this by saying i am a huge dodgers fan…but john…
not good enough to beat the cubs? thats the best pitching staff in the majors you’re looking at, pal, and they just got exactly what they needed on offense – a big stick to help protect the middle of the lineup, an RBI machine for a team that has trouble punching in runs.
so lets see…dodgers have maybe the best pitching staff in MLB, maybe the best catcher, a hall-of-fame left fielder, a hall-of-fame second baseman, young studs with kemp, ethier, and loney, the newly resurgent casey blake, and reams of depth with nomar, berroa, pierre, andruw jones (if he gets his head out of his fat ass), delwyn young, blake dewitt in the minors…and if furcal ever gets healthy…and when saito comes back…and the dodgers arent even scary in a short series?? are you high?? that’s tough talk for a cubs fan, my friend.
the pirates made out like bandits, i think…although laroche is a third baseman, kevin…which is why its so incredible we got manny by moving a prospect at a position with so much depth (blake, dewitt, nomar and tony abreu when they are healthy). so the pirates will have laroches at the corners now, picked up some young pitching, too…good for them. i like bay, but they never went anywhere with him.
pittsburgh got excellent value for nady and bay. now maybe they’ll be good enough to become the toronto of the NL, good enough to finish third behind two murderers every year (whatever combination of st. louis, chicago, milwaukee and houston you can imagine).
as for boston…my theory is that they’ll sign bonds within the next couple days and shock the world. losing manny but gaining jason bay and barry bonds would be an incredible coup.
and i forgot, they’ll have brad penny coming back eventually, too.
my god, how can you not like this team!
bk – Did I actually type catcher? I did! Not sure why…
As for the outfield, the best combo IS Manny, Kemp, Ethier. Which is why Juan Pierre will get the playing time over Ethier. Torre just does not trust the kids.
…which is also why mark sweeney still has a job. that guy is just awful.
and your note about loduca seemed sadly true. career minor-leaguer suddenly “gets it” at age 28, then fades into obscurity when the league starts cracking down on drugs. even if he wasn’t named in one of those reports, it would be mighty suspicious…
…and among dodgers i hated rooting for in the past 10 years, milton bradley was the hardest. i was at the game in cleveland when he and loduca almost got into it at first base…milton just keeps being an ass, as he proved again this year.
Wow — the BEST staff in baseball?? OK, they’ve given up the fewest runs in the National League — a whole 19 less than the Cubs. That’s nice, but the Cubs have 3 top line starters (Zambrano, Dempster and Harden), Lilly fits really nice as a #4. Marquis will see the playoffs from the bullpen (or the stands). I kinda like that rotation — and they have the best starting ERA in baseball… I haven’t even mentioned the power arms in the bullpen — Wood, Gaudin, Marmol, Samardzija, Marshall…
Don’t forget there are 2 sides to the game and on that side of the ledger the Cubs are +130 on the Dodgers. That’s why the Cubs have the best record in the National League and the Dodgers are at .500. The Dodgers play in the worst (maybe second worst, AL Central is pretty awful) division in baseball but can’t get above break even.
You can have your HOFers in left and center — 5 years ago I’m concerned, today Jeff Kent’s mustache won’t beat me often enough to win a series and Manny – the Cubs have a 5′7″ reserve infielder with a higher slugging percentage (Fontenot) – sorry, he’s done.
Best catcher in baseball… hmmm, he’s good, you don’t get the Gold Glove on charity. I’ll still take Soto for his offense and intangibles. Soto will be great, barring injury, even if he’s just very good right now.
Anybody can beat anybody in a short series (see Sabres, Buffalo early 1980s for proof), but I’d rather face the Dodgers than the D-backs in a short series this year. Of course I wanted to face Carolina in the Conference Finals…
BTW — yes, the Pirates made out great. But as Kevin made the point about the Dodgers, the Pirates aren’t relevant now.
hey, i’m not saying that the cubbies aren’t strong – looking at their lineup, it would probably be a major disappointment if they didn’t at least win the NL. luckily, chicago historically handles the pressure really well!
the main (and possibly only) advantage the d-backs have in any series, in my opinion, is brandon webb. when webb is on, he’s virtually unhittable (as the dodgers saw last night) and he’s almost always on. if you have to face him two times in five games, then yes, i agree that arizona may be slightly scarier.
i also agree that speculating on matchups is really an iffy science…like the pats vs. the giants in the super bowl…or the mets vs. st. louis in 06…or sabres vs. carolina that same year…or the dodgers vs. the A’s way back when, for that matter.
