Boston Red Thoughts: On Manny

4 years ago yesterday, Red Sox Nation was turned on its collective butt when Nomar Garciaparra was traded to the Cubs for Orlando "The OC" Cabrera and Doug "It took me 6 months to be able to spell his name" Mientkiewicz. Everyone was freaking out, screaming "How could you trade Nomar???" or “The Sox will explode and drop into last place and then the FO will be sorry!" Or the ever popular "I KNEW Theo Epstein was too young to be GM of the Sox, Da Bum..."


But the funny thing was...NONE of that happened...


The Sox, galvanized by the positive vibes and great defensive play of The OC and Mientkiewicz, went on to win their 1st World Series in 86 years--even making history by being the ONLY team EVER to come back and win a series when they were down 0-3...


So, forgive me if I am not wailing and gnashing my teeth over Malcontent Manny getting exactly what he wanted, forcing a trade, making EVERYONE miserable, and not even caring, to get the hell out of town.

C'mon, Pink Hats--has the last couple of weeks been cute and charming? Was Manny shoving a 64 year old man, "Child-like and Whimsical"? Was the REFUSAL to play in some of the biggest games of this year, when the team DESPERATELLY needed him just "Manny being Manny” Can you REALLY excuse this behavior?

If you can, I dont get it--I really REALLY don't...

But, if any of you feel like boycotting Fenway Park in wake of recent events (as I saw some of you threatening on-line) feel free to send those tickets over here...

And by the way, Please STOP saying that losing Craig Hansen was a bad thing--he was awful in 2006 (remember the 4 game sweep by the Skanks in August??) and he was DREADFUL this year. And if he does improve in Pittsburgh, it will only be because there is less pressure there--and it’s the NL...

The only person I will miss in this trade is Brandon Moss--I thought he was a great guy and a decent player--but I do realize he will be better off somewhere where he can play every day, or at least more regularly.

Now, that being said, I AM disappointed that Theo was unable to pick up some bullpen help during the trade. What happened to acquiring lefty Josh Grabow from the Pirates? Hopefully, the Sox will be able to pick someone up on the waiver wire, or find someone that can help in the minor system, cause the bullpen is still a pretty big problem...If Okajima can rebound (and he has been showing signs of life lately) and Justin Masterson can continue to do what he is doing, and MDC could find his way--I think the bullpen would be ok--although another arm certainly could not hurt--unless they get another Gagne again...

So, Jason Bay, a 2-time all-star who's numbers for this season were pretty comparable to Manny's (.282 with 22 homers and 64 RBI's to Manny's .299, 20 homers and 68 RBI's), has a decent running game, and who HAS to be a ton better in the outfield, will join the Sox this evening for his 1st game at Fenway Park--I hope he goes 4-4 with 2 homers in his debut...

And it will be interesting to see how this line-up looks without Manny--who will bat 4th? Will Papi be moved to 4th, with JD Drew batting 3rd and Lowell (or Bay) batting 5th? Or will Bay be placed in the #4 hole right off (I think that is doubtful--but who knows?) Should be an interesting game tonight--one I cannot WAIT to see...

Tonight: The Sox (hopefully) begin their road back to normalcy and winning ways--and perhaps get their sh*t together. Game 1 of the final 3 of this home stand begins against Oakland with 1st pitch at 7:05pm by Tim Wakefield. Justin Duchscherer pitches for the Athletics...

- Boston Red Thoughts by Christine at http://www.bostonredthoughts.com/

Labels: Boston Red Sox, Boston Red Thoughts, Justin Masterson, Manny Ramirez, Nomar Garciapara, Orlando Cabrera