Tuesday, February 21, 2006

MANNY BEING LATE

According to the Boston Red Sox AND Manny Ramirez, the $20M slugger will not be reporting to Spring Training until March 1st. According to a jointly issued statement, Manny requested, and was granted permission to arrive late. According to the statement, Manny has been working out in Florida and will continue doing so. He won't, however, continue to do so with the team. Why? I have no clue. What could possibly keep him from moving his lazy ass across the state to work out with the team? Neither the team, nor Manny have stated why this is happening. That's the weirdest part, in my opinion. All you gotta say is "family problems" or "sick" or something like that. At least give us a reason. And give your teammates a reason, too.

What kind of message are we sending to younger players like Dustin Pedroia or Craig Hansen? That if you're good enough, you can walk all over the team? That isn't a productive message.

So Manny will report to Spring Training on March 1st. The next day, he may or may not leave to play for the Dominican Republic. This is just another chapter in the all too long and frustrating book of Manny Being Manny.

MANNY ISN'T IN ITALY?

According to the Red Sox, Manny Ramirez is not in Italy. He isn't even abroad. However, this statement doesn't come from Manny himself. Nor has clubhouse friend David Ortiz - who wore a "Manny being Manny" t-shirt - talked to him in some time. Neither has manager Terry Francona. Ortiz seems confident that Manny will be in camp sometime this week, as is Francona. We'll hopefully see you soon, Manny, wherever you are.