BK — it actually sounds like we agree. The Dodgers improved making it tougher on Arizona. I don’t want to face Webb in the playoffs 2x and Randy Johnson (I know he’s 105, but he’s a lefty who throws hard and has been death to the Cubs this year).
I think the Cubs or Milwaukee should be favored (this week it looks like the Cubs, last week it looked like the Brewers and those damn Cards won’t die), but the D-Backs have a lot of 2003 Marlins in them and we know how well that ended…
Maybe the Dodgers will be like the Cubs last year — hang around .500 for the first half of the season then close hard. They certainly have the manager to pull it off. But I think they need more than Jeff Kent’s mustache and the Dreadlocks of Manny to win the NL.
Finally, some baseball talk on this blog! I know the local sport scene is slow for the summer months, but there are a lot of baseball fans around here. It’s a nice change of pace.
you’re probably right, john. i admittedly get a little defensive b/c the dodgers are my team, but i’ve watched a lot of games this year and their #1 problem is the fact that they get guys and base and then they’ll hit the andruw jones or angel berroa portion of the lineup and what could have been a 2- or 3-run outburst becomes a 1-run plop. given their pitching, which has been solid to excellent even with some big injuries, missing out on even a run or two per game is the difference between a .500 team and something special. manny, hopefully, will be that guy who keeps the merry-go-round going.
and i have no real animosity for the cubs…if the dodgers don’t win the NL, i’d much rather see any team from the central do it, so long as the d-backs or mets get crushed, preferably in the most humiliating ways possible.
‘they get guys and base”
get guys ON base
manny redsox shirts at 50% off throughout New England!!!!
that beats a Bills Super Bowl shirts all day long!
“Could Andy LaRoche go on to become one of the greatest third baseman of all time?”
Yes, he can! YES, HE CAN!
(Pirates fan here.)
Well, even if LA doesn’t end up with a division crown after this deal, at least the Devil Rays will.
As a Sox fan, I hate it on so many levels.
We come into the deadline leading the AL in run differential with no real ‘needs’ other than some bullpen help and maybe a shortstop if they’re feeling crazy.
Instead of ignoring Manny’s bullshit and staying focused on adding an arm for the stretch, they down grade the offense, give away Craig Hansen after he finally seemed to be recovering from the “closer of the future” hype they threw at him pre-Papelbon when they rushed him up right after drafting him and don’t even manage to get Jack Wilson tossed into the deal to fill the gap at short. Jason Bay is nice but he’s not a future hall of famer and he’s not protecting David Ortiz in the lineup the same way Manny can.
I don’t buy the ‘Manny would have quit down the stretch’ reasoning either because even if he knows you aren’t picking up his option, he also knows no ones going to give him 20 million dollars a year if he refuses to play games in a playoff race. Guys playing for a contract hit the shit out of the ball. It’s scientific fact.
And for all the media’s shitting on him, he was right. He was disrespected by the Red Sox when they decided to wait until the end of the season to pick up his option. He’s the best hitter to play at Fenway since Williams and he’s got two World Series rings, those things the Boston sports writers acted like they wouldn’t take for granted about 4 years ago.If THAT doesn’t buy you enough slack to get your option year picked up, what does? Would the Yankees let Jeter sweat out a team option year? The Sox know the guy well enough by now and they knew he was going to stir some shit up at the deadline if he didn’t have a contract. He came into spring talking to the media for the first time in years, about how much he loved the city and wanted to stay and that was his olive branch. He wanted his contract picked up then and quite frankly, they were stupid for not doing it.
If that option gets picked up in March, he’s playing in those Yankee games and we’d be discussing if the Sox picking up Brian Fuentes from Colorado was this year’s Gagne trade but instead the lineup got worse, the bullpen got worse and Gerry Callahan got to do a hit piece in the Herald today.
Oh. And how about the Blue Jays ducking out of the Jason Bay race early? You think maybe when your attendance has sucked since the strike, the one good Canadian baseball player on your team might help boost ticket sales a bit? That front office is a complete joke. Here’s to hoping JP Riccardi is gone before the Jays move into Dunn Tire Park next year and we end up with a shitty Bisons team next year too.
Giants fan here…so I’ve been irrelevant for about a decade…
anyway…I’d love to see Giants-Dodgers become Yankees-Red Sox…I know it is on the West Coast…
I was at a wedding here in Buffalo this past weekend…my friends from SF…very very heated conversation between a Dodger and a Giant fan…its serious hate