Everybody Chill

Its hard to believe that Baseball season is right around the corner...as we speak guys are taking BP, hitting soft toss and doing that drill from Tom Emanski's Baseball Video where everyone stands around in a circle and tries to hit the ball between somone elses legs with their bare hands. Personally, I really, really love a good game of pepper, but thats just me. In New England, its really hard to think about baseball until late April at the earliest...its snowing like a bastard out right now and I am sitting in my hotel room enduring my second snow-day in as many weeks. Nothing says "its baseball season" like road salt, slush, and snow caked to the bottom of your sweatpants.

But I guess its never too early to start thinking about the Red Sox..you know...the Defending World Series Champions? Seems like a lifetime since JD Drew led the Sox to their second championship in four years...see, you probably had to ask yourself who JD Drew was and how he figured into this whole thing. He's the guy for whom Boston fans and media devoted about 60% of the airtime and press to bashing for roughly 5 straight months. So much has happened since we destroyed the Rockies (The Rockies?)...the Garnett Trade, An NFL season that shall remain nameless, a new Justin Timberlake album...you get the point.

But, even as I sit here in New England's southermost reaches (albeit visibly Yankees and Giants country) it is nice to think back to a better time for Boston sports. Only a month ago we were sitting on the very real possiblity of 3 Championships in the same year...we still have a shot at two with the Celtics, which is still an amazing year for the sports fans of a region. Is there really anything to complain about? So the Patriots lost the superbowl...that I live with everyday...but at the same time they had one of the best seasons ever. They will have a chance to win another one next year, we watched Moss set a record that may never be broken (Brady's is more touchable I think), and a team go through a regular season undefeated at 16-0. That record will be the legacy of the 2008 Patriots and a feat that is probably never going to be matched. We even got to beat the Chargers twice.

Maybe I'm just bored and dissappointed that Bob Barker handed over the reigns to The Price is Right to Drew Carey. It used to be that when you had a snow day or stayed home from school sick you could always count on Bob Barker and his gaggle of arm waving skanks to entertain you through the boredom of mid-morning television. No such luck. As I remember, ESPN always used to show Sumo Wrestling during the day as well, but it seems that they have given up the rights to that too...everything is changing all around us and if we don't pay attention we might not even notice that Stephen A Smith has his own TV show. Jesus Christ.

But since it is almost Baseball season, it is time for Boston fans and the National media to begin freaking out about Manny Ramirez. Will he stay? Will he go? Does he want a trade? Where does he get his weed? Every year you hear the same questions asked, but this morning as I read over Manny's statement that he "will not ask for an extension or engage in contract talks with the Sox during the season" it really hit me how much I like this guy.

I would buy a grill from Manny Ramirez.

His production numbers aside (Hall of Fame caliber, still one of the elite hitters in the game hands down) is there a better guy to have on your team? Has there ever been one instance of teamates and/or coaches not liking Manny Ramirez? His approach to the game is so laid back that it turns certain people off...not me. I find it refreshing. The fact is, Manny does not need to "ask" for a contract extension because he is going to get an offer from Boston no matter what. Maybe it will be a good one, maybe not. If you can remember back to the playoffs last year people construed Manny's comments about being down to the Indians as a heartless surrender. All he was saying is that, hey, you win some and you lose some...IT IS JUST A GAME. And then, rememeber we went on to win the series? I honestly believe, at the risk of sounding naive, that Manny really just loves to play Baseball. Sure the guy is going to get paid, that is obvious, but the money and the contracts don't seem to bother him at this point in his career the way that they do for so many other athletes. Why shouldn't he just worry about hitting and catching a baseball for the next 7 months instead of negotiating a contract...if he puts all those things aside and focuses on playing baseball everyone wins.

Look at it this way...by waiting until next offseason Manny doesn't have the added pressure of living up to a (presumably) sizeable contract extension...so if he goes 0-5 against the Yankees, he doesn't feel like an x million dollar bust and it gives Boston fans one less thing to complain about (we paid all that money for this guy?! we have 5 more years of this?! etc...etc...you've heard them all). From an organizational standpoint the Red Sox are protected from overpaying, if, for instance Manny has a bad season and/or gets seriously injured. They can wait and see what his value is at the end of the season and decide whether or not he is worth that amount to them. I mentioned JD Drew earlier...remember how often the length of his deal came up when his numbers were down (the whole year actually)? I was so sick of hearing about that shit by the end of September, Im sure I wasnt the only one.

JD Drew's Grandslam in game 7 of the ALCS...Remember?


Furthermore, I hate to think that some people feel that Manny is arrogant for refusing to ask for an extension. First of all, this does not mean that he doesn't want to play with the Red Sox...all of his statements have been to the contrary. Secondly, he has earned the right to hear what other offers are available for him. A lot of people seem to think that there is some amazing nobility in an athlete deciding to stay with one team instead of jumping ship to the highest bidder...and yeah that is all well and good when they are deciding to stay with your team. But, at the same time, these guys are human beings too. I don't think many people would turn down a job (in fact the same one they allready had) with a different company that paid them 3 times as much. Should you feel that you should stay and make less just because Carl in the next cube over really enjoys your conversations about Grey's Anatomy? I don't even like Grey's anatomy...the only chick on their that I really thought was hot left the show for some spin off...but you see what Im saying.

I think that leaving the negotiating for the offseason couldn't be a better idea. Let Manny play, and enjoy watching one of the greatest hitters in the history of baseball play baseball. Enjoy his occasional muffed fly ball, his towering homeruns, his strange hair, and his certain "I don't know what". We all know that any team would be lucky to have him...at the plate, in the clubhouse, and in the dugout arbitrarily stroking the head of a relief pitcher.