For the last few years, the Boston Red Sox have been able to brush off Manny Ramirez's antics as just another case of Manny being Manny, but it looks like things are starting to change in Beantown. After Manny pulled himself out of the lineup before last night's game with a knee injury, a lot of talk around the team was centered on the fact that Manny was faking his injury (Dan Shaughnessy is certain of it, so certain in fact his new book called The Curse of Manny Ramirez: Why The Red Sox Keep Winning is set to hit bookshelves next week). I tend to agree that Manny was likely faking it, but we shouldn't ignore the fact he pulled himself out of a game against the Mariners earlier this week due to the same thing.They say he pulled the stunt in one of the Red Sox' most important games of this season as some kind of protest about his contract since he'd like to know where he'll be playing next season. The way the Red Sox seem to be taking this latest incident, calling his bluff and having MRI's done on both knees (which came back clean), I'm willing to guess that wherever Manny plays next season, that it won't be Boston.
So what do the Red Sox do? Some folks in Boston want him traded, but that doesn't make much sense to me. I don't care how idiotic the guy acts occasionally, he's still one of the greatest hitters I've ever seen, and trading him does not in any way help the Red Sox win their third title in five years.
If I'm the Red Sox, I just ride it out for the last few months of the season, win another World Series, and then part ways with Manny afterwards. Let Manny go be Manny somewhere else.
