Manny Ramirez is probably the most intriguing superstar any sport has ever seen. You got T.O. and Ochocinco who are very outspoken as well in the NFL, but Manny is different. Manny is one of the greatest hitters in baseball history...when he feels like it. He has shown his greatest with all 3 teams he's been on, and no one can argue that point. His problem is that when he gets bored and unmotivated he just decides to stop being great, and basically forces whatever team he's on to move him. So it's bad for whatever team trades him away, but excellent for the team that trades for him. Everyone brings up his epic numbers in limited games with the Dodgers in 08. They were unreal. Fast forward 2 years and he's now a Chicago White Sock, but this time everyone is questioning him. I would like to know why. Have you seen Manny's numbers during his first year with a team (excluding his very first year when he only had 53 at bats)? You most likely haven't, and so I will clue you in. In 1994 with the Indians he played in 91 games and had 290 at bats. He posted a 269 avg with 17 homers and 60 RBIs and a 357 OBP, and that was just when he was a young pup. In 2001 he began anew in Boston. He played in 142 games and appeared in 529 at bats. He posted a 306 avg with 41 homers and 125 RBIs and a 405 OBP. Then of course in 2008 the Sox dealt him to LA and the brief Mannywood Era began. In Tinseltown he played in only 53 games and had just 187 at bats. But he still managed to post a 396 avg with 17 homers and 53 RBIs and a ridiculous 489 OBP. So after some math is done he's played 286 games total during his first year with a team and has had 1006 at bats. His combined numbers for those games and at bats are a 324 avg with 75 homers, 238 RBIs, and a 417 OBP. Those are pretty impressive numbers considering that they were with 3 different teams and none of those years he played a full season, one being barely a half and another being barely one third.
The only potential problem this time around is that his age may be catching up with him, although in 2008 he apparently had bad knees with the BoSox that were mysteriously cured when he went to LA and tore the cover off the ball there. This time around he's got a bad right calf that's landed him on the DL 3 times. The ChiSox will have Manny for less time than the Dodgers did in 08, but they are in a close playoff race much like the Dodgers in 08. The White Sox also have a much better offense then LA did in 08 when they acquired Manny, and so Manny won't need to be the savior. There really isn't any reason Manny can't repeat his 08 performance this time around. He'll have 20 less games so his numbers probably won't be as crazy as two years ago, but I wouldn't be surprised if he hit 320-350 with 10-13 homers and 20-30 RBIs over the next 30 games. The guy is Manny Ramirez and he loves to perform well for his new team.
I think this is an excellent pickup for the ChiSox, and that it is a better pickup than the Twins getting Fuentes because Manny will be in more games if he is healthy. ESPN's John Kruk disagrees saying that pitchers can take the bat out of Manny's hands while you can't do anything to counteract Fuentes being put it. When in reality you can because Fuentes becomes easier to hit when he's pitching against a right handed batter. His BAA, OBP, SLG, and OPS are significantly higher when he's pitching against a righty. So to counteract Fuentes you put in a good righty or switch hitter as a pinch hitter and now you have the upper hand. But when you intentionally walk or pitch around Manny, you just have to deal with the next White Sock in the lineup, and that offense has been red hot as of late. Advantage goes to the ChiSox in their acquisition of Manny, sorry Krukky but a dominant situational pitcher just doesn't beat one of the greatest bats in MLB history.
References:
http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/players/stats?playerId=2974
http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/players/splits?playerId=4731
http://espn.go.com/mlb/notebook/_/page/bbtn100831/baseball-tonight-clubhouse
